Richard Lewington

I've had some time now to reflect on yesterday's final and despite my initial displeasure with it, I have to credit Walter Smith for not tinkering with had been a winning formula. He stuck to his tried and tested 4-1-4-1 formation and had his team play a conservative first half, soaking up the pressure Zenit […]

Just a quick post to congratulate FC Zenit St. Petersburg on their first ever European title. Second-half strikes from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyrianov gave FC Zenit a 2-0 win over Rangers FC in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup final, Russia's second triumph in four years. A more detailed recap of the game will be posted […]

With the final upon us, I decided to name an all-star XI from this season's UEFA Cup competition. I will name a Champions League all-star XI on the eve of that final. So, here are my picks: GK – Sébastien Frey (Fiorentina) D – Leandro Grimi (Sporting Lisbon) D – Manuel Friedrich (Bayer Leverkusen) D […]

Today's the big day out for FC Zenit St Petersburg and Rangers FC as they will contest the UEFA Cup final in the City of Manchester Stadium. Rangers, whose European campaign began back on 31 July in the Champions League second qualifying round, can expect noisy backing in the City of Manchester Stadium given their […]

It's been a great season for many of the domestic leagues in Europe, as their title races have gone right to the wire. Today we are going to focus on the race in the Czech republic where Slavia Prague are on the verge of winning their first league title since 1996 after a 3-1 win […]

Chelsea have reached an agreement with Porto for the £16.2m transfer of right-back Jose Bosingwa. Though he is just 25 years old the full-back helped has been a part of the first XI since the 2004-05 season and was instrumental in their dominant championship run this season. Bosingwa was born in the Democratic Republic of […]

Manchester United won the English Premier League title for the second year in a row and it is the 17th time overall they have been champions of England. They defeated Wigan 2-0 on the last day of the season, but it was Ryan Giggs who became the star of the show. The former Wales winger […]

As mentioned over at La Liga Talk, it was announced that Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard will be leaving Barcelona at the end of this season. After two dominant seasons and a subsequent two seasons without trophies, combined with the 4-1 loss to Real Madrid (Sid Lowe wrote an excellent piece on the match in his […]

Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky has announced that he will not be taking part in next month's European Championships due to a recurring knee injury. Rosicky held a news conference to announce the decision. "I'm not capable of starting the European Championships. My injury requires an operation. I will go (for it) at the start […]

Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky has announced that he will not be taking part in next month's European Championships due to a recurring knee injury. Rosicky held a news conference to announce the decision. "I'm not capable of starting the European Championships. My injury requires an operation. I will go (for it) at the start […]

This leg of our European tour starts in France where Bordeaux revived their Ligue 1 title hopes when Pierre Ducasse's stunning 25-metre strike in stoppage time earned them a 2-1 win at Olympique Marseille on the weekend. Second-placed Bordeaux, on 71 points with two games left, are two points behind leaders and six-times champions Olympique […]

The summer spending sprees will soon start but Tottenham have already started their work with one purchase and heavy rumours of a sale in the very near future. Tottenham manager Juande Ramos began his shopping early with the capture of young Croatian star Luka Modric and the £16 million splashed out on that deal is […]

I had started planning my season end series of articles on what I thought would be the areas each club would look at strengthening and who would be moving out. However, Tottenham have already started their work with one purchase and heavy rumours of a sale in the very near future. Tottenham manager Juande Ramos […]

As we wait for the Champions League final, it's a good time to look at the leagues around Europe and see who will be part of next season's competition. In this first report, we look at what I would call the "bigger" leagues in Europe — England, Italy, Spain and Germany. In part two, we'll […]

Today marks 80 years since the greatest record in English football was set. W.R. "Dixie" Dean scored 60 times in a single season. His remarkable feat was honoured yesterday when his great grandson stepped out as club mascot for Everton's match against Arsenal.