The 2014 Champions League season comes to an end this Saturday, with an all Madrid final. Real Madrid overcame the title holders, Bayern Munich, overwhelmingly in the semi-finals, while Diego Simeone’s men beat Chelsea in the other semi-final to set up the first City derby final in the history of the competition. … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2014
Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid Prediction
On Saturday Evening the streets of the Spanish capital will be on lock-down as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will descend on Lisbon to contest this year's Champions League Final. Real have won 2 and drawn 1 of the 4 matches they have played this season, including an impressive 5-0 aggregate win in the Copa Del Rey but I can see the final being a tighter, cagey affair. … [Read more...]
Champions League Final Preview
On the back of a historic week, Atletico Madrid must mount one final surge to cap off a season which has defied all expectations. Having won the La Liga title just seven days ago, Diego Simeone will lead his side out in a Champions League final against city rivals Real Madrid, who are gunning for their tenth European Cup. … [Read more...]
The best it will get for Atleti?
This past year must feel like a dream for Atletico Madrid and their supporters. It started on May 17 of last year, when Atletico did the unthinkable and beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the Copa Del Rey Final. Now, a year later, and despite losing Radamel Falcao, the team is only one victory and one tie away from being crowned the Spanish and European Champions. It’s a great story and Atletico Madrid’s current success has been celebrated by not only their fans but by La Liga watchers around the world. The reason? Many believe this team will reform the league by being able to consistently challenge and … [Read more...]
Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid
La Liga is one of the most exciting and avidly followed football leagues in the world, and this year’s result could be the most interesting of all. Currently in a great position to win are Atlético Madrid, a side which hasn’t won the League since 1996 – that’s 16 years – and yet, after their 1-1 draw with Malaga on the 11/05/14 they go into their match against Barcelona on the 18/05/14 knowing that, should they beat the mighty Barça, they will be champions. … [Read more...]
A better job than Ancelotti
It has been hard to stop for breath in this season’s La Liga, it has been brilliant and we still don’t know who is going to prevail. What we do know is that it is coming to an end. But it isn’t too bad as we still have the World Cup to look forward to and for one lucky person this World Cup has just gone from awesome, to insane. … [Read more...]
Del Bosque may opt to discard Negredo
Atletico Madrid’s veteran striker David Villa could benefit from Alvaro Negredo’s fall from grace by being included in Vicente Del Bosque's 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. … [Read more...]
Spanish national team looking to conquer the world yet again
The Spanish national team, some might say arguably the best national side of all time. Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012. Need we say anymore? As the FIFA World cup 2014 inches closer, let’s take a look at whether defending champions Spain have the ammunition to rule the footballing world yet again as they did in scintillating fashion 4 years ago. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past half a decade or so, every football fan worth his salt would know that the Spanish national side have adopted a free-flowing, one touch footballing philosophy (Tiki-Taka as it's informally … [Read more...]
Watch out Barca and Real…Atletico are here to stay
Real Madrid and Barcelona football club have monopolised the Spanish La Liga over the past 10 years. However the two La Liga giants have had intruders to their crown in the past. The brief rejuvenation of champion’s league finalist and former La Liga champions Valencia in the late 1990’s and La Liga pretenders Deportivo La Coruna to name a couple. The two-horse dominance has now a potential long-term gatecrasher in Atletico Madrid. Since the last time Atletico won the league in 1996, Los Colchoneros have always had potential to become a force. Attack minded with players that bring real … [Read more...]
GUEST POST: FC Barcelona – what went wrong this season
Despite the current media and pundit narrative, this season isn’t Barcelona’s Waterloo. Yes, the team lost the Copa Del Rey to Real Madrid, crashed out of the Champion’s League, and barring a miracle won’t win the league. However, taking a realistic view of this season, Barca’s results seem appropriate. Last year the team effectively had two managers as Tito fought his battle with cancer and before that, they lost arguably the best coach of the modern era after a historic four year run. With the hiring of Gerardo Martino this past summer, Barcelona is on its fourth coach in the last three … [Read more...]