Out of eight Spanish and English teams playing in the Champions League this week, only Arsenal were victorious.

Was this a blip for the two powerhouses, or is it another indication that Europe’s top club competition is becoming more balanced?

I did a video blog on Tuesday about the difficulties in Italian football (and got a bit of stick for it!) and for 86 minutes of Dynamo Kiev v Inter Milan the problems were still there.

But a quick double burst by Jose Mourinho’s men gave them a 2-1 comeback win and they are now top of the group. If they beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp next time out then the holders could be in real trouble. 

In the long run, I still maintain that a Serie A side will really struggle to win it this season but what about flying Bordeaux?

It’s possibly beyond a French side as well, which leads me back to Arsenal.

Manchester United are suddenly looking shaky at the back while Chelsea, Barca, Real Madrid are far from perfect.

I reckoned at the start of the season that Arsenal, with their youthful exuberance and delightful play, could be real challengers in Europe and although they have probably had an easier group and are not even through yet, their chances look to be increasing.  

PHOTO: Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas scores his second goal in the 4-1 home win over AZ Alkmaar, Nov 4, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

A few days ago, Real Zaragoza president Eduardo Bandres said: “The Spanish league will be a matter totally and absolutely between two teams, among other things because the system for distributing television rights determines that it will be this way. It is unique in Europe and because of this the Spanish league is one of the most boring in Europe.”

The television channels would beg to differ, as they regularly run adverts or open their coverage of matches from La Liga claiming it is the ‘best league in the world’ with clips of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi running in the background.

But Bandres has a point. Five games in, and the table has an all-too familiar look about it. There are only two clubs left with a 100 percent record – Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Who has scored the most goals? Real and Barca with 16 apiece.

Who has conceded the fewest? Real with two. Barca have let in three.

Which clubs have the most money? Real and Barca are both working on budgets of over 400 million euros, three to four times greater than their nearest rivals. They rake in around half of the money earned from La Liga’s television rights, which are not negotiated on a collective basis.

At least Valencia’s David Villa bucks the trend in the individual goal-scoring charts, topping the rankings with six, but second behind him with five each are Ibrahimovic, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

There are four clubs expected to be mixing it at the top and competing for Spain’s other two Champions League qualification places: Sevilla, Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal.

Atletico and Villarreal are in the bottom three without a win from their opening matches, and are already 12 and 13 points adrift of Real and Barca respectively. Valencia have slipped down to seventh without a win in their last three outings.

Only Sevilla are putting up a fight, and they lie third with 12 points from a possible 15. They have a squad that boasts Frederic Kanoute, Luis Fabiano and Alvaro Negredo up front, with the likes of Jesus Navas, Diego Capel and Diego Perotti providing the bullets.

They have won six on the trot in all competitions and will provide Real Madrid with their stiffest test yet when Manuel Pellegrini’s side visit the Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday. As things stand, this is Real’s most difficult league clash of the season outside of their home and away battles with Barca.

A victory for Sevilla could signal the start of a genuine challenge from the Andalucians, and add some much needed spice to the title race. A defeat would leave more people agreeing with Bandres.

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates his goal against Real Madrid, May 2, 2009. REUTERS/Juan Medina

An unusual headline in Spain’s El Mundo newspaper caught my eye this morning: “Real Madrid threatened by wizard.”

According to the respected conservative daily, the La Liga club has received a letter from the magician, whom it did not identify by name, warning that he has been contracted to cast a spell that would inflict injury on their Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I can’t promise that it will be a serious injury but he’ll certainly be out of action more than playing,” El Mundo quoted the wizard as saying.

He told the paper he was unable to reveal the identity of his client “because I am a mixture of priest and doctor and I have to respect the confidentiality of my followers.”

El Mundo said it was the third time the wizard had threatened Real after targeting players including David Beckham and Ronaldo (the portly Brazilian version) in 2003 and Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Fabio Cannavaro and Raul in 2006.

The wizard has apparently already begun the process of casting his spell over Cristiano Ronaldo using photos of the world record signing spread out around his “laboratory”.

“It’s a step-by-step process and depends on various factors so the result you are looking for is achieved sooner or later,” El Mundo quoted the wizard as saying.

He pointed out that Ronaldo’s run of a goal-a-game had ended against Tenerife at the weekend and he had been angry at being substituted by coach Manuel Pellegrini in the second half.

Real are not taking the threat seriously and have dismissed it as “the kind of craziness we deal with on a daily basis”, according to El Mundo.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on Ronaldo in the next few weeks but in the meantime can anyone think of anything similar happening in other leagues?

There are plenty of superstitious soccer players out there but someone being targeted by a wizard really is bizarre.

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during their La Liga match against Tenerife at the Bernabeu, Sept. 26 REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

Join Owen Wyatt for our regular wrap of world sport. This week, it’s a World Cup qualifier special, as we consider the plight of Diego Maradona and the battle for golden tickets for South Africa 2010.

We particularly welcome comments, so if you’d like to critique Owen’s schoolboy fashion errors, please do…

Spain’s qualification for next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa has brought a welcome distraction to a nation suffering more than most of its European peers from the economic crisis.

Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Estonia put the European champions through as Group Five winners and Vicente del Bosque’s highly-fancied side will be competing in their ninth straight finals since 1978 and attempting to win the World Cup for the first time.

The Spanish FA (RFEF) opted to play the Estonia qualifier in the ancient Roman city of Merida, capital of the struggling Extremadura region, and the local fans gave star players like Fernando Torres, David Villa and Iker Casillas a hero’s welcome.

Hundreds turned out in the blazing sunshine to welcome the players at their hotel on Tuesday afternoon and the 15,000-seater Estadio Romano was packed with boisterous fans for both Tuesday’s evening’s training session and the match.

Unemployment in Extremadura, the dusty region between Madrid and Portugal, is running at more than 20 percent compared with around 18 percent in Spain as a whole and the scores of empty shops in Merida, which boasts some of the world’s best-preserved ancient Roman ruins, are a stark reminder of economic hardship.

“We want to use the Estonia match to promote Merida and Extremadura,” city mayor Angel Calle said. “We will welcome the players as if they were 21st-century gladiators.”

The RFEF policy of playing matches away from major centres like Madrid and Seville is much appreciated by Merida locals, who rarely, if ever, get a chance to see star players in the flesh.

“I’ve never seen anything like this here in my life,” said 82-year-old fan Juan Jose Garrido Carroza outside the stadium on Wednesday. “This is a really big event, it’s hugely important for sure.”

The Spanish national side is not as popular in regions like Catalonia and the Basque Country but the cries of “Espana! Espana!” that rang out around the stadium at the final whistle in Merida are proof that in Extremadura at least they will always be welcome.

PHOTO: Spain’s Cesc Fabregas celebrates after scoring against Estonia during their World Cup qualifier at the Romano stadium in Merida, Sept 9, 2009. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro

It’s hard to believe Spain striker David Villa will not be playing in the Champions League again this season.

The Valencia frontman was in irresistible form against Belgium in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday when the European champions romped to a 5-0 victory in La Coruna.

Villa won and then missed a first-half penalty, before making amends by scoring two and setting up another two as Spain maintained their 100 percent record in qualifying to all but assure themselves of a place in South Africa next year.

Villa was already Spain’s second highest scorer of all time and now has 33 goals from 51 appearances –- just 11 short of Raul’s national record of 44.

What makes his tally even more impressive is that the former owner of Spain’s number seven shirt, Raul, bagged his total over 102 appearances.

Villa has time on his side, he turns 28 in December, and is on course to set a new Spanish benchmark at the World Cup finals.

But at club level, Villa will only be playing in the Europa League after Valencia finished sixth in La Liga last season.

It isn’t as though his talents have not been noticed by Europe’s leading clubs. He was tournament top scorer at Euro 2008, and has averaged almost 20 goals a season in La Liga with Real Zaragoza and then Valencia over the last six years.

Financially-troubled Valencia said they would consider offers that were “scandalously scandalous” over the summer as the big clubs circled.

But reports said Villa was keen to stay in Spain, which left big-spending Real Madrid and treble-winners Barcelona as his only possible destinations.

Real and Barca landed Cristiano Ronaldo (94 million euros) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (66 million euros) respectively, but neither were willing to stump up the money for one of the world’s most complete strikers, despite both clubs registering their interest.

For Real president Florentino Perez, who came closest to landing Villa but baulked at paying more than 40 million euros, the reasoning was thus:

“(Ronaldo and Kaka) are players that have won the Ballon d’Or and FIFA world player of the year awards, who I describe as ‘investment’ players because they have an international reach which others maybe haven’t reached,” he said in June.

Villa could be accused of a lack of ambition by wanting to stay in Spain, but Real or Barca may live to regret not signing him come next May.

PHOTO: Spain’s David Villa celebrates a goal against Belgium in Coruna, Sept.5 REUTERS/Juan Medina

In the previous post, Simon Evans discussed where the U.S. go from here after their stunning win over Spain. Below Mike Collett looks at where the Confederations Cup semi-final victory ranks among shocks.

The debate is back on. Where does the United States’ shock 2-0 win over Spain in the Confederations Cup on Wednesday rank among the all-time great upsets.

I would say very high indeed.

It’s not just the facts leading up to the match that scream “WOW, that was something else” but also the way the U.S. played. It was defending, team-work, spirit, guts and resilience of the highest level. The goals were not flukey either.

Teenager Jozy Altidore muscled his way past some tame defending from his Villarreal team mate Joan Capdivila to score the opener and Clint Dempsey pounced with the opportunism all great strikers show to put the U.S. 2-0 ahead.

Perhaps because they won 2-0 and not 1-0 as is usual in the case of upsets, this victory deserves a place in the top five of all time.

And before anyone says, “ah but the U.S. is ranked No.14 in the world by FIFA, so it’s not that big a deal,” think again.

The U.S. is ranked that highly because of the low standard of most of the teams around them in the CONCACAF zone — not all, but a lot. Any anyway, in football terms, the U.S. are not giants. They may rule the world, but they do not rule soccer — yet.

My suggestion for the greatest international upset of all time remains the United States 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup finals in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Some English papers thought the result was a misprint and “corrected” it the following day to read United States 1 England 10. They were wrong.

Here they are my choices then: I know I’ve probably left some real obvious ones out:

1. United States 1 England 0 1950 World Cup

2. North Korea 1 Italy 0 1966 World Cup

3. West Germany 3 Hungary 2 1954 World Cup final

4. Uruguay 2 Brazil 1 1950 World Cup final

5. United States 2 Spain 0 2009 Confederations Cup

6. Cameroon 1 Argentina 0 1990 World Cup

7. Senegal 1 France 0 2002 World Cup

8. Denmark winning 1992 European championship

9. Greece winning 2004 European championship

10. Faroe Islands 1 Austria 0 - Faroe Islands first ever competitive match in a Euro ‘92 qualifier played in September 1990

11. Northern Ireland 1 Spain 0 1982 World Cup

12. Nigeria 3 Spain 2 1998 World Cup

13. Egypt 1 Italy 0 2009 Confederations Cup

14. West Germany 0 Northern Ireland 1 - West Germany’s first ever home defeat in a European qualifier, Hamburg 1983.

and possibly…

15. England 3 Hungary 6 1953 - England’s first-ever home defeat to overseas opposition but those in the know, saw it coming…and the Hungarians were magificent.

The Confederations Cup, effectively a warm-up tournament for the World Cup, rarely captures the imagination but fans in the United States aren’t lacking enthusiasm for the tournament after their team produced a major upset by defeating European champions Spain 2-0.

Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey ended Spain’s world record run of 15 successive victories and their 35-match unbeaten sequence, a world record streak they share with Brazil. That run has taken Spain to world number one in FIFA’s global rankings.

So a major upset — but just how big a surprise was it?

Our man at the game, global soccer editor Mike Collett, poses the question by putting the U.S’s victory in historical context — North Korea beating Italy in the 1966 World Cup probably takes the prize for this reporter and the fact that the Confederations Cup is a lesser tournament than the World Cup probably weakens the case for this win being among the very greatest upset ever. But regardless of the global-historical rating there is less doubt that, as Mike argues, the win is the biggest for United States since the 1950 shock over England in the World Cup finals.

The U.S have pulled off a few surprises since then, though, and Kartik Krishnaiyer at MLS Talk lists the main triumphs. As Kartik notes, a 3-0 win over Argentina in the 1995 Copa America was a particularly impressive result for a team which had yet to make a real impact in a World Cup. But probably the best U.S result, up until Wednesday, taking into account the importance of the match, was the 3-2 win over Portugal in the 2002 World Cup.

The inevitable question then arises, could this result mark the turning point for soccer in the United States?

Certainly those sceptics who discount the United States as an emerging force in the game solely because they play most of their football against supposedly weak opposition in the CONCACAF region, will be given cause to think again. I’ve long argued that the U.S are at least on a level with the second tier nations in Europe — the Swiss, the Scandinavians, the Belgians, the Austrians and the most of the teams from Eastern Europe and results in friendly games back up that view.

It should also be pointed out that CONCACAF isn’t entirely made up of ‘minnows’ — the likes of Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica are, when things are together on and off the field, teams capable of holding their own against most international sides.

So in terms of the credibility and reputation of the U.S team, this win should earn some additional respect for Bob Bradley’s side — especially if it is followed by a decent display in Sunday’s final against Brazil or South Africa.

Whether there is any knock-on effect for the domestic game is another matter entirely. It will take more than a single surprise result to change the habits of American sports fans and people with no interest in the game aren’t suddenly going to start attending Major League Soccer matches because of a win over Spain.

But — and this is where the fortunes of the US national team and those of MLS do intertwine — the result could serve as a wake-up call to those thousands of fans of international soccer, living in the U.S but with little interest in the domestic game. I am talking primarily of the still largely untapped Latin American market which produces impressive television ratings for international games but also of those young fans of the English Premier League and Champions League who just haven’t been turned on to MLS or the US national team.

If Bob Bradley’s team can build on this result, complete their qualifying for the World Cup in style and then make an impact again next year in South Africa, those fans will be tempted to start following the domestic competition much more actively, especially if some of the best American players can be persuaded (financially of course) to return to or stay in MLS.

Until then, don’t bet against some more surprises from this American team. It may lack big names, outstanding talent and be a little short on flair but as they showed against the Spaniards they have determination, solid organisation and impressive fitness — all qualities ideally suited to the specific demands of tournament football.

PHOTO: Jozy Altidore (R) celebrates with team mate Charlie Davies after scoring for the U.S. against Spain in their Confederations Cup semi-final at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, June 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Pau Gasol's triumph with the LA Lakers has prompted more articles in the Spanish media celebrating the country's incredible run of sporting success.

Gasol was a vital cog in the Lakers machine this season and joins a long list of Spanish champions in individual and team sports.

Spain's soccer team, after winning Euro 2008, has cemented its hold on the number one ranking by extending its unbeaten run to 33 matches, Barcelona strolled to the Champions League title last month with a humbling of holders Manchester United, Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked men's tennis player and Spain Davis Cup champions, Jorge Lorenzo is joint leader in the MotoGP world championships and Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France, the third Spanish victory in a row.

"Another success for Spanish sport," Nadal wrote of Gasol on his website on Tuesday. "It's hard to take in everything that we are achieving," he added. "We should be very proud."

"Gasol has passed a new milestone for Spanish sport, even if there are not that many goals left to achieve," said sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky.

Writing in Marca newspaper on Tuesday, columnist Santiago Segurola said the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 were a turning point for the country, changing the way people outside Spain viewed the nation and laying the foundations for today's sporting achievements.

While Spain might not be the strongest sporting nation overall, it was among those that produced the widest variety of champions, almost all in sports with huge media impact, he added.

However, the recent success of athletes like Gasol and Nadal could be a mixed blessing for the team bidding to bring the Olympic Games to Madrid in 2016.

It helps raise the nation's global profile but also serves to underline the relative weakness of Spain in the key Olympic sports of athletics and swimming.

"We are enjoying the luxury but lacking in the basics," Segurola wrote.

Spain's performance at the last Olympics in Beijing, where they came 14th in the medals table behind the likes of Jamaica, Netherlands and Ukraine, underscored their athletes' deficiencies, Juan Bautista Martinez wrote in Tuesday's La Vanguardia.

But at a time of economic crisis, with unemployment soaring and firms closing down, sport had become a kind of motor of society that had helped lift damp spirits, he said. "When everything is going down the tubes, sport comes to the rescue."

Whether or not Madrid pips Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to win the right to host the 2016 summer Games, the elusive dream for many Spaniards remains winning the soccer World Cup for the first time.

If Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta maintain anything like their current form, South Africa next year could well be the icing on the cake for this over-achieving nation of 40 million people.

PAU: Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol reaches for a rebound in the 3rd quarter during Game 4 of their NBA Finals series against the Orlando Magic in Orlando, Florida June 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski

INIESTA: Barcelona's Andres Iniesta holds the trophy after their Champions League final victory against Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, May 27, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Turks have nicknamed Luis Aragones “dede” or “granddad” since he became Fenerbahce coach last July – at first to convey the respect they’d show a wise and experienced elder, but nowadays to express their fury at a man they view as an incompetent geriatric.

Calls for his resignation have increased since Fenerbahce lost the Turkish Cup to bitter Istanbul rivals Besiktas last week. A victory could have sweetened Aragones’ severance package from his contract, but would no longer have saved his job, Turkish media said.

The 70-year-old Spaniard arrived in Turkey on a high, having just led Spain to victory in Euro 2008, their first major title in 44 years.

But his spell at Fenerbahce has gone from bad to worse. The Istanbul side, Champions League quarter-finalists in 2008, failed to reach the knockout stages of this season’s competition and finished bottom of their group with just two points.

With two matches left of the Turkish league, Fenerbahce languish in 5th, 10 points behind leaders Besiktas, and heading for their lowest league finish since 2003.

Aragones’ gruff manner and often lethargic mood pitchside have won him few friends in Turkey.

Club president Aziz Yildirim has acknowledged fans’ despair and pledged sweeping changes to restore the team’s spirit, and get them back into the Champions League. Aragones’ fate has not yet been officially announced but among rumoured replacements are former coach Christoph Daum, who won two league titles with the club.

PHOTO: Fenerbahce’s Spanish coach Luis Aragones waits for the start of their Turkish Cup final against Besiktas at the Ataturk stadium in Izmir, western Turkey, May 13, 2009. REUTERS/ Murad Sezer