Jose Mourinho’s move to Madrid was not the only remarkable end of the season development. Last week Italy’s soccer federation unanimously selected Cesare Prandelli to succeed Marcello Lippi as Italy coach after the 2010 World Cup. This is an excellent…
Category: Europe
Mourinho Arrives in Madrid
The word “saga” gets thrown around loosely among Anglo-American journalists, often in an effort to create a buzz about an unremarkable story, but the Mourinho episode during the past week correctly merits this designation. The “saga” ended today with the…
Inter Prevails, Celebration Tamed
Two excellent individual efforts by Diego Milito made the difference in Saturday’s Champions League final to complete Inter’s dream season and place the Italian club on course to match Barcelona’s unprecedented achievement in 2009. The moment of glory did not…
Champions League Preview
Bayern Munich’s path to today’s Champions League final in Madrid reflects the German club’s status as the competition’s team of destiny. Their passage from group stage to the semifinals had a touch of miracle just about every step of the…
Spanish Curtain Call
In front of 100,000 jubilant spectators that provided a great atmosphere at the Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona, Sevilla claimed La Copa del Rey in Spain with an efficient win over Atletico Madrid, the newly crowned Europa League champion. The…
Inter, Barca & Argentinos Triumphant
Internazionale Milano completed the Italian league-cup double on Sunday, matching Bayern Munich’s achievements in Germany and Chelsea’s in England, setting up a level clash in Saturday’s Champions League final. As anticipated, Barcelona retained the La Liga title without emotions, a…
Atletico Madrid Jubilation
It’s true, not a dream or a possibility, it really happened. For the first time in 25 years, Atletico Madrid is rejoicing in European glory, capping a season that started with the greatest expectations only to turn into a nightmare…
Celebrations in Progress and on Ice
As the domestic leagues are wrapping up a long season to make way for the World Cup, there was no shortage of highlights this past week as Chelsea, Bayern, Marseille and Benfica sealed their respective league titles. Barcelona passed its…
Liverpool Future Begins Now
In the next days and weeks, Liverpool Footbal Club will finally kick-start the changes required to return to the top of the English football hierarchy. Starting with transformations at the management level and culminating with new ownership desperately needed to…
One for All the Marbles
Spurs travel to Manchester tomorrow to take on City in a game with maximum implications for both clubs, at stake nothing less than the final Champion$ League place currently occupied by Tottenham. With City travelling to West Ham United and…
Stupendous Goal of the Week
Fernando Belluschi, Porto’s Argentine midfielder, delivered a sensational goal against arch-rival Benfica that not only mooted a controversial Porto strike but also prevented Benfica, in need of a single point, from celebrating the Portuguese title in Porto’s stadium. A nutmeg,…
Roman Holiday
Ma … che cosa !!! Last Saturday’s encounter between Lazio and Inter revealed the truly incredible dimension of acrimony that exists in the world of soccer, globally not just in Italy, when home side Lazio fans supported visiting team Inter…
Champions League Final: Inter-Bayern
If Bayern’s passage into the Champions League final had the look and feel of a formality in Lyon, Inter battled, scraped, cheated, resisted and frustrated a superior opponent to capitalize on the first leg advantage and survived to reach the…
Inter Back on Top, Chelsea Back on Track
No surprises in England and Spain, where Chelsea – Man United, Barcelona – Real Madrid, respectively, kept their title ambitions on pace. In Italy, another story, as Roma’s Scudetto dreams may have slipped away courtesy of a second half Pazzini…
Advantage Fulham and Atletico
English teams completed long, grueling journeys to arrive at their Europa League semifinal matches and it showed. Liverpool hardly created scoring chances in Madrid and will have to fight hard to overturn Atletico’s narrow advantage. Fulham fared better, managing to…