“In 2015, there is something of a gulf between the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A. While the former was booming with full grounds and exciting football, the latter was in the doldrums both on and off the pitch – a situation best summed up by FC Bayern München’s 7-1 demolition of AS Roma in the group phase of the champions league and Parma FC’s financial collapse.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“One-third of respondents to a poll by AS want Real Madrid to drop Cristiano Ronaldo. In another, simultaneous finding, one-third of respondents are idiots. To be fair, Ronaldo did go a whole three matches without scoring in February, dropping his record to a lackluster 41 goals in 39 games for club and country this season. All-time in La Liga, he’s only scored 207 goals in 171 appearances. Maybe the fans are right, maybe El Real can find someone better. Why not just clone Isco and play him up front as well? They’d like that.” Soccer Gods
“It was so close. Although Liverpool supporters would naturally have been disappointed that Brendan Rodgers’ team narrowly missed out on securing title winning glory in the 2013/14 season, objectively speaking their surge to second place in the Premier League represented great progress. Not only did they improve significantly from the previous season’s seventh, but they also qualified for the Champions League, a competition that has played an important part in the Reds’ famous history.” The Swiss Ramble
“Week 24’s game was an attempt from the Royal Blues to come back after the most humiliating defeat to Dortmund at the Revierderby the week before. I among many was convinced this club was not good enough for any Champions League position in the league. My mind still has not changed. That being said, Roberto DI Matteo, who I will still stand by as not truly being at fault for the club’s shortcomings, made some tactical changes for this home match against Hoffenheim that paid off. First of all, with the lack of any offence and most of all midfield movement, the club changed from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2. This allowed players who have been absent in recent weeks, such as Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to be more present in the game, with EMCM in particular having an impressive game with a few shots and setting up both of Max Meyer’s goals.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“You can imagine Barcelona’s directors cackling like Vincent Price at the end of Thriller as they signed off on the $309 million release clause in Lionel Messi’s contract last May. ‘No one will be able to afford that,’ they probably laughed, lighting cigars. ‘Messi will be ours… FOREVER!’ That was before the English Premier League signed a new TV deal worth precisely 1.5 gazillion pounds, though. (That converts to approximately 3.8 bazillion dollars.) Hence, with Financial Fair Play looking about as toothless as a three-month old baby, the idea of a club meeting that release clause and Messi moving on from Barcelona does not sound quite as crazy as it did a couple of months ago.” Soccer Gods
“Brendan Rodgers is very good. We all thought we saw a miserable Liverpool performance; a terrified defence somehow supporting an attack as threatening as a sleepy hamster. We were wrong. What we actually saw was a battalion of tired heroes, the conquerors of Manchester City, the pacifiers of insurgent Burnley, those few, those happy few, that band of brothers.” The Set Pieces
Scissors Kick 