UEFA Champions League

Catharsis Lounge: 2008 Champions League final edn.

I know what you're thinking. 1. You don't want to revisit that wretched night in Moscow. 2. You don't want to revisit that wretched night in Moscow. However, we're going to, not just because we have a final coming up in three days and change but also because, dammit, it's time we extinguish this nightmare from the memory once and for all.
It's time for some self-cleansing, people. Free your soul.

Fuck this shit.

Four Chelsea boys in as Roy reveals England Euro 2012 squad

Roy Hodgson finally got down to some official, cutthroat business as England manager today, revealing the 23 lads he'll take with him to Poland and Ukraine for this summer's European Championships. England's probably going to be shit - probably is too soft a term - but, hey, at least John Terry will be available to answer questions about the Ferdinand brothers for the month or so leading up to the competition. Simply wonderful.

Somebody's creepin

La Liga Review: Real Betis 2, FC Barcelona 2, Or, That's All, Folks!

My deepest apologies for the delay, but we had technical problems with the blog and couldn't post until today... sorry!
Last Liga match of the season, and there wasn't much to recommend it apart from, you know, it being Pep's last match with Barça in La Liga: Betis had no ambitions that would spur them to get a win at all costs, and neither did Barça. It could almost have been a friendly.
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Pep chose VV, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Adriano, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Pedro, Messi and Afellay for his starting XI, leaving Oier, Montoya, Cuenca, Tello, Iniesta, Cesc and Bartra on the bench and Thiago on the stands. Though not exactly the strongest Barça starting XI in existence, it was strong enough to give us a good idea of what we can expect at the Copa del Rey final, while still leaving space for novelties like Afellay, given his first Liga start of the season.

Tuesday Roundup: The Latest from Bayern & Chelsea

Both Chelsea and Bayern are knee-deep in preparations for Saturday's final. While Chelsea look to round out a severely depleted squad courtesy of injuries and suspensions, Bayern are likewise keeping a close eye on the fitness of a few key men. It looks to be an exciting week for all involved, and if the weather was any indication of Chelsea's mood heading into the weekend, then certainly a storm is on the horizon. More, after the jump:

Lazio 3 - Inter 1, Odds and Ends

I wasn’t around for the second half as I had a Mother’s Day commitment, but my reaction as I checked the score before I left the house was telling. I left the game Inter up by one and making chance after chance in the first half. I checked the score and Inter were down 2-1 and I just felt resignation. I checked the score again at the end and I still wasn’t mad. I had seen this movie before. I had seen it against Parma. I had seen it all season really. This Inter wasn’t capable of defending a one goal lead. There were too many holes on this team. Too many players didn’t have a reserve tank in them – mentally or physically. This was an exhausted team and perhaps for the first time in a long while, the drama finally got to them.

A Long Overdue Goodbye.

Hey gays,

Mighty impressive stuff, keeping up the season chat over at the Wigan thread. Have to say, I'm very impressed at the level of commitment shown towards this blog.

Unfortunately, this blog is all but defunct now. Martin, Brenton, Darren and I simply do not have the time to continue blogging ...

Luiz 'improving' ahead of Champions League final

Bob spoke to Chelsea TV over the weekend. He dropped some pretty damn good news.

Thanks to Los Blancos on Tumblr for the collage.

Chelsea 2-1 Blackburn: A good, not great, opening act

It was very interesting to watch the game.
-Roberto Di Matteo
Rob was, of course, talking about the German Cup final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, not Sunday's largely irrelevant bout of monkeyshines at Stamford Bridge. We finished sixth in the Premier League - somebody call my mama.

Ajaccio vs Lyon

Short post today as Nikhil won't be able to post the preview due to personal circumstances.

There's precious little to say other than Lyon are pretty much assured to keep the 4th spot, so this game is of little importance... except for Gourcuff and the other European internationals who want to ...

Lazio v Inter - Judgement Day Liveblog

With Manchester City winning in the fashion they did, whose to say something amazing like that won't happen for us. Come on boys! We believe! Calcio Gods, be kind and gentle.

Rant Box: Chelsea v. Blackburn

This image has nothing to do with today's game. Cool.

Video: Mata chats it up with Gigi on FNL (in full)

Juan Mata joined Gigi Salmon on Chelsea TV's Friday Night Live over the weekend. You may have heard about it; you may well have seen it live. Either way, it was a great candid interview with the club's player of the season (as voted for by the fans).
If you missed it, for shame. Fortunately for you, however, YouTube user iBluePictures has uploaded the entire episode. Check out part one below and then hit the jump for the rest of Juan.

News Dump and Lazio - Inter Preview

There are still lots of rumors circling regarding who will stay and who will go from the roster. A lot will depend on whether Inter makes the Champions League or not. Cuts will have to be much more drastic one would think if that 30 million Euros aren’t available to the team. More contracts will have to be renegotiated in order to bring the overall spending down enough to plan for the decrease in revenue and other transfer targets will have to be found to accommodate those players who will demand Champions League football.

PL Preview: Chelsea v. Blackburn

Ah, the final day of the Premier League season. Chelsea in recent years have become used to having a massive say at the last, but not this term. A season that has produced little inspiration from a league perspective will end with little - well, nothing - to play for.
Dead rubber this match with relegated Blackburn is.

Quack

Preview: Real Betis vs FC Barcelona AKA That Very Important Final Liga Match

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Real Betis vs FC Barcelona, AKA Pep’s last Liga match (but not THE last match), AKA the annual “B team plays a Liga match”, AKA the match that't not very important in terms of results.
On another note, does anyone know who's injured and who isn't? I’m having trouble remembering.
(Actually I've typed it all out here for you to try and make sense of, but it's been a very injury-prone few days...)

Poll: Is Di Matteo the man beyond this season?

Ron Gourlay has been speaking to the media today. Yeah, I was just as enthralled as you probably were to read what the man had to say. It really wasn't much, either (shocker).

Phone's ringing - oh my god