Chelsea FC

The 21^st of May will be a magic day. I’m not referring to the last tour of Bruce Springsteen or anything about magicians, I’m talking about football, about european football (well in this occasion, in English football). The 21^st of  May is going to be the major event of the European Champions League, the final! This year’s edition will take place in Moscow.  

The summer is really near, you are starting to feel that spring is finishing, you are looking forward the summer holidays, and you are looking forward traveling… now is your occasion to combine tourism and football at the maximum level. Visit Moscow, a very nice city, and enjoy the Champions League final.

   Chelsea and Manchester United will fight the second round of a combat (Manchester United won the first round (Premier League)). The best teams in Europe will offer a spectacular match to decide who brings to England the cup. If Manchester United wins the match will be the 3^rd Champions cup, if on the other hand Chelsea wins the match it will be the first.   “Chelski” will play at home, with the presence of Roman Abramovich and his compatriots. Abramovich is extremely happy, because after 5 years of spending huge amounts of money in building a team finally he has succeed in achieving the Champions League final, now we’ll see if Chelski can defeat the Premier League’s champion. Wayne Rooney vs. Ricardo Carvalho, Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Essien, Drogba vs. Ferdinand, Scholes vs. Lampard, Cech vs. Van der Sar,… The best players of the world in the best match of the world, buy tickets! 

The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex Stadium, is a multipurpose  stadium in the city of Moscow, Russia. Now its total capacity is 84,000 seats, all covered. The stadium is part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex,  previously called the Central Lenin Stadium. Its field is used mainly for football games by Torpedo Moscow club, which is owned by the sports complex itself, and  Spartak Moscow.It is also one of the few major European stadiums to use an artificial pitch, as it installed a FIFA-approved Field Turf pitch in 2002. The pitch is necessary for the cold Russian climate, as regular grass pitches are often destroyed during a typical winter and must be replaced at high cost. However, natural grass has been installed for the 2008 Champions League Final.The Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium was the chief venue for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, the spectator capacity being 103,000 at that time. The events hosted in this stadium were the Opening and Closing ceremonies, Athletics, Football finals,  and the Individual Jumping Grand Prix. The Luzhniki Stadium also hosted the final game of the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championship between Sweden and the Soviet Union,  attended by a crowd of 55,000 and setting a new world record for this sport.It was built in 1956 in a zone close to Moscova river and under the name of “Central Lenin Stadium” the official opening take place on 31^st July 1956 with a football match in which the Soviet Union team won the China Popular Republic team by 1-0. It was renewed in 1995-1997 and its name changed to the present name. Quality and safety of the stands was improved,  capacity was optimised to 84,000 seats and it was fully covered. This is the Stadium where all football fans will be present, in situ or trough the TV, next 21^st May.

When maximum only 7 or 8 Day matches must be played, let’s have a quick glance over the Major European Leagues to try to bet on which could be the future champions in the different national leagues. In Portugal, Scotland, France and Holland the final results are almost decided whilst in Germany, Italy, England and Spain the final decision must wait. To better understand the above mentioned quick information, we provide hereunder detailed situation of Major European Leagues.Portugal (Liga bwin): After Day 24 matches out of 30, Porto is first with 60 points followed by Benfica and Vitoria G both with 44 points.Scotland (Premier League): After Day 32 matches, Glasgow Rangers is first with 74 points followed by Celtic Glasgow with 68 points. France (Ligue 1): After Day 31 matches out of 38, Olympic Lyon is first with 67 points followed by Grindings Bordeaux with 58 points.Holland (Eredivisie): After Day 31 matches out of 34, PSV Eindhoven is first with 65 points followed by Ajax with 60 points.Germany (1 Bundesliga): After Day 26 matches out of 34, Bayern Munich is first with 54 points followed by Hamburg with 47 points.Italy (Serie A): After Day 31 matches out of 38, Inter is first with 69 points followed by Rome with 65 points.England (Premiership): After Day 32 matches out of 38, Manchester United is first with 76 points followed by Chelsea with 71 points.Spain (Primera Division): After Day 30 matches out of 38, Real Madrid is first with 65 points followed by Villarreal with 59 points.If we make any prediction we will only need to wait a few days to know whether we get right.

With four Premier League clubs through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League the question today is: Will two English teams attend the Final in Moscow next May? The prospect of Liverpool meeting Manchester United or a London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea, as in the last eight in 2003/04, is one for which the players would rather wait. Save it for the semis or Moscow is the general consensus.
It is the first time four sides from one country have reached the last eight and it is a measure of the Premier League’s dominance that two sides were able to win in San Siro to advance. No English side had ever beaten Milan there before Arsenal knocked out them last week and Liverpool’s victory against Inter was their first in the famous stadium, albeit at only the second attempt.
In 2003 three Italian teams reached the semi-finals, with Juventus and Milan ultimately contesting the final in Manchester. With the financial riches on offer, packed stadiums and the lure of European success, there is no doubting why the Premier League attracts the world’s top players. But there is a downside to this success. In the second legs only two English players started in Liverpool’s win at Inter, four in Chelsea’s victory against Olympiacos, none in Arsenal’s San Siro triumph and four in United’s defeat of Olympique Lyonnais.
That, though, is a matter for another day. For the moment, one man at least is looking forward to the possibility of facing off with the likes of Arsène Wenger and Rafael Benítez on an even bigger stage. “We will relish the chance to face another English team in the quarter-finals if that happens,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. “But it doesn’t really matter who you play in the quarter-finals, they’re all going

After the matches played last Tuesday and Wednesday, Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Rome, Ferenbahçe and Schalke 04 are already qualified for last-eight games of Champions League 2007/08. Internazionale and Liverpool will play on March 11 to decide the last team to be qualified for this phase which corresponding matches (as well as possible semi-finals) will be draw on Friday March 14 in Nyon.
But one of the important facts is that Lionel Messi will miss both legs of FC Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie after being ruled out for six weeks with a torn thigh muscle. The 22-year-old Argentinean was forced to leave the pitch 38 minutes into Tuesday night’s 1-0 win against Celtic FC, which completed a 4-2 aggregate victory for Frank Rijkaard’s side. Suffering the damage during a sprint, Messi left the field in distress having also torn muscle in his left thigh in a league game against Valencia CF in December, an injury which resulted in a one-month absence from the first team.
Club doctors have ruled Messi out for six weeks, meaning he will miss a crucial period with Barça still in the running for three trophies. He is expected to miss six Liga First Division games, both legs of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and he will also stop his career to obtain the tittle of maximum scorer where he is now on top together with Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United with 6 goals each. He will also miss the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia and also the final on April 16, should Barça make it.

Only three Premiership teams are definitely through the Quarter Final.
FA Cup holders Chelsea have been given an away tie in today’s Sixth Round draw. The Blues will travel to Barnsley, who sensationally won at Anfield last Saturday. The other two, Manchester United and Portsmouth, have been drawn to play each other at Old Trafford. United won 2-1 when they met in the Fourth Round last season, also at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’.
Ricky Lambert’s late goal on Saturday put Bristol Rovers into the last eight for the first time for half a century. Even Jack Sparrow will be struggling to get a ticket with half of Bristol wanting to see the Pirates take on West Bromwich.
Sheffield United or Middlesbrough v Cardiff City; Manchester United v Portsmouth; Bristol Rovers v West Bromwich Albion and Barnsley v Chelsea are the Quarter Final matches.
The FA distributes prize money and broadcast payments to clubs for their participation in The FA Cup.
The FA’s stated objective is to use The FA Cup to redistribute funds throughout the game and together the prize fund and the television monies represent an investment in the competition of around £15 million.
All clubs receive money from The FA’s Prize Fund, while for matches on TV, live or highlights, or on the radio.
The most significant payments are: £900,000 for each winner of semi-finals matches and £1,000,000 for the FA Cup winner.

Manchester United have moved from fourth to second in the list of the world’s richest clubs and Barcelona has reached second place, as Real Madrid stayed top for the third straight year.
Deloitte’s Football Money League, which is based on revenues generated during 2006/07, was headed by United for eight years until the Spaniards deposed them.
Chelsea are fourth in Deloitte’s table, even though the Blues regularly make huge losses. Arsenal are fifth. In all, there are seven British clubs in the top 20.
Three of the four clubs that dropped out of the list were also British - Manchester City, Glasgow Rangers, and West Ham United.
And, looking ahead to next year’s report, the authors state that “2007/08 could see England providing half the Money League clubs”.
The list shows that the game’s riches continue to be monopolised by the same group of clubs, with only one change in the top 10 from the previous season.
Deloitte’s figures take into account income from ticket sales, merchandising and broadcasting contracts but do not include transfer revenues.
Between them, the collective revenue of the top 20 clubs - all European - grew by 11% to £2.5bn in 2006/07, the highest rate of growth since 2002/03.
The 5 first places of that League are ( in millions of £): Real Madrid 236.2, Manchester United 212.1, Barcelona 195.3, Chelsea 190.5 and Arsenal 177.6.

If we had to tell which team has got the best fans, we would say Liverpool (with the exception of Celtic). What a coincidence…! Both teams have got the marvellous hymn of “You’ll never walk alone” (which is singed before every match by everyone that is in the stadium, no matter if it’s CelticPark or Anfield), and they also share the hobby of drinking as much beer as possible (before, during and after the match). (Listen Liverpool’s fans singing “You’ll never walk alone”)

When fans of any team like (or love) a player, because he is fantastic, they use to say (in chorus) his name, but in Anfield, they not just say the name, they try to look for a piece of a song and create a lyric to sing him. Is really impressive the creativity of the kop (Liverpool fans)!

Many songs have been created for Spanish players that are playing in Liverpool, today we will focus in Torres’ song (Xabi Alonso and Luis Gracia have also got one, but no-one have been created so quickly as the Spanish striker) There are 2 versions, with the same music, but with different lyrics. Now in Spain there’s an ad in TV with this song, is called “Ants go marching” (in the ad… “los animales de dos en dos ua… ua…”). Whach ad). The two versions of the lyrics are:

His armband proved he was a red, torres torres
You’ll Never Walk Alone it said, torres torres
We bought the lad from sunny spain, he gets ball, he scores again
Fernando Torres, Liverpool’s number 9

Fernando Torres came from Spain, Olé, Olé
He came to make us great again, Olé, Olé
The Spion Kop will roar him on
He scores the goals and he scores for fun
And we all get blind drunk
When Torres scores a goal