Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Thursday

Breathe in. Breathe out. The Champions League is over for this week after a tense two days of last 16 drama. And now for Europa League action on Thursday with yet more top sides in action.

First of all however let’s dissect the Champions League from Wednesday where underdogs Tottenham Hotspur and Schalke 04 progressed past their more fancied rivals, AC Milan and Valencia respectively.

The fact Spurs, who lie fifth in the Premier League compared to Serie A leaders Milan, and Schalke sit 10th in the Bundesliga as opposed to their La Liga third-placed victims, can overcome such stiff tests is yet more testament to how unpredictable and ultimately fascinating a competition the Champions League is.

This blog argues AC Milan are becoming the new Real Madrid by their constant failure in the world’s biggest club competition. Agree?

Anyway, bring on next week. What excites you more, the Champions League business end or your national league?

Arsenal’s defeat to Barcelona on Tuesday continued to fill the pages on Wednesday, small wonder after manager Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri were charged for improper conduct after the match.

The Europa League perhaps gets a little forgotten after the thrills and spills of its big brother, but not here. Some of Europe’s most decorated sides, Liverpool, Ajax Amsterdam and Porto will be in action later on Thursday. Only first legs mind, but any predictions out there?

Soccer Break Wednesday

A fine Wednesday to you all, and a few statistics to begin with. Attendance at the Nou Camp: 95,486. Estimated crowd noise (in decibels): 121.8. Estimated noise of a referee’s whistle (in decibels): 121.8.

The operative word above is estimated, because of course we have no idea, but a quick dig around on the internet shows some debate about whether Robin van Persie could have heard Massimo Busacca’s whistle despite the defeaning noise at the Nou Camp.

Sending-off or no sending-off, here’s another statistic for you from the Champions League thriller. Completed passes: Barcelona – 738 ; Arsenal – 199. The Londoners did mighty well to hang in there and can be proud of their efforts, but the Catalan team’s superiority told in the end. Few teams could touch them in that mood.

Do you think 11 against 11 would have seen Arsenal through? Or was the red card just a mere sideshow?

In Tuesday’s other action, Shakhtar Donetsk eased past AS Roma 3-0 to book their quarter-final place to become the first Ukrainian side to reach the last eight since Dynamo Kiev in 1999.

So now all eyes will be on another north London team hoping to reach the quarters. Tottenham Hotspur take a one-goal advantage into their clash with AC Milan at White Hart Lane.

Schalke 04, whose manager Felix Magath could leave at the end of the season according to German media, host La Liga side Valencia after former Real Madrid striker Raul salvaged a 1-1 draw for the Bundesliga club in the first leg in Spain.

Champions League podcast – 2

Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Karim Benzema and Juan Mata are among the strikers up for discussion in the latest edition of our Reuters Sports Champions League podcast. Kevin Fylan is joined by Ed Osmond, Owen Wyatt, Paul Radford and Mark Meadows.

Listen!

Barcelona land Villa, Cesc to follow?

Breaking news from Spain, where Barcelona have agreed a deal to sign David Villa from Valencia for 40 million euros.

The timing is interesting, coming as it does immediately after Barcelona successfully completed the defence of their league title, and before the distractions of a presidential election.

Joan Laporta, the outgoing president, was clearly determined the club should not rest on its palmares, and run the risk of a rival club using the power vacuum that is on its way to sign Villa from under their noses.

What does it mean for Zlatan Ibrahimovic? And for Thierry Henry? There is growing speculation that the latter will head off to the United States after the World Cup but I doubt of Ibrahimovic will go anywhere. The Swede actually had a pretty decent first season, even if it was light years away from justifying his huge price tag.

That aside, the other great question of Catalan state is whether the club can do a deal to bring Cesc Fabregas back home from Arsenal. The English newspapers agree this morning that the player has told Arsene Wenger he wants to go, with negotiations on the way over a fee.

The Barca team that won the league this season with the addition of another goalscoring machine in Villa and a midfielder with the presence of Fabregas sounds quite a proposition.

How will Real Madrid respond?

10 good reasons to love Rafa Benitez

After our (rather unsuccessful) attempts to convince you of Raymond Domenech’s appealing qualities, our thoughts turn to that much-maligned manager from Madrid, Rafa Benitez.

Liverpool went out of the Champions League on Tuesday night despite a 1-0 win over Debrecen, as Lyon failed to bite in Fiorentina.  

Benitez is taking a lot of stick from fans and non-fans alike but here are 10 (OK, nine) good reasons to love the man:

1. His detractors still put it down to as much to luck as judgment, but the achievement in taking that ragtag bunch of players to Champions League glory in 2005 just can’t be underestimated. The shake-up at half-time, bringing on Dietmar Hamann and switching to a three-man defence, changed a game that no one in the world believed could be salvaged and gave Benitez the defining moment of his coaching career.

2. David Ngog. You can pore over the transfer record all you like, and many, many fans, bloggers and journalists have, but the signing of French striker Ngog for just 1.5 million pounds from PSG will surely go down as a terrific piece of business. Ngog has a great career ahead of him, if used wisely. If…

3. Montse. Kenny Dalglish once claimed that he couldn’t give a TV reporter any clues about who would be playing the Cup final as it was his wife, Marina who always picked the team. Rafa doesn’t go that far but his wife Montse did have a role in keeping him at the club in 2007. “Benitez is not going anywhere. He’s under contract and he told me that his wife has said that if he ever did go, he’d have to go without her because she’s staying in Liverpool!” co-owner Tom Hicks was quoted as saying.

4. Doctor Who? Rafa was made a Doctor ‘Honoris Causa’ of the University Miguel Hernandez of Elche in 2008. So if love is out of the question you should at least look up to him unless you have a higher degree, too.

Thinking the unthinkable: should Liverpool sell Torres?

It is a little glib to suggest that Liverpool have a one-man strike force in Fernando Torres.

It seems almost beyond dispute, though, that whenever the Spaniard is unavailable Liverpool look ill equipped to challenge for the title, a situation hardly helped by the sales of Xabi Alonso, Robbie Keane and Alvaro Arbeloa in the past year.

I realise this could come across as heresy to Liverpool fans, but might the answer be to sell Torres too?

Torres is, without question, an exceptional player but he is not irreplaceable. Liverpool have won nothing with the Spaniard in attack because they simply do not have the same in-depth quality that Chelsea and Manchester United can boast.

If Cristiano Ronaldo was worth 80 million when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Torres should command a similar figure.

With that money Liverpool could buy three, maybe four, top drawer players who would give their squad more balance. Valencia striker David Villa would cost around 30 million and would be a handy replacement for Torres, as would Atletico Madrid’s Argentine frontman Sergio Aguero. Either, or both of them, would leave manager Rafael Benitez enough left over to strengthen in other areas.

Villa’s team mate David Silva would add some creativity in Liverpool’s midfield as would Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield spark Luca Modric or his team mate Aaron Lennon, if they could be prised away.

La Liga: The most boring competition in Europe?

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.

Feared by the Blues, Loved by the Reds, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs…

Manchester United played Stoke City off the park on Saturday yet for 62 minutes they lacked the cutting edge to turn their superiority into goals.

Enter Ryan Giggs.

The veteran Welshman was introduced as a substitute for the often infuriating Nani after 57 minutes and took just five more to provide the pass from which Dimitar Berbatov broke the deadlock.

He then teed up John O’Shea for United’s second with a pinpoint free kick.

When Cristiano Ronaldo departed for Real Madrid, the spotlight turned on Nani and new recruit Antonio Valencia to fill his boots.

But Giggs, the club’s record appearance maker, is proving that there is no substitute for class and know-how.

Gone are the days when his twinkle toes would leave defenders swinging at thin air, but the 35-year-old’s value to Alex Ferguson’s squad is still immeasurable.

Villa, the Spanish goal machine, stuck in the Europa League

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.

The goals will come for Owen, so should an England recall

Michael Owen missed four glorious chances in Manchester United’s 2-0 friendly win over Valencia but the very fact that he was there to miss them signals a real chance of the former Liverpool reviving his career for club and country.

Owen’s failure to find the net was described as a wasted opportunity by some, given that England coach Fabio Capello was there watching him, but consider … playing for Newcastle at the end of last season, when did he look in with a chance of scoring even one?

Here’s what Alex Ferguson said about Owen’s display:

“Michael showed marvellous movement. He should’ve scored four, but he was unlucky with the first one that he just chipped it over the goalkeeper’s shoulder and by the post. He deserved at least one of them.”

Whether he deserved to score or not is beside the point, which is that playing in this United team he can expect to have chances every time he plays. He scored four on United’s tour of the Far East and if he fluffed his lines on his Old Trafford debut he can safely reflect that it was only a dress rehearsal for the new season after all.

As for England, the fact that he is playing for United alongside Wayne Rooney will only help. Assuming he starts scoring in the Premier League, and given the sheer number of chances he can expect that seems inevitable, how long before Capello decides to translate the United forward partnership to the England set-up?