Richard Lewington

A massive number of clubs are involved in the Second Qualifying Round (80 in total). The winners of the 23 First Qualifying Round ties were joined in this round by a further 57 clubs that includes the domestic cup winners from the national associations ranked 30 to 53 in the UEFA coefficient, the runners-up from […]

Just a few news stories that caught my interest over the last couple of days. Enjoy! Karim Benzema admits turning down Manchester United and Barcelona Jonathan Wilson's article on the ties that existed between Romanian secret police and Dinamo Bucharest Ever think your video game managerial skills would make you a good boss of a real […]

A lot of lesser-known teams are involved at this stage but the big upset of the day was SPL side Motherwell losing at home to Welsh opponents Llanelli. 42-year-old player-manager Andy Legg, who played for both Swansea City FC and Cardiff City AFC, called their 1-0 win at Motherwell "the best result that Llanelli have […]

It has been a while since we've had some UEFA competition to talk about but the UEFA Cup Round of 32 kicks off today and tomorrow with some fantastic matchups. The showcase fixture has to be Werder Bremen vs AC Milan. Werder have struggled this seasons and are basically out of the running in the […]

A strange turn of events at Chelsea where Luiz Felipe Scolari has been sacked and Avram Grant, the man Scolari replaced, has emerged as one of the candidates on Chelsea's shortlist to replace the former World Cup-winning manager. Whether Grant gets the job is purely speculation but it's just another sign of how funny football […]

At just 32, former Danish international Thomas Gravesen has called time on his career. The combative central midfielder started his career with hometown club Vejle Boldklub (VB). He was soon on the move and played for Hamburg, Everton and Real Madrid. He didn't last long at Madrid, as his combative style spilled over into training sessions […]

The Real Madrid website is now carrying the full text of Calderon's resignation press conference. In his statement Calderon said "Against the recommendations of my board I've decided to step down." It will be interesting to hear the position of the board should they choose to speak with the media about this matter. "I have […]

Shocking news, or perhaps not so shocking depending on your perspective, regarding Ramon Calderon has emerged this morning. Calderon has reportedly bowed to pressure and will announce his resignation as the club's president after reports came out in the Spanish press that he had rigged the recent general assembly election in order to get his […]

At our sister site EPLTalk.com and on all the major soccer sites, the buzz is about the proposed purchase of Kaka by Manchester City. Representatives from Manchester City have traveled to Milan and a bid has been made, reportedly in the region of £100 million, for the 26-year-old midfielder. This would more than double the […]

Striker Jermain Defoe should complete his return to Tottenham Hotspur after the two sides agreed terms on an as yet undisclosed transfer fee. The fee is expected to be in the £15m range, a significant increase from the £7.5m that Pompey paid Spurs for Defoe's services in 2008. The BBC reports that the deal will […]

FC Bayern München have recruited Major League Soccer's top star on an initial short-term deal. 26 year-old Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan leaves the shadow of Hollywood to join the club nicknamed FC Hollywood on loan until March 15th, 2009. A longer deal has been agreed to but is dependent on the United States […]

(photo courtesy of uefa.com) Wow. There are some really great match-ups that have emerged from today's draw at UEFA headquarters. I'm going to give a quick rundown and early predictions though I reserve the right to change my mind before kick-off of the this round! 🙂 The tie that will likely generate the most press […]

Real Madrid CF have announced a pre-transfer window agreement with Ajax for striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar. The move is intended to cover the long-term injury of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has undergone surgery as I reported earlier. The Spanish champions have been chasing Huntelaar for the past two seasons and are pleased to have finally […]

This recap comes a little late but there are still a few points I wanted to make. First off, I was glad to see the Zenit – Juventus game proceed without incident. After the horrible incident earlier in the week, it would have been understandable had the game been postponed but the game did go […]

Three people have been killed and at least one more injured after a taxi blew up in St Petersburg. A spokesman for Russia's emergencies ministry told the BBC that the taxi exploded during rush-hour just outside the Udelnaya underground station in the north of St Petersburg. That station is not far from Zenit's training ground […]