Here are 5 stories from European soccer this weekend: Arsenal: At the Summit of the Premier League Teeming with confidence, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal put forth perhaps their most convincing display yet against Chelsea. The scoreline won’t reflect the dominance but Arsenal’s 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge feels like a harbinger of things to come. Gabriel […]

Before the final whistle had sounded, the brow-furrowing and hand-wringing and calls for Carlo Ancelotti’s head had already begun. Real Madrid, looking less than resplendent in their hot pink away kits, were staring at a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad – a team they beat 9-1 on aggregate last year and a […]

On Monday morning, David Moyes arrived at Manchester United's Carrington training complex to start work, a whole 42 days ahead of schedule. In another line of work, Moyes would be commended for his professionalism, or, on the flip side, he might be encouraged to enjoy his time off by his flabbergasted employers. However, working for […]

For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness. As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed […]

So it seems the end is drawing close for Rafa Benitez at Anfield, with reports all over the place pointing to the Liverpool owners offering Benitez £3 million to leave immediately. Quite what has happened to bring Liverpool lurching in to another crisis so soon after the season has ended is unsure, but for me, […]

The titans of Spanish football will face off next weekend at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the traditional El Classico which will carry an even greater importance this time because it could decide the league title's destination. The two clubs are tied on top of la Liga with the same number of points but Los Galacticos are one […]

A gigantic banner covered one end of the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu before the match. On this banner, the Grim Reaper and other scary creatures from movies and stories past sprawled across, and there was a message for their Madrid neighbors to the south, "Noche de Derby. Vuestra Peor Pesadilla." In English, this means, "Derby night. […]

The Almería – Barcelona match had not concluded when Real Madrid took to the pitch, but a few minutes into their match with Sevilla, they knew that Barça slipped at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos and dropped two points with a 2-2 draw against Almería. Expectations were that Real Madrid would not have the […]

So what makes a great goal? I know it seems a easy question but honestly, what makes a goal truly great? Is it the goal that keeps a side up or a lob from the half way line? The goal that drags a side back in to a game when they're 2-0 or a last […]

Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid 0-1 Ronaldo, 2’ 0-2 Kaka (pen), 73’ With four wins in four league games and three clean sheets in the bunch, it’s statistically difficult to find fault with Real Madrid’s early season performances. They have ostensibly done everything right in their opening games: they have incorporated all the new faces into […]

Real Madrid 5-0 Xerez 1-0 Ronaldo, 1' 2-0 Ronaldo, 75' 3-0 Guti, 78' 4-0 Benzema, 82' 5-0 Van Nistelrooy, 89' Real Madrid moved to the top of the table Sunday, ahead of Barcelona on goal differential, after a 5-0 rout of Xerez that was a more difficult affair than the final score might indicate. Cristiano […]

It is mouth-watering just to imagine a match featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema taking on an opposing team which includes Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Xavi Hernandez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to name just a few. The dream of many football fanatics has come true following a spending frenzy by […]

The group stage of the Champions League began on Tuesday evening, and two La Liga outfits looked to initiate the exorcism of their personal demons. Real Madrid and its galácticos played its first Champions League match of the season against an upstart FC Zürich team who, before the match, seemed more interested in whom they […]

The much-anticipated return of La Liga began with a scintillating match between the new galácticos of Real Madrid and the pesky Deportivo La Coruña, who always gives Madrid a run for their money, literally. Because of the continued suspension of Pepe and the tendinitis suffered by Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid defense was not at […]

Since we are approaching the end of a decade, and since it's summer,I thought I would offer up my La Liga Team of the decade. I set my team based on the best actual season had by a player in each position. It is not an aggregative list. It is not based on contributions over […]