It is yet not cleared whether Messi will be a part of Barcelona for the coming showdown against Becks’ PSG ahead of its second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday. Messi has already missed Saturday’s Spanish league match against Mallorca due to a hamstring he got during 2-2- draw last week. Earlier, he was expected to recover by Wednesday, but there is no clear news from either Barca or Messi about whether he would be a part of the team or not. Notably, Barca won Saturday match with a crushing 5-0 margin without Messi; hence there is no point in assuming they can’t perform without Argentinian. Though, he participated in the training on Sunday in front of bunch of media personnel and even on Monday he was active in training sessions, yet Camp Nou club has kept his cards hidden until final match moments come in. If Messi does not play this match, Coach Tito Vilanova would surely like to repeat his squad that crushed Mallorca on Saturday; hence Fabregas is more likely … [Read more...]
Champions League final eight: Barca to meet PSG
Finally, Champions league list of last eight has been finalized and its highlight is that two arch rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid are standing right opposite to each other. Besides, there is one more interesting part of the last eight where Barcelona is going to face David Beckham’s PSG in the quarterfinal. Other quarterfinals involve Málaga playing Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid playing Galatasaray, and Bayern meeting with Juventus in their first knock out match of the league. At the moment, both Barcelona and Madrid are favorites to win their respective matches coz PSG is not in good form while at the same time Madrid needs little bit of precaution from Galatasaray’s army of high profile players, like Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, and Burak Yilmaz among others. Other two matches are insignificant at this stage but anything can happen at the last moment. Anyways, PSG is itself considering their big bash a special one coz they are meeting none other than Barca, Their sporting … [Read more...]
Galatasaray enters into Champions League quarterfinals
2 - 3 Galatasaray defeated Schalke by 3-2 on Tuesday night and won the last 16 two legs with 4-3 margin in aggregate. It was the first time in last 12 years when Galatasaray finds a place in the quarterfinal line up. First leg of the last 16 was leveled between two teams by 2-2; hence winner of Tuesday match has to be the quarterfinalist. Game was rather a nail biting for both teams where each of them tried hard to take the decisive lead, but ultimately, it was the day of Galatasaray that gave them their deserving birth into the last eight. First goal of the game was scored by Schalke’s Roman Neustaedter in the 17th minute, but Galatasaray did not let them carry the lead by the half time; Hamit Altintop scored an equalizer in the 37th minute and Burak Yilmaz gave them a lead in 42nd minute of the game. First eighteen minutes of the second half were calm where no team could find the net, but Michel Bastos finished the draught and fired an equalizer for his team in the 63rd … [Read more...]
Manchester United vs. Real Madrid Champions League clash sets record for Fox
VS. Soccer is the game of numbers where each team tries to win by scoring more goals than its opponent; this is what matters for teams playing on the ground, for outsiders, especially electronic broadcasters, there is something else that matters the most and that is how many viewers watch the live telecast which eventually is converted into mounting revenues for these broadcasters. Actually, television broadcasting is the most important factor in deciding whether a match was popular or not and that is why we see mounting TRPs of many big league games; perhaps more than a popular international tie up between to arch rivals. Last week’s Champions leagues clash between Manchester United and Real Madrid created a buzz across millions of their fans, and finally when DDay arrived, it was like a festive season for all: teams, fans, and especially official TV broadcaster Fox who live telecasted the match. A recent Nielsen Media Research shows that last Championship League match between the … [Read more...]
Messi shines in Barca 2-1 win over Granada
Lionel Messi is back again with his record making machinery and scored two brilliantly executed goals against Granada in the Champions League. His goals are also important coz they brought back Braca from a trailing position at half time, and more especially, they took over Messi tally of goals over 300 now. He added 300th and 301st goals to his all-time goals’ count and shines in the Barca’s win against Juan Antonio Anquela club. First goal of the game was scored by Odion Ighalo against all odds in the 26th minute of the game and they enjoyed the lead for remaining first half of the game. Messi returned the favor just after the halftime when he grabbed on a rebound of Cesc Fabregas’ strike and fired an equalizer. He then scored the winning goal in the last moments of the game with his brilliant free kick and took his league tally to 37 goals. Right from the beginning, Barca was the favorite, but when Granada fired the opener and looking at their recent preferences, it could have been … [Read more...]