theres a confusing jumble of tournaments remaining in the various leagues in europe. as it stands manchester united and barcelona have comfortable leads in their respective leagues the winners of each determined by aggregate points awarded for wins and ties. concurrently each of these leagues have a knockout tournament aka cups which have no bearing on the yearlong points gathering but which still are valued though not as much as winning the league. and there are also the european-wide club team tournaments, most notably the champions league which is perhaps most prized though some may argue that winning the respective home league is a more grueling affair.

so the champions league has reached the semi-finals with barcelona facing rivals real madrid and manchester united up against schalke from the german bundesliga. schalke are currently in 10th place this season in germany so that theyve made it this far is a surprise to many observers. they even fired their coach about a month ago. manchester will be heavily favored whereas barcelona have a much more formidable opponent in real madrid.

today barcelona face madrid in their final matchup in league play. barca have a considerable points lead going in but madrid could make up the difference should barcelona stumble in going down the stretch. but todays match might be about building confidence going into the champions league and the copa del rey which will also pit barcelona and real madrid in the finals. so these two teams will face each other four times in the next three weeks for three different tournaments.

"Saturday's Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid is the precursor for a total of four meetings between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the space of 18 days. Something which has never before happened in Spanish history."

meanwhile in england, there is an fa cup semi-final match today between manchester united and manchester city just about to kick off. manchester city are the upstarts and would be pleased to win the cup while united might be looking past them towards a league title and victory in the champions league.

"But this is a new Manchester City, and the gap between the two clubs is as close as it has been since the early 1980s. Hard cash and heavy investment of it has seen to that. Despite a slump in form that ended hopes of a challenge for the Premier League title, and may yet endanger their minimum target of Champions League football for 2011-12, the Blues must not travel to Wembley with doom in their hearts. Recent derbies may have swung in United's fashion in the last couple of seasons but each success has been a hard-won result for the aristocrats from Old Trafford."
- dave 4-16-2011 5:19 pm

oh. and the nba playoffs just started this afternoon! whos ready for an oklahoma city - chicago finals matchup? how many people knew ok city had a team? how many knew oklahoma had a city?
- dave 4-16-2011 6:26 pm [add a comment]

i know what you are thinking, is it the copa del rey already?but i still havent completely digested the results from the first real madrid - barcelona matchup over the weekend. sure barcelona all but assured the league championship with the tie at madrids home stadium but they were unable to put the game away once real went a man down. and yeah, after being embarrassed 5-0 in their first meeting, real can feel good about clawing their way back to a tie after they lost a player to a red card but is a tie at home which essentially concedes the championship anything to crow about? so, still alot to prove for both sides. should be interesting as the game is played at a neutral venue.

i wouldnt be all that surprised to see real madrid win. they are a much deeper squad and barcelona has some key players missing at fullback and outside of messi have had trouble scoring goals of late.

as for the amuse-bouche, you can sink your teeth into tottenham v. arsenal, two north london rivals of long standing. should be a heated match as arsenal at #2 in the standings still has a shot at winning the league despite shooting themselves in the foot at nearly every occasion while tottenham currently fifth would like to land in the top four to book another trip to the champions league next season.

got it?

tottenham arsenal goes live on espn2 at 245 while barcelona-real streams on espn3 at 330 and broadcasts on goltv.
- dave 4-20-2011 7:14 pm [add a comment]

both games actually living up to the pre-game billing. there were 5 goals in the first half of the tottenham-arsenal match with 3 going to arsenal.

while in the spanish cup final, real madrid has had many more scoring opportunities in this very physical, foul-prone first half. real players average 3 to 4 inches over the barcelona team and are generally bigger and more athletic. barcelona has to rely on quickness and comfort in their quick passing team system but with real pressuring the ball and not afraid to foul to break up the flow, barcelona have yet to get a shot on goal to my recollection, certainly no dangerous scoring opportunities whereas madrid has had three or four. 27 fouls in the first half. yowza...
- dave 4-20-2011 9:32 pm [add a comment]

overtime for the copa del rey. barcelona dominated the second half and if not for a very close offsides which negated a goal and the madrid goalie making a number of diving stops, barcelona would have already prevailed. now two 15 minute overtime periods after which a shootout should neither team lead after the 30 minutes.
- dave 4-20-2011 10:23 pm [add a comment]

best prediction i ever made. real madrid won on a header over a seriously undersized fullback in the 102 minute. barcelonas lack of size due to injury finally did them in as well as their inability to finish madrid off when they were getting chances in the second half. certainly madrid will have an added boost of confidence going into their two games against barca in the champions league semi-final. as an added note madrids highly touted head coach knocked the favored barcelona out of the semis last year as coach of inter-milan which cant not have occured to the barcelona faithful at this point.

as for the other game, looks like arsenal blew their lead again and ended up in a tie which dropped them to 3rd and one must assume out of contention for the english premier league championship. the championship most lilkely will go to manchester united who are also still alive in the champions league. think those semis begin next tuesday. until then....
- dave 4-20-2011 11:29 pm [add a comment]

ok. shut up already. ill post some video.

- dave 4-21-2011 3:47 am [add a comment]

Very nice. I'm adding soccer commentator to my list of jobs I'm sure you could succeed at, although it ranks behind NY Post headline writer in terms of where I think your talents would be of most use.
- jim 4-21-2011 4:04 am [add a comment]

sports commentators have to jabber incessantly. i dont think i possess that skill certainly not in a professional manner. listen to this whackjob.

- dave 4-21-2011 4:39 am [add a comment]

strap on your shin guards its time for the semi-finals of the champions league. schalke v. manchester united today and barcelona v. real madrid tomorrow both at 245 est. these are home and away matches which will conclude next week unless it says so otherwise later when i check.
- dave 4-26-2011 7:34 pm [add a comment]

i know what you are saying, where is my barcelona v. real madrid champions league match airing. i cant find it on fox soccer channel? well, step away from the ledge, its on fx. clearly the masses of basic cable rabble begged for a little taste of european soccer, or maybe it was the advertisers. either way you have six minutes to grab your remote and find the fx channel.

and if you are still reading this, manchester united had an easy time with the overmatched schalke yesterday.
- dave 4-27-2011 7:40 pm [add a comment]

ugly game all around. barcelona won 2 - 0 but scored only after a real player was ejected on a questionable red card. lots of flopping and whining from both sides. neither team deserved to win.
- dave 4-27-2011 10:23 pm [add a comment]

• message board comment (not mine):
  
  This isn't the first time I've concluded Spanish football to be better in theory than in practice.
  Dire game in so many ways.
  What a bunch of charmless nerks.
  
  Barcelona, with the exception of Messi, lack something.
  The world certainly needs surgeons, but I want to see rock stars.
  
  If a team is claiming to be the best, I want arrogance not conceitedness. Impudence not petulence. Chutzpah not pomposity.
  Yes, they pass it well. Probably better and more clinically than any team I've seen.
  It's more that they have no swagger to their game.
  The great Brazil teams had swagger.
  The great Dutch teams had swagger.
  The great Ajax, Real Madrid, Milan and United teams had swagger.
  Plenty of teams less glamorous had swagger.
  
  Only Messi exhibits this, along with joy, fun, love of playing. The rest of them are almost bureaucratic in the practicing this supposed purists' game. And their cynecism undermines their whole enterprise.
  Sure, you could date Claudia Schiffer. She has the beauty, the tits. But you just know that Kate Moss would be the wilder night out.
  (*this analogy may be ten/fifteen years out of date. Other models are available)
  
  For all their talk of the beautiful game, Barca lack sexy football.
  
  As for the game, not much to say other than a wrong red card. Plenty of pathetic behaviour from both sides.
  Some greatness from Messi and some gamesmanship from his team-mates.
  - dave 4-27-2011 10:30 pm [add a comment]