All Teams Set For Semi Finals of The Champions League

Chelsea was able to turn over their 3-1 deficit against PSG when Andre Schurrle and Demba Ba helped Mourinho's side to reach the Semi-finals of the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid were able to take revenge from Borussia Dortmund of the last season when they finished the German side's Champions League campaign with a 3-2 aggregate. 

The reigning European champions, Bayern Munich seized Manchester United's last opportunity to prove themselves in the 2013-14 season. On the other hand, Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid unexpectedly defeated the club which has never missed the Semi-Finals of UEFA Champions League in the past seven season- Barcelona. 

                                   Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich

This match would be no less than the Final. The European Champions would be facing a side from which every top team is compared.

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are definitely the two best teams of the world. Their clash in the Semi-Final would be mouth-watering in every prospect. Both the sides are the most " Decorated " side in this competition as the Spanish giants have won this contest nine times and the Bavarian side has won it five times.

The Bavarians are of course, the reigning Europeans Champions and have already won The German Bundesliga with a number of games still remaining. Their long unbeaten runs in all competitions have created waves across the world.

The same is true for Real Madrid. One of the richest clubs in the world, the Spanish side is overloaded with world-class players, including the Ballon D'or winner of 2013- Cristiano Ronaldo. They won 3-0 against Borussia Dortmund in the leg-1 but went down 2-0 in the next fixture. Considering the fact that this side hasn't won the Champions League in the past decade, they look set to possibly win it this time.

Would the defending European champions be able to beat a side which each and every team fears? 

                                 Chelsea vs. Atletico Madrid

After luckily winning over the Paris side- Paris Saint Germain in Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League on the " Away-Goal Rule ", Chelsea look set to take on this tournament's dark horses, Atletico Madrid.

These two clubs have faced each other only three times. These resulted in one win for each side and a 0-0 draw. While the so-called underdogs of LaLiga, Atletico Madrid have had a firing season and are the only unbeaten team in Champions League this seaon. While on the other hand Chelsea are just two points behind leaders, Liverpool in the English Premier League and might even win the league this season.

Chelsea's current boss, Jose Mourinho would be looking to edge the Spanish side unlike the time when he was Real Madrid's manager and Simeone's star striker, Radamel Falcao scored a hat-trick in the Copa Del Ray Final at the Santiago Bernebeu.

Usually we see two big teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid who are fighting for the LaLiga title, but from a couple of seasons, we have seen a drastic change. Diego Simeone, the current man in charge of Atletico Madrid has ensured that the team had played well through out the season. His side edged the Catalan club- Barcelona 1-0 in the leg-2 of the Quarter-finals when young midfielder- Koke put the ball in the back of net in just five minutes of kick off.

Would Jose Mourinho be able to bring his London side into the Finals of UEFA Champions League for the second time in three seasons? And would he create history to become the only manager to win this contest with three different clubs?

Bayern Munich vs Manchester United 2nd Leg at Allianz Arena

Defending champions Bayern Munich have a slight edge after the 1-1 at Old Trafford versus Manchester United but Pep Guardiola warned of the English club's tactics and quick breaks. After United's great defensive work last week, Pep thinks that Man Utd players wait for them deep in their own half, they are always waiting for the most minor mistakes or breaks. This is one of Pep's greatest concern because according to me he thinks that his most players would run upfront in search of a quick goal. During this when Utd would get the chance they would toss the ball upfront. As most players would be absent from their positions, Utd's offence would get a chance to score a goal. It is what I think, it can't be true.

Guardiola has also said about Utd's talisman Wayne Rooney. Due to his toe injury, a doubt has been cast over his participation in this Champions League clash. Pep says, "He[Rooney] will play, 100 per cent. Great players always play the great games and  I bet a beer that he will play".

Bayern had their first league defeat after 53 games to Augsburg. But after the draw in Manchester and another draw against Hoffenheim, it is the first time since 2011 that Bayern, who clinched the Bundesliga in record time last month, have gone three games without a win.

Bayern will be without two key players in the midfield, with Bastian Schweinsteiger out following his red card in the 1st leg and Thiago Alcantara injured, leaving Toni Kroos and Philip Lahm occupying their positions.

Guardiola Might Get Into A Swap Deal With United

There is nothing to hide that Manchester United boss, David Moyes has shown interest in one of the best attacking mid-fielder of this generation, Toni Kroos.

 According to Sports Direct News, Manchester United might be sacrificing their young talent, Adnan Januzaj to bring Toni Kroos to Old Trafford. 

David Moyes got boosted up to sign Kroos when Toni stalled on signing a new contract with Bayern. However, current Bayern manager Pep Guardiola was reluctant to let go his star mid fielder so easily.

According to various news sources, it has been stated that Manchester United would get into a transfer-swap deal with Bayern Munich which would include Adnan Januzaj (Man. United) and Toni Kroos ( Bay. Munich).

United's young shining star, Adnan Januzaj has shown his skill on the pitch this season. Though he has a less number of goals and assists under his name, his contribution towards the team has been remarkable on the pitch. He has been a shining star for the Red Devils and that is why Guardiola has shown interest in this young talent.

Ricardo Kaka , Europe bids adieu.

Ricardo Kaka , Europe bids adieu.

They say players who make people love football come few and far between. Well, Ricardo Kaka is one such player. He was blessed with blistering pace , great technique  and could make sublime turns to lose a man. Kaka had a combination of explosiveness , touch and technique that made him a counter attacking threat and last but not the least , those exquisite flicks in the middle of the park and a tendency to find the perfect final ball almost every time are some unique qualities possessed by the 2007 Ballon D’or winner. Though the pace is probably not the same now , but Kaka is still very quick for a 31year old play-maker.

Kaka , who’s move left Milan fans in tears , cemented a place in every football fan’s heart before leaving for Madrid. Now, after four hard years he’s come home to “grow old” as he said earlier this year. The day he captained Madrid against Ajax, was a day where in the the feeling in the capital was that Kaka will be leaving Madrid soon.

He had achieved everything at AC Milan , but his decision to come back or rather to “come home” to help and contribute his wealth of experience to a club which was not going through one of its best spells, really says a lot about him. Milan had given Kaka everything and not to the surprise of many , Kaka was ready to give back something to the club he loved.

 Be it at Milan or at Real Madrid , Kaka has always taken chances given to him and has time and again showed what a unique player he is. He had a hard time in Spain and it clearly didn’t go according to what everyone expected. Although it was a joy to watch him play with some of the best players in the world , he suffered long term injuries. His knees giving out were a major part in him not being able to remain fit on a consistent basis. It was clear that he didn’t have any luck on the injury front but also when fit , Jose Mourinho didn’t see Kaka in his plans.

Kaka on the other hand constantly kept showcasing his abilities in the limited time which he was afforded; he performed well in the Champions League matches as he added to his goal tally which now stands at 29, the most by any Brazilian, but him playing a major role for Madrid just wasn’t in the script. His talent was always only utilized in patches over his four year stay in the capital.

Finally, he put an end to the misery and returned to his beloved AC Milan this season. He’s so loved in Milan that when he arrived for his medical at the Guissepe Meazza , journalists lined up just for an autograph of this happy go lucky Brazilian legend . Kaka this season has been the glue holding Milan players together and when given a chance , he’s always had the final say either in delivering a decisive final pass or scoring a vital goal.

A 31 year old being the driving force at a club as big as Milan speaks volumes for the influence that he has at Milan. This does take some doing. As thankful as a player he is , he’s been a symbol of loyalty for all clubs he’s represented in his career.

He’s been loyal to football in general and clearly is thankful to God for the talent he has; characterized by his trademark celebration. This year he’s showed what love and passion mean, by helping Milan in what has been a hard season for the Rossoneri. Unfortunately, the match against Atletico Madrid arguably was his last game in the Champions league. AC-Milan don’t look to have a squad required to challenge for a top four place next season. Furthermore , there have been reports that Kaka is on his way out looking for new experiences as he’s rumoured to have a pre-contract agreement with MLS side Orlando City.

Sadly, It’s looking more and more like that Europe has seen the last of this immensely talented footballer who will go down in the history books as a great champion, a player who was wonderful to watch and the beauty of his football was for the world to admire; the one who got neutrals off of their seats celebrating in joy.

Kaka will be missed, as Europe bids him adieu….. 

Barca's President " This ban is unjust"

J.M. Bartomeu, Barcelona's president says that the transfer ban handed to them by FIFA was unjust.

The Catalan club has been banned from buying players till the summer of 2015 as FIFA found the club guilty in the past few transfer windows while they were signing youth players.

Barcelona has said that they would be appealing against this ban.
"We are going to fight because this ban is a total unjust." said Bartomeu

The FIFA investigation for the under-18 players who played for Barcelona between 2009-2013 concluded that the club and the Spanish Football Federation are guilty of a 'serious' infringement of the rules of transfers of 10 players.

The rules of FIFA state that international transfers can only be permitted if the player is above the age of 18. Or unless the player in question follows any one the tree criteria.

1. Under 18's can only be permitted for an international transfer if the parents of the player move to that country for non-footballing reasons.

2. If he/she is from another country in the European Union or European Economic Area and is aged between 16 and 18.

3. If he/she lives within 100kms of the club.

After Chelsea appealed successfully against their two-year ban when they signed young Gael Kakuta from Lens, Barcelona confirmed a couple of days back that they would be appealing against this unjust ban on them just like the London club.

The rule seems to protect the minors against clubs which incorporate players without providing them rights and education, which are the basic needs for youth academies.

Barcelona were planing to buy big players like Juan Cuadrado, David Luiz and Marc-Ander ter Stegen, but due to the ban which unfortunately will last till the summer of 2015 would however affect their performance in the upcoming season as two key players ( V. Valdes and C. Puyol) would be retiring.
Barca would be on their tips to appeal against this unjust ban as they think that all the transfers in the last four years were legal.

United 1-1 Bayern Munich-What we learnt?

The much anticipated clash ended in a hard fought truce

The draw for the Champions League always pulls off some off these and there is no margin for even the minutest error in a game as exciting as these.Manchester United were pitted against the mighty German giants Bayern Munich and for the first time in years,the encounter was treated to be a David and Goliath one.

The game,rather unexpectedly concluded as a 1-1 draw but the prospect surely caught the attention of many football fans around the world.Both sides,Moyes' Manchester United and Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich had to fight utterly hard to earn a stupefying stalemate .Outgoing skipper Nemanja Vidic broke the deadlock in the 58th minute only to see United's dream of beating the Bayern getting shattered by a Bastian Schweinsteiger equalizer.

Here are some lessons we learnt from the supreme showdown which took place at Old Trafford-

5. Buttner makes a case for himself

Many neutral and rival fans had fight off their bouts of laughter when United's second choice left back Alex Buttner proclaimed that he would try and control Arjen Robben effectively .But,the young Dutchman lived up to what he actually said and defied people who said -"Better said than done".

He succeeded exceptionally well in closing down compatriot Arjen Robben and was rightly,one of the nominees for the Man Of the Match award.

His abilities have come into question recently,but his showing against one of the most dreaded right wingers proved why,he can replace Patrice Evra as United's first choice left back.

4. Robben is not as monotonous as we think

Alex Buttner's work was cut out even before the game started, but we can say that he got off a wee bit easy only because Arjen Robben was deployed in a different role by Pep Guardiola.

He was roaming around freely on on the pitch,disregarding his tendency to work out on the right side,quite predominantly.To work out openings ,which were too tough to find,Arjen Robben  operated everywhere on the pitch for the Bavarians and even combined well with hitman Franck Ribery to carve out a decent amount of half chances.

We are now ,quite used to seeing him make a trademark cut inside the box from the right but yesterday,we realized that Robben is after all,not as monotonous as he seems.

3.Welbeck-good but not good enough

The man who has been working up the pecking order continuously,Danny Welbeck could have proved out to be the real difference maker for both the sides ,but once again,his finishing let him down quite blatantly.

He was put clean through on goal by Wayne Rooney and it caught Bayern off guard,quite easily.Welbeck,owing to lack of experience decided to chip a well positioned Manuel Neuer ,but the opportunity was blown away quite easily by the 23 year old Englishman.His quick feet did help him agitate  the likes of Jerome Boateng,Rafinha and Javi Martinez but simply failed when he needed to deliver the goods.

We have seen,through the seasons,that his finishing has let him down and it was proved once again,that Welbeck still needs to work upon his finishing and shooting abilties.

2.Lack of competition costs Bayern dear

United were already being counted out against Bayern Munich but David Moyes got his tactics and substitutions impeccably spot on.

No doubt,Bayern were exceedingly appreciable in keeping hold of possession throughout the game,but faltered when pressurized even once by the quick and agile feet of the United boys.The only reason one can think of is the lack of competition present in the Bundesliga.They are not at all used to falling prey to this kind of pressure all of a sudden and much like against City and Arsenal,they collapsed against United as well.

As a result ,Bastian Schweinsteiger got sent off in the 90th minute and will miss the next leg.English teams have succeeded in picking out weaknesses in the Bayern side and above is the only reason why Bayern can't perform exceptionally well against them.

1.Man United never die

Despite of enduring an utterly torrid season under new manager David Moyes,Man United decided not to give in against the mighty giants from Bavaria.

Nobody expected United to deliver a rock solid performance against the self proclaimed "Best Team of Europe" but much to the surprise on even some United fans,the showing was tremendously commendable.They defended deep and maintained a high line up the pitch to deny Bayern even the slightest of openings.Although,Bayern head into the 2nd leg,holding a slight advantage but I get the feeling that United will "upset" the European Champions.

A much favored chant for Old Trafford faithfuls-"Man United Never Die",fits almost inch perfectly into the way they played against Pep's people.They were resilient and possessed their trademark qualities of the Never Say Die attitude and there's no wonder why United would be happy with the result.

The Catalans Host Atletico Madrid for UCL

FC Barcelona would be facing one of the toughest test of their season when they host LaLiga table-toppers Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou for the Round of 8 in the UEFA Champions League. Having reached the Semi-Finals of the last six editions of the competition, Barca would be looking to edge the season's best surprise package side.

Diego Simoene's side would be a tough nut to crack for the Catalonians as they are sitting on top of the LaLiga unlike previous seasons, when only Real Madrid or Barcelona were seen on the top spot. After hearing the qualities of the squads of FCB and RMA for several years, we have got one addition on the list of the best teams of Spain, which is Simoene's Atletico Madrid.

Though Atletico Madrid are new to the UEFA Champions League and haven't experienced too much at European level, we can not ignore their form in this season's UCL and LaLiga. They were one of those three teams who entered the Round of 16 in UCL unbeaten. While on the other hand spectators and fans have great faith in the Catalans as their season as been fantastic under Gerado Martino.

TEAM NEWS- 

Barcelona (4-3-3): Pinto; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Xavi, Fàbregas; Neymar, Messi, Iniesta

Atletico (4-3-2-1): Courtois; Juanfran, Godin, Miranda, Filipe; Gabi, Tiago; Suarez, Gabi, Tiago; Arda, Koke; Costa

PREDICTIONS- 

 It's a tough call. Both teams are in top form. A home loss to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League against Madrid would be embarrassing. Keeping Simoene's side's form in mind, I would predict a 2-2 draw in the Leg-1.