THE EURO2012 IS HERE SOON!

Much have changed since I last written anything and I am very keen to write something since many dramatic things have happened in the football world this season. It would be a football sin not to write anything! It is over a year since I last blogged! Incredible!

Barcelona were just dethroned in Spain while Manchester City beat Manchester United to the EPL title. The circumstances in which Manchester City won the league was incredible. Two extra-time goals with Aguero scoring the winning goal which enabled City to win the league by goal difference. If they follow the La Liga format, City still won because of a superior record face-to-face against United.  Both ended with 89 points with exactly the same 28 wins, 5 draws and 5 loses. City scored 93 goals and conceded 29 goals. United scored 89 goals and conceded 33 goals. City's home record is 18 wins, 1 draw and 0 lost while United's record is 15 wins, 2 draws, 2 loses. City's away record is 10 wins, 4 draws and 5 loses while United's record is 13 wins, 3 draws, 3 loses.

Arsenal also proved the critics wrong by finishing within the top four. They are 3rd at 70 points, 19 points away. Kudos to Wenger! Despite being pressured to leave early in the season, he managed to turn the team around. However, he must not rely entirely on youngsters again. I hope he will reconsider to invest in more reputed players so van Persie will stay. Tottenham finished 4th while Newcastle United finished 5th, above Chelsea at 6th. Liverpool finished 8th. As for Manchester, is this the sign of power shifting? Who knows, we will see what we will expect once the transfer window ended before the next season starts. I think United will definitely need to seriously look into its aging squad and consider solid players to beef up their squad. The same need to be mentioned about Chelsea. They have just as aging squad as we see in United.

As for Real Madrid, they finally ended Barcelona's title streak of the La Liga thrown. In the process, they also recorded an impressive 100 points (32 wins, 4 draws, 2 loses) with 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 lost away and home. Quite balanced I would say. They scored 121 goals and conceded 32 goals. Barcelona ended with 92 points (28 wins, 7 draws, 3 loses) with 17 wins, 1 draw, 1 lost at home and 11 wins, 6 draws, 2 loses while away. They scored 114 goals and conceded 29 goals. Valencia are 3rd with 30 points apart with 61 points! This will be a good point that La Liga is pretty much a two-horse race. However, we have two Spanish clubs in the Europa League final which Atletico Madrid won 3-0 against Athletic Bilbao.

Guardiola's exit as manager of FC Barcelona is definitely one of the shocking news to me this season. I did not expect him to throw the towel yet. Well, still Messi is Europe's top scorer with 50 goals in the league. He also tops the Champions League goal scoring table with 14 goals. Mario Gomez has 13 goals thus far. He also has 2 goals from friendlies, 2 for Copa del Rey and 3 from the Super Cup. He is indeed a goal scoring machine with the most goals this season or perhaps in any season compared throughout football history! He may still be able to add to his goal tally with the Copa del Rey final against Bilbao next weekend.

In Serie A, we see more farewells from a few giant names in the game. From AC Milan, we see the exit of Filippo Inzaghi, Alessandro Nesta, Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso while Juventus have Alessandro Del Piero on the list. Both Inzaghi and Del Piero scored in their final matches. Inzaghi scored 126 goals from 300 club appearances while Del Piero scored 290 goals from 704 club appearances. Juventus won the league with 84 points against AC Milan's 80 points. This is considered a sweet return for them after the "Calciopoli" scandal as well as demotion to Serie B. Since the 2005 and 2006 titles were stripped, their last Serie A title was in 2003. The more incredible feat is the unbeaten record achieved by Juventus with 23 wins and 15 draws this season, only the third team to be able to do so in the Serie A history. They too like Barcelona still have a title to fight for with the Coppa Italia final against Napoli next weekend.

Before focusing on the EURO2012, the Champions League final is coming this Saturday! Chelsea VS. Bayern Munich. It was a shocking final where people expect at least Real Madrid or Barcelona or both to play in. I guess the arrangement of the El Clasico before the 2nd leg killed both the teams. Fatigue can be seen in both squads as they came out from a tiring weekend defending their honours before facing Chelsea and Bayern Munich. The pride was so much at stake during the El Clasico with further chances of both teams capable of winning the league with a victory in that match. Torres scored an incredible injury time goal that killed Barcelona in their own den. While Madrid went out from the penalty kick-out lottery at the end of the match. Well, based on the strength of players, I think Bayern Munich will have an advantage. They are also more experienced for the Champions League atmosphere and should withstand the pressure well. Chelsea, on the other hand, have a strong defence which they need to build as foundation in the match to win.

As for EURO2012, Spain and Germany will be the favourites with Holland as always expected to be among the contenders. Italy may be a dark horse to look out for. As for France and England, I really don't think they are dangerous enough. What about Croatia, the team which always surprises us in the big stage? We'll just have to keep watch during the group stages. From all the experiences of watching the World Cup and EURO of the past, the teams that perform well during the qualifying will not necessarily perform just as well during the tournament. For a more accurate assessment, we will just have to monitor every team's performance during the group stages. That is a good indicator and expectation of how far they will go in the tournament.

REAL MADRID 2-3 AC MILAN

Well, I am not giving this match much publicity like I will always do in the past. No, it is not that I am getting bored at football. I am probably too busy to wake up to watch the match or update the blog lately. I just saw my boss sending me an email like 4+am so maybe she's a football fan? Nah...

Well, on paper they both combined with the most amount of European champion titles in the entire history of UEFA. Therefore, a clash between them will definitely and surely bring the most highest anticipations ever. Not this time for me.

Real Madrid are more or less requiring time to settle down and they are still not. Their defence are still woeful. As for AC Milan, what do you expect from a bunch of has-beens old folks? The only reason I can think of now for them not to invest seriously is because of their president, Silvio Berlusconi, who is in the news lately for the wrong reasons. Although Real Madrid do have a couple of has-beens too but not as many.

Pato was the hero who got a brace while Pirlo had a spectacular goal as I heard. Real Madrid's biggest problem is defence and if they don't solve it, no amount of the most expensive players in the world at midfield or forward will be sufficient to cover that weakness.

WELCOME, KAKA!



One of my most respected player of the current era, I am really happy that he finally moved on to play for Real Madrid. Season after season, the rumours of his transfer to Real Madrid and later Manchester City have finally ended. I am glad he did not go to Manchester City instead. Well, for all the respect to AC Milan, Kaka has come of age and it is the right time for him to try a new league. Therefore, please respect his decision as he is also entitled to enjoy his football elsewhere. After Ancelotti left and Maldini retired, it seems like AC Milan are left with many rumours of more players leaving, with Pato and Pirlo as the next hot favourites.

Now, the question is how much is the transfer fee? It is rumoured to be around 68m euros ($94.05m or £58.9m), which easily overtake the previous world record of £47m of Zinedine Zidane. Technically, he is still the second most expensive player of all time.

"By some measures, Kaka is even more expensive than Zidane. To give a rough guide, back then €76m was worth £46m, while Kaka's transfer of around €65m this year is worth a mammoth £56.3m.

However, as both the Zizou and Kaka moves took place between Italian and Spanish clubs, working off euros makes more sense. The euro, in fact, has not fluctuated quite as much as the weakening pound has since 2001, meaning that Kaka will, to most observers, be the second-most expensive transfer of all time."
(Kaka Hits #2 Slot On World's Most Expensive Transfer List)

Another question will be what is the jersey number that he will wear. It has already been talked alot that he will wear the No.5 jersey of Zidane. It will be incredible if Zidane will be the one to hand over the jersey to him.

The last question is who's next to come in and who is/are going out? I heard of Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribery and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to be linked. I prefer Franck Ribery anytime!

Real Madrid's statement read:

"Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Kaka, is a Real Madrid player after an agreement was reached with AC Milan. The Brazilian footballer has now successfully passed all medical tests. Kaka has signed a contract with Real Madrid for the next six seasons."

AC Milan's statement read:

"From next season, Kaka will play at Real Madrid. Milan thank Kaka the man and the great champion for his decisive contribution to the many victories over the last six years.

"It will be very difficult to fill the void that Kaka will leave, as he is a shining example of commitment and professionalism. A. C. Milan, on behalf of the Rossoneri managers, players and supporters, send him the most cordial and affectionate wishes for the continuation of his sporting career."

"My desire was to stay at Milan, but the world financial crisis has affected a lot of clubs, especially Milan," he told the media.

"As such, I spoke with the Milan board and we concluded that the best thing for everyone would be to sell me."

"Using the No. 5 would be a big responsibility," he reasoned.

"Zidane was an excellent player for both Real Madrid and the French national team, and I would prefer not to use the same number as him. But let's wait a little longer before we decide.

"The challenge with Madrid is fascinating. I’m 27 years old and I’ve already conquered everything as a player. I will go there as one of the best in the world but I have not yet conquered anything there. It will be my new motivation.

“Together we will win many titles. The president [Florentino Perez] is still making contacts and continuing to develop a very competitive team so that we can become the champions of Spain and Europe again."

“Beckham said to me that Real Madrid are a fantastic club to play for, and that it would help me grow even more as a player.

“I am excited to play alongside historical figures such as Raul and Iker Casillas, and I want to play a key role to help the club create history again.”

Finally, he admitted that the deal had been closed “a long time ago”, but he decided to wait until today to speak to the press after the clubs had released an official statement.

And he also had a parting message to Milan: “I will always be grateful to the club and to president Silvio Berlusconi, who provided me with a lot of happy memories.”

As for me, I have been eager to wear the No.10th Champions League trophy jersey for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long (X1,000,000) time. Please Kaka, help me will ya? I promise to buy the official jersey with your name on it!

HONOURS

Sao Paulo
Copa São Paulo de Juniores: 2000
Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 2001
Super Campeonato Paulista: 2002

Milan
Serie A: 2004
Italian Super Cup: 2004
UEFA Champions League: 2007
UEFA Super Cup: 2007
FIFA Club World Cup: 2007

International
FIFA World Cup: 2002
FIFA Confederations Cup: 2005

Individual
Revista Placar Bola de Ouro: 2002
Campeonato Brasileiro Bola de Prata (best player by position): 2002
CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2003
Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2006, 2007
Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2007
UEFA Champions League Bronze Top scorer: 2005/2006
UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder: 2005
UEFA Team of the Year: 2006, 2007
FIFPro World XI: 2006, 2007, 2008
UEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 2006–07
UEFA Champions League Best Forward: 2006–07
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2007
FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2007
Ballon d'Or: 2007
FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2007
Toyota Award: 2007
FIFA World Player of the Year: 2007
Onze d'Or: 2007
IFFHS World‘s Best Playmaker: 2007
IAAF Latin Sportsman of the Year: 2007
Time 100: 2008
Time 100: 2009
Maracanã Hall Of Fame: 2008
Samba d'Or: 2008
FIFA Team of the Year: 2008

ANCELOTTI TO CHELSEA, PEREZ, ZIDANE AND PELLEGRINI TO REAL MADRID

Now, it seems like AC Milan and Chelsea always have many transfer dealings. Now, it is Ancelotti who is leaving to Chelsea after Shevchenko went over. Will new coach Leonardo do a Guardiola too at Milan?

Perez is back to Madrid and Zidane is chosen as an adviser together with new coach, Pellegrini. I just hope Real Madrid can separate politics from the football management and Perez had learnt his lesson the hard way during his previous stint.

What will the new season be for Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid? We will have to sit and watch as the transfer market unfolds.