UEFA Champions League 2009: Round of 16 highlights

The first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League produced some great goals. The first knockout round saw many big teams crash out and too without even scoring a single goal. Get all the highlights of the first knockout round.

First Leg
All matches - Link

Second Leg
March 10
Liverpool - Real Madrid - Link
Bayern - Sporting - Link
Panathanaikos - Villareal - Link
Juventus - Chelsea - Link

March 11
All matches - Part1 - Part2
(Manutd - Inter,
Roma -Arsenal,
Barca - Lyon,
Porto -Athletico)

Enjoy.....

Real Madrid : Richest Club in the World

The global economic standing of English clubs has been hit by the Sterling's slide against the Euro. According to the new figures, Real Madrid remain the richest club in world football as ranked by annual revenues, closely followed by Manchester United. Having won the Premier League and Champions League in 2008, United would have overhauled the Spaniards at the top of the Money League had it not been for the depreciation of the pound. And were it not for the effects of the fluctuation in the exchange rate, there would be nine English clubs in the top 20 rather than the seven that feature now. It has been suggested that the devaluation of the pound could even affect the ability of the top English clubs to attract the biggest names to the Premier League. Real Madrid's 4% revenue growth in 2007-08 is more modest than in recent years, the club has now doubled its revenues since 2002 and enjoys a lead of €41m [£36.8m] over Manchester United. Real Madrid increased revenue by €15m to take their total to €366m. Manchester United's performances on the pitch in 2007-08 resulted in a £45m (21%) increase to £257m. Third-placed Barcelona grew its revenue by €19m (6%) to €309m.

La Liga:Real Betis - Barcelona goals

Real Betis brought an end to the amazing winning streak of Barcelona as they held on to a 2-2 draw. Betis took a 2-0 lead after 25 min but Eto'o pulled one back just at the stroke of half time. And when the second half resumed, it was one way traffic with Barca applying all the pressure but Betis did look strong on the counter. Eto'o then grabbed the equaliser on 88th min and Betis hung on for a point. Real Madrid can cut Barca's lead to 10 points if they win against Sporting Gijon on Sunday.

Click here for the goals
1-0 - A. Melli - Watch
2-0 - Gonzalez - Watch
2-1 - Eto'o - Watch
2-2 - Eto'o - Watch

Goals in downloadable format to be posted later........

EPL:Best league in the World?????

I've seen and heard most people saying that English Premier League is the best in the world. But is really the best??? I certainly have my doubts. EPL, without any doubt is the most glamorous and most popular league in the world, thanks to marketing of the game across the globe and the popularity the clubs command in the Asian countries. Nearly 5% of the world's population are Manchester United fans. And clubs like Chelsea,Liverpool & Arsenal are not far behind in the popularity charts. But when it comes to competitiveness of the league, I would say the teams in EPL are not as good as those in Spain or Italy. The point I would like to state here is you don't see the lower teams for eg. West Brom or Stoke are expected to take points off the bigger teams like Manutd or Chelsea. But in Spain, even the teams in the lower half will get results in matches against the bigger teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona - "The Unpredictability", which has made La Liga so popular . This doest not mean that bigger teams in Spain are not that strong as those in England. Real Madrid and Barcelona have the maximum trophies than any other club in Europe. All I hope is the quality of the teams(apart from biggies) improves in the English Premier League, so that all the matches can be viewed with interest. And by looking at the way the things are going in the current season, the monopoly of "Big Four" seems to be broken by the young Aston Villa side. Lets see if others can also do the same in the coming seasons.

FIFA:World Player of year 2008 gala videos

Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA player of the year award for 2008 while Brazilian Marta took home the women's player of the year. Get the videos of the grand gala, which was attended many footballing greats including Pele

Click here for the videos
Part1 , Part2 , Part3 , Part4 ,
Part5 , Part6 , Part7 , Part8 ,
Part9 , Part10 , Part11 , Part12

Enjoy......

La Liga:Match day 20 Real Madrid,Barcelona goals

Raul kept Real's chase on Barca while Messi continued his stunning form helping Barca to a comfortable win over Numancia. Barcelona still lead the La Liga by a whopping 12 points and Real Madrid are chasing them in the second spot. Get the goals and highlights of matchday 21.

FC Barcelona [4 - 1] CD Numancia
Goals
49' [1 - 0] L. Messi - 1-0 L. Messi
53' [2 - 0] S. Eto'o - 2-0 S. Eto'o
61' [2 - 1] J.J. Barkero - 2-1 Barkero
71' [3 - 1] T. Henry - 3-1 T. Henry
76' [4 - 1] L. Messi - 4-1 L. Messi

Highlights
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights

Real Madrid [1 - 0] Deportivo la Coruna
Goals
39' [1 - 0] Raul - Link1 / Link2

Highlights
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights

Barcelona truimph in the "El Gran Classico"

Barcelona finally got the better of Real Madrid in the El Classico after a gap of two years. It was coming given the situation at Real Madrid, who had several key players injured and they had a change in coach while Barca were going from strength to strength under Pep Guardiola and with the late goals from Eto'o and Messi, Barcelona established a 12 point lead over 4th placed Real Madrid and 9 point lead over second placed Villareal and have sent out a clear message to the teams across Spain and Europe.


F.C Barcelona 2 - 0 Real Madrid C.F
Goals
83' - Eto'o
91' - Messi

Other
Sneijder hits bar
First half chances
Real Madrid chances