Daily Sports News

Liverpool has just had one of the most disastrous Champions league campaigns ever; they didn’t even make it to the knock out stages of the championship and got out of the group stages even before the final round of fixtures was played.

Nobody knows what went wrong with Liverpool, they have had great luck in the competition. A couple of years ago they struggled to finish in the top four in the domestic competition and won the European club competition.

Last year the manager Rafael Benitez spend about 18.5 million pounds on Glen Johnson, 15.3 million pounds on Aquilani (who never got to play much due to injury problems from his former club) and this was spent to help Liverpool’s chances of winning the cup. But instead things have got worse and compared to this year, they did better last time. Maybe selling Xabi Alonso was too overwhelming for them. This shows what kind of player he was.

Nobody knows what went wrong, when a team has players like Gerrard and Torres how can you not come in top 2 with a group of teams like Fiorentina, Lyon and Debrecen? This will be a huge loss to Liverpool in terms of money and the club’s image. To make matters worse there are rumors lurking around that say Javier Mascherano is leaving for Barcelona for earning more money and that Torres will be sold to relieve the club of financial burdens.

Liverpool now focuses on Europa League. If they win the cup it will be nothing great because Liverpool are the most talented team in that league but if they lose it will build even more pressure on them.

Mourinho has been asked by Inter Milan players Samuel Eto’o and Wesley Sneijder to bring José María Gutiérrez ‘Guti’ Hernández to Inter Milan to solve their mid field woes. The two players believe the attacking midfielder will provide great opportunities to the Inter strikers who are shy of scoring in Champions League.

Guti currently is out of favor at Real Madrid following a war of words with Coach Manuel Pelligrini, in which the trainer won the duel and now Guti has been left to warming the benches at Real.

Inter coach Jose Mourinho is currently facing the heat from owner Massimo Moratti, following their 2-0 deafeat at Barcelona at the Champions league. The “Special one” has done nothing spectacular since replacing Roberto Mancini in 2008. True, the have won a couple of Scudettos, but this was already achieved by Mancini. Moratti wants Champions League success and has gone public with his disappointment with Mourinho to which the latter replied by saying ‘I would like to coach in Spain’

Guti is expected to leave Los Merengues following the outburst against Pelligrini during the Copa Del Rey match against Alcoron. But both Real Madrid and the player have insisted that there will be no transfer. Pelligrini has other ideas; he is heard saying that Guti is not playing because he is ‘injured’.

Lionel Messi was announced World Player of the Year, he was far ahead of the nearest rival making him favorite to win the award.

The award to Messi goes probably because of his contribution in the Champions League where helped catalan giants, Barcelona to win the competition for the year 2008-2009. This is not all, Messi was a part of the Spanish team that was the first ever to win all three competitions or the ‘treble’ for Barcelona.

Contrary to the popluar belief that Messi lived in Argentina for most of his life, the winger was spotted by Barcelona when he was in his teens and quickly offered him a place in the youth academy. He has since grown there and climbed up the youth ranks to make a name in the first team of the Blaugrana.

Messi is considered now as one of the best players in the world. He has everything right from skill full tactics to speed and he has the capability to single handedly lift a team to victory.

Messi, as most famous players are, has been seen a lot of rumours floating around, linking him another club. Barcelona made a bid for Manchester City Robinho and Manchester City were quick to ask for Messi in a swap deal. There were also reports in Italy linking the Barca ace to Inter Milan where money is not a problem for the Inter owner Massimo Morati. The wildest of rumors have been new Real Madrid owner Florentino Perez trying to do another Figo and break the bank to buy Messi.

But Messi says he will remain loyal to Barcelona since they showed so much faith in him when he was young and brought him to Spain. Messi continues to terrorize the defense and cause night mares to defenders of the opposing team.

Kaka to Madrid:

Its official.The Brazilian international has finally made the move to Real Madrid from A.C Milan. The move, as claimed by the Spanish media, has been completed for approximately 65.2 million EUROS. He is being paid a net 6 million EUROS for six seasons. This move will see the 27 year old who joined Milan in 2003 and led them to the 2004 Seductto and 2007 Champions League and also won the prestigious Ballon D’Or during his stay. Real Madrid’s statement was as follows:

“Kaka, is a Real Madrid player after an agreement was reached with AC Milan. The Brazilian footballer has now successfully passed all medical tests. Kaka has signed a contract with Real Madrid for the next six seasons.”

While Milan’s statement was:

“From next season, Kaka will play at Real Madrid. Milan thank Kaka the man and the great champion for his decisive contribution to the many victories over the last six years. It will be very difficult to fill the void that Kaka will leave, as he is a shining example of commitment and professionalism. A. C. Milan, on behalf of the Rossoneri managers, players and supporters, send him the most cordial and affectionate wishes for the continuation of his sporting career.”

So as promised, Florentino Perez, the new president, has started his signings of world talents. So will we see, once again, the GALACTICOS, Real Madrid once were? Only time will tell…….

Toni To Barca? :

As Bayern Munich fans rejoiced the signing of Mario Gomez, the German international, from Stuttgart and it seems as per La Gazzetta dello Sport he is looking forward for a proposal which would move the 32 year old to the European Champions Barcelona. This comes on the wake of his failure to replicate his previous form of his previous season. Also it’s a known fact that Guardiola and Toni were teammates at Brescia.

So will the talismanic striker move to Barca?

On the line of fire – Trezeguet :

Trezeguet, the French striker, has become a wanted man by many European teams, if his Agent, Antonio Caliendo, is to be believed. The player, who had fallen out of favor with Juventus ex-manager Claudio Ranieri, had hinted that he would leave the club if he had a good offers coming his way despite the fact that he has two years contract left with Juventus. “Real Madrid, Inter, Milan, Roma, Sevilla, Villarreal and Manchester City are all after him,” Caliendo told Tuttomercatoweb.com.

So let’s see where Trezeguet plays next year and may lady luck smile upon him wherever he goes or even if he decides to stay….

One of the best farewell presents a team could offer to their coach was done by Chelsea, with and excellent win over Everton 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Though Everton had a dream start to the match when striker Louis Saha put Everton ahead after just 26 seconds and also scored the fastest goal in FA Cup Final but the day surely belonged to Chelsea.

Chelsea scored two amazing goals to get back into a 2-1 lead through strikes Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard scoring in 20th minute and the 72nd minutes respectively.

Chelsea was the hot favorite to qualify ahead of United for the Champions league when they conceded a last minute goal which resulted in a draw, taking United to the final. On Sunday Chelsea proved a point that they were the best side in English Club Football.

Chelsea, playing under Hiddink for the last time before he returns to coaching Russia’s national team, equalised after 20 minutes when Didier Drogba rose virtually unmarked to head past Tim Howard.

Frank Lampard said in a post match interview

“It was amazing, to be 1-0 down in one minute, we showed a lot of character. We basically dominated the game. The second half wasn’t quite so good, but I was always felt like we could win the game so I’m pleased to get the goal to help us win it.”

This win also helped England defender Ashley Cole to win his fifth FA Cup winner’s medals, the highest since the tournaments. He had previously won three with Arsenal and now has two with Chelsea.

Hiddink is a post match interview said

“We are very demanding on each other but that is a strength, they know how to react when they are on the back foot. That is why I like them. It hasn’t just been an in between job for me, it has been more than that. This is one of my biggest adventures, to win at football’s mecca is quite something.”

David Moyes the Everton coach gracefully accepted defeat and said

“Chelsea were the better team, however, we made a semi-final last year and now a final this year and the guys are growing in stature out there.”

Barcelona raised their game and left holders Manchester United in a state of shock. Catalans scored a breathtaking 2-0 victory over United to capture their third Champions League crown. Pep Guardiola in his debut season as a coach now has won the title twice one as a player and now as a coach. At the age 38 he also became the youngest coach to take European club football’s highest honor. Barcelona showed rhythm, elegance, dominance and possession which was too much for United to handle.

The march of the Red Devils came to and end in Rome and ended there unbeaten run of 25 games in the champions league. United also came to Rome with an unbeaten record of 2 yrs in the League. United’s 38 year old goal keeper Edwin Van Der Sar had not coincided a single goal in the last 14 matches but failed to defend the post in the grand finale. Samuel Eto’o scored the first goal with the help of deflection and Lionel Messi headed the second one of a cross from Xavi in the 70th minute closing all doors for United to get back in the game.

French striker Thierry Henry whose daughter also celebrated her birthday said in a post game interview

“Finally I have won it! I have been waiting for so long for this moment,”

“The last five minutes were the longest of my life. Even if we were 2-0 up we were playing the best team in the world (referring to the world club championship title United won earlier this year).”

United’s coach Sir Ferguson gracefully accepted defeat and said “We started the game brightly but the goal was a killer. However, they are a better team than us. We conceded two bad goals. Our defense has been good all season but those were two shoddy goals to lose.”

Barcelona Wins Champions League 2009 -The Award Cup