Champions League
Thu, March 6th 2008
From: The Guardian - Sid Lowe finds the Spanish media desperate to put some kind of gloss on the unthinkable - that their rivals across the Med play better football
Over here, people think Italian football is dirty, cynical, talentless and boring. Few Italians have succeeded in Spain because they are rubbish, they say, while few Spaniards have succeeded in Italy because the football is rubbish - and full of cheats.
Fri, November 30th 2007
...this week, 16 Scotsmen played in the Champions League. Only 14 Englishmen could say the same. And three of those - Peter Crouch, Owen Hargreaves and Theo Walcott - were substitutes.
From: Guardian Unlimited: Sport blog: The killer stat that demands a response
Fri, January 26th 2007
European football looks set for a shakeup after Michel Platini was elected president of Uefa, ending Swedish incumbent Lennart Johansson’s 17-year tenure at the head of European football’s governing body.
From: The Guardian
Platini has pledged that he will introduce a maximum of three clubs will be allowed to enter the Champions League from any one country. Italy, Spain and England currently have four.
Tue, October 31st 2006
Barcelona 2 - Chelsea 2
After Didier Drogba’s injury time equaliser you could be forgiven for thinking Mourinho’s Chelsea had beaten Barcelona, such was the the psychological blow that the Spanish club’s players seemed to receive.
Thu, August 24th 2006
Chelsea and Champions League holders Barcelona will renew their rivalry after they were drawn together in the first phase of this year’s competition.
From: BBC
Thu, May 18th 2006
English if they'd won, French since they lost
The post match interviews with Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry left a sour taste in the mouth after both men complained about the performance of the referee.
Mon, March 20th 2006
Rich clubs protectionist behaviour threatens the Champions League
The powerful G14 group, representing the 18 of Europe’s biggest clubs, fuelled rumours of a breakaway European Super League with their publication last week of their internal policy document ‘Vision Europe’ - a blueprint which demonstrates their intention to more actively influence world football.
The G14 are a group of successful and rich European clubs that formed in September 2004 “to find a constructive way of reforming a system in which their voice was not heard and to establish for the clubs a meaningful executive role in the management of the international game.” (The G14 website)
Mon, March 13th 2006
Arsenal manager unhappy at "no British" criticism
Arsene Wenger has warned West Ham manager Alan Pardew that his complaints about the lack of British players in the Arsenal team smacked of racism [Wenger warns Pardew over “no British players” remarks - Yahoo! Sport]
Fri, March 10th 2006
The number of English clubs in the Champions League limited to 4
In a twist from last year’s scenario where Everton feared they might lose their Champions League place to arch-rivals Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs will lose their spot to Arsenal if the Gunners are victorious in this year’s competition.