Chelsea Beat Liverpool to Face Man Utd in Champions League Final

Chelsea have won a tense affair at Stamford Bridge 3-2 after extra time to reach the Champions League final for the first time in their history and Drogba grabs a brace following Benitez’s attack.

The first half belonged to the Blues who almost controlled the play with slick passing throughout. Makelele and Essien bossed the midfield and Lampard played fantastically Read more

Sven Goran Eriksson to be Sacked by Man City

According to recent news reports, Sven Goran Eriksson is to be sacked by Man City owner Thaksin Shinawatra at the end of the season following a run of differing form since Christmas. Eriksson was called in for a meeting following City’s defeat to Fulham on Saturday and was told that he would be replaced after the clubs two remaining fixtures against Middlesbrough and Liverpool respectively. Read more

Watch Chelsea v Liverpool Live

For live coverage of tonight’s UEFA Champions League Semi-Final between Chelsea and Liverpool either;

1. Tune into Sky Sports 2
2. Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live or Online
3. Download THIS SOFTWARE to watch live on your computer. To see why we recommend this software go to our Watch Live Sport On Your Computer page.

Kick off is at 1945BST (British Summer Time). Read more

Champions League: The First all English Final

The Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on the 21st May will be the venue for the first all English Champions League final in history following Manchester United’s passage to Moscow completed with a fantastic 1-0 win over Barcelona last night. Whether it’s Chelsea or Liverpool that travel to the Russian capital will be decided tonight. But, whatever the outcome the 21st May promises to be a great occasion. Read more

Tennis Roundup: The more things change…

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Last week in Monte Carlo, two things were proved to be fact -

1. Roger Federer, the greatest player of all time, is back in form;
2. Rafael Nadal is still far and away the most dominant clay court player in today’s game.

In my personal blog a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I thought Nadal was due for a bit of a below par clay court season in 2008. He has just seemed a step slower this year (in his defence, he does put his body through the ringer year in-year out), and I thought that this would translate into less dominance on clay, and you know what, he may well indeed be a step slower.

Here’s what I failed to realise though - Nadal, even at step slower, is still better than anyone else in the world on clay. Nadal manhandled the two top Spanish players in the world (Ferrero and Ferrer), and demolished Davydenko - but his performance against the top-ranked Federer still proved to be his best.

Not only did he come back from a break down late in the first set to win it 7-5, he stormed back down 4-0 in the second set to take that 7-5 as well. Now, any tennis fan knows that Federer more or less needs a miracle to beat Nadal on clay, and if you watched that match live you know that Federer made FAR too many unforced errors, but you still need to credit Nadal for willing himself to victory.

With regards to Federer, even though he did not win, and he did not even have a legit win over Djokavic in the Semi Finals (although he had won the first set before Djokovic retired with a sore throat - which is an entirely different story in its own right), making the finals of a clay-court event proved to me, and the rest of the tennis world, that he is back near the top of his game. I think it is a bit too early to judge how he was able to regain his form, but for a player of his calibre, confidence is of the utmost importance. The fact is, after his shaky start to the season due to mono, his confidence faltered; now he seems to have regained that confidence. His new coach, clay court legend Jose Higueras, no doubt played a part. Whether or not this spike in confidence will lead Federer to any clay-court titles this season, and moreover a Roland Garros victory (the one slam that has eluded him), remains to be seen.

In other tennis news, the Fed Cup Final is set. After Russia and Spain dominated their opponents, USA and China respectively, the two will compete for the 2008 Championship September 13th and 14th, in a location yet to be determined in Spain. Even though China seemed to have a slightly stronger squad, Spain handed them a 4-1 defeat, in China no less. In Russia, the USA took a young starless squad to Moscow, home of the defending champions. While they competed hard, they lost the tie 3-2 - and it wasn’t really as close as the score sounds.

Football ‘Hooligans’ v Terrorists: The Same Mentality?

Before we get too far into this, I want to make absolutely clear that I am in no way suggesting that any football fans are terrorists, or will ever be terrorists in the future. I’m merely going to suggest here that the same mentality can be found in both. Read more

Weekend Football Roundup

With the season coming to a swift end, and relegations, promotions and European qualification being hotly contested throughout the English League it’s getting exciting to say the least.

Here is a summary of the important results and league standings as of Sunday 27th May 2008;

In League 1 Nottingham Forest beat Read more

Rally of Jordan: Loeb’s Hopes Ended by Crash

The Rally of Jordan is effectively over for Sebastien Loeb following a head-on collision with a Citroen on stage 11. The accident happened as Loeb was leaving the stage, as the privately owned Citroen of Conrad Rautenbach was just starting it. As they met on a narrow section of the road they clashed head-on.

Thankfully neither driver was hurt, and Loeb IS expected to race on Sunday - however, he is now out of the running following the accident.

Loeb said:

“We had just come out of the 11th stage and were heading for the following test when we collided with another car.

“It was a narrow road and there wasn’t room for two cars. It’s an unfortunate blow which has put an end to our run for today.

“The team will now do all it can to make the necessary repairs and, if it’s worth it, we will re-start under the SuperRally ruling on Sunday.”

For an interview with Loeb and a ‘Virtual Spectator’ view of how the crash happened Click Here (opens in a new window).

Team mate Dani Sordo has taken the lead as a result of the incident after 12 stages. Ford’s Latvala lies in second place just 8.5 seconds behind going into the final day. Hirvonen is currently in 3rd place and will retake the championship lead if the positions remain the same on Sunday.

Sebastien Loeb had earlier taken the lead before the collision ended his chances of winning his 3rd rally this season. Loeb currently leads Hirvonen by 5 points after four rallies and has won in Mexico and Argentina.

What are your thoughts on the Loeb’s collision? Could it have been avoided?

Spanish Grand Prix: Raikonnen Grabs Pole

Barcelona, Spain: Fernando Alonso was denied pole position in his home race following a fantastic final lap from Kimi Raikonnen.

Raikonnen’s flawless final lap was clocked at 1min 21.813sec and pushed home favourite Alonso into second place by 9 hundreths of a second.

Felipe Massa will start Sunday’s race behind his team mate Read more

Chelsea v Man Utd: Countdown to the Premiership Decider

What a week for both Chelsea and Man Utd. Tough Champions League semi-finals, followed by what has been billed as the Premiership decider on Saturday.

Yes, it’s time for Chelsea v Man Utd at Stamford Bridge. 12.45 on Saturday afternoon. It’s fair to say that the Premier League title could all but officially belong to Manchester United by 3pm. If Chelsea lose, they would find themselves an almost unassailable 6 points behind United with just 2 games remaining. Even if Fergie’s team Read more

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