They were ready, they were energized, they were organized and they won, they won BIG. Real Madrid could have easily won today with a way bigger margin, they should have scored something between 6 to 8 goals.
Barca players were like walking corpses, they were like ghosts, the only player that did something was Messi, although Thierry Henry scored the consolation goal he also was dead most of the time during the match.
Actually Thierry Henry was playing so weird, falling down everytime a player simply touches him. All the players of Barcelona where not normal. They were clueless during the full match, while Real Madrid players performed beautifully.
Some say that Barca did not play well because of the firing of Rijkaard, and some say it was because of Real Madrid winning the league. Whatever the reason is, Barca was weak and the players were eager to listen to the referees whistle that would end their misery.
Real Madrid players were so confident and delivered 4 great goals, the first as usual came from Raul on the 13th minute, then we saw a great header from Arjen Robben on the 21st minute. On the second half Gonzalo Higuaín scored on the 63rd minute and then on the 78th minute of the match Ruud Van Nistelrooy played the penalty and scored the 4th goal for Real Madrid.
On the 84th minute of the match and after letting us reach to the edge of insanity several times during the match, Fabregas scores a very nice and strange goal from a far distance, and then very few minutes later Wallcott crosses the ball to Adebayor to seal the deal and end the match victorious qualifying to the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League 2007/2008. Amazing….
After seasons and seasons of exclusively airing the UEFA Champions League, ART now loses those rights to Aljazeera Sport Channel. Aljazeera won those rights and for the UEFA cup for at least the next three seasons from 2009 to 2012. Aljazeera also got the rights to broadcast the UEFA Super Cups for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
What is really interesting also is that Aljazeera also got the rights to exploit those competitions on the Internet and Mobiles. It is said that Aljazeera will be selling some of he matches to free-to-air channels, those matches are expected to be in the UEFA Cup and not the UEFA Champions League.
At start there has been a few doubts on how Aljazeera Sports Channel will be able to manage to air big number of matches that play at the same time, as we know Aljazeera has now only two free-to-air channels and two “pay TV” channels, with an additional one to start soon, so to clear those doubts Aljazeera announced that they will be adding new channels that works only on matches times.
In my opinion Aljazeera Sports is better than ART, they respect the championships they have rights to, they create appropriate analysis studios they employ capable analysts and presenters. Simply speaking they are well organized, and willing to go all the way to produce high quality coverage.
In regard to ART Sports future it seems they are doomed, although some rumors say that they will be having the Italian League in FULL starting from next season, if there is any true to this it could save them but I really wish they don’t get it in full, Aljazeera is better capable to give this league the kind of attention it deserves. I really wish this Mary go around thing with the leagues ends, I wish one capable network takes all of them so we can just subscribe to one network.
Borussia Dortmund announced today that the deal to sign Jens Lehmann this winter collapsed after the player decided he rather stay with Arsenal. Lehmann’s contract with Arsenal expires in the summer, and Wenger have said earlier that he wont stand in the goalkeeper’s way to return to Germany, but it seems Lehmann believe he can regain his position and the trust of Arsene Wenger.
This is what he had to say today: “Although it would have been a very attractive challenge to play for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga once again, I have decided against taking this step due to personal reasons, I am sorry, particularly to disappoint the people responsible at Borussia Dortmund, who have tried very professionally to convince me to move and gave me sufficient time for consideration.”
Ofcourse the Germany coach Joachim Low and team manager Oliver Bierhoff backed Lehmann’s choice. Even Wenger stated today that he is happy Lehmann is staying and that he will be included in the next match against Birmingham. He said: “Lehmann will be on the bench, the indication I can give is that I am happy if he stays because he is an important player in the squad, like Gilberto also. We have such a young squad that these players have a big weight in the dressing room and a big input in the team. I am happy if they stay.”
Although am happy he is staying, but I find his decision a bit odd, he knows Almunia is number one now and it would take more than a couple of bad performances by Almunia to make Lehmann first choice again, what is he depending on, that Almunia is injured?? On the second hand, his national team manager already informed him only players who play regularly with their clubs will be considered to represent Germany in Euro 2008!
Real Madrid will be playing their 4th match in the Champions League Group C, nicely standing top of the table with 7 points, while Olympiakos is playing at home and is 2nd place with 4 points.
As we can recollect, Robinho played a very important role in the last match which ended 4-2 for Real Madrid, the match was sensational really made us all be on edge. Real Madrid players showed their real spirit in that match and showed how much they want to win this season.
One weird observation is that Real Madrid lost a match before meeting Olympiakos, in the first match they lost 2-1 to Espanyol and now they just got a 2-0 loss against Sevilla. But i still expect Real Madrid to focus in this match and just put whatever past wins and losses aside.
Wingers Arjen Robben and Gonzalo Higuaín and the backup goal keeper Jerzy Dudek are still injured but the central defender Pepe and midfielder Wesley Sneijder are back and going to be traveling with their team mates but not sure if any of them would be able to play full 90 minutes.
Olympiakos will be missing injured defender Paraskevas Antzas and Vassilis Torossidis who was sent off in the previous match. Michal Zewlakow is back from injury and might feature in the match, although i seriously doubt he could play a full match.
My eyes will be locked on 3 main players today, ofcourse Robinho especially after his great show against Olympiakos although he wasn’t able to do much against Sevilla in the Spanish league but still its going to be different here. Another Real Madrid player to watch would be Wesley Sneijder that is if he played any part in the game. From Olympiakos the amazing midfielder Predrag Djordjevic who is 35 years old and plays as if he is 25 amazing speed and dribbling.
Real Madrid expected formation (4-1-3-2): Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Marcelo, Heinze, Diarra, Sneijder, Guti, Robinho – Raúl, van Nistelrooy
As expected, 4-2 with robinho being the keyword here. I wont say that it was a perfect show, the red card given to Vassilas Torosidis on the 13th minute did help.
The main thing that made me go mad, no REAL MAAAD is the penalty ruud lost, its like my heart was eaten by my stomach, unbelievable. Of-course the one thing that nearly 100% of real madrid fans agreed on was that salgado is not on the same level with the game being played, and it will take something soooooooo special to get him back to his old him or at least get a bit more awake and aware of things happening around him.
As i said before Schuster has to use Robinho on the left wing and leave the arguing and fighting and warnings for later. Robinho just proved his worth in this match but i still bet Schuster will forget all about this when Robben comes back after 6 weeks.
A whisper to Schuster’s ear ”Robinho saved your ASS”.
Real Madrid will be playing their 3rd match in Champions League Group C, 2nd in the table with 4 points playing against Olympiakos who is 1st with 4 points. Real Madrid is suffering from a number of injuries specially the left wing with heinze and robben out between 3 to 6 weeks. Schuster has a tricky game here, Olympiakos is in good shape with no serious injuries and the winner here will be top of the table. I believe schuster needs Robinho’s services tonight in the left wing and they should just put the alleged partying issue and returning late mistake to be dealt with later and focus on this game. Personally I will be watching Olympiakos striker Lua-Lua, he already scored 3 goals in 5 matches in the local league. I believe he will have his Champions League first goal this season tonight.
The expected formation (4-1-3-2): Casillas, Salgado, Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Marcelo, Diarra, Robinho, Guti, Sneijder, Raul, Van Nistelrooy.
A lesson to be taught to each player in every football academy in the world, this is as fine as it gets, amazing, TRUE team power. I was so afraid yesterday and expected a 1-0 scoreline, but oh Arsenal proved me and everybody wrong. Unbelievable beautiful fantastic game.
Fabregas, Hleb, Theo Walcott, Bendtner….. Great Goals…..
What we should think about now is the next 2 big games, Liverpool and Manchester Unite, although after todays game we should be less worried but still a huge difference between those teams…
Arsenal will be playing tonight their 3rd match in Champions League Group H, they have already won their first 2 matches so they have a solid 6 points, they will be facing SK Slavia Prague who are in 3rd place with 3 points.
I don’t believe that this game will be as easy as we expect, especially after seeing how Arsenal played against Bolton this week, yes we won but after we struggled though-out most of the match. Anyway I guess Slavia Prague will be so happy if they escaped with a 0-0 scoreline.
The Player i will be watching is Eduardo, let him show us he is worth playing for arsenal, in my book he still didn’t do it, I guess any Arsenal fan is not really that much happy with his game. But here is a chance to show his ability.
I expect a scoreline of 1-0, yes I don’t expect that we will thrash Slavia Prague they are not really that easy team, they are the top in their league table.
Inter Milan will be playing their third match today in the Champions League Group G, they are in 2nd place with 3 points, they will be facing CSKA Moscow who are so hungry for a win now so they might have a chance in qualifying because they are in 4th place with just 1 point.
One of many advantages CSKA Moscow has is that they are playing home and there is a number of Inter Milan players who are disqualified such as Burdisso, Chivu, Maicon and Suazo. And Matterazi is still injured, plus some rumors which says that Ibrahimovic wont be playing becuase of a flu, although this is still not verified. So CSKA Moscow have all reasons to grab the 3 points.
Borussia Dortmund announced today that the deal to sign Jens Lehmann this winter collapsed after the player decided he rather stay with Arsenal. Lehmann’s contract with Arsenal expires in the summer, and Wenger have said earlier that he wont stand in the goalkeeper’s way to return to Germany, but it seems Lehmann believe he can regain his position and the trust of Arsene Wenger.
Real Madrid will be playing their 4th match in the Champions League Group C, nicely standing top of the table with 7 points, while Olympiakos is playing at home and is 2nd place with 4 points.
Arsenal will be playing tonight their 3rd match in Champions League Group H, they have already won their first 2 matches so they have a solid 6 points, they will be facing SK Slavia Prague who are in 3rd place with 3 points.
Inter Milan will be playing their third match today in the Champions League Group G, they are in 2nd place with 3 points, they will be facing CSKA Moscow who are so hungry for a win now so they might have a chance in qualifying because they are in 4th place with just 1 point.