Disappointing

The first great derby of the Premier League, 2013-2014.

Manchester United - Chelsea FC.

New coaches for both sides. David Moyes replaces retired old-timer Alex Ferguson, while Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge after 6 years.

These stats, as well as the promise of a hopefully close battle between these two giants, to try and win the title, are way more interesting than what has happened during the actual match.

Man. u. fans are going to claim the possibility of getting a penalty or two for some handballs (which, had they been awarded as PKs by the referee, would have been severely criticized by many people, including of course all Chelsea staff). And Chelsea fans would point out the fact that their chances were somewhat more direct and even more penetrating and incisive. Chelsea actually hit the bar in the second half.

Also, it should be said that Mourinho still dislikes Juan Mata, who again did not play, and that he preferred Schurrle to Torres in the first half. (Torres did not come in until the 60th minute, actually, replacing another relatively unknown Chelsea player, de Bruyne. And, based on how he played, Mourinho's decision to keep Torres on the bench was right on the money.)

Chelsea is bound to get better this season. They were very cautious in this match, and I'm sure they weren't the best they can be.

As for Man. U.... Well, they don't necessarily have to be better than their Premier League opponents to get the best results they need to get. So, they'll pretty much always be in the hunt until (close to) the end. Enough said.

Highlights from Manchester united - Chelsea London FC 0-0:

How Can You Want Titles and Lose to Cardiff?

Well, hey, maybe Cardiff will be in the title chase, too!...

(Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, right! LOL! :D, :), ;), etc., etc.)

I'm running out of ways to laugh at Manchester City.

After replacing Roberto Mancini, and the good-looking win against Newcastle, surely the consensus was that it had been the coach's fault.

But what do you know?
This match shows that there are a lot more things rotten in the Man. City team.

If you ask me, the biggest problem, and a huge black ball for City management, is that they just don't get good players when they shop around.

But I don't mean just during this past transfer window. I mean, since the beginning.
I don't know how the hell they did so well that first year (2011-2012) with that team. They didn't finish the campaign too well, at all, and they got extremely lucky at the end, but they did pull it off.
However, these players: Dzeko, Zabaleta, Hart, Lescott, Toure, and even Aguero, are not top-quality players. No way. Any one of the Barcelona players, alone, for example, is, I would think, better than all of these guys (maybe with the exception of Aguero) put together. How Manchester City can keep a nucleus formed by these players, and believe that they can become a better team, in England or (yeah, right!) in Europe, is laughable.
They need way better players. And just buying the likes of Alvaro Negredo, who is not a top player himself, is most certainly not going to do it for them.

Negredo, as a matter of fact, from what I saw, was probably the best player City played in this encounter. (But that is not a praise of his qualities as a player. He's just a newcomer, and very enthusiastic to prove himself.) I don't know yet 100% what that is saying exactly, about Manchester City and their title chances, but for sure it's not a good omen.

Manchester City should be spending like PSG or Monaco, to achieve something truly great. And they should do so every year. Why aren't they getting guys like Falcao, who was clearly getting a move on? (How in the world was Monaco, a newly-promoted team itself, able to snatch it from teams like Chelsea, who reportedly had been watching and wanting him, and City?...)

Otherwise, if Manchester City starts imitating the spending habits of Arsenal, they won't be able to mount title challenges every year, but will oftentimes be trembling in front of weaklings like newly-promoted teams, just like now, against Cardiff.

What the hell are those sheiks doing over there? Did they just invest a little money, in the beginning, to get people to come to their stadium and spend money on merchandise and tickets, and their airline, and stuff, and now are only looking for profit instead of trophies?
That's not good.

England - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2013-2014

Manchester United --> Champions League Group Stage
Manchester City --> Champions League Group Stage
Chelsea London --> Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal London --> Champions League Play-off Round
Tottenham Hotspur (London) --> Europa League Play-off Round
Swansea City --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
Wigan Athletic --> Europa League Group Stage

Note: Wigan was relegated from the Premier League.

The Icing on the Cake of Shame

Three trophies. Three trophies that Benfica could have won. And maybe should have won.

But they won none.

Not even the one in which they faced a team like Vitoria Guimaraes in the final.

We're not talking Porto or Chelsea anymore. We're talking losing a final against the likes of 9th-place Guimaraes.

No doubt about it, Jorge Jesus has got to go.

Either that, or Benfica's leadership is full of suckers, to put it mildly.

Highlights:

Injury Time Again!

Wow!
It's a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad time to be a Benfica supporter.

The Portuguese team played somewhat better than Chelsea (whose players were unusually timid, in a manner reminiscent of last year's Champions League final).

Against the run of play, however, Chelsea opened the scoring, following a counter-attack well finalized by Fernando Torres, on the hour mark.

But Benfica did not despair, and got their chance, from the spot, only 8 minutes later, through Cardozo.

Just when it seemed that the match was destined for extra time, in the last minute of injury time, Branislav Ivanovic, the excellent Serbian defender who scored so many headed goals for Chelsea since he came to the team -- Jorge Jesus, you couldn't have seen something like that coming, could you? Of course you couldn't!... -- rose majestically to score.
The ball really could have gone anywhere, but in hindsight the header placed the ball perfectly. It was not a powerful, direct header, but it was a touch that made sure nothing could interfere with the trajectory of the ball.

And, so, Benfica fails to win the triple, from even the very first trophy-winning attempt. Maybe they should try to see if they can get Jupp Heynckes.

But, for Chelsea, it's a great time.
Chelsea is now, for a few days, the holder of both the Champions League and the Europa League.
Their fans are enjoying this to the max, for sure.

Highlights:

Job Done!

...But not without some worries.

Chelsea fans, at least, must have been at least a little scared when Salah scored in first-half injury time, punishing a complacent Chelsea defense.

Luckily for them, though, that's all Basel could muster, on a day when they needed to put the ball in the net at least one more time to advance.

Moreover, in just 9 minutes (50-59), Torres and again Moses and Luiz showed Basel why the English teams are considered some of the best in the world.

This final will most likely be Benitez's last chance to win a trophy with Chelsea.

Highlights:

At Least One

After being eliminated of the FA Cup by Manchester City, at least Chelsea performed well in the first leg of the Europa League semifinal against Basel.

Taking a very early lead (in the 12th minute, after a goal scored by Victor Moses), Chelsea seemed in control right until the very end, when Basel got a lucky penalty and equalized.

But Chelsea showed remarkable spirit after their heartbreak at the weekend, and still won the match, courtesy of a last-gasp free kick expertly placed by the Brazilian David Luiz.

Advantage Chelsea, with the next leg at home.

Highlights:

Bye Bye, FA Cup

With Rafa Benitez at the helm, it looked to me like Chelsea were the specialists of cup competitions.

But they were very disappointing in Sunday's FA Cup semifinal, against Man. City.

Many times, the City attack made Chelsea shake in their boots.

Only when they pulled one goal back (after going two down), did Chelsea finally try to do some serious work.

But, despite the fact that the City goalkeeper was Pantilimon, renowned for his gaffes, Chelsea could not score any more, and saw their dreams of a double shattered.

They were shattered by a better team, over the full course, of the match, and that can only intensify the calls for Benitez's dismissal. Which is looking more and more likely.

Highlights:

Search for Two Cups Continues

Manchester United is out of the FA Cup, too, now.

Just like in the League Cup, Chelsea did it.

After coming back from 0-2, at Old Trafford, to tie it at two, Chelsea managed to defeat the probable League winners this season, in the replay, and in doing so oust them from the direct-elimination tournament.

Dembe Ba scored the only goal, in minute 49, after a glorious effort to deflect the ball away and over Man. U. goalkeeper De Gea.

United had a couple of good chances to tie the match. Hernandez, first, was denied a point-blank header by the palm of Petr Cech, after the hour, and then van Persie could not slam the ball on target, from 10-12 meters out, with only 2 minutes left in regulation.
(I guess the curses of Arsenal fans might be catching up with him.)

The Manchester team did not play badly. Chelsea played better. But neither team was exactly spectacular.

Chelsea will now face Manchester City, at Wembley, in the second semifinal, while the winner of Wigan-Millwall will be awaiting in the final.

And, on Thursday, Chelsea will be contesting another quarter-final, in the Europa League, the first leg against Rubin Kazan, in their third of four matches in nine days (- March 30 - April 7).

I think it's good for Chelsea fans that their team still could win two reasonably big trophies this year. (Manchester United, for example, cannot say that they won the Europa League. And it's not like they didn't have the chance.)

I'm probably getting ahead of things too much, but if Benitez wins them both, maybe he should stay in charge at the London club.
(He did show that he taught his team not to concede early against their biggest rivals. Not again.)

Highlights:

Still Not Learning Any Lessons

When Rafa Benitez became Chelsea's coach, I was among the first to say that the Chelsea fans were unfair towards him. I thought Benitez should be given time to do good work.

But his work is not improving. In fact, it's probably getting worse and worse.

Granted, maybe the Chelsea players should all be replaced, with the probable exception of Mata, but Benitez is also not showing any kind of strength as an established coach.

In the cup match against Man. U., although Chelsea was not eliminated, one could see that Benitez was not able to make his players learn their lesson, following that abhorrent match against their rivals, in the Premier League, on October 28th, 2012.
Yeah, he wasn't there last fall, but they must have recordings.

What the fuck, Benitez? You're going to coach a team that again concedes two goals in the first ten minutes, or so, like a bunch of amateurs?

People aren't going to say anything yet, because Chelsea just happens to have been able to draw level, so they're still in it, but Chelsea, as a football team, still sucks, big time. Major changes are in order, for them to win anything anymore.

Fire the Loser!

Roberto Mancini is still the manager, at Man. City?

Even after that sorry display, this afternoon?

Wow!

For the life of me, I can't understand why...
(I can only speculate that they're trying to go for an Alex-ferguson kind of management deal. That's stupid! Look at Arsenal and Wenger. That kind of attempt only works for a specific kind of team. Keeping the same manager forever is dumb, unless that manager has many, many political kind of relations going on. And he can look down on referees and officials, and such. You know, like Ferguson. Mancini is nowhere near that kind of status.)

So, getting back to regular managers:
In my opinion, whenever a big team messes up a derby in such a pathetic way, at home, going down early, and suffering the entire match, and ending up losing almost right at the final whistle, the manager has got to go! (Right then and there. No more second chances!)
There's no two ways about it.

If I had that power, I wouldn't even think twice: I would show that coach the door and rip his contract right after the final whistle.
Because if you're not going to perform, against your biggest rival, at home, in one of the biggest match of the year, and maybe of your career, too, you're just not good enough.

Mancini proved good enough last year, but this year...

Very much like Roberto Di Matteo, Roberto Mancini forgot that his team needs reinforcements over the summer, before a new season. Proper reinforcements, not second-rate newcomers like Hazard/Zabaleta, Oscar/Maicon or Moses/Nastasic.
You can't just get some little-known players and expect the best results.
Hasn't the case of Arsenal's downfall already showed that if one is a cheap bastard one will not win anything anymore, in English football?

Also, just like Di Matteo's Chelsea, Mancini's Man. City lost its first match of the season against the team they needed to beat the most. Exactly like Chelsea, if they cannot rise to the challenge in the most important encounter of the battle for the league supremacy, then something is rotten to the core.
The one(s) who cannot fix that rot has(/have) got to go first, and then somebody who can fix it should step in.

Now, the title chase is probably over. It's United's to lose, really.

Stupid English title challengers, with their Christmas-losers mentality! They did it again.

And, thus, another league loses its appeal. No more EPL for a while. (The difference between first and second teams in the standings is bigger than 5 points.)

By the way, from a neutral standpoint, you, no matter who you are, gotta admit: Any league in which second and third in the standings lose to first in the standings, at home, messing up their unbeaten records in the process, too, is shit.
That season in that league has all the makings to turn out to be garbage. Thinking ahead, it's probable that Man. U. will win the home games, too. And nobody wants to see a season in which a team wins the title by more than 10 points, except for the fans of that team, right?

And, finally, to bash Man. City even more, which is what they deserve right now, it needs to be admitted:
Seeing Manchester City falling down 0-2, to a couple of the shittiest goals that Man. U. ever scored, and seeing how their supposed best just wasn't enough in the most important match they played this fall, I realized that it was no accident that City was eliminated from European competitions, altogether, already.
They have no good forward, and their defence is leaking terribly.
And just how the hell have they come to rely now on a no-name like Zabaleta?
Last season, they had that incredible run of fourteen games, and still they needed luck and goal difference to take the title!... This year, I'd be surprised if they come within ten points of it!

Man. U.'s Reserves

How can Manchester United get win after win in the Premier League, by having players in their squad that, when 3-5 crucial main players are not playing, cannot inspire their team to even grabbing one point from teams like Galatasaray and CFR Cluj?!?

Yeah, okay, they're already qualified, but these East European teams are surely no better than Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, maybe even Newcastle. All of these English teams saw Man. U. leave the stadium in which they faced each other in the EPL with full points, this season.

So, then, how come Man. U. screws up such a small percentage of matches in the Premier League, and such a large one in the Champions League?
(In the last two years, in Europe's best inter-club competition, United failed to win 50% of their matches. They lost 25%. In the English Premier League, over the same period of time, they won more than 75% of their matches. Out of 53 matches.)

It's weird. Especially because Man. U. supposedly got an easy CL draw last year, and they got an easy CL draw this year.

I can't fully remember the last time a team got six wins out of six in the Champions League group stage. (Maybe I gotta look back to the PSG team of the early '90s, for that.)
But, anyway, why wasn't Man. U. interested in a record like that, considering the fact that they got to be in the crappiest group, and they could have won all six matches, potentially, if playing at full strength?

...Or could they?

Highlights from Man. U. - Cluj:

Chelsea Out!

People with football-watching experience surely had the foresight to see that Chelsea's chances of progressing were almost zero, even though Juventus had to go to Donetsk, where Shakhtar hadn't yet lost points this season.

Many optimistic fans might have also thought that Shakhtar won both their previous CL matches at home, that they beat Chelsea at home, too, and that they even succeeded in getting a point at the Juventus stadium, so they would have a reasonable chance of beating Juve.

But Juventus is not one of those teams that screws up big at the last moment. At least, not against teams like Shakhtar.

And, let's face it, Shakhtar had very, very little to play for. (Well, they had the top spot in the group to play for, but considering the possibilities of facing teams like Real Madrid, Valencia, Arsenal or Porto, anyway, even when finishing top, that didn't matter much, I'm sure.)
Still, Shakhtar did not play to lose. But they did not play to win, either. They, except maybe for Kucher (- I'm joking, of course -), would have settled for the draw, just as well. A draw that would have still eliminated Chelsea. No sympathy for the West Londoners there.

It's, therefore, no surprise that Juventus dominated the match, and that Shakhtar didn't have a lot of chances, even after going down 0-1.

And Chelsea has been eliminated, despite crushing Nordsjaelland, 6-1, in the other match, and having an overall better record than Shakhtar, except for a silly away-goals side note. (In other words, UEFA is more to blame for Chelsea's strange elimination than the Chelsea team itself, I would say.)

Highlights from Shakhtar - Juventus:

More About UEFA's Stupid Rule

Again, I just can't shut up about the stupidity of the people involved in making the decision that teams tied on points at the end of the group stage are to be separated first based on the direct results.

Chelsea fans will back me up in arguing just how stupid, dumb, imbecilic, senseless, absurd, foolish, idiotic, harebrained, etc., this rule proved to be. (CFR Cluj fans, too, would say the same thing, by the way. They go to Old Trafford, beat Man. U., have a better goal difference than Galatasaray, overall, but they don't go through because of just one goal scored by Galata in the 78th minute. Just stupid!)

Getting back to the Chelsea issue, which is even more outrageous, how the fuck was Shakhtar Donetsk more deserving of progressing than Chelsea?

Even the direct results showed that. 2-1 and 2-3. Now just why should this pair of results eliminate the team that did not score two goals in each match, I do not understand. Well, I understand it when there's direct elimnation involved, and the only other option is extra time + PKs, but this is a group, and there are way better and fairer criteria for separating teams that play the results 3-2 and 1-2 between themselves and are tied on points at the end.

Chelsea was overall better than Shakhtar, considering especially how Shakhtar performed in the last few matches, and deserved better. UEFA really screwed up.
More people should complain.

Highlights from Shakhtar - Juventus:


Highlights from Chelsea - Nordsjaelland:


Highlights from Manchester U. - CFR Cluj:


Highlights from Braga - Galatasaray:

City Still Doesn't Know

As a member of the Manchester City experts, how can you not know that you have to bring your best game to defeat Everton?

The season before the one City won, their title hopes were dashed, again at the Stadium of Light, by Everton. They beat Man. City, on that day (- 20 December 2010 -), 2-1, with 2 goals scored in the first 19 minutes, and effectively took Mancini's team out of real contention.
(Everton's previous and next result, flanking that famous win, were 0-0 at home against Wigan and 1-1 at home against West Ham. One can easily see, therefore, that Everton really gave its best to trouble Man. City. And it doesn't take a genius to see that it was all for the benefit of Man. U. But that's another story.)

If Mancini is a somewhat smart individual, he should have known that it would be just as tough to defeat Everton as it would probably be to defeat Man. U. (if the referee does not throw some blatant help to Man. U., like mark clattenburg did in the match Chelsea - Man. u., in which case beating United might be slightly harder).
Maybe he did know that, but the players certainly did not act as if they knew.

Even though they scored the equalizer relatively quickly, they were just not incisive enough to prevent an Everton team playing very good football from stopping the EPL champions from getting the win.

So, these were two huge dropped points by City.

And I'm sure Everton and Manchester United people were both celebrating. Maybe some of them even together.

But, getting back to yet another title contender not named Man. U. faltering in December, what else is new? Such title contenders are now notorious for shooting themselves in the foot, hard, come holiday time.
It's a great time to be a manchester United fan, isn't it? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Is That It for Chelsea This Year?

In 2008-2009, we saw Liverpool making a great start to the season, only to witness a horrid run of draws close to the middle of the season, that completely messed up their chances of winning a league title.

It looks like the same thing is happening now with Chelsea.

I understand that they would be upset for very possibly being robbed in that match against Manchester united, but that was five matches ago.
And, since that lousy derby, Chelsea got a grand total of four points out of possible fifteen. (No wonder people are saying it might just be a two-horse race now, between City and United.)

If I was Abramovich, I would be firing left and right. Not just Di Matteo. This is just crass incompetence, what's happening at Chelsea right now.
You will never see teams like Man. U., Barcelona, Real, Bayern, Juventus, Porto and many other established teams across the continent fuck up so badly, in such a short time, during a season when they really have an opening to win the league (like Chelsea had this year - They should have been seven points ahead, for heaven's sake! -).
It cannot realistically be just the coach.

Chelsea - Fulham 0-0?!?

That's the kind of results you would expect teams like Arsenal (AKA teams that have already accepted the fact that they cannot possibly win the league anymore because of the lack of value of their squad) to let slide.

So, I guess the question is now: Will Chelsea become like a new Arsenal?
(And, maybe, is Manchester City the new Chelsea?)

Stupid, Retarded UEFA Rules!

I must say, it seems to me that UEFA decision makers are getting dumber and dumber. And no, I'm not talking about the decision to have the next Euros comprise of 24 teams.

I'm talking about having the main tie-breaking criterion between teams tied on points in the Champions League be the direct results between the teams in question.

How moronic is that?
How idiotic is it, huh, Mr. Platini?

Let's look at it, group by group.

Group A is, surprisingly, unaffected by this rule.

In Group B, Schalke can even lose, no matter by what scoreline, as long as Arsenal does not win in the other match, and still win the group. So, a team that might get crushed - it will not happen, by I'm just saying - 7-0 by someone as weak as Montpellier could still win that group. Stupid!

In Group C, Malaga has already won the group, courtesy of their better head-to-head record against AC Milan. So, then, both Malaga and Milan have nothing to play for in the last matchday. Very stupid!
Luckily, as far as the struggle between Zenit St. Petersburg and Anderlecht goes, their direct encounters ended 1-0 and 0-1, so that will be decided by goal difference. They will have to show up and play, if they wish to finish third and continue in the Europa League. Thank God (for almost nothing)!

Group D also has a decided winner, Borussia Dortmund, because of their better record against Real Madrid. Not that Borussia was not the best team of the group so far, but if they lose at home to Manchester City, on the last matchday, nobody would then say that they were, pound-for-pound, the best overall team if Real beats Ajax and gets the same number of points. (You gotta play well all your matches to be most appreciated!...)
Man. City, likewise, cannot not win their last match, if they want Europa League play, even if Ajax loses 200-0 in Madrid.
Extremely dumb!

But Group E is the worst.
You know, someone watching Juventus - Chelsea (3-0), and not having been aware of these fucked-up UEFA rules, might have thought that Juventus kept pressing, even at 2-0 and with 10 minutes left, because they knew every goal would count on the last matchday and Chelsea would have played Nordsjaelland (a team that is very likely to lose 6-7--nil). Actually, though, NO!
Thanks to any kind of win over Chelsea, and with a point in Donetsk in two weeks ' time, Juventus can then be assured of progressing over Chelsea, last year 's winner.
Even a 1-0 victory for Juventus would have been enough to secure that advantage.
3-0 was a result that brought Juventus no more benefits than a 1-0 would have.
And another unfortunate result of this obvious lack of intelligence from UEFA officials is the fact that Shakhtar Donetsk is already in the round of 16. Yes, they have secured their place, because of their direct results over Chelsea (2-1 and 2-3, away-goals rule) and now Chelsea can only at best tie Shakhtar on points.
So, Shakhtar has only first place to play for, on the last matchday, and clearly a draw in their direct match would satisfy both Shakhtar (who would win the group) and Juventus (who would go through, leaving Chelsea out).
How much do Chelsea fans hate UEFA for these senseless rules?
So, so retarded!!!

In Group F, Bayern leads over Valencia, even though Valencia has a better goal difference. (The two teams are tied on points, yes.) And all Bayern needs to do is match the number of points that Valencia gets on the last day, to win that group.
Also, Lille cannot go to the Europa League, even though they are clearly better than BATE at the present time, even if they win their last match by an astronomical score, and BATE loses theirs by an astronomical score, too, to boot. Why? Well, because stupid UEFA said 1-3 and 2-0 means the team that scored the three goals in that one match will beat the other team, no matter what else happens, if they're tied on points at the end.
Also, retarded!

In Group G, Benfica needs to match Celtic's result, but luckily for the surprising Scottish outfit (who beat Barcelona) Celtic plays Spartak at home while Benfica has to take on Barca away.

Group H contains another team that might be seriously screwed by this deficiency in thinking clearly exhibited by UEFA officials: CFR Cluj.
The Romanians have to go to Old Trafford, needing to beat Manchester United. And, even then, they have to hope that Galatasaray does not defeat Braga in Portugal. (And Braga cannot even finish third anymore. They will be bottom, and might only be playing for pride, if even that.)
Potential scorelines Man. U. - Cluj 0-5 and Braga - Galatasaray 2-3 would allow the Turkish team to qualify. If that happens, wouldn't that be fucked-up, retarded, and unfair to Cluj?
Realistically, all the Transylvanian team can hope for is for them to get a point in Manchester, and for Galatasaray to lose to Braga.
They could score, and score, and score, in England, and still get kicked out. Thanks to some serious incompetence from UEFA!

Chelsea Stays Top

On Friday, a friend of mine asked me "Who do you think 's going to win between Arsenal and Chelsea?" I said "Chelsea [...] Chelsea better win." He himself is a Chelsea fan, but did not really believe in Chelsea that much, maybe because of the results from last year, so he insisted to add to the discussion that Arsenal was playing at home.

So what?

What I don't believe, though, is that Arsenal could ever be a title contender anymore. (And I told my friend that, too.)
Yes, it's very early, but I would be ready to bet that Arsenal will not win the title this year. I also do not see them winning any of the upcoming couple of seasons, either, or even any later upcoming ones, also.
Arsenal... Tottenham... Newcastle... whatever...
If any of these teams should find themselves atop the table, for some duration, it is only because of an unbelievable streak of coincidences, and they will not, and can not, stay there in the long run.
The way these clubs are run is extremely faulty, from the standpoint of a true winner, and that's why you can exclude these teams as title contenders.
(Oh, and Liverpool?... Well, they should consider themselves lucky if they finish above Everton, Aston Villa and the like. So, I'm not even talking about Liverpool anymore. Champions League berths are beyond its capabilities.)

There are only three teams with real ambitions in the Premier League:
Manchester United, Chelsea (who have to still do a lot of work in rebuilding their team, in my opinion), and now, seemingly, Manchester City.
That's it.

No team that sells its best player willingly to (supposedly )its biggest rival - yes, I do mean van Persie, damn it! - is a team that should be made fun of. And it is not a team who has its heart set on competing against said rival.

But, getting back to Arsenal, I wasn't exactly impressed that they stole some points from Man. City, the previous matchday. But Arsenal, I guess, is going to spoil some things for some teams. Just like Everton. Or QPR, ha, ha, why not?
With that in mind, many congratulations to Chelsea for managing to avoid what City could not.
Maybe Mancini's squad will live to rue those dropped points against Wenger's men.

On the other hand, Arsenal made more errors in their match against Chelsea, than at the Etihad stadium. Torres (in minute 20) and Mata (53) managed to speculate some of those weaknesses, emphatically, and won the game for Di Matteo 's team, in spite of a spectacular effort from Gervinho (42) that pulled things level before half time.
Even so, Arsenal could have kept a point, if Giroud had done better with his shot at the death, after rounding Chelsea's goalkeeper.

But the most important fact is that, thanks to this impressive (- I guess -) win, Chelsea stays top. Let's hope they can maintain their rhythm, and for once offer an English-league title chase that involves more than just two teams, this year. (That would be nice.)

Highlights:

England - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2012-2013

Manchester City --> Champions League Group Stage
Manchester United --> Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal London --> Champions League Group Stage
Tottenham Hotspur (London) --> Europa League Group Stage
Newcastle United --> Europa League Play-off Round
Chelsea London --> Champions League Group Stage
Liverpool FC --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round

Note: Even though they finished the league in a Champions-League-Play-off position, Tottenham Hotspur was automatically relocated to the Europa League because Chelsea, who did not finish in a Champions-League position, won the 2011-2012 Champions League (and in 2012-2013 England was not permitted to enter more than 4 teams in the Champions League).

2012.05.19 - The Results

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Final

20:45 -- Bayern - Chelsea 1-1, 1-1 after extra time, 3-4 on penalties only, 4-5 final score     highlights
[1-0]  83' Thomas Muller
[1-1]  88' Didier Drogba
x - 95' Arjen Robben (m. pen. Bayern) - x



USA: Major League Soccer

23:00 -- Vancouver Whitecaps - Seattle Sounders 2-2
[1-0]  12' Alain Rochat
[1-1]  47' Eddie Johnson
[2-1]  82' Camillo Da Silva Sanvezzo
[2-2]  90' Fredy Montero
01:30 -- New England Revolution - Houston Dynamo 2-2 (1-1)
01:30 -- D.C. United - Toronto FC 3-1 (2-0)
01:30 -- Montreal Impact - New York Red Bulls 1-2 (1-1)
02:30 -- Dallas - Philadelphia Union 1-1 (1-0)
03:00 -- Colorado Rapids - Sporting Kansas City 2-2 (0-2)
04:30 -- San Jose Earthquakes - Columbus Crew 1-1 (0-1)
04:30 -- CD Chivas USA - Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 (0-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  12 8 1 3 25-17 +8  25p
2 D.C United  14 7 3 4 25-17 +8  24p
3 Sporting KC  11 7 1 3 15-9 +6  22p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  11 4 1 6 14-15 -1  13p
6 Houston  10 3 4 3 10-11 -1  13p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  12 7 3 2 23-13 +10  24p
3 Seattle  11 7 2 2 15-6 +9  23p
4 Vancouver  11 5 3 3 12-13 -1  18p
5 Colorado  12 5 1 6 17-16 +1  16p
6 Chivas USA  11 4 1 6 7-12 -5  13p