SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.
Juventus, Lazio and Napoli each have 30 points in joint second and are trying to keep the pressure on Milan.
Juve are unbeaten in 12 league games and visit Chievo on Sunday.
Lazio, meanwhile, will be keen to bounce back from last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Juve when they take on Udinese in Rome.
Barca hold a two-point advantage over second-placed Real Madrid heading into the final round of league fixtures in 2010.
Madrid could be without at least eight players for Sunday's visit of Sevilla but still remain firm favourites to beat the out-of-sorts Andalusians.
A busy weekend of Premier League action sees title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United lock horns on Sunday, among a number of other intriguing fixtures. Sunderland and Bolton contest the first top-flight game of the weekend at the Stadium of Light, there is a Midlands derby as West Brom host Wolves, while managerless Blackburn take on struggling West Ham and Roy Hodgson faces his former side when Fulham travel to Liverpool. Arsenal, meanwhile, will still be reeling from that narrow defeat at Old Trafford and they take on Stoke City at the Emirates. Blackpool host Tottenham, Newcastle go to Birmingham City, Villa host Wigan and Manchester City host Everton on Monday.Chelsea vs. Manchester United
Simon Burnton: Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.
This week, Adriano wins a his third Bidone d'Oro, Cristiano Ronaldo has no mates, an Ecuadorian player is suspend after faking his identity for seven years, the Peruvian cup final descends into a brawl and Carlos Tevez says goodbye to Manchester.
Andres Iniesta likely is just weeks away from being crowned the world’s greatest soccer player, but his days at Barcelona may be numbered, a club source told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday. Iniesta’s spectacular year included the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final, and the 26-year-old is a strong favorite to win the FIFA Ballon D’Or award for player of the year on Jan. 10.
However, Barca’s hierarchy has not ruled out offloading him for a huge transfer fee, either during the January window or next summer, in a bid to cut into the club’s enormous debt of around $575 million.
As they mangled Real Sociedad 5-0, Pep Guardiola’s team held on to the ball as if it were attached by invisible thread to their boots.
Twenty-one passes preceded a goal from Lionel Messi, while Andrès Iniesta alone completed more than 100 passes in the game. And he was substituted with 20 minutes to go.
Every week he will be here to offer you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and, on occasion, to settle the odd bet.
Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.
No 1: Barcelona, £25m-a-year, five year deal with Qatar Foundation
Barcelona agree a five-year deal worth £125m with the Qatar Foundation in Dec 2010, becoming the most expensive deal of its kind in football. After five years paying for the priviledge of having 'Unicef' on their shirts, the economic realities of the game have forced the Spanish giants' hand. Qatar Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to education projects in the Middle East.
AS Roma striker Adriano won Italy’s infamous Golden Bin award for a third time on Monday after again being voted Serie A’s worst player by fans. The burly Brazilian, given the Rai Radio 2 prize by listeners in 2006 and 2007 while playing for Inter Milan, returned to Italy with Roma at the start of the season after a stint at Brazil’s Flamengo but has made only three appearances.
A statement on the Blackburn website read: ''The Venky's Group, owners of Blackburn Rovers Football Club, has today [Monday] confirmed the departure of manager Sam Allardyce and assistant manager Neil McDonald with immediate effect. ''We have taken this decision as part of our wider plans and ambitions for the club. We would like to put on record our thanks to Mr. Allardyce for his contribution to Blackburn Rovers Football Club.''
| P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | |
| Man Utd | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 20 | 34 |
| Arsenal | 17 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 32 |
| Man City | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 32 |
| Chelsea | 17 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 31 |
| Tottenham | 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 27 |
| Bolton | 17 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 26 |
| Sunderland | 17 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 24 |
| Newcastle | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 22 |
| Liverpool | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | -1 | 22 |
| Blackpool | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | -5 | 22 |
| West Brom | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | -5 | 22 |
| Stoke | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | -1 | 21 |
| Blackburn | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 21 |
| Aston Villa | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | -9 | 20 |
| Everton | 17 | 3 | 9 | 5 | -2 | 18 |
| Birmingham | 17 | 3 | 9 | 5 | -3 | 18 |
| Fulham | 17 | 2 | 10 | 5 | -4 | 16 |
| Wigan | 17 | 3 | 7 | 7 | -15 | 16 |
| Wolves | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | -12 | 15 |
| West Ham | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | -15 | 12 |
