PRE - EUROPEAN FOOTBALL U-19 QUALIFIERS | SPAIN 2 SWITZERLAND 1

The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL U-19 TEAM got off to a great start in the Pre-Euro qualifiers with a 2 - 1 victory over SWITZERLAND. Spain has also Montenegro & England in their Group with the Top placed nation being the only team that goes into the upcoming U-19 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS in Rumania.

The young Spaniards played a good match with two goals coming from JUANMI & ISCO, & the only goal for

FC BARCELONA POST MATCH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL CELEBRATIONS | VIDEO

FC BARCELONA prides itself in being "More The Just Any Club", its their unique differentiating slogan that they wave as their standard flag. With this in mind, Spanish Football Sports has whipped up & edited a Video that attempts to capture the "human moments" that makes Barça so different straight after the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL 3 - 1 victory over Manchester United last Saturday at the

CRISTIANO RONALDO - LIONEL MESSI | WORLD FOOTBALL YING -YANG

History has a long & steady list of personalities who go down as the “best in their profession” that have battled it out with someone else that has driven both to their limits in order to reach their top level. It’s a type of “ying-yang” situation were one person has no meaning without the existence & interaction of the other.

It now comes to my mind some names that highlight this idea &

SPANISH SPORTS WEEKEND SUCCESS | FOOTBALL, CYCLING, HANDBALL & FORMULA 1

SPANISH SPORTS has experienced a fabulous afternoon today to add to the excellent weekend with victories & podiums in CYCLING, HANDBALL & FORMULA 1. The Spanish Sports flag keeps flying high after FC BARCELONA yesterday won the Champions League title in European Football. 



Alberto Contador 2011 of  Cycling Italian GIRO

Spanish cyclist ALBERTO CONTADOR has won this years ITALIAN GIRO - his

FC BARCELONA | LIONEL MESSI 2011 | ALL HAIL THE KING

The Football World has rendered itself to the feet of FC BARCELONA Argentine forward LIONEL MESSI. Spanish Football press & media have dedicated covers & pages to the player as he once again put in a brilliant performance & goal to help FC Barcelona win 3 - 1 Manchester United in the Champions League Final.

The "magician" yesterday placed himself in the Olympus of the Football Gods: Di Stefano,

FC BARCELONA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2011 WINNERS TEAM PHOTO - STARTING 11

The "Best Team in The World"? The "Best Football Team of All-Time"?


This is the FC BARCELONA starting 11 Team Photo in the 2011 Champions League Final against Manchester United. The same team & 11 players that won the European Cup & the 4th Champions League Title for FC Barcelona in its history.



FC BARCELONA Champions 2011 Champions League
Team Photo
Top:L to R: Abidal, Pedro, Mascherano,

FC BARCELONA 3 MANCHESTER UNITED 1 | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2011 FINAL RESULT

FC BARCELONA takes SPANISH FOOTBALL to the top position of European & World Football after winning with a 3 - 1 result English Club MANCHESTER UNITED in the 2011 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Final played tonight at the "Wembley Stadium" (London). 



image is courtesy of "Sport"

It is FC Barcelona fourth Champions League Title & they repite the first that the Club won back in 1992 in the same stadium. Since

TEAM PHOTOS 2011 | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | MANCHESTER UNITED - FC BARCELONA

SPANISH SPORT & FOOTBALL has an important date tomorrow in London. The emotional levels are rising & will be souring tomorrow in Spain, especially in the autonomous region of Catalonia & the city of Barcelona, along with fellow Football fans in the city of Manchester & in England. 



Courtesy from "Don Balon" Spanish Sport online
Football media

MANCHESTER UNITED plays FC BARCELONA in the 2011

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL PRE-MATCH | POSSIBLE FC BARCELONA STARTING 11 AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED.

The build up is strong locally as the Football World eagerly anticipates the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL at Wembley (London) tomorrow between MANCHESTER UNITED & FC BARCELONA. Listening to the commentaries today one gets the idea that most see Barça as clear favourites, although the English Club comes into the Final on a wave of good form. The Spanish Club on the other hand goes in with Pedro & Villa

FOOTBALL FINANCE | A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL WORTH 670M€

SPANISH SPORTS daily paper based in Barcelona, "Sport", has put together the below image to give readers an idea of the amount of "money" that will be running around at Wembley next Saturday in the Champions League Final between FC BARCELONA - MANCHESTER UNITED.



courtesy of "Sport"

The economic figure between both Clubs is a staggering 670M€, with Barça player Lionel Messi valued around 140M€

UEFA | IDEAL 11 TEAM CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2010 - 2011

UEFA has handed in their "IDEAL BEST 11 TEAM" for this season 2010-2011 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE . The list is dominated by Manchester United & FC Barcelona players, as one would expect, plus two from Real Madrid & representatives from Shakthar & Tottenham.

But the notable surprise is the absence of Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, whose place has been give to veteran Spanish Football player, ex -

VIDEO | FC BARCELONA BUILD UP THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED

The build up for next Saturday night CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Final between FC BARCELONA & MANCHESTER UNITED grows with "Barça TV" making a "motivational" VIDEO for the occasion. The clip will be loved by all global FC Barcelona fans as it is the precise intention of the Club to hype up support for Barça for their important European Football moment. Here is the VIDEO, in fact , it is quite inspirational.

SPANISH TEAM SELECTOR HANDS IN LIST OF PLAYERS FOR UPCOMING USA - VENEZUELA FRIENDLY INTERNATIONALS

SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM Selector & Coach Vicente del Bosque has handed in today his list of Spanish Football players that will make up the National Squad for the upcoming International Friendly matches against the USA (4th of June) & Venezuela (7th of June).



Manu de Moral new Spanish International

The notable absence is FC Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez who has been left out for

MANCHESTER UNITED COACH FERGUSON ANNOUNCES THE DAVID DE GEA SIGNING

SPANISH FOOTBALL loses a young promise & enormous talent, while ATLETICO DE MADRID sells one of its "crown jewels". English Premier League Club MANCHESTER UNITED via its manager/coach Sir Alex Ferguson has announced tonight that young Spanish U-21 International goalkeeper DAVID DE GEA is the chosen player to substitute Van Dar Sar in the United goal.



David De Gea

Spanish Sports daily "AS" has

ATLETICO DE MADRID | SERGIO AGUERO - TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

The main talk today in SPANISH FOOTBALL is the unilateral communicaction via his "twitter" & personal blog, that ATLETICO DE MADRID Argentine forward SERGIO AGUERO wishes to leave the Club. In a message to everyone,  the player dropped the "bomb" around 22.00 saying "...Time has come for me to part". This should not really catch anyone by surprise as it has been written on the transfers wall for

FC BARCELONA VICTOR VALDES "ZAMORA" PRIZE 2010-2011 | BEST SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE GOALKEEPER

While REAL MADRID forward Cristiano Ronaldo receives mass recognition for his amazing 40 goals in one season, lets not forget about the goalkeepers. FC BARCELONA keeper VICTOR VALDES wins  a 3rd straight "ZAMORA" Title as the least goaled (Best) keeper in the Spanish Football League



FC Barcelona goalie Victor Valdes

His season has been amazing as Valdes has played a vital part in his teams

SEVILLA FC SIGNS DE MORAL - TROCHOWSKI

Spanish Football Club SEVILLA FC has announced two new signings for the next season 2011-2012. The first is Spanish Football player from GETAFE MANU DE MORAL & the second is HAMBURG player & midfielder PIOTR TROCHOWSKI, the first signs for 4 years & the second for 5 years. 



Sevilla FC new signing Trochowski

CRISTIANO RONALDO 2010 - 2011 | ALL 40 GOALS SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE | VIDEO

Here is a VIDEO of all 40 Goals scored by REAL MADRID forward CRISTIANO RONALDO in his record breaking season 2010 - 2011 in the Spanish Football League. The man scores them from all angles, both feet, header... a real goal show. Enjoy!

SPANISH FOOTBALL | CRISTIANO RONALDO | LIGA EL PICHICHI - EUROPEAN GOLDEN BOOT - HISTORICAL GOAL HOLDER | 2010 - 2011

REAL MADRID forward CRISTIANO RONALDO has finished the 2010 - 2011 season with a staggering total of 40 official UEFA approved goals. This figure gives the player the following individual titles this season:
All Time & Historical Spanish Football Top Goal scorer in a season. Cristiano Ronaldo takes the title off Telmo Zarra (At Bilbao 1950-51) & Hugo Snachez (1989-90) with 38 goals.
Spanish

SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE SEASON 2010-2011 ENDS WITH ROUND 38 GAMES RESULTS

Tense & emotional finish in the SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE with Round 38 unfortunately sending DEPORTIVO A CORUÑA, along with Hercules & Almeria, to the 2º Division.  Here is a run down of tonights events with all the results & goal scorers.



Deportivo relegated to second division

DEPORTIVO A CORUÑA lost 0 - 2 to VALENCIA CF & thus gets relegated to the Spanish 2º Division after 20 glorious years

FOOTBALL - SOCCCER | HIGHEST PAID COACHES IN THE WORLD

SPANISH SPORTS daily "Sport" has an interesting article today that I thought may interest readers. They take a look at the highest earners in World Football-Soccer from the angle of Coaches . 



Highest Paid World Football Soccer Coaches
source: Sport.es

What catches the eye & motivated the press story is the number two spot now under Diego Armando Maradona. The ex-Argentine National Team

SPANISH LEAGUE FOOTBALL | LAST ROUND FOR SINNERS

SPANISH FOOTBALL comes to its season climax tomorrow with all Round 38 matches of the Spanish League scheduled. We already know that FC Barcelona has won La Liga, that second is Real Madrid, third is Valencia CF & Villareal finishes in Champions League position in 4th place. There is a minor battle to avoid the Europa League prelimanary phase position of 7th on the table with Sevilla, At Bilbao &

MANCHESTER CITY TEMPTING REAL MADRID WITH 180M€ TO SELL RONALDO ?

MANCHESTER CITY owner Sheikh Mansour is reported to be willing to pay 180M€ for REAL MADRID player CRISTIANO RONALDO according to "rumours" coming out of England & picked up here locally by the local Spanish Sports daily s. The Portuguese star cost REAL MADRID 96M€ in 2009 & Manchester City hopes to convince the Spanish Football Club by doubling the initial investment



Cristiano Ronaldo 2011

Gameweek 38 Preview

It's a sad day when the season ends, particularly when the title race is over. However, for me, the excitement is just as high (or higher) at the other end of the table and so there's plenty to keep watching for. Oh, and there's the small matter of the last fantasy gameweek to deal with. Hopefully everyone has their mini leagues wrapped up by now (okay maybe not) but just in case, the weekly rankings are below.

Clean Sheet Rankings

1. Man Utd
2. Stoke
3. Tottenham
4. Aston Villa
5. West Ham
6. Chelsea
7. Bolton
8. Newcastle
9. Wolves
10. Everton
11. Sunderland
12. Man City
13. Liverpool
14. Arsenal
15. Fulham
16. Wigan
17. Birmingham
18. Blackburn
19. West Brom
20. Blackpool

 Attacking Rankings

1. Man Utd
2. Tottenham
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Liverpool
6. Wolves
7. Aston Villa
8. West Brom
9. Fulham
10. Man City
11. Sunderland
12. Newcastle
13. West Ham
14. Blackburn
15. Wigan
16. Stoke
17. Bolton
18. Blackpool
19. Everton
20. Birmingham

I will have to cut the preview short this week as I head down to Florida for a few days, but I would like to take the chance to thank everyone for reading and commenting this year. I have some plans to make the site better for next season so hopefully the stats will be updated quicker and more often so keep checking back over the summer for reviews of the season, general strategies and eventually predictions for next season.

FC BARCELONA HAS ALL ITS STARS AVAILABLE FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

FC BARCELONA only has one objective left for this season after winning the Spanish Football League title: winning the Champions League. The Spanish Club is resting key players & has recovered all its stars from injury to give Coach Guardiola all the valuable resources needed to confronted Top English Club Manchester United in optimum conditions.




FC Barcelona speculated Champions League
Final

SILVIO ANNOUNCES MOVE TO ATLETICO DE MADRID

SILVIO, the 23 year Portugues International & SPORTING BRAGA player, announced straight after the loss of his team to Porto in the Europa League Final that he would be playing in SPANISH FOOTBALL & conctretly with ATLETICO DE MADRID next season.



Silvio new Atletico de Madrid player

No details of the transfer deal have been made public except the habitual justifiable message that the defender

FIFA WORLD RANKING | MAY 2011 | SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM Nº1

FIFA has released today this months World Rankings for National Football Teams with SPAIN still in the Nº1 Spot. Very little changes in the Top 20 positions as the National Squads have had very little action in the way of International games. This will be different for the next scheduled FIFA World Ranking table release ( 29th of June), from now till then there are numerous International matches

FC BARCELONA PRESENT NEW 2011 - 2012 SEASON UNIFORM

FC BARCELONA presented to media their "new look" uniform for next season 2011-2012. The highlight is the increase in the number of stripes, the new sponsor & that the away uniform will be black



FC Barcelona Captain Puyol with new uniform
2011-2012 season
Amazes me how the issue of a uniform change can generate so much news & how the fans (naturally) take it on so seriously. The FC Barcelona

SPANISH FOOTBALL | ATLETICO DE MADRID TO SELL THEIR "CROWN JEWELS" ?

ATLETICO DE MADRID seems to be the epicenter of SPANISH FOOTBALL rumour & gossip this week. The news is not too good if your an Atletico fan & will make you wonder how the team will fair next year if the "lane way talks" come true.

The first name that many see out of the Club is DIEGO FORLAN. As mentioned in the below post, Turkish side Besiktas & English Premier League Club Tottenham Hotspurs

ATLETICO DE MADRID PLAYER DIEGO FORLAN COURTING BOTH BESIKTAS - TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS ?

The Spanish daily Sports papers have picked up the news from Turkey, concretely from TV Channel NTV, that Turkish Club BESIKTAS has a pre-agreement with ATLETICO DE MADRID Uruguayan forward DIEGO FORLAN. The original source goes on further to say that Atletico de Madrid is also in accord & that the player may even sign his new contract next week.


However, today the agent of Forlan, Daniel

UEFA DESESTIMATES ALLEGED RACIST COMMENTS BY FC BARCELONA PLAYER BUSQUETS

UEFA has desestimate today the REAL MADRID claims of serious Racist comments allegedly made by FC BARECLONA player SERGI BUSQUETS towards the Real Madrid player MARCELO. Barça has ratified the UEFA announcement which gives the green light for Busquets to play the Champions League Final against Manchester United on the 28th of May.

The allegations made by Madrid are that Busquets called their

SPANISH FOOTBALL | ATLETICO DE MADRID & EUROPE

All ATLETICO DE MADRID fans around the global, yes the Club secured a Euro classification position in the League, more concretely the 7th place. But this was not the prime objective, its the least worst scenario as the Champion League (naturally) was the main & important plan being the 4th position the aim currently secured by Villareal.

Happy with the Euro place? Yes, of course, but the 7th

SPANISH LEAGUE FOOTBALL ROUND 37 GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE action tonight with all 10 games of Round 37 played simultaneously as Clubs at the bottom end of the ladder are playing their future attempting to avoid the "last ticket" to the 2º Division, & others are attempting to grab the Euro train in the top end of the classification table. Highly charged LIGA with fierce competition & goals. Here is a brief summary of events,

SPANISH SPORTS | DJOKAVIC WINS NADAL AGAIN IN THE TENNIS ROMA 1000 MASTERS FINAL

SPANISH SPORTS, & especially the Tennis fans, are having a name "tattoed" on their forehead: NOVAK DJOKAVIC. The Serb managed to beat last years ROMA TENNIS MASTERS 1000 Champ & Spanish Nº1 RAFAEL NADAL 4-6 4-6 for a 4th straight time in a Final this year. The Serb is in a "State of Grace" that will take him soon onto the Nº1 World Spot if he can win the upcoming French Open, plus the surface

SPANISH SPORTS | FRENCH MOTO GP | SPANIARDS VIÑALES - MARQUEZ WIN

SPANISH SPORTS had a more sweet than sour day in the French MOTOGP with victories in the 125 cc  & Moto2 catagories, along with the sour , the unlucky & controversial fall ( more latter) of DANI PEDROSA in the GP catagory which ended in a broken collar bone when in second position.



Spanish Sports Bike rider Maverick Viñales

In the 125 cc catagory the four top places were all for Spanish

ATLETICO DE MADRID CLOSE TO SHUTTING RCD ESPANYOL FORWARD OSVALDO

Spanish Sports daily paper "AS" publish in todays Football section that ATLETICO DE MADRID has its eye on RCD ESPANYOL Argentine forward OSVALDO for next season. The player has shown this season his goal scoring class & is the natural substitution for Diego Forlan who will most likely ( 99,9%) leave Atletico at the end of the season.



Osvaldo RCD ESPANYOL

The price asked by Espanyol is around

REAL MADRID HAS A "MASTER PLAN" FOR UEFA PLUS THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ?

Spanish Sports (Football) Barcelona based press, “Don Balon”, via its online edition has published an interesting article that one can interpret as strategically cunning or dangerous in its message with a “Machiavellian” design & intention. Thought appropriate to post seeing today is a "quiet" day in the Spanish League.


The crux of their story is that REAL MADRID, & more importantly its

FC BARCELONA TRANSFER GOSSIP | VILLAREAL FORWARD GIUSEPPE ROSSI ON AGENDA

FC BARCELONA are also thinking & planning next season 2011 - 2012 with signing rumours appearing in the local Spanish Sports newspapers. According to "As", ALEX SANCHEZ is very muched liked at "Camp Barça" but the 40M€ price tag that Manchester City has placed on the players out of its orbit. 



Villareal player ROSSI

However, there is a magnificent alternative that currently plays at VILLAREAL

Gameweek 37 Rankings

There are always new lessons to be learned when it comes to fantasy football, even when you get into the last gasps of a fading season. Last week, a fantasy rambler not too far from here noted:

“Mario Balotelli . . . might be worth a punt but it really would be a risk at this point. Only those needing to gain ground on opponents should apply.”

A couple of Friday night beers and YouTube videos can do funny things to a fantasy team though and come Saturday morning, Balotelli was lacing up his boots for my team, despite the fact I had everything to lose and nothing to gain in my main mini league. We’ve no more double gameweeks to get carried away with but the lesson stands – don’t overpay for upside unless you’re totally desperate. With two weeks to go a majority of people probably are desperate but 4 point hits rarely work out and I would almost never recommend using them in a non double gameweek.
Observant readers might expect to see last week's Fulham clean sheet ranking (2^nd) flagged as an error but at least that pick was grounded in fact. It clearly didn’t work out but if you follow the same logic for a full season you should generally be ahead of the pack. So assuming you are comfortable with the logic of these picks (and to be fair that may be stretch) let’s go ahead and check out this week’s rankings:

Clean Sheet Rankings
(clean sheets kept – opponents failed to score in parenthesis)

1. Chelsea (11 - 7)
2. Man City (11 - 9)
3. Arsenal (9 – 5)
4. Liverpool (9 - 4)
5. Sunderland (7 - 7)
6. Birmingham (6 - 6)
7. Fulham (9 - 5)
8. Blackburn (7 - 5)
9. Man Utd (5 - 5)
10. Blackpool (1 - 7)
11. Wigan (3 - 9)
12. West Brom (1 - 5)
13. Everton (3 - 2)
14. West Ham (1 - 5)
15. Bolton (0 - 1)
16. Stoke (3 - 3)
17. Wolves (2 - 4)
18. Tottenham (2 - 1)
19. Newcastle (5 - 2)
20. Aston Villa (0 - 4)

The rankings are fairly top heavy this week with the top six team having good fixtures and defensive records while the majority of teams after that all have their question marks. Of course, some weight must be placed on the fact that some teams have more to play for that others but I would not use that as a reason to boost a team’s chances at a clean sheet (surely they try hard every week!) though there is an argument to demote a team like Everton who can practically not move off their current 7^th place in the table. Given the subjectivity of those musings, I have left the rankings untouched.

Attacking Rankings
(predicted goals in parenthesis)

1. Arsenal (3.10)
2. Liverpool (2.18)
3. Chelsea (2.11)
4. Everton (1.60)
5. Sunderland (1.59)
6. Wigan (1.55)
7. West Brom (1.46)
8. Man City (1.42)
9. Blackpool (1.41)
10. Bolton (1.24)
11. West Ham (1.17)
12. Tottenham (1.12)
13. Blackburn (1.10)
14. Man Utd (1.08)
15. Fulham (1.07)
16. Birmingham (0.94)
17. Wolves (0.85)
18. Aston Villa (0.82)
19. Stoke (0.78)
20. Newcastle (0.45)

Captain Picks
What do we make of this Liverpool team? Since Dalglish took over they have scored an impressive 35 goals in 16 games, which places them first in the league over that period. They suddenly look flush with fantasy options with Kuyt (an astonishing 84 points in the last 8 GWs), Suarez (26 points in the last 3 GWs) and Rodriguez (50 (fifty!) points in the last 3 GWs) all looking like elite prospects right now. Of that trio I would lean towards Kuyt thanks to his consistency and penalty duties. With the league all but wrapped up, Nani looks like a rotation risk (at least in GW38 if not this week) and so Kuyt may be answer for owners looking to gain some last minute ground in their league.

With the best fixture again, Arsenal players continue to be elite fantasy players and it’s almost impossible to look beyond Van Persie. The Dutchman is averaging an incredible 9 points per game in 2011 and has 16 goals in just 15 games. Villa look like an ideal opponent having all but secured their safety for the year despite holding the worst road defense in the league. Now, Arsenal have little to play for either so be your own judge of how this plays out but either way Van Persie looks well placed to enjoy more success this week.

After a fairly poor showing last week Chelsea could well fade into the distance to end the year but Newcastle are average at best on the road and Drogba, Lampard, Malouda et al always have the chance to go crazy on someone. All three players come into the game in good fantasy form and I reiterate my support for Lampard (9 goals in 16 games in 2011 including 4 in the last 5) given his ability to score when Chelsea aren’t playing well and his penalty duties. Drogba on the other hand tends to excel when Chelsea play well as a whole (or is that vice versa) and so with some doubt in mind as to how they bounce back this week, I favor the more reliable Lampard.

Outside of that top trio of teams it’s hard to find too many options with the likes of Rooney, Nani and Van der Vaart facing tricky road trips. City’s hosting of Stoke looks more favorable than it is and with the Cup final a couple of days before and Champions League football secured, it’s hard to predict what Mancini will do in this one. Perhaps that Balotelli pick will work out after all.

REAL MADRID TRANSFER RUMOURS GOSSIP 2011 | KAKA, BENZEMA, COENTRAO ...

Lots of SPANISH FOOTBALL news today especially in the REAL MADRID transfers gossip area that I will run down in this post.


As informed Real Madrid has signed RCD Espanyol CALLEJON, Borrusia Dortmund midfielder SAHIN & almost has shut Bayern Munich player ANTILTOP who finishes contract. But there have been more movements in other palyer "business" fronts especially on possible exits.

Italian

FC BARCELONA SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2010 - 2011 | ROUND 36 WEDNESDAY GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL ,  & more concretely LA LIGA,  has a Champion for season 2010-2011. FC BARCELONA claim their third straight SPANISH LEAGUE Title after securing things mathematically tonight. There was six matches scheduled for Round 36 with lots of nerves & high tensions as teams are fighting for their 1º Division future at the bottom of the leader. Here is a brief resume of the games, the

LA LIGA SPANISH FOOTBALL ROUND 36 TUESDAY NIGHT GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE action tonight with four matches of Round 36 with relegation zone teams in full battle to stay alive next season in LA LIGA, disappointments, nerves , joys & goals. Here is a summary of tonights games, the results & the scorers.



Cristiano Ronaldo adds more goals

REAL MADRID defeated GETAFE 4 - 0 & delays the Spanish League title celebrations for FC Barcelona which

REAL MADRID 2011-2012 SIGNINGS | THE NEW & THE OLD?

NURI SAHIN (Borussia Dortmund) , CALLEJON (RCD Espanyol), ALTINTOP (Bayern Munich), plus the possible return of young Parejo (Getafe) & rumours about Cesc Fabregas (difficult, but sounding), Tevez (Manchester City), Fernando Llorente (At.Bilbao) & Sergio Aguero (At.Madrid)

The first two are already confirmed new signings for REAL MADRID, Antintop is said will be announced next Saturday & comes "

CURRENT PROVISIONAL LEADING GOAL SCORER FOR THE SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE & EUROPEAN GOLDEN BOOT (SHOE)

FINAL SPANISH FOOTBALL LIGA GOALSCORING TABLE 2010-2011



REAL MADRID forward CRISTIANO RONALDO is currently leading the SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE Top Goal scorer Award for season 2010-2011 (“El Pichichi”) & the "European Golden Boot (Shoe) Award" for the continents Top scorer. This is provision as the season hasn’t finished as yet & it is very close in the Top spots between Ronaldo, Messi (FC

SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE ROUND 35 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS | FC BARCELONA CLOSER TO SPANISH LEAGUE TITLE

SPANISH FOOTBALL action with the last three games of Round 35 of the Spanish League. The main news is the victory by FC BARCELONA which puts them just one point away from mathematically claiming LA LIGA 2010-2011 title. A feat that will most likely occur in the next Round with the accompanying celebrations by Barça. Until then, lets review today's matches with results & the scorers.



Andres

TENNIS | RAFAEAL NADAL GOES DOWN TO DJOKOVIC IN MASTERS 1000 MADRID FINAL

Spanish Tennis ace RAFAEL NADAL has gone down 5 - 7 ; 4 - 6 to Serbian NOVAK DJOKOVIC in the Tennis Final of the MASTERS 1000 MADRID. The Serbian continues his unbeatable run of victories which includes defeating Nadal in 3 straight finals this year. The victory today by Novak demonstrates that the Serb has real chances of grabbing the Nº1 spot off Nadal if he continues with his current form &

FC BARCELONA WINS SPANISH JUVENIL CUP AGAINST REAL MADRID

FC BARCELONA won the SPANISH JUVENIL CUP 3 - 1 against REAL MADRID with RAFINHA being the star. The team Coached by ex-FC Barcelona player Oscar Garcia surprised Real Madrid very early with two rapid goals that shook the "whites" psychologically & a blow from which they were never able to recover.



FC Barcelona Juvenil member Rafinha

The goals came in the 8th min via RAFINHA ( brother of Barça

ROUND 35 SPANISH LEAGUE FOOTBALL SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

SPANISH FOOTBALL & its LEAGUE was super emotional as Clubs put in the extra effort to either avoid relegation into the 2nd Division & fight it out for the limited European places at the Top of LA LIGA ladder. Seven games played tonight in Round 35 with nerves, frustrations, controversy & for some,  complete joy. Here is a summary of todays events, results & scorers.



Barral scores the equalizer

FC BARCELONA TEAM PHOTO 2011 | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE VERSION

Here is a picture for FC BARCELONA fans to keep & stick on their favourite places. The starting 11 side against Real Madrid in the 1ºst leg of the Champions League semi finals.



FC Barcelona 2011 Champions League semi-final line-up
(photo courtesy of "Sport")

L to R Top: Pedro, Keita, Mascherano, Busquets, Pique & Valdes
L to R Bottom: Messi, Alves, Villa, Xavi & Puyol

Notable absence due to

SEVE BALLESTEROS DIES | SPANISH SPORTS LOSES GOLF LEGEND

Big shock for SPANISH SPORTS & the World of Golf with the sad news of the death this early morning of Spanish Golf legend SEVE BALLESTEROS. The Sportsman dies at the age of 54 at his home in the North of Spain surrounded by all his family.



Spanish Golf leyend Seve Ballesteros


In 2008 he was detected a brain tumour which made him go through surgery 4 times. Always with optimism & an iron will

Gameweek 36 Preview

The league title might be decided this weekend but the fantasy season keeps going and with three gameweeks left there is still plenty to play for. On a personal level I set the bar for a successful season at 2,000 points so anyone flirting with that still has something to aim for. Add in countless mini leagues that remain unsettled and the importance of these games becomes clear. The key to the week is undoubtedly the DGWs for City and Spurs though be careful about over doing it here as the matchup between the two doesn't play out as a great fixture for either. Also consider that Spurs have to go to Anfield next week before loading up on too many of Redknapp's boys.

Clean Sheet Rankings

1. Man City (5 - 2) and (10 - 3)
2. Fulham (9 - 4)
3. Man Utd (10 - 6)
4. Tottenham (5 - 7) and (2 - 3)
5. Aston Villa (6 - 8)
6. Bolton (5 - 8)
7. Newcastle (4 - 5)
8. Everton (5 - 6)
9. West Ham (4 - 5)
10. Wolves (3 - 7)
11. Stoke (6 - 2)
12. Chelsea (4 - 0)
13. Wigan (3 - 4)
14. Arsenal (4 - 3)
15. Liverpool (5 - 3)
16. West Brom (0 - 3)
17. Blackburn (1 - 3)
18. Sunderland (5 - 3)
19. Blackpool (5 - 4)
20. Birmingham (3 - 3)

The DGW pair are obviously good options this week as if nothing else they should avoiding conceding more than the odd goal and hence lock in 4 points for your defenders. Do I see big scores though? Not from Spurs but maybe from City. I try not to bring too many judgmental factors into these rankings but a glance at the table shows us that Spurs have to win every game from now on while City have to not lose. A quality team intent on not losing a game can be a recipe for success when it comes to clean sheets and hence they get a bump in the rankings despite the tough fixture on paper (the same can be said for Man Utd).

Of the cheaper non-DGW teams Fulham have the best remaining games while Bolton also look like a decent investment. Aaron Hughes and Gary Cahill make good mid-range options for the final 3 games of the year.

Attacking Rankings

1. Tottenham (3.41)
2. Man City (3.28)
3. West Brom (1.81)
4. Arsenal (1.62)
5. West Ham (1.56)
6. Aston Villa (1.45)
7. Liverpool (1.41)
8. Fulham (1.40)
9. Everton (1.25)
10. Blackburn (1.22)
11. Man Utd (1.21)
12. Chelsea (1.17)
13. Birmingham (1.14)
14. Bolton (1.13)
15. Newcastle (1.12)
16. Wolves (1.03)
17. Sunderland (1.00)
18. Stoke (0.99)
19. Wigan (0.98)
20. Blackpool (0.95) 

Captain Picks
Despite my reservations, the captaincy is really going to boil down to the DGW pair as the majority of the other top options square off at Old Trafford:

• Rafael Van der Vaart - he seems to tick all the boxes - guaranteed minutes, set piece duties and three category potential. Spurs rank as the best attacking team of the week and the Dutchman is their best option. The clear pick of the week and possibly worth paying 4 points for. The downside is that everyone else will be doing the same thing. 

• Luka Modric - he's in good form but he can't compete with VdV on a fantasy basis and is a fringe fantasy player at best.

• Gareth Bale - at times he has been close to a must own player but he's been quiet of late and like Modric he is barely fantasy relevant these days. Better value can again be found but hold him if you already have him.

• Luka Modric - he's in good form but he can't compete with VdV on a fantasy basis and is a fringe fantasy player at best. 

• Jermaine Defoe - see Bale, Gareth

• Michael Dawson - with Assou Ekotto out, Dawson looks like the best bet at the back though he doesn't deliver anything outside of clean sheets. With one game against City (in which Spurs need to win and hence attack) Dawson's success comes down to the game against Blackpool and on a single game basis the stats suggest Fulham, United and even Villa are better options this week. Worth a look as your third or fourth DGW option if you already hold a few but not a priority pickup.

• David Silva - In terms of talent he would be close to a no-brainer but with the FA Cup final coming up next week it's pretty likely than Silva is (a) dropped for the Everton game to save him for Spurs or (b) having won this week (and secured a Champions League spot) he is rested against Spurs. Either way he looks like a huge risk to get 180 minutes such is the availability of players like Adam Johnson and Shaun Wright Phillips.

• Carlos Tevez - it looks to be too soon for Tevez who may return for the cup final but likely not before then.

• Mario Balotelli - again, the safe minutes are just not there. Of those with  high ceiling he might be worth a punt but it really would be a risk at this point. Only those needing to gain ground on opponents should apply.

• Yaya Toure - probably the safest option attacking option for City. Toure has played a lot of minutes this year (2606) and is rarely substituted when he plays. With 5 goals, 6 assists and 14 bonus points he's shown he can contributed in every category. His upside is probably fairly low but he does have seven games with six points or more and two in double digits. Not sure I'd pay to get him but he's a good use of your free transfer.

• Aleksandar Kolarov - probably not guaranteed to play twice but his chances are pretty good. Throw in his versatility which sometimes allows him to play further upfield and you have a solid fantasy option. With one defensive spot occupied by a midfielder (Kompany) and Toure out indefinitely it has become harder to pick City defenders but I still like Kolarov for the remainder of the year.

• Joe Hart - the only sure fire to get two defensive games this week. I don't generally advocate paying for expensive 'keepers but if you have money lying around or that is easily accessible then Hart may just be worth the investment. He has a decent chance at 3 clean sheets for the remainder of the year.

As has been the case for a couple of weeks now, your strategy is really dictated by whether you are leading or chasing the pack in your league. If chasing you may need to pay for a couple of the above players as this is the last chance to really differentiate your team.

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Mind blowing for myself with a site that reaches the global & has readers from all the continents. I can only say THANK YOU, for your support, loyalty, fantastic

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Adebayor with Real Madrid 


But with the loan period from Manchester City, along with the current season, coming

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RCD Espanyol player Callejon 

This could be the second signing for Real

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Real Madrid went in with an attacking line-up this time around in their attempt to

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P.s Have been invited out tonight to watch the

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At Bilbao put on their new away clours

Very even start to the game with its doses of physical play, until OSVALDO put ahead Espanyol in the 33rd min. Then Bilbao

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Rayo Vallecano
Two teams look virtually set to be promoted into La Liga, Sevilla´s historical Club Real Betis & Madrid Club ( currently

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Here is a summary of events this afternoon, with the results & scorers.



Malaga win three vital points today

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