Champions league final

  All expectations are rising to maximum. Fans of clubs check the formation of their clubs if anything changed.
They even read articles about their private lives to see whether there are any problems which could cause some troubles on the pitch.
This is it! This is what every player on the planet dreams about. This is the final of the Champions League.
You don't get only a gold medal, but your name is written on the pages of immortals who manage to win this title.
  I won't talk more about how important this is, I'm sure that all of you know that. So, the great final Bayern Munchen - Borussia Dortmund.
There are not many people who could guess this "German" pair. Mostly football fans don't like when the teams from the same country meet at the last phase of CL.
But this time it is different. Maybe this is because these teams had the best performances from the very beginning.
With phenomenal play they bought all the people who enjoy this game.
  On one side there is Bayern Munchen, "the hungry lion". They lost in this match recently twice! First time the winner was Inter Milan.
The second time Drogba with its goal in the last minutes of the match got Chelsea the title. "We cannot lose three times!" - say the Munchen fans.
If nothing they got big experience and surely they will try not to repeat those mistakes which caused them to finish as vice-winners, twice!
Bayern has the best form in last decade this season. They already won Bundesliga, the German national league, and are in the final of DFB Pokal, the German national cup.
  On the other side, "the challenger", Borussia Dortmund. The majority in this team have never played in Champions League! It was a surprise for everyone that they reached to the end of this championship.
However, the path to Wembley wasn't smooth. They had enormous difficulties. Latin would say "Per asper ad astra".
Can Dortmund surprise everyone again and lift the trophy, eventhough the favorites are their opponents?
They dominated in Bundesliga in past years. If they win in this match they will show that they are more successful club than Bayern Munchen.
  There are no more calculations. Two teams, 22 players, one ball, the Wembley and the dream that will come true for someone.
Ladies and gentlemen I present you the two best teams currently in Europe. No more talk, it's enough to say only:
Bayern Munchen - Borussia Dortmund  

Sensation on Camp Nou

  It's widely known that Barcelona lost 4:0 in the first leg of semi-final against Bayern Munich and it needs to score more than 4 goals to go further. And indeed in 76th minute the ball found the way to the net 3 times! But all 3 goals scored Bayern (1st Robben, 2nd Pique (own goals), 3rd Muller)! On Camp Nou! And really they played way better than Barcelona, who was like some 2-league team on the pitch who couldn't even make any good chance. This is the third final for Bayern since 2010.
  There is no doubt that B.Munich and B.Dortmund are currently two best teams in Europe. But who is better? The final of Champions League 25th May on Wembley will show that. 

The first finalist of Champions League 2013

And we have the first finalist of Champions League (2012/2013) ! Great Borussia from Dortmund, amazing team with  pure skill players like Lewandowski, Reus, Gece, Kuba...Congratulations Borussia, nice job!

 vs  ????????? (probably Bayern Munchen)

Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez on sale

British magazine "Daily Mail" reported that Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben placed on the transfer list, because as the Bavarians coach Pep Guardiola believes that the Dutchman is not required on the field.
This is adversely surprise for all fans of Bayern Munich , and  no one knows why he is redundant.

But that's not all, Mario Gomez is also on sale, and it seems like he will end up in Chelsea....

According to a simple analysis of these informations, Guardiola is making a big change in Bayern's team.
The question is, is it necessary?

Borussia Dortmund Vs Real Madrid (4-1) All goals and full highlights 24.04.2013.

Enjoy in full highlights from semi-final game Borussia Dortmund Vs Real Madrid (4-1) .

Great magic and beautiful sense for goal (4 goals) :)) R O B E R T   L E W A N D O W S K I. 

German final?

Is everything done in the first leg of semi-final games of Champions League? Bayern and Dortmund made a huge difference with 4 goals each. This shows that at this very moment German football is the best in Europe. However, Barcelona and Real are great teams and they say that nothing is done until the final whistle in the second leg. Bayern Munich - Barcelona 4:0 Dortmund - Real Madrid 4:1

Bayern München - Barcelona

  Expectations! A lot of people say that this is a "final before a final". Bayern is ready and in the best form in the last decade. It has a lot of games behind it with 5 or more goals in opponents net. Roben, Ribery, Gomez, Pizaro and Müller, any of these players can decide a match winner. On the other side there are Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro and Fabregas who might surprise everyone and bring Barcelona lead in the first match. Who will become favorite player among its fans? Can everything be solved in the first game?
  The only thing last to say is Bayern München - Barcelona Allianz Arena today at 8:45 PM (GMT+1)
  If you cannot watch this match you can follow our live stream.

Triple crown

  When we say triple crown, the dream of every team and its fans, there is only one team that can achieve that this season. Win the national league, national cup and the trophy of Champions league. Bayern Munich (Bayern München).
  Bavarians have 20 points more than second-placed team, and there are just 5 games more to be played, so they are the champions of Bundesliga (national German league) .

 Secondly, they are in the final of the DFB pokal (national German cup) where they will play against the winner of match between VFB Stuttgart - Freiburg. (Current score is 2:1 it's 68th minute).
  Finally the most valuable trophy that would complete this potentially phenomenal season is the trophy of Champions league. And they can win that too because they are in the semi-final where they will play against mighty Barcelona. Probably this will be the hardest task of all to complete their goal. But they should win if they want to show the whole world that they are the best team in the world at this moment. 

Champions league semi-final draw

These are pairs for semi-final of Champions league:

FC Bayern Munchen - FC Barcelona 
Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid FC 

First leg will be played on 23rd and 24th of April
Second leg will be played on 30th April and 1st May

Robben Goal Vs Manchester United

Just let us remember this beautiful goal. Arjen Robben is in the main role.
Manchester United vs Bayern Munich, season 2009/2010 Champions League

Bayern without any problems

  Confident and sure Bayern had no troubles against Juventus. With 2:0 in the first leg they had a task only not to concede more than one goal. But they showed why they are one of the favorites for winning the most valuable trophy. Mandzukic and Pizarro just confirmed the ticket for semi-final with their goals in 64th and 91st minute of the match.
Juventus-Bayern 0:2 (0:4 on aggregate)

Barcelona goes on

After a dramatic match on Camp Nou Barcelona managed to get out as a better team with a result 1:1 (3:3 on aggregate ). Pastore put the ball behind Victor Valdes back for a goal that would be enough for victory in 50th minute. 21 minute after, Pedro found a way to the net and set the final result. Messi didn't started the game, but he came in as a substitute instead of Fabregas in 62nd minute.
Barcelona-PSG 1:1 (3:3 on aggregate )

What's with the referees?

img source: http://www.independent.com.mt

This is the question which we ask ourselves very often these days. We can find a lot of complaints only in matches of last knock-out phase of the Champions league.

Firstly, the goal that Ibrahimovic scored for PSG in the match against Barcelona was clearly an offside. All Barcelona players rose their hands and signalized to the referee, but he didn't change his decision. Afterwards Barcelona and PSG scored one more goal and the result after the first game is 2:2. Will this decision affect the semi-finalist?

Then in a match between Dortmund and Malaga there were 2 mistakes after which the goals were scored. First the Malaga second goal was a tight offside. Maybe the difference was in centimeters, but that could lead Malga in the next phase. However, they "compensated" when Dortmund scored after two offside in one attack. In the first one there were 4 players in "non-allowed" space, and then one very interesting situation. Malaga player was behind the goal line, so he "was not on the pitch" and that was an offside.

What is the solution for this problem? Football fans have a lot ideas, maybe some of them could be realized.

Galatasaray-Real Madrid 3:2

Galatasary had a clear quest, score 3 goals without conceding any. Ronaldo made the mission more impossible with a goal in the 7th minute of the match. However, Galatasaray players didn't give up, Eboue, Sneijder and Drogba put the ball behind goalkeeper's back three times until 72nd minute. They had 18 minutes plus stoppage time for two more. Maybe they had time, but not enough energy to make a miracle. Ronaldo put a full stop on this match scoring once again, in stoppage time. Galatasary-Real Madrid aggregate 3:5.

Dortmund-Malaga 3:2

img source: http://i2.cdn.turner.com

"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win" said Gary Lineker once, and Dortmund confirmed that yesterday. In the first leg the result was 0:0. Malaga started great with a goal in 25th minute of the match. The scorer was Joaquin. In 40th minute Lewandowski equalized. Then we saw couple of chances, and the real excitement stroke 10 minutes before the end. Eliseu scored a "golden" goal for it's team. All the odds were against Dortmund. They were loosing 1:2 and needed two goals for the next round. I think that Malaga fans only waited for the final whistle. And then, Lineker's rule showed again. First Marco Reus found a way to the net in 91 minute, and then Felipe Santana finished this fairy tale for Dotmund fans with a goal in the last seconds of the match. Fairy tale or a game for a heart-attack, I will let you decide.

Goal in the first minute of the match

  Every player wants to score a goal for its team, but there is some kind of unwritten competition between players who will manage to score a goal in the first 60 seconds of the match.
  Also the fans can relax and enjoy if it's some important match. The latest important game where the players found a way to the net in the 1st minute is Bayern Munich-Juventus. Then a goal in the match that is currently played Tottenham-Everton, with Adebayor in the main role. For those who are not able to watch this the result is 1:1 and it's 22..minute. I almost forgot to name the Bogdanovic who also scored a goal for Panaitoilkos. Maybe you have never heard of this team and think that it is easy to do something like that in Greek football league. But have this in your mind, this is an unwritten competition of all players, no matter what league is considered.
  

Unexpected?

  "Everybody play football today" is a sentence that we hear very often lately. Teams that are currently in a knockout phase of the Champions league maybe confirm that. First pair is Malaga and Dortmund, these teams didn't have much chance to show up in late phases of this competition. Dortmund "bought" a lot of people with its great play in recent games, but they have some real difficulties in the national championship, Bundesliga. Next pair is well-known Real Madrid and maybe the biggest surprise, Galatasaray. Real certainly wants that title that they are waiting so long for. PSG and Barcelona are teams with the biggest number of "famous names". Domination of Barcelona lasts for couple of years and let's see if Beckham and Ibrahimovic can stop that. And last, but not the least important, Bayern Munich and Juventus. According to opinion of the majority these are the most equal rivals. Bayern's goal in the 1st minute of the match didn't match with this, but in the rest 89 minutes Bayer manage to score only one more goal for comfortable lead od 2:0.
  This article should be mostly about your expectation of teams that are in the Last 8 of CL. I'm sure that this year there are the most teams who overcame expectation and manage to pass group phase and come up to here in the last decade.
  For those who didn't watch games here are the results of the matches:

 Malaga-Dortmund 0:0 
 Real Madrid-Galatasaray 3:0 
 PSG-Barcelona 2:2 
 Bayern Munich-Juventus 2:0 

 Second leg will be played 9th and 10th of April. More surprise? Hmmm let's see...

Napoli is a surprise?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says Napoli and the "golden era"? Let me guess, that was the time when Maradona played for it. Since then we didn't hear often the name of this club on some big competitions.

Well Napoli is back!

With its sensational games Napoli is coming back on a top of European football. They beat Manchester City at home 2-1. Cavani was the one who lifted on feet all supporters of Napoli on the Stadium Sao Paolo twice, and showed the whole world that this city is living for football! And Balotelli scored a goal for City.

Napoli is in the toughest group of all and is currently on a second place, just behind Bayern and with 5 points less than it. The next round will decide who is going on, Napoli or Manchester City.

 image source telegraph.co.uk

Manchester United - Benfica -game worth watching

Another great game of two great teams. In this game you could see everything what football is made from: passes, driblings, assists, shots and of course goals. Since the match started Benfica took control of the ball, and lead 1-0 after own goal of one of the Manchester United backs, Jones in the 3rd minute of the match.

Benfica still had good chances, and then Berbatov (lonely striker in this game) scored a goal after 4 offsides traps which were made by Benfica players. And then counter-attacks for a heart-attack . Firtly just 30 seconds after this United had an opportunity to score another goal. One Manchester player was one-on-one with a goalkeeper and had 100% chance, but the ball hit the goalkeeper. Then back of the Benfica shots the ball far away from a goal and Benfica now had similar chance, however this had finished the same, without goal.

They went on a break with a result 1-1. In the second half the same story, the only difference is that now Manchester scored a goal first.

So the final result was 2-2. Benfica is thrilled with this result because they play in the next round with O.Galati who has no points, so that should be an easy job, whereas Manchester is going to Basel where both teams will go in the knockout-round if they win. This will be very interesting...

image source : http://www.footycenter.com

Pyrrhic victory for Bayern

Bayern yesterday defeated Napoli in Champions League (3:2).
 But the Bavarians will not remember yesterday's triumph only by winning because one of the key players of Bayern Munich got a terrible injury.

 The news from the hospital are following: "Bastian Schweinsteiger has broken collarbone and he will be absent from court for several months"