Sunday, September 2, 2012

UEFA Death group and all groups impacts

Manchester City will meet Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League following the draw in Monaco.

City were the only English club not among the top seeds for the draw, as Roberto Mancini's side still have a relatively low UEFA co-efficient, and they will face Jose Mourinho's nine-times European champions Real, German champions Borussia Dortmund and Dutch league winners Ajax Amsterdam.
"I think it is the hardest group of them all with the champions of Spain, the Netherlands and Germany," Manchester City club ambassador Patrick Vieira said.
"But this is what the Champions League is all about. You have to play these teams and beat them if you want to win it. And we want to win it."
Chelsea, the defending European champions, also have a tough-looking task in Group E along with former winners Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine and Danish newcomers FC Nordsjaelland
Manchester United and Arsenal have more straightforward groups. The Gunners are in Group B with Schalke, Olympiacos and Montpellier, while Sir Alex Ferguson's United will take on Braga, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj in Group H.
There are a couple of glamour ties in prospect for Celtic in Group G - Barcelona are in the group along with Benfica and Spartak Moscow.
Bayern Munich, who lost to Chelsea in last season's Champions League final and were runners-up to Dortmund in the Bundesliga, will face Valencia, Lille and BATE Borisov of Belarus in Group F.
The competition gets underway on September 18/19.
The draw in full:
Group A: Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris Saint-Germain, Dinamo Zagreb
Group B: ARSENAL, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier
Group C: AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga
Group D: Real Madrid, MANCHESTER CITY, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund
Group E: CHELSEA, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Nordsjaelland
Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov
Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic
Group H: MANCHESTER UNITED, Braga, Galatasaray, Cluj

Clint Dempsey agrees Tottenahm deal

Tottenham sealed a shock deadline-day move for Fulham forward Clint Dempsey as they also signed France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and sold Rafael van der Vaart.




On Saturday morning Tottenham also confirmed that winger Aaron Lennon has signed a new contract which commits him to the club until 2016.
"We are delighted to announce we have reached agreement with Fulham for the transfer of Clint Dempsey," Spurs said on their website.
The 29-year-old had been strongly linked by the media with a move to Liverpool following his 17-goal haul in the Premier League last season but the Anfield club failed to meet Fulham's transfer evaluation.
Dempsey joined Fulham in 2007 from New England Revolution, scoring 60 goals in 224 appearances for the Craven Cottage team.
Earlier in the evening, Spurs agreed to pay Lyon a fee of £10 million for France number one Lloris, plus possible add-ons worth £5m.
"Lloris has signed a four-year contract," Lloris's former club Lyon said on their official website.
Lloris, 25, who has won 38 caps and featured at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, joined Lyon in 2008 from Nice.
He won Ligue 1's best keeper award in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Midfielder Van der Vaart, 29, previously played at Hamburg from 2005 to 2008 before leaving to spend two seasons each at Real Madrid and Tottenham.
"I'm enthusiastic that Rafael van der Vaart is playing for HSV again," said Thorsten Fink, favourite to be the first coach to lose his job in the Bundesliga this season. "He will be an important reinforcement for our team."
Van der Vaart, a regular with the Dutch national team for a decade, said on the club's website: "This is a dream for me and my family. I'm looking forward to three great years."
Having finished third, seventh and fourth in the three years Van der Vaart played for them, Hamburg, the only ever-present side in the Bundesliga's 50-season history, narrowly avoided relegation last season as they finished 15th.
They have also made a poor start this term, losing at home to Nuremberg in their Bundesliga opener on Saturday and getting knocked out of the German Cup by third tier Karlsruher the week before.
The news came hours after Van der Vaart was dropped from the Dutch squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Turkey and Hungary, with coach Louis van Gaal saying he had not played enough club football recently.
Also moving on is defender Danny Rose who has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan while Real Mallorca have agreed to sign Mexico forward Giovani Dos Santos on a four-year deal.
Lennon, 25, has played more than 230 matches in all competitions for Spurs since joining from Leeds in 2005.
He has started both Premier League matches for Andre Villas-Boas's side this season.


Man city defeats uninspired QPR




Manchester City went third in the table after beating Queens Park Rangers 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium in a match they made far harder than it needed to be.


The meeting between the two sides brought back memories of last season's final day 3-2 classic but City were hoping to avoid the need for such dramatics this time out.
Yaya Toure gave them an early lead and the champions proceeded to completely dominate the first half without being able to double their advantage.
Bobby Zamora then scored a scarcely deserved equaliser in the 59th minute for the visitors from West London but Edin Dzeko, making his first start since March, headed City back in front two minutes later.
City would have been expected to push on from there and kill off the game but instead they tired badly giving a previously laboured QPR side a chance of an unlikely point.
However, despite playing seven summer signings, QPR were similarly uninspired, and Carlos Tevez redirected a mis-hit Edin Dzeko shot into the net in stoppage time to wrap up the victory.
An indication of City's early domination was the fact that their opening goal came from what was already their seventh corner of the match in just the 16th minute.
Samir Nasri curled the corner to the back post where Tevez shot against Zamora – the ball then bounced out to Yaya Toure near the penalty spot and the Ivorian fired home the opener.
QPR were completely devoid of ambition in the first half and just sat back in numbers hoping that City wouldn't break them down.
Roberto Mancini's men had a number of chances but it was somehow only 1-0 at the break. The closest QPR actually came was a bizarre clearance from halfway back towards his own goal by Jack Rodwell that sailed just over.
The second-half followed a similar patter and Pablo Zabaleta was desperately unlucky not to score in the 52th minute when, after been slipped in by a cute David Silva pass, he curled a great effort off the underside of the crossbar.
Then QPR scored completely against the run of play in the 59th minute. Andy Johnson nicked David Silva in possession and ran into the box; he fired a shot on goal that took a deflection and Joe Hart did superbly well to save it, however, he could only put it into the path of Johnson's former Fulham team-mate Zamora who nodded home a header from two yards.
That seemed to wake up City though who had the lead again just two minutes later.
Tevez was again involved as he reacted quickly to a fizzed ball by Aleksandar Kolarov into the box to push the ball forward with his right foot before pulling back a cross with his left from the end-line that landed perfectly on Dzeko's head, allowing the big striker to nod home from close range.
However, after that City got sloppy again and seemed to tire badly. New signing Esteban Granero was having a decent game for QPR in midfield and the booked Kolarov was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after barging into Anton Ferdinand and then his replacement Nedum Onuoha.
QPR did create a couple of changes as City looked gassed but they were perhaps unlucky that their two best openings fell to centre back Ryan Nelsen who mis-hit one effort and couldn't get onto the end of another cross that Jolean Lescott had failed to deal with.
Instead it was City who would get the game's fourth goal, as Tevez scored his 50th Premier League goal when he redirected a poor effort from Dzeko past Rob Green.
It was fully deserved, as the Argentine had allowed Yaya Toure to feed the Bosnian by harassing the QPR defenders in possession.
It was again a stoppage time goal from an Argentine against QPR, but while it may not have had the drama of last season's meeting between the sides, and Sergio Aguero's heroics, three points are three points, and once again it was City who took the spoils.

Pazzini hits with hat-trick in the first win for Milan



Pazzini netted only five times for Inter last term, but cut an inspired figure as Milan collected their first league win of the season having lost 1-0 to Sampdoria a week ago at the San Siro in their Serie A opener.
The front man seemed to dive to win his side a penalty on 16 minutes after having his shirt tugged by Nicolo Cherubin, but picked himself up off the deck to slam the penalty low and hard to the right that left Bologna keeper Federico Agliardi with no chance.
Bologna - inspired by the outstanding Alessandro Diamanti throughout the evening - were rewarded for a period of sustained exuberance when they deservedly equalised on 41 minutes.
Antonio Nocerino inexplicably decked Diamanti as he bounded away from goal on the edge of the box. The referee correctly pointed to the spot as Diamanti - who scored the clinching penalty that sent England tumbling out of Euro 2012 - swept the ball home in the Bologna rain.
The game swung from end to end in the second period, but MIlan plunged a dagger into the heart of the home side when Agliardi dropped Luca Antonini's deflected cross on 77 minutes enabling Pazzini to sweep the ball into the net from close range.
Pazzini finished matters off on 85 minutes with a delightful backheel finish inside the Bologna box from a Nocerino strike that was clearly heading wide of goal to thrill the band of travelling fans.
Nigel De Jong made his debut for Milan as a second-half substitute and was booked for a late challenge while Bojan Krkic was also wheeled on for the closing moments of a win that will probably be of some relief to head coach Massimiliano Allegri.
The 3-1 scoreline probably flattered Milan, but all that matters are the three points.
There was an easier win for Torino, who brushed aside 10-man Pescara 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico with Alessandro Sgrigna (34), Matteo Brighi (59) and Rolando Bianchi (62) on target for the home side.
The floodgates appeared to open after Christian Terlizzi was sent off on the 27th minute after fouling Bianchi to concede a penalty. Mattia Perin dived to his right to save Bianchi's penalty, but it was not to make a difference to the one-sided nature of the contest.

All Transfers 2012 in all leagues

We round up every transfer made on a hectic deadline day in England and Scotland, with Tottenham and Manchester City among the most active clubs.




Charlie Adam - Liverpool to Stoke (£5m)
Patrick Agyemang - QPR to Stevenage (free)
Efe Ambrose – Ashdod to Celtic (undisclosed)
Joey Barton - QPR to Marseille (loan)
Yossi Benayoun - Chelsea to West Ham (loan)
Nicklas Bendtner - Arsenal to Juventus (loan)
Dale Bennett – Watford to AFC Wimbledon (loan)
Christian Benteke - Genk to Aston Villa (undisclosed)
Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United to Fulham (undisclosed)
Federico Bessone - Swansea to Swindon (free)
Andre Blackman – Celtic to Inverness (loan)
Romauld Boco – Sligo to Accrington (undisclosed)
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers to Racing Santander (loan)
Cian Bolger - Leicester to Bristol Rovers (loan)
Jay Bothroyd - QPR to Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
Jordan Bowery - Chesterfield to Aston Villa (£500,000)
Benjamin Buchel - USV Eschen to Bournemouth (free)
Paul Caddis - Swindon to Birmingham (loan)
Nathaniel Chalobah - Chelsea to Watford (loan)
Scott Christie (Borrowstounness to Hamilton (undisclosed)
Giles Coke -(Sheffield Wednesday to Swindon (loan)
James Coppinger - Doncaster to Nottingham Forest (loan)
Cody Cropper – Southampton (free agent)
Lorenzo Davids - Augsburg to Bournemouth (free)
Nigel de Jong - Manchester City to AC Milan (undisclosed)
Damien Delaney - Ipswich to Crystal Palace (free)
Nathan Delfouneso - Aston Villa to Blackpool (loan)
Clint Dempsey - Fulham to Tottenham (£6m)
Ashkan Dejagah - Wolfsburg to Fulham (undisclosed)
Stephen Dobbie - Swansea to Brighton (undisclosed)
Giovani dos Santos - Tottenham to Real Mallorca (undisclosed)
Paul Dummett - Newcastle to St Mirren (loan)
Nathan Eccleston - Liverpool to Blackpool (undisclosed)
Maurice Edu - Rangers to Stoke (undisclosed)
Johnny Ertl - Sheffield United to Portsmouth (free)
Michael Essien - Chelsea to Real Madrid (loan)
Kane Ferdinand - Southend to Peterborough (£200,000)
George Francomb - Norwich to AFC Wimbledon (loan)
Javi Garcia - Benfica to Manchester City (£16m)
Roman Golobart - Wigan to Tranmere (loan)
Bobby Grant - Scunthorpe to Rochdale (undisclosed)
Nuno Henrique - AD Fafe to Blackburn (undisclosed)
Pablo Hernandez - Valencia to Swansea (£5.55m)
Iain Hume - Preston to Doncaster (loan)
Mike Jones - Sheffield Wednesday to Crawley (undisclosed)
Gael Kakuta - Chelsea to Vitesse Arnhem (loan)
Matthew Kennedy - Kilmarnock to Everton (nominal fee)
Hugo Lloris - Lyon to Tottenham (£12m)
Dani Lopez – Stevenage (free agent)
David Lopez - Athletic Bilbao to Brighton (free)
Alex MacDonald - Burnley to Plymouth (loan)
Sam Magri - Portsmouth to QPR (free)
Maicon - Internazionale to Manchester City (undisclosed)
Stephane Mbia - Marseille to QPR (undisclosed)
Miku - Getafe to Celtic (loan)
David McGoldrick - Nottingham Forest to Coventry (loan)
Daryl Murphy - Celtic to Ipswich (loan)
Matija Nastasic - Fiorentina to Manchester City (£10m)
Steven Nzonzi - Blackburn to Stoke (undisclosed)
Michael O'Halloran - Bolton to Carlisle (loan)
Andrea Orlandi - Swansea to Brighton (undisclosed)
Bryan Oviedo - Copenhagen to Everton (£5m)
Park Chu-Young - Arsenal to Celta Vigo (loan)
Matt Parsons - Crystal Palace to Wycombe (loan)
Goran Popov - Dynamo Kiev to West Brom (loan)
Stephen Quinn - Sheffield United to Hull (undisclosed)
Gaston Ramirez - Bologna to Southampton (undisclosed)
Kieran Richardson - Sunderland to Fulham (£2m)
Oliver Risser - Swindon to Stevenage (loan)
Adam Rooney - Birmingham to Swindon (loan)
Diogo Rosado - Sporting Lisbon to Blackburn (undisclosed)
Danny Rose - Tottenham to Sunderland (loan)
Darel Russell - Preston to Portsmouth (free)
Grzegorz Sandomierski - Genk to Blackburn (loan)
Stefan Savic - Manchester City to Fiorentina (exchange)
Billy Sharp - Southampton to Nottingham Forest – (loan)
Scott Sinclair - Swansea to Manchester City (£6.2m)
Jay Spearing - Liverpool to Bolton (loan)
David Stephens - Hibernian to Barnet (free)
Ryan Stevenson - Ipswich to Hearts (free)
Cameron Stewart - Hull to Burnley (loan)
Paul Taylor - Peterborough to Ipswich (undisclosed)
Josh Thompson - Celtic to Portsmouth (free)
Rafael van der Vaart - Tottenham to Hamburg (£10m)
Ashley Westwood - Crewe to Aston Villa (undisclosed)

Injuried Andy Carroll to miss world cup qualifiers

Striker Andy Carroll withdrew from England's squad for this month's World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine after injuring his hamstring on his West Ham United debut.





Carroll fell awkwardly after colliding with Fulham centre back Brede Hangeland midway through the second half of West Ham's 3-0 Premier League win at Upton Park.
The pony-tailed front man, who joined the London club on a season-long loan from Liverpool on Thursday, immediately clutched his right hamstring and was substituted.
The Football Association said on its website that Carroll was ruled out of the England matches, adding that any decision to replace him would "not be made until after the three league fixtures on Sunday have been completed".
England, already without injured striker Wayne Rooney, open their Group H campaign in Moldova on Friday before hosting Ukraine four days later.
Carroll made an instant impact for West Ham, flicking on a long ball inside the first minute which led to Kevin Nolan's opening goal.
"He will probably be on our treatment bench for a while. He was injured in a jump with their centre half and he over-extended himself," West Ham manager Sam Allardyce told the BBC.
The 23-year-old Carroll moved to London in search of the form that led Liverpool to pay a club record fee of 35 million pounds ($55.59 million) to Newcastle United for him in January 2011.
Carroll failed to live up to that price tag at Anfield, scoring 11 times, and West Ham have the option of signing him on a permanent deal at the end of the season for an undisclosed fee.

Hugo lloris to English Spurs






Tottenham have completed the signing of Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for a fee of €10million (£7.9million).

The fee could rise to €15million (£11.9million), and the Ligue 1 side also say they are entitled to 20% of profit should he leave White Hart Lane.

The 25-year-old, who is the France captain and has 38 caps to his name, has signed a four-year contract with the Spurs.

Spurs offers Lennon new deal



Tottenham have confirmed winger Aaron Lennon has signed a new contract which commits him to the club until 2016.

The 25-year-old has played more than 230 matches in all competitions for Spurs since joining from Leeds in 2005.

He has started both Barclays Premier League matches for Andre Villas-Boas' side this season.

Javi Garcia officially to Man city



Spain international Javi Garcia has signed for reigning Premier League champions Manchester City for a fee of €20.1million (£16m) from Portuguese giants Benfica.

Garcia brings extensive experience of the Champions League with him to Manchester, having made his competition debut for Real Madrid back in 2005.

A defensive midfielder by trade, the 25-year-old has been capped by the Spanish national team once, in a friendly against Serbia earlier this year.

Garcia began his career with Madrid, representing the Primera Division side's B team 86 times before graduating to the first team.

He won the European U19 Championships with his country, playing alongside Juan Mata and Gerard Pique as they defeated Scotland in the final in Poland.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Falcao defeated Chelsea in Super Cup



Falcao netted a first-half hat-trick as Atletico Madrid defeated Chelsea 4-1 to win the European Super Cup in Monaco.


 The Colombian striker punished a defence missing the suspended John Terry and on three occasions struck with his left foot to put the game beyond doubt by the break after a sizzling series of counter-attacks by his side.

Brazilian defender Miranda headed in a fourth in a second half which featured a more assured Chelsea performance. Gary Cahill’s consolation strike with 15 minutes remaining was all that Roberto di Matteo’s side could muster.

Atletico’s success added to their Super Cup triumph of two years ago, the Spanish side beating Internazionale on that occasion.

Chelsea were on the ropes within minutes of the whistle; the incisiveness of Atletico midfielder Gabi’s passing matched by the clever movement of Adrian and Arda Turan.

All three were involved in Falcao’s opener, which came after seven minutes. As Arda and Adrian drew away Chelsea’s full-backs, Gabi threaded a neat through-ball into the area with Falcao clipping a left-footed shot over Petr Cech’s body and watching his effort glance off the post and into the back of the net.

The Colombian, who had already hit the bar before opening the scoring, was at it again 12 minutes later with his most impressive goal of the night as he beat Cech with a deft chip from the edge of the box, hitting the ball with his left toe as Cahill and the wayward David Luiz backed away.

Chelsea looked shell-shocked for much of the half, and could not muster a serious goal-bound effort despite the presence of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres and maintaining 58 per cent of the first-half possession.

Hazard succeeded only in winning a few free-kicks, but in his efforts to win one with a minute of the opening half remaining, he inadvertently let Atletico away with a break that led to Falcao’s third.

In a move indicative of Atletico’s sensational counter-attacking, Arda was left on the edge of Chelsea’s box with a multitude of passing options and nobody closing him down. He chose Falcao, who beat Branislav Ivanovic to the ball and poked in his third of the night and 42nd in just 53 games for Atletico.

Falcao, who received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Emre with four minutes remaining, was simply unplayable and added to his hat-trick of just five days earlier against Athletic Bilbao.

A combination of a dressing room dressing-down from  di Matteo at half-time and Atletico’s willingness to sit on their advantage and break when necessary allowed Chelsea back into the game after the break.

The introduction of Oscar in place of Ramires was instrumental in their renaissance; the young Brazilian did not look at all over-awed by the occasion.

Afforded more time and space than before, the dynamic Hazard surged into the box on numerous occasions, although his efforts rarely did more than win his side corners.

His strike partner Torres – still revered by Atletico fans following a six-year stint at the Stadio Vicente Calderon earlier in his career – went close with a scuffed shot from the edge of the box that drew a save out of the Spanish side’s on-loan Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

But it was defender Cahill who eventually did register a strike for the Champions League winners when the Englishman poked home a loose ball from inside the box after he and two Atletico defenders had failed to attack Frank Lampard’s corner.

By that time, however, Miranda had already added a fourth for Atletico; the Brazilian tapping in from close range after the excellent Mario Suarez had mis-hit his shot from eight yards out.

Di Matteo’s men, who have a 100 per cent record in the Premier League this season, would do well to wipe this one from memory. Their next opponents - Queens Park Rangers – certainly won’t pose quite such a stiff test of their resolve.

Essien on loan from Chelsea to Madrid






Real Madrid have agreed to take Ghana midfielder Michael Essien on loan from Chelsea for the rest of the season,


 The 29-year-old, who joined Chelsea from Olympique Lyon in 2005, links up again with former Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho.

The combative midfielder has won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and one Champions League at the London club.

Essien did not feature when Champions League winners Chelsea were thumped 4-1 by Atletico Madrid in the European Super Cup in Monaco on Friday.

Chelsea also sent out two fringe players on loan on deadline day, with Gael Kakuta and Nathaniel Chalobah joining Vitesse Arnhem and Watford respectively.

The 21-year-old Kakuta has been unable to establish himself at Stamford Bridge despite high expectations when he arrived as a teenager from Lens in 2007.

Kakuta, whose Chelsea deal runs until 2015, has subsequently been farmed out on loan to Fulham and Bolton before returning to France with Dijon during the latter part of last season.

Watford boss Gianfranco Zola has raided his former club to sign versatile youngster Chalobah on loan until January.

The defender-come-midfielder, 17, captained the Blues to FA Youth Cup success last term and has also skippered the Premier League club's reserve side on a regular basis.

Chalobah, an England Under-19 international, is yet to make a first-team appearance for Chelsea but has been an unused substitute.

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