With the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding, European soccer teams are touring the USA for offseason training again in bulk. Last year, a handful of European clubs made the trip over to the United States. Notably, Everton won the Florida Cup against Colombian side Millionarios. Still, the majority of the major European clubs held off with limited […]

With an injury-cursed Borussia Dortmund floundering at the bottom of the 2014 Bundesliga table and with a typically dominant Bayern Munich sitting pretty at the top, Der Klassiker may have lacked some of the drive that it has had in the past few years, as we have seen it determine the winner of the Bundesliga, […]

This is a disaster. That may sound like hyperbole, but for anyone who has watched Bayern Munich play soccer over the past few months, not to mention the past decade, knows how significant it is for Der FCB to lose captain Philipp Lahm for three months to an ankle injury. Not only is Lahm the […]

It was always going to happen at some point – Barcelona is getting old. Xavi is now 33 years old, Dani Alves is now 30 and they recently had to part with the legendary Carlos Puyol. The 'tiki-taka' team of five years ago is certainly long gone, with new Barcelona manager Luis Enrique brought in […]

FIFA's annual Ballon d'Or shortlist inevitably divides opinion. From the widespread disgust that Wesley Sneijder didn't receive the award for his outstanding 2010 campaign, where he led his club side, Internazionale, to Champions League glory and then his national side, the Netherlands, to the World Cup final, right through to the annual battle for the […]

The two-time reigning Bundesliga champions are heading into their upcoming campaign as the heavy favorites to retain the trophy and have a three-peat, which is something the Miami Heat couldn't do. The real narrative of Die Roten's season will be if Pep Guardiola can lead them back to being the rulers of Europe. Guardiola's first […]

As Marco Reus is attempting to recapture his world-class form after being injured for three months, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are engaging in a war of words over his future. The Bavarian-based club signed Mario Gotze from their biggest rival last year and this offseason signed Robert Lewandoski. Now the 23-time Bundesliga champions are […]

The Daily Telegraph’s Oliver Brown recently wrote: “More than William Carvalho at Sporting Lisbon, or Ilkay Gündogan at Borussia Dortmund, it is Kroos who potentially offers the single most effective antidote to United’s midfield malaise.” What Toni Kroos represents to Manchester United is the midfield engine which has been missing at the club since the […]

With the Champions League and Europa League draws having taken place, the rest of the season is slowly drifting into a more predictable mush. There's just one last weekend of Serie A action (this weekend), and then there's a solid two weeks and a bit of break from the Serie A. I certainly find it […]

The Champions League group stages have finished, and now it's time to see which teams will face each other in the round of 16 which is coming up next. UEFA will be drawing the match-ups for the Champions League and the Europa League on December 17th, and there's a set of guidelines which the round of 16 […]

Finally some positive news for Serie A and Italian football in general, this midweek, while some sides played in the Coppa Italia, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Roma played and won in the Champions League. It was the penultimate matchday of the group stages, and although Roma haven't mathematically qualified yet, AC Milan have mathematically […]

In the first eight matches of this Champions League matchday, there was plenty of excitement to go around. Some sides like Chelsea have made sure that they're going through top of the group, while others like Arsenal have complicated their Champions League campaign terribly. In these eight games, there were 23 goals scored, making for […]

The penultimate matchday of the Champions League group stages is coming up, and it's make-or-break time for some big clubs. These midweek matches could even decide the future for some coaches, like Rafa Benitez at Inter Milan, who's been getting some bad results with the holders of the Champions League. Plenty of teams have the […]

After a truly fantastic matchday of Champions League action, there are so many things to review, especially after so many goals were scored. There were 53 goals scored in all 16 matches of the Champions League this midweek, that's an average of 3.31 goals per game! Not bad at all. Real Madrid travelled to Milan […]

In an announcement that is sure to thrill managers of several Premier League clubs, Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed his ambitions of playing in the Premier League. The German midfielder has a contract with the Bavarian club until the summer of 2012, but claims he would be interested in a switch to England. […]