footplayingball: April 2012

The goal of the match came through a header from Vincent Kompany when he headed in a corner crossed by David Silva in the added minute of the first half.

European League Results for today (April 30)

Results of matches played today in some of the major leagues in Europe including; English Premier League, Portuguese Liga.

Barca unleash CL exit anger on Rayo Vallecano

Playing their first match after being eliminated from the Champions League by Chelsea, Barcelona unleashed their Champions League exit anger on their fellow Spanish club Rayo Vallecano by trashing them 7-0 on Sunday.

European League results for today (April 29)

Results of matches played today in some of the major leagues in Europe including; English Premier League, Spanish Primera Division, Italian Serie A, Portuguese Liga, Dutch Eredivisie, Russian Primier League (postponed).

Fernando Torres got his first Chelsea hat trick as the Blues beat Queens Park Rangers 6-1 at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea got their first goal seconds into the match through Daniel Sturridge and in the 13th minute John Terry scored to make it two.

Torres who has picked up his scoring boots got his treble in the 19th, 25th and 64th minute of the game.

Chelsea to sign Marko Marin from Bremen

Chelsea Football Club on Saturday agreed to sign Werder Bremen Midfielder Marko Marin. The two clubs have agreed on a fee for the 23-year-old German International and he will be joining the London club in the summer.

European League results for today (April 28)

Results of matches played today in some of the major leagues in Europe including; English Premier League, Spanish Primera Division, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Portuguese Liga, Dutch Eredivisie Russian Primier League.

European League fixtures (27 Apr - May 2)

Fixtures of some major leagues in Europe; including the English Premier League, Spanish Primera Division, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Portuguese Liga, Dutch Eredivisie, Russian Premier League.

Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola has announced to the president and squad that he will be leaving the club when his present contract ends on June 30.

Guardiola who played for Barcelona in the 90’s before coming back as a coach announced his decision on Friday morning. Afterwards, Pep Guardiola, Sandro Rosell and Andoni Zubizarreta gave a press conference in the Ricard Maxenchs pressroom in the Camp Nou.

All Spanish Europa League final

Two Spanish teams Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid made it through to this seasons Europa League final.

In the second leg of the semi final played on Thursday, Athletic Bilbao defeated Sporting Lisbon 3-1 (4-3 aggregate) while Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 1-0 (5-2 aggregate).

UEFA is sticking with their rules that the six suspended players of Bayern Munich and Chelsea will not play in the Champions League final despite appeals from some players and union.

Nigerian International John Obi Mikel who plays for Chelsea is one of those who think that the yellow should be cancelled. Speaking in a report he said: "Yes, the yellow cards should be cancelled going into a final and UEFA should look into that.

FIFPro had also made an appeal to UEFA to allow players with yellow to play in the finals. Suggesting that players who commit serious offence should be awarded a red card insisting that it is unfair for a player to miss so a big match due to yellow card cumulated.

CL: Bayern beat Madrid on pentaly to qualify for final

Bayerm Munich defeated Madrid 3-1 on penalty to qualify for the Champions League final.

The game went into extra time after the match ended 2-1 (3-3 aggregate) in favour of Real Madird. The match was later decided on penalties as both team failed to score in the thirty minutes extra time.

Madrid opened score from the spot just six minutes into the game after Ronaldo converted a penalty.

Cristiano Ronaldo got a brace eight minutes later to make it two for the home side, making it his 10th goal in the Champions league this season.

Gerard Pique who spent the night in the hospital following a collision with Victor Valdes and Didier Drogba on Tuesday’s Champions League match has been discharged.

The Barcelona defender was injured less than twenty minutes into the game and was substituted eight minutes later after he was unable to continue with the match.

A statement from Barcelona confirming his release said;

Gerard Pique has been discharged from the hospital after follow up medical tests proved satisfactory.

Barcelona lost out to Chelsea in the game on 3-2 aggregate after they were held to a 2-2 draw. Chelsea will now play the winner between Real Madrid and Bayern in the final.

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Ten-man Chelsea sends Barca out of CL

Chelsea drew 2-2 with Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Tuesday to move to the finals of the Champions League on a 3-2 aggregate.

Sergio Busquets put Barca ahead in the 35th minute of the game with Barca having control of the match. Two minutes later Chelsea captain John Terry was sent off for an un sportsmanship behavior.

It seemed as if it was over for Chelsea when Andres Iniesta scored the second goal for Barcelona in the 43rd minute but Chelsea got back in the game with a nice finish from Ramires in first half stoppage time.

Van Persie named the PFA player of the year

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has been named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year.

Van Persie, 28, has had a very good season with his club scoring 27 Premier League goals so far.

Van persie see it a great honor to have been selected as the PFA player of the year. Speaking in a report, he said;

European League results for today

Results of matches played today in some of the major leagues in Europe. Including;, Spanish Primera Division, Portuguese Liga.

SPANISH PRIMERA DIVISION

MONDAY, APRIL 23

Final – Osasuna 1-1 Malaga

PORTUGUESE LIGA

MONDAY, APRIL 23

Final – Academica de Coimbra 0-1 Olhanense

Premier League team of the year

Manchester City and Tottenham’s players dominated the list of the Premier League team of the year. Four of the players came from Manchester City while three came from Tottenham.

Newcastle, Arsenal, Everton and Manchester United produced one player each to complete the eleven man list.

The players are;

European League results for today

Results of matches played today in some of the major leagues in Europe. Including; English Premier league, Spanish Primera Division, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Russian Premier League.

Dortmund retains Bundesliga title

Borussia Dortmund secured their second successive Bundesliga title after beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 on Saturday.

Dortmund got their two goals through Jurgen Klopp’s and Ivan Perisic in the 23rd and 6oth minute respectively.

Speaking in a report, Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said: ''The team played wonderfully today. I am pleased that Bayern won in Bremen, otherwise we would not have experienced this today. A perfect Saturday. To put in such a perfect performance shows the quality of the team."

With two games left to play for Dortmund this season, they have already secured enough points to be crowned German champions. They currently have 75 points, and are being followed by Bayern Munich with 67 points.

European League results for today

Drogba to miss match against Arsenal

Chelsea Manager Roberto Di Matteo has revealed that Didier Drogba will miss the match against Arsenal on Saturday due to an injury suffered in the Champions League match against Barcelona.

Drogba scored the only goal of the game against Barcelona and has been in good form in the last couple of games. In his speech, Chelsea manager said;

“Both David Luiz and Drogba will miss the game against Arsenal. Drogba picked up a knee injury against Barcelona and we will need to assess him over the next couple of days. He got pushed and kicked around quite a lot in the game on Wednesday.”

Chelsea is currently occupying the sixth position on the league table, six points behind Arsenal who are on the third position.

European League results for today

Result of matches played today in some of the top European leagues. Including German Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie and Portuguese Liga.

European League fixtures

League fixtures of some of the major European leagues for this weekend including the; English Premier League, Spanish Primera Division, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Russian Premier League.

Manchester United top Forbes most valuable soccer team

Manchester United has been named the world’s most valuable soccer team for an eight consecutive year by Forbes.

United who are currently seeking there 20th English league title are reportedly worth $2.24 billion and are being followed by Real Madrid with $1.88billion.

Current European and Spanish champions, Barcelona occupy the third position with $1.31billion while Arsenal occupies the fourth position with $1.29 billion.

Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon defeated their visitors in the first leg of the Europa League semi final to stay at an advantage of moving to the finals.

Atletico Madrid defeated their fellow Spanish side Valencia 4-2, while Sporting Lisbon beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1.

Ronaldo's boot stolen before CL match

Real Madrid players Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Mesut Ozil were reported to have their kits stolen before the first leg of the Champions League semi final.

According to reports, six pairs of boots and some shirts were stolen from Real Madrid’s dressing room. Three of which were owned by Ronaldo and the others for Ozil and Benzema.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho speaking in his post match press conference said;

"The stealing of Cristiano’s shoes is a shame, it’s impossible something like that could happen at the Bernabeu.”

Reports also have it that Real Madrid has lodged a complaint to UEFA concerning the incident.

Bayern defeated Madrid 2-1 in the game and Ronaldo's performance was not impressive. This leaves some people asking if his performance was affected by the incident.

CL: Chelsea beat Barca to keep hope alive

Chelsea defeated Barcelona 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League semi final on Wednesday at the Stamford Bridge to keep their hope alive to qualify for the finals.

Drogba scored the only goal of the match in the added time of the first half through a cross from Ramires.

Though Barcelona had more of the possession throughout the game, Chelsea was able to stop them from scoring an away goal.

Interim boss Roberto Di Matteo played more of defensive, playing only Didier Drogba up front and it paid off for him.

Barcelona had great chances to score in the game but was unable to convert any of them. The second leg of the match will be played on April 24 at the Camp Nou.

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

CL: Gomez give Bayern win against Madrid

Bayern Munich defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of the Champions league semi final played on Tuesday.

The 89th minute goal from the top scorer in the German Bundesliga, Mario Gomez, sealed the victory for the home side. Bayern was a goal up in the first half through a strike from Ribery in the 17th minute but Mesut Ozil equalized for Madrid just eight minutes into the second half.

Though Real Madrid has one away goal, Bayern is now at an advantage as they require only a draw when they meet in the second leg to move to the finals.

The second leg of the game will be played in Spain on April 25 at the Bernabeu.

Monday, 16 April 2012

European league tables

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
		GP	PT	GD
1	Manchester United	34	82	54
2	Manchester City	34	77	58
3	Arsenal	34	64	24
4	Tottenham Hotspur	33	59	19
5	Newcastle United	33	59	8
6	Chelsea	33	57	18
7	Everton	33	47	4
8	Liverpool	33	46	4
9	Sunderland	34	43	1
10	Fulham	33	43	0
11	Norwich City	34	43	-11
12	Swansea City	34	42	-6
13	West Bromwich Albion	34	42	-7
14	Stoke City	33	42	-13
15	Aston Villa	33	35	-13
16	Wigan Athletic	34	34	-25
17	Queens Park Rangers	34	31	-19
18	Bolton Wanderers	32	29	-29
19	Blackburn Rovers	34	28	-28
20	Wolverhampton Wanderers	34	23	-39

European League top scorers

These are the top scorers in some of the major European leagues; English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie and Portuguese Liga

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

MONDAY, APRIL 16^th

Final - Arsenal 1-2 Wigan Athletic

FA Cup: Chelsea to face Liverpool in final

Chelsea qualified for the FA Cup final after trashing Tottenham 5-1 at Wembley on Sunday. Chelsea will now meet Liverpool who had earlier secured a place in the final on Saturday after they defeated Everton 2-1.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SUNDAY, APRIL 15^th

Final - Manchester United 4-0 Aston Villa

Liverpool through to FA cup final

Liverpool defeated Everton 2-1 on Saturday at Wembley to qualify for the FA Cup final.

At the end of the first half Liverpool was a goal down to Everton, from a goal by Nikica Jelavic in the 24th minute. Luis Suarez levelled matters in the 62nd minute after a poor defence by Everton.

All matches this weekend in Italy’s top flight has been postponed after the death of Livorno’s Piermario Morosini on Saturday.

The 25 year old player who been on loan from Udinese collapsed during his team’s Serie B match against Pescara. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Dr. De Blasi confirming the death said:

“It was a cardiac arrest. He arrived dead at the hospital, he never recovered.

All matches scheduled for this weekend will be rearranged for a later date in memory of Morosini.

Tevez get hat trick for city

Carloz Tevez scored a hat trick on Saturday against Norwich City to lead his side to a 6-1 victory. This result now takes Manchester City to two points behind United who will be hosting Aston Villa at the Old Trafford on Sunday.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SATURDAY, APRIL 14^th

Final - Norwich City 1-6 Manchester City

Final - Sunderland 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Final - Swansea City 3-0 Blackburn Rovers

Final - West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Queens Park Rangers

Maradona: Pele's claim about Neymer is "stupid"

One of the world football legends Diego Maradona has reacted to a statement made by Pele, referring to it as "stupid".

Pele had earlier made a statement suggesting that Lionel Messi is not as good as Santos player Neymer.

Pele was quoted as saying:

ENGLISH FA CUP FIXTURES

SATURDAY, APRIL 14^th

12:30 PM - Liverpool VS Everton

SUNDAY, APRIL 15^th

6:00 PM - Tottenham Hotspur VS Chelsea

European league fixtures

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SATURDAY, APRIL 14^th

12:45 PM - Norwich City VS Manchester City

3:00 PM - Sunderland VS Wolverhampton Wanderers

3:00 PM - Swansea City VS Blackburn Rovers

3:00 PM - West Bromwich Albion VS Queens Park Rangers

Mancini: Balotelli will be back against United

Manchester City Boss Roberto Mancini said that Balotelli will be back to face Manchester United when they meet on April 30.

Mancini had earlier said that the striker would not play again for City this season after they lost to Arsenal on Sunday.

Egypt defeated Nigeria 3-2 in an international friendly played on Thursday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The super eagles got their two goals from Sunday Mba and Kalu Uche while Egypt got their goals through Ahmed Temsah, Mohammed Aboutreika and Ahmed Hassan Mekki.

The players of both teams were made up of home based players.

European League results for today

SPANISH PRIMERA DIVISION

THURSDAY, APRIL 12^th

Final – Villarreal 2-1 Malaga

Final – Racing Santander 0-3 Mallorca

Final – Sevilla 3-0 Real Zaragoza

Ronaldo nets in seventh hat trick of the season

Ronaldo got his seventh hat trick of the season as Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 on Wednesday. His first goal came through a wonderful free kick in the 25th minute which the keeper just watched helplessly as the ball entered the net.
Falcao got an equalizer for the home team in the 55th minute putting pressure on the league leaders who entered the match with just a point above Barcelona. Ronaldo got his second goal of the night in the 68th minute and completed it three from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute. Jose Maria Callejon got the last goal of the match three minutes later to seal the victory for Real Madrid.
Ronaldo has now scored 40 league goals this season, a goal more than Lionel Messi but both players have 60 goals each in all competitions this season.

Latest FIFA world ranking

Spain still retain the first position in the latest ranking by FIFA. Netherlands slipped two position down to take the fourth position while Germany and Uruguay occupy the second and third position respectively.
Below is the full ranking as published by FIFA's website

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11^th

Final – Manchester City 4-0 West Bromwich Albion

Final – Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester United

Final – Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Arsenal

Final – Queens Park Rangers 3-0 Swansea City

Ivanovic charged with violent conduct

Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has been charged with violent conduct by the English Football Association.

Footage showed Ivanovic punch a Wigan player during a Premier League match played between Chelsea and Wigan on Saturday.

The FA had to look into it since Micheal Jones who was the referee during that match did not see the incident. After a review by the FA, Ivanovic was found guilty and could face a possible three match unless he appeals against the judgement before 6pm of Wednesday.

The current European Champions will be in their all black kit when they face Chelsea at the Bridge in the first leg semi finals of the Champions League.

Due to similarities between the two clubs jersey, reports say that Barca sought advice from Uefa in order to avoid colour clash.

The club was told by the European football governing body that their black kit will be good enough to differentiate both teams.

The last time both teams met in 2008/2009, Barca was on their yellow jersey.
The first leg of the semi finals between Chelsea and Barcelona will be played on April 18.

European League results for today

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

TUESDAY, APRIL 10^th

Final – Blackburn Rovers 2-3 Liverpool

The seven times African Champions, Egypt will take on Nigeria in a friendly match in Doha on Thursday.

The Super Eagles squad will be missing Mustapha Babadidi who is currently the top scorer in the Nigerian Premier League, due to injury.

The Nigerian team got to Dubai on Tuesday with the assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi and will be joined by the head coach, Stephen Keshi on Wednesday from USA.

Below is the full squad of both the Nigerian and Egyptian team with their clubs.

EPL: Norwich dent Spurs CL ambition

Tottenham’s hope of finishing among the top four in the league this season suffered another blow as they lost at home against Norwich City.

Anthony Pilkington put the visitors ahead thirteen minutes into the game but Defoe’s 33rd minute goal kept the game level at half time. Tottenham had some scoring opportunities in the second half including a shot by Bale that hit the woodwork but a powerful shot from Elliott Bennett in the 66th minute gave Norwich the victory.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

MONDAY, APRIL 9^th

Final – Everton 4-0 Sunderland

Final – Newcastle United 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

Final – Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Norwich City

Final – Aston Villa 1-1 Stoke City

Final – Fulham 1-1 Chelsea

Barca gets boost ahead of CL clash with Chelsea

The match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Nou Camp has been brought forward to 21st April.

The match was brought a day forward by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, this gives Barca extra 24 hours to recover before they play against Chelsea in the second leg of Champions League final. The first leg of the match will be played on April 18.

Chelsea had their request to rearrange their FA Cup semi final match against Tottenham turned down by the English FA. Chelsea will play Tottenham on Sunday before they play Barcelona in the first leg Champions league tie.

Sunday, 8 April 2012

Midweek European league fixtures

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

MONDAY, APRIL 9^th

3:00PM – Everton VS Sunderland

3:00PM – Newcastle United VS Bolton Wanderers

3:00PM – Tottenham Hotspur VS Norwich City

5:00PM – Aston Villa VS Stoke City

8:00PM – Fulham VS Chelsea

Arsenal defeated Manchester City 1-0 to move back to the third position in the league table. The result now leaves Manchester City eight points behind United who are on top of the table with 79 points.

Mikel Arteta lashed in a 25 - yard strike into the bottom right corner of City’s net in the 87th minute to give the home side the victory. Mario Balotelli was sent off in the 90th minute after he got a second yellow card in the game.

Goals from Rooney and Scholes gave United a 2-0 victory against QPR. With just six games to the end of the match, United are just steps away from clinching their 20th league trophy.

European league results for today

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SUNDAY, APRIL 8^th

Final - Manchester United 2-0 Queens Park Rangers

Final - Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City

Lionel Messi grabbed his 60th goal of the season in all competitions as Barcelona beat Zaragoza 4-1 on Saturday. The 24 year old forward got a brace in the match. The first goal came in the 39th minute while the other was from the penalty spot five minutes to the end of the match.

So far this season Messi has scored 38 La Liga goals, 14 in the Champions League, 3 Supercopa goals, 2 in the Copa del Rey, 2 in the Club World Cup and 1in the Uefa Super Cup.

His 60th goal this season puts him seven goals behind Gerd Muller’s all time record for a single European season.

Milan lose at home as Juventus go top Serie A

Juventus took advantage of Milan’s 2-1 defeat by beating Palermo 2-0 to move top of Serie A. Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave AC Milan the lead in the 31th minute through a penalty kick but the goal from Stefan

Jovetic and Carvalho Amauri’s 89th minute goal gave the visitors the victory.

Leonardo Bonucci and Fabio Quagliarella were both on target for Juventus in the56th and 69th minute respectively as they defeated Palermo.

With this result Juve now tops Seria A with 65 points, a point more than AC Milan who are second with 64 points

Saturday, 7 April 2012

Chelsea grab late win against Wigan

Chelsea got a vital win against Wigan at the Bridge to keep their hope alive for a fourth place finish in the league. The blues won by two goals to one to move within two points of the top four.

Ivanovic who appeared to be a couple of yards offside got the first goal for Chelsea in the 62nd minutes. Despite the complaint by the Wigan players the goal was awarded to the home side. Mohamed Diame got the equalizer for Wigan in the 82nd minute but Juan Mata gave Chelsea the Maximum three points when he scored in the 90th minute.

This result leaves Chelsea two points behind Arsenal who have 58 points with a game at hand.

Eurpoean league results for today

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SATURDAY, APRIL 7^th

Final - Sunderland 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Final - Bolton Wanderers 0-3 Fulham

Final - Chelsea 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Final - Liverpool 1-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool manager has blamed poor officiating for his side draw against Aston Villa on Saturday. He pointed out some refereeing decisions that went against his side, including the yellow card that was giving to Suarez for allegedly diving.

Liverpool came from behind to draw 1-1 with Aston Villa. Chris Herd put the visitors ahead just ten minutes into the game but a late goal in the 82nd minute by Suarez gave Liverpool a point from the game.

Kenny Dalglish who felt that the referee got some of the decisions wrong, speaking to reporters said

Monday, 30 April 2012

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Saturday, 28 April 2012

Friday, 27 April 2012

Thursday, 26 April 2012

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Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Monday, 23 April 2012

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Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Monday, 16 April 2012

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Thursday, 12 April 2012

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