Champions League Semi-Final Draw

Below is the draw for the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final. Again, the team on the left will be playing the first leg at home. Ties will be played on 26/27 April and 3/4 May 2011.

Semi-Final 1:
Inter Milan or Schalke04 vs Chelsea or Manchester United

Semi-Final 2:
Real Madrid or Tottenham vs Barcelona or Shakhtar Donetsk

Champions League Quarter-Final Draw

Below is the official draw for the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final. The team on the left will have the first leg at home. The ties will be played on the 5/6 and the 12/13 of April 2011. Check out the next post for the Semi-Final draw.

Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Inter Milan vs Schalke 04

Champions League Round of 16 Results



Below are the final results from the UEFA Champions League Last-16 Round. Check back tomorrow for the full list of the Quarter-Final draw.

Chelsea 0 - 0 FC Copenhagen (agg 2-0) Chelsea Win

Manchester United 2 - 1 Marseille (agg 2-1) Manchester United Win

Shakhtar Donetsk 3 - 0 Roma (agg 6-2) Shakhtar Donetsk Win

Barcelona 3 - 1 Arsenal (agg 4-3) Barcelona Win

Tottenham 0 - 0 AC Milan (agg 1-0) Tottenham Win

Schalke 04 3 - 1 Valencia (agg 4-2) Schalke 04 Win

Bayern Munich 2 - 3 Inter Milan (agg 3-3) Inter Milan Win (on away goals)

Real Madrid 3 - 0 Lyon (agg 4-1) Real Madrid Win

Bryan Robson Faces Throat Cancer

Bryan Robson coaching the Tailand national team

It was announced today that Manchester United and England great, Bryan Robson, has undergone surgery to fix a tumour in his throat. We have been told that the tumour is a treatable condition, and Bryan Robson will be able to continue his role as Thailand manager as well as being an ambassador at his old club, which he signed for a record tranfer fee of £1.5m in 1981, Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson Handed Five-Match Ban

Ferguson during Man Utd's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea

The FA have given Sir Alex Ferguson a Five-Match touchline ban due to his improper conduct towards referee Martin Atkinson during his side, Manchester United, loss against Chelsea earlier this month. The ban starts on the 22nd March and runs through Manchester United's FA Cup Semi-Final match against rival, Manchester City. They have also fined Sir Alex £30,000 because of his actions.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Greatest Game Ever

In-Game Picture from Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops has now officially set the record for the highest selling video game in history. This, however, is according to the market research firm NPD, stating that it sold more than 13.7 millions copies across the United States alone. NPD said that within it's first 24 hours the game had began creating revenues of over £223 million. Within 6 weeks the game had turned over $1 billion of revenue. By creating $1 billion of revenue it was added to the elite group of 3 other entertainment releases; Michael Jackson's Thriller Album and James Cameron's 1997 hit, The Titanic & Avatar. Only Black Ops and Avatar have hit the billion dollar mark this quickly throughout all of history.

The FA Cup Semi-Final Draw

This is the complete draw for the FA Cup Semi-Final sponsered by Eon. All of these matches will be played on neutral ground at Wembley Stadium, London.

  Manchester United              vs        Manchester City
    


         Bolton                 vs            Stoke City
   

FA Cup Quarter-Final Results

Richards breaking the deadlock 16 minutes from time against Reading

Birmingham City 2 - 3 Bolton
Elmander 21, Jerome 38, Davies (pen) 66, Phillips 80, Lee 90.

Manchester United 2 - 0 Arsenal
Fabio da Silva 28, Rooney 49.

Stoke City 2 - 1 West Ham United
Huth 12, Piquionne 30, Higginbotham 63.

Manchester City 1 - 0 Reading
Richards 74.

Olympic Stadium - For Fighters or Strugglers.

Fellow blog readers, after quite some time off blogging, I have decided to return with a key feature in the news - besides Mubarek's resignation. The decision over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 London Olympics.


The two teams fighting for the stadium are; West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspurs. 


In my opinion Tottenham deserve the stadium due to the financial aspects. They would be guaranteeing full capacity almost every fortnight allowing income due to ticket prices. It also adds as another stadium for a World Cup to be played in, creating income through advertising and several matches being played there. Lastly, Champions League football will be added to the long list of possible events there. The only downside is Tottenham want to demolish the running track, therefore turning the stadium into a purely football, or rugby, venue.


On the other hand, the stadium could easily be given to West Ham United (the favourites) because they will be maintaining the running track, which will allow the prestigious stadium to be used as a football/rugby/athletics ground. However the financial benefits, in my opinion, are not as great due to the fact West Ham will not be able to offer sell out crowds (60,000) as they, at the moment, seem to be taking a turn down a division to the nPower Championship. Furthermore, they cannot offer Champions League football. The upside is the ground can be used for numerous events and will link a newly regenerated Stratford, to a newly regenerated West Ham United.


These are my opinions, I am curious to hear what you have to say about this dilemma. Post your comments below.

Player Power - Sort It Out!

Rooney Signs New 5 Year Deal With Manchester United

For around the first 100 years of their existence professional footballers were treated much like workers in other industries. The employers held most of the cards and players received a rough deal. They had barely adequate pay, lacked influence and no real freedom of movement.

Now, football has taken a turn for the worse. Players are payed ridiculous amounts of money (Rooney recieves around £250k per week), and even this doesn't satisfy them. Firstly, they get paid loads and are expected to do what the club wants them to do, this is how football used to be, why has it changed? Simple, player power has developed. Since clubs decided to pay their Key Players outstanding amounts of money players have started to not live up to the standards expected.

In the early 1950s player wages increased to £20. This was £5 more than the regular weekly wage of a normal working class citizen. How things have changed! The players now recieve what they want, when they want... Player Power!

Players rights are now at no end. If they want, they can insist on sticking to the length of their contract being respected. We have had multi-millionaire players who prefer to sit on the bench for years and collect a fortune rather than be transferred. Others choose to see out their contract and leave to stuff their already full pockets' on anything they desire

If a player decides to break his contract and move on – to play in Europe or, in Tevez's case, to be closer to his family, the Club can do nothing other than sell the player. Some can be real reasons, homesickness. However, most of the time they are rubbish, the player just wants to earn more money.

Fans can try all they want to keep the player at the club, e.g. Cristiano Ronaldo, but in all truth the player doesn't give a toss. All he wants is to move to a bigger club, if you can get much bigger than Man Utd, and rake in the cash.

Player power has proven a big topic in the news lately, Carlos Tevez was eventually persuaded by Roberto Mancini to stay without a wage rise, but players like Rooney need to get their priorities straight. You signed a contract stick with it, and live with it!

Now I ask you, my readers, what is your view on this topic. Do you believe player power is a huge aspect of todays game? What do you think will happen next? Will players continue to ask for more wages or move? What do you think?