EURO 2012 FINAL | SPAIN - ITALY TEAM PHOTOS

Approximately around 21 days back SPAIN & ITALY played the opener of the Group C match of the EURO 2012 Championship. It finished in a 1 - 1 draw result & the starting line-up team photos of the game & of both countries are below.




Spain 2012


This Sunday both again will meet but this time in the Final in the city of Kiev to determine who will be the 2012 European Nations Champions.



Italy

FC BARCELONA CLOSES JORDI ALBA TRANSFER

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM right-back JORDI ALBA is one of the revelations of this EURO 2012 tournament. The VALENCIA CF player has just been agreed for transfer to FC BARCELONA for 14M€. The negotiations have been long & complicated during moments but finally the "Barça grown" player returns "home" as a World class player. 



Jordi Alba

Jordi Alba will sign for FC Barcelona for the next 5

BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH SIGNS ATLETICO DOMINGUEZ

The transfer of ATLETICO DE MADRID & Spanish International Central Defender DOMINGUEZ to German Club BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH highlights the financial needs of the Spanish Club.Atletico de Madrid received 8M€ for the player, an amount they will add to the money they are attempting to get together & guarantee that Forward Falcao can stay for next season.In an attempt to gather up funds I don´t

EURO 2012 SEMI-FINAL | SPAIN WINS PORTUGAL IN PENALTY SHOOT-OUT

A cliff hanger, the first semi-final of the EURO 2012 went into extra-time & ended going into a penalty shoot-out that SPAIN won 0 (4) - PORTUGAL 0 (2) & thus qualifies itself for the next Sunday Final were they will defend their European title won back in 2008. 



Negredo


Spain again surprised everyone with a Centre Forward that was not Torres, but ALVARO NEGREDO from the start. The tactic

EURO 2012 | POSSIBLE SPAIN - PORTUGAL STARTING 11 LINE - UPS

Big day in European Football with the first semi-final of the 2012 Euro Championship scheduled tonight. World & current Euro Champs SPAIN play neighbours PORTUGAL which has grown in strength & form as they have progressed. The star player for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo has also lifted a few gears & is clearly the main danger for the Spanish defense, but not the only. Said all this, the SPANISH

EURO 2012 | SPAIN PRACTICE PENALTIES

Less than 24 hours away from tomorrows first EURO 2012 semi-final between PORTUGAL - SPAIN. Plenty of respect between both sides & many weary of the "big" players - Cristiano Ronaldo, Iniesta, Nani, Silva etc - & how to counter-balance their possible dangers. 

Portugal won Spain 4 - 0 in Lisbon last time they met in an International friendly match, so the memory is still fresh. The other news

SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER RUMOURS | FALCAO, TEVEZ, KAKA, MODRIC, SAHIN & CARVALHO

Can any Football Club resist a 50M€ offer for one of its players? According to the English press,  Premier League Champions MANCHESTER CITY are preparing the super offer for ATLETICO DE MADRID Colombian forward FALCAO. The rumour of a possible Falcao transfer has been hot since the end of the season, as Atletico needs money for its own purposes, apart from a contract payment on Falcao that they

EURO 2012 | SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM PHOTO vs FRANCE

Found this SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM photo. Its a historical photo because its the Spanish Football Team starting 11 line-up that defeat France 2 - 0 for the first time in a official game yesterday in the quarter-final of the 2012 Euro. 



Spain starting 11 vs France (Euro 2012)


Top: Left to Right:Casillas, Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Sergi Busquets & Gerard Pique.
Bottom: Left to

SPANISH FOOTBALL SPORTS BLOG REACHES 3 MILLION VISITORS

Spanish Football Sports Blog started out many years back as a way off getting across to the World fans news on Spanish Football & Spanish Sports in English. I realized that not everyone understands Spanish & decided to write in English to get across to a wider audience. I too years back "suffered" from not being able to get updated news when living overseas & missed a source that would give me

EURO 2012 | SPAIN 2 FRANCE 0 INTO THE SEMI FINALS

SPAIN finally defeated FRANCE in an official game of Football 2 - 0 in the quarter-final of the 2012 EURO. The reigning European & World Champions move on to meet next Wednesday Portugal in the semi-final.



Cesc Fabregas

Spanish Football Team Coach Del Bosque repeated with the same starting line-up as with Italy, that is,  without a true forward. CESC FABRAGAS, winning the name of  "False

EURO 2012 | SPAIN - FRANCE POSSIBLE STARTING 11 LINE-UPS

SPAIN has never beaten FRANCE in an official Football match. Tonight in the EURO 2012 quarter-final the SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM has another chance to break that record when the meet France. In fact, Spain must break this historical talking piece & win if they are not to pack their bags & fly back home tomorrow.



Possible starting line-ups Spain-France

The news locally, as always, is the  SPANISH

REAL MADRID EYES LUCA MODRIC

This started as a "buzz" & has turned into a full fledged transfer rumour. REAL MADRID has put its eyes on Croatian International & TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS 27 year old midfielder LUCA MODRIC.

The player overtakes the DAVID SILVA option after this opeartion looks difficult from the Manchester City stance. The Tottenham stance on Modric is no less difficult but it seems Real Madrid Coach Mourinho see

REAL MADRID TRANSFERS | MONEY MAKES THE PLAYERS GO AROUND

GAGO, LASS DIARRA, ALTINTOP & CARVALHO have elements in common. All are currently REAL MADRID players, all are on the Club transfer list & all wish to leave the Spanish Football Club free. That is, be allowed to go to another Club without that Club having to pay Real Madrid a transfer fee.



Real Madrid players


The reason is simple. If a player can swap Clubs without a transfer fee the new

TRANSFER RUMOURS | JAVI MARTINEZ ON THE BAYERN MUNICH AGENDA?

Rumours are hot on the transfer front as expected at this height of the off-season & with the Euro competition in full flight. One here locally is the news out of Germany that BAYERN MUNICH has its eyes on ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO & Spanish International midfielder JAVI MARTINEZ.The fact that a European giant has Javi Martinez in mind is not new nor is it surprising, so has Real Madrid & FC Barcelona

SPAIN LEADS CURRENT EURO 2012 STATISTICS

SPAIN will meet FRANCE in one of the upcoming quarter-finals after the latter lost 2 - 0 to Sweden & finished second on the Group D table. Spain has never won France in an official match ( Yes in Friendly Internationals) which is an interesting statistic.



Spain Euro 2012

Staying with statistics, found these numbers on the SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM current performances to date in this

EURO 2012 | CROATIA 0 - SPAIN 1 | SPAIN TOP SPOT OF GROUP C

SPAIN has finished on top of  Group C after narrowly defeating CROATIA 0 - 1 in a result that in itself eliminates Croatia & allows Italy through on second spot after the Italians won 2 - 0 Ireland.The SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM will now play with the second placed of Group D that will be settled tomorrow & that could be either France or England.



Spain Football Team photo


The above photo is the

SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM | 5 PLAYERS ON YELLOW CARDS

The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM plays another important match tomorrow against CROATIA in the last Group C match. A win will give Spain top spot & a draw will also qualify them, however a loss could be a disaster. This last scenario is a real possibility as the Croatian National team has shown already that they do have the potential to go a long way in this tournament, Spain should however get

VALLADOLID BACK TO THE SPANISH FIRST DIVISION.

VALLADOLID has defeated Madrid Club ALCORCON 1 - 1 in the return match giving the former a 2 -1 aggregate that takes them into the Spanish Football 1º Division - LA LIGA. They join Deportivo A Coruña & Celta de Vigo in the promotion. 



Valladolid - Alcorcon


Alcorcon opened the scoring tonight in the 47th min via FERNANDO SALES that allowed their dream to continue as they drew the aggregate

SPANISH BASKETBALL | BARCELONA WINS TITLE 73 - REAL MADRID 69 ( 3 - 2 SERIES)

FC BARCELONA has won the final series 3 - 2 REAL MADRID to win back to back SPANISH BASKETBALL (LIGA) titles after scoring 73 - 69 , thus becoming the 2012 Champions. An excellent series of high quality Basketball that was taken right down to the wire.



Fran Vazquez


The winning differences came down to details & in this particular match to a much better Barcelona defence & rebound taking

SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM | STEADY AS SHE GOES - PLEASE

It is amazing how perspectives & attitudes can change in days. The SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM was under a dark cloud after drawing 1-1 against Italy in their Group C opener & harshly criticised ( myself included ) for the strategic "experiment" of a "false forward" by Coach Del Bosque.

After the Spanish Football Teams second Group match against Ireland & with a  4- 0 victory, SPAIN returns as odds on 

TRANSFER RUMOURS | LIVERPOOL OFFERS 9M€ FOR BARÇA TELLO ?

While most of the local press has its headlines occupied with the SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM after their Euro 4-0 victory over Ireland, the following piece sneaks into the Sports news content & from England

According to English newspaper, "Daily Mail", Premier League Club LIVERPOOL has its eye on one of FC BARCELONA "revelations" of last season, CRISTIAN TELLO.



Cristian Tello


So much so, that it

SPAIN 4 IRELAND 0 | EURO 2012 GROUP C RESULT

The magic word is WIN. With a final 4 - 0 result & victory over IRELAND the SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM washed clear from everyones mind the "cold" start against Italy last Sunday. Now the defending European Champions sit on top of Group C along with Croatia with shared points & they are scheduled to meet next Monday.The Spanish Coach Del Bosque decided to skip "experiments" this time & started with a

EURO 2012 | SPAIN - IRELAND | POSSIBLE STARTING 11 LINE-UP

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM is back in action tonight with its second EURO 2012 Group C match against the Republic of Ireland. Important game as a win will help settle the defending European Champions after starting "cold" ( & lucky some add ) with a 1 - 1 draw against Italy last Sunday. Also the Spanish National Coach Vicente Del Bosque received a barrage of criticism for his starting 11 against

TRANSFER RUMOURS | THE FC BARCELONA EXIT LIST?

SPANISH SPORTS daily "Sport" publish that new FC BARCELONA Coach Tito Vilanova  is profiling & planning the 2012 - 2013 squad & below are the apparent names that Vilanova counts with:

Valdes, Pinto, Pique, Cesc, Puyol, Xavi, Villa, Iniesta, Alexis, Messi, Thiago, Mascherano, Busquets, Pedro, Cuenca & Cristian Tello 



Transfer candidates

However there are also names the apparently are

SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM | THE FALSE FORWARD IDEA

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM Selector & Coach Vicente del Bosque is being "hit" from all sides with harsh criticism from fans, followers, insiders, media & every Spanish Tom, Dick & Harry who watched the Italy Group C opener & has an opinion. The man is obviously on the defensive today & attempting to rationalise the reason he decided to leave the Spanish starting 11 without a true forward, a Number

RAFAEL NADAL WINS HIS 7TH FRENCH OPEN | PLUS MAKES HISTORY

This post is old news almost 6 hours later. Impossible to post on time as I was earning a living at my employment & blogging is not my function during working hours. However a post that definitely needs to go up independently of the time as it is a Historical event for Spanish Tennis & for Spanish Sports.Spaniard Tennis ace RAFAEL NADAL won a record straight 7th FRENCH OPEN title this afternoon

EURO 2012 | SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM PHOTO AGAINST ITALY

For all the Spanish Football Sports readers & visitors here is the team photo of the SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM starting 11 today in the Euro 2012 Group C opener against Italy that finished in a 1 -1 draw. 



Spain 11 vs Italy Euro 2012


Spanish National Football Team:-top left-right: Casillas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Busquets & Pique
bottom left-right: Silva, Iniesta, Cesc, Xavi, Arbeloa & Alba

EURO 2012 | SPAIN 1 ITALY 1 GROUP C | EXPERIMENT FAILURE

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM & the defending European Champions began its attempt to make Football History ( winning Euro-World Cup - Euro) against ITALY in the opener of Group C. The final result was a 1 - 1 draw that will taste bitter for Spain as they had chances to win towards the end & nearly get the "calming" 3 points. 



Cesc - De Rossi


Looking now with hindsight ( very easy I know ) the

EURO 2012 | SPAIN STARTING 11 LINE-UP AGAINST ITALY

Neither Fernando Torres, Negredo or Llorente has been finally designated the SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM main forward position. That task has been given to CESC FABRAGAS who will play as a "false forward" much as with FC Barcelona under Guardiola.
Spanish Football Team selector Del Bosque has let known the starting 11 against ITALY in the EURO 2012 Group C opener & the announcement of Cesc has caught

EURO 2012 | POSSIBLE SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM STARTING LINEUP

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM begins this afternoon their defence of its European Nations Cup title won back in 2008 against an historically awkward ITALY in their EURO 2012 Group C game. The Spaniards are not "buying" the apparent Italian Camp issues of game fixing & are going into this game with respect & caution.As the case will all Football competitions that has  Group phases the first victory is

MARIO GOTZE ON THE REAL MADRID SIGNING LIST ?

Don´t be surprised if you watch a Germany game this Euro 2012 & in the crowd the TV catches REAL MADRID Coach Jose Mourinho watching closely. Yes Ozil & Khedira will be on show but the player he really wants to watch is 20 year old BORUSSIA DORTMUND player MARIO GOTZE.



Mario Gotze


The rumour has it that Gotze is a target for Real Madrid for season 2012- 2013. Nothing new as the Spanish

FC BARCELONA MAKES FIRST MOVES ON ADRIAN ?

The rumour has been buzzing for months. FC BARCELONA has been following closely the evolution of ATLETICO DE MADRID forward ADRIAN LOPEZ , & yesterday the Club apparently made an initial move. According to "Sport" two Barça heavyweights, Toni Freixa y Carles Rexach,  had lunch yesterday with the Spanish International´s  agent & representative.This is commonly called a first contact, testing the

FOOTBALL | IS SPAIN THE GREATEST TEAM EVER ?

The "Wall Street Journal" asks the question, from an American point of view:


Spanish Football Team


Your answer please.

SPANISH FOOTBALL | COACH MANOLO PRECIADO LEAVES ALL EMPTY WITH DEATH

Spain & Spanish Football took their morning coffee with a spirit shaking news flash. Ex Footballer & ex Coach  MANOLO PRECIADO died of a heart-attack at the age of 54 years. The man was to be announced the new Coach of Villareal tomorrow.



Manolo Preciado


Preciado was unknown out of Spain, but locally the man was loved by all & from all sides of the fence. Beloved as a Football player for

FIFA WORLD RANKINGS JUNE 2012 | SPAIN Nº1

FIFA has released the June 2012 WORLD RANKINGs. SPAIN remains the Nº1 Football Nation, while Uruguay lands into Nº2 position, Portugal has a sharp drop & Japan makes a big jump in rankings. 



Fifa Rankings June 2012

EURO 2012 | SPAIN - GROUP C TEAMS

Spanish Sports daily "Sport" has made up these very interesting info-diagrams based on the teams that share Group C in which the SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM finds itself for this EURO 2012.The European Nations Championship kicks-off on Friday & Spain has its first Group match against the always difficult Italy. The below diagrams give some facts in Spanish, but easily figured out if you don't 

TRANSFER RUMOUR | LAHM A REAL OBJECTIVE ?

Spanish TV "La Sexta" has revealed that one of the big desired signings of REAL MADRID & their Coach José Mourinho is German International & BAYERN MUNICH right-back PHILIPP LAHM. The big obstacle is the said price that Bayern Munich places on their 30 year old Captain, 35M€.



Lahm

Real Madrid are in the market looking for possible reinforcements for next season & a substitute for Arbeloa &

BAD TIMING | THE XAVI INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS BARÇA - REAL MADRID / SPANISH TEAM SPLIT

"We applauded them (Real Madrid ) when they won, this is just Sport after all. We have been very respectful with them (Real Madrid ) at all times, even when they won the Spanish League, when they won the Spanish Cup in Mestalla ... We were very respectful with them. However, I noticed & feel that it was not the case when we won and they lost. It's a very personal feeling I have", said the FC

IFFHS WORLD CUP RANKINGS JUNE | 4 SPANISH FOOTBALL CLUBS TOP 10

The FIFA backed "International Federation of Football History & Statistics" ( IFFHS ) has handed in this months World Club Rankings with 4 Spanish Football Clubs in the Top 10. 

FC Barcelona remains on Top while Real Madrid drops to third as Chilean Club Universidad takes the Nº 2 spot. Atletico de Madrid jumps into 4th place while Bilbao falls a place into 9th position. 




At.Madrid


Here

PRE EURO 2012 WARM-UP RESULT | SPAIN 1 CHINA 0

The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL Team concluded its last warm-up phase of International games before travelling to Poland & to their base-camp to prepare for their first Group C match against Italy next Sunday in the EURO 2012 competition. SPAIN managed to win tonight in Seville a sticky CHINA 1 - 0 with a goal that came towards the end of the match after several failed scoring attempts.



David

SPANISH FOOTBALL | CELTA DE VIGO RETURNS TO LA LIGA

After 5 years CELTA DE VIGO joins follow "Galicia Region" Club Deportivo A Coruña in the Spanish 1º Division - LA LIGA - after securing mathematically the second classification place with direct promotion. Celta de Vigo just needed a draw result ( 1 point ) against Cordoba & their game finished in a 0 - 0 result which lead to an explosion of joy & celebrations in the city of Vigo.



Celta de

ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO | BIELSA OK FOR ANOTHER YEAR

The wait is finally over. ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO & Coach MARCELO BIELSA have agreed to extend their contractual relationship until June 30th of 2013. The Argentine Coach was keeping in suspense these days all the members & fans of the Basque Club & has finally decided to continue for one more season at  "San Mamés".



Marcelo Bielsa


In his first year, Marcelo Bielsa lead the team to the Final of

ATLETICO DE MADRID WINS U - 17 WORLD CLUBS TITLE

ATLETICO DE MADRID has defeated FC BARCELONA 2 - 1 in the Final of the U-17 WORLD CLUBS CHAMPIONSHIPS being played in Madrid. The goals came early with Atletico scoring in the 10th via ARONA & in the 46th min via SAINZ. Barça then managed to grab one back in the 60th via MUNIR but Atletico held out to win the 8th edition of this prestigious U- 17 tournament.



At Madrid - FC Barcelona 


The

SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER RUMOURS | ALBA CLOSE TO BARÇA

The positions between VALENCIA CF & FC BARCELONA are very close in reference to the Valencia & Spanish International left-back JORDI ALBA. The rumours that Barça had Alba in mind as the "substitute" for Eric Abidal have been sounding for months & contacts have been continuous between Clubs & player.



Jordi Alba

Valencia is said to be asking for 15M€ while FC Barcelona only is offering 12€, as

REAL MADRID PRE-SEASON US TOUR

The United States is one of the main sources of web traffic for Spanish Football Sports & I receive plenty of emails from American readers & "football friends" asking about Spanish Football. With this in mind I thought I post up the REAL MADRID pre-season US Tour & the scheduled exhibition matches that are being negotiated to take place. Hopefully you live in one of the cities mentioned & will

MESSI vs. CRISTIANO RONALDO | 2012 STATS

Found this interesting "infograph" on the website of our friends at "Visual.ly" Tought that this may interest all the global readers & that you may find value with all the stats. Interesting the comparision between the two Football players that currently dominate the Sport & Spanish Football: LIONEL MESSI & CRISTIANO RONALDO

REAL MADRID EYES BILBAO JAVI MARTINEZ

ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO player JAVIER MARTINEZ has become the object of desire for REAL MADRID Coach Jose Mourinho. According to Spanish radio 'Onda Cero', Real Madrid has contacted with Athletic to negotiate the transfer of the player who has a buyout clause of 40M€. Real Madrid aims to reduce that amount & has offered 30M€, that's the limit set by José Mourinho for the signing of any player.

REAL MADRID | HIGUAIN TO STAY ?

Yes, no, yes, no...staying, going, staying, going... I personally am getting tired as I also suppose some REAL MADRID fans are as well. The very latest on the GONZALO HIGUAIN saga is that, acccording to one of his reps Norberto Recasens, the player is staying at the Spanish Football Club.



Gonzalo Higuian


Following from the above comments, Recasans says that the player is very happy & looks

EURO 2012 | SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM PHOTO - SQUAD

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM took time out today from training in Madrid for the upcoming EURO 2012 competition to take the traditional team photo ( courtesy of RFEF ) with all the players that make up the squad.



Spanish National Football Team Euro 2012


Here are all the names from top left - row by row - & to the end:
Javi Martinez, Busquets, Reina, Casillas, Valdes, Pique, Albiol, Navas, Mata,

EURO 2012 | SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM | THREE OPTIONS UPFRONT

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM Selector & Coach Vicente Del Bosque has finally decided on the three Centre Fowards for the EURO 2012 competition:

ALVARO NEGREDO ( Sevilla FC)
FERNANDO TORRES ( Chelsea FC)
FERNANDO LLORENTE ( At. Bilbao)

Three players with distinct characteristics that will give the Spanish Forward-line variation, alternatives & differing options depending on the opponent, match