Sid Lowe in Spain

Few have recognised Unai Emery's role in making Valencia the best in Spain's other league. When they're not, perhaps they will.

Valencia: prisoners of their own success

Henry Winter: Imagine the impact David Moyes would make with "Old Trafford Cash"

Imagine, to borrow a phrase from Beatleville, the even warmer glow cast over David Moyes’s decade at Everton if Pierluigi Collina had not disallowed Duncan Ferguson’s headed goal against Villarreal on Aug 24, 2005.

England: Tuesday's Premier League Previews

Who: Liverpool vs. Everton
When: 4pm EDT
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
U.S. TV: ESPNDeportes, ESPN3
Preview
Preview II


Kevin McCarra: Liverpool's widening fault lines give Everton their derby opening

UEFA Champions League: Tuesday's (Round of 16/Second-Leg) Previews

Bayern Munich vs. Basel (agg. 0-1)
Preview
Preview II
FC Basel quintet providing hope for Swiss football


Inter Milan vs. Marseille (agg. 0-1)
Preview
Preview II

Major League Soccer: Five Things We Learned in Week One

Sebastian Velasquez outshines David Beckham; Canadian rivalry is good for the MLS; and Colorado Rapid's Quincy Amarikwa's goal of the week.

FIVE

Paolo Bandini in Italy

Adored perhaps more even than Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi's imperfections make him more identifiable to fans.

Ezequiel Lavezzi heads to Chelsea with his – and Napoli's – confidence soaring.

Raphael Honigstein in Germany

Pivotal matches for two misfiring powerhouses created drama on and off the pitch – and only a sliver of optimism.

Lumbering heavyweights Köln and Hamburg face fight to stay up.

The Trawler: Diouf: I'm like King Eric

Welcome to The Trawler, your weekly submersion through the teeming waters of life in the Championship, League One and League Two. You might be surprised what you find down there.

Monday (Tuesday this week - sorry) MLS Breakdown

Although some teams impressed during the first weekend of the 2012 season, many clubs are still trying to sort things out as the campaign gets underway.

Opening weekend sees cautionary steps taken by most sides.

Americans Abroad

Jermaine Jones played 90 minutes for Schalke as it continued its outside challenge for the Bundesliga title, beating Hamburg 3-1 at home. All the goals were scored in the first half, with Teemu Pukki, Christoph Metzelder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netting for Schalke before Gojko Kacar pulled back a consolation goal for Hamburg just before the break.

The Rest

Plus a couple more

Lionel Messi shows off goalkeeping skills during Barcelona training session

It seems Barcelona forward Lionel Messi's talents know no bounds. A day after scoring his 50th goal for the Catalan club this season, the 24-year-old showed off his skills between the posts during a training session yesterday.

Carlos Puyol tweets image of "little phenomenon" in goal for Barça.

England: Monday's Premier League Reports & Table

Arsenal 2 - 1 Newcastle
Henry Winter at the Emirates Stadium
David Hytner at the Emirates Stadium
Amy Lawrence at the Emirates Stadium
Kevin Palmer at the Emirates Stadium

Home Away

PL W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester United 28 11 1 2 39 15 10 3 1 29 12 41 67 2 Manchester City 28 14 0 0 42 6 7 3 4 27 14 49 66 3 Tottenham Hotspur 28 10 2 2 30 13 6 3 5 22 21 18 53 4 Arsenal 28 10 2 2 31 12 6 2 6 26 27 18 52 5 Chelsea 28 9 2 3 31 19 5 5 4 17 13 16 49 6 Newcastle United 28 7 5 2 21 15 5 3 6 19 26 -1 44 7 Liverpool 27 4 8 1 15 10 6 1 7 15 16 4 39 8 Sunderland 28 6 4 4 21 13 4 3 7 15 18 5 37 9 Everton 27 6 3 5 15 13 4 4 5 13 15 0 37 10 Fulham 28 7 4 3 29 19 2 5 7 8 18 0 36 11 Swansea City 28 6 6 2 19 10 3 3 8 12 24 -3 36 12 Norwich City 28 5 5 4 21 18 4 4 6 18 27 -6 36 13 Stoke City 28 6 4 4 18 14 4 2 8 9 25 -12 36 14 West Bromwich Albion 28 4 2 8 14 16 6 3 5 20 21 -3 35 15 Aston Villa 28 4 4 6 15 17 3 8 3 16 18 -4 33 16 Blackburn Rovers 28 4 1 9 20 27 2 6 6 20 33 -20 25 17 Bolton Wanderers 28 3 2 9 17 28 4 0 10 14 29 -26 23 18 Queens Park Rangers 28 2 5 7 14 22 3 2 9 15 26 -19 22 19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 28 3 2 9 17 30 2 5 7 13 28 -28 22 20 Wigan Athletic 28 1 6 7 11 24 3 3 8 13 29 -29 21

Roberto Gotta in Italy

According to a survey mentioned in Italian magazine Panorama last month, 46% of Italian parents believe their kids are always right. This becomes especially true, in their warped perspective, when figures of authority, who are not part of an inner circle, attempt to exercise their right to address a child's need to be reprimanded or praised in accordance with how he or she behaves. This leads to parents suing school districts over their kids' bad reports or assaulting those teachers daring to give out poor marks to their beloved offspring, who are obviously misunderstood geniuses whose growth is stunted by unsympathetic educators. This "teacher hates me" attitude, which creates excuses and shifts the blame to those who are in charge instead of the real perpetrators, gets amplified on a nationwide basis and turns into a stream of different, yet common, patterns of behaviour. No matter how poorly employees or students perform, then, the boss - usually the highest paid, so one may say that it comes with the territory - is always the one who takes the blame. However, things are getting out of hand in Italian football.

Phil Ball in Spain

The male of the human species seems to have a fondness for lists. It's not quite certain why this is, but few men would deny it. Women seem to find it baffling, and prefer to put their energies into other, more life-saving pastimes, but guys like lists. Boys like to collect and store things, but they're not hoarding. They just like statistics, and the act of shaping them into lists. Sports such as football, cricket and baseball are particularly suited to this type of mentality, and while it may be true that the current younger generation is less inclined to buy and collect the match-day programme, he - okay, sometimes she - will now have access to information that the previous generation could only fantasise about. But it doesn't stop the obsession with lists, and particularly hierarchies. You'll know where this is going - I must have read at least a dozen articles this week debating the question of whether Leo Messi is the greatest player of all time.

The Fifth Official

Few of us like a Monday morning, but The Fifth Official does, for it brings with it a chance for him to point the finger and laugh. Here he pulls out the pretty, the puzzling and the downright pig-ugly from a week brimming with potential victims.

England: Monday Night Football Previews

Who: Arsenal vs. Newcastle

When: 4pm EDT

Where: Emirates Stadium, London

U.S. TV: ESPN 2

Preview I
Preview II

England: Premier League Weekend Reports, Teams of the Week, Analyses, Etc.

Manchester City lose, Manchester United win, more controversy as Bolton edge QPR, more problems for Liverpool as they lose at Sunderland, Everton send Spurs to their third defeat on the trot...

Bolton 2 - 1 Queens Park Rangers

Richard Gibson at the Reebok Stadium

Everton 1 - 0 Tottenham

Paul Wilson at Goodison Park

Chelsea 1 - 0 Stoke City

Kevin Palmer at Stamford Bridge

Sunderland 1 - 0 Liverpool

Louise Taylor at the Stadium of Light

Manchester United 2 - 0 West Brom

Jamie Jackson at Old Trafford

Swansea City 1 - 0 Manchester City

Kevin McCarra at the Liberty Stadium

Five Things We Learned

Team of the Week

The Five-Point European Review

These guys got seven...

Real Madrid maintained their healthy lead in Spain, while the title races in Europe's other top leagues remain hotly contested. It was a good weekend for AC Milan, but there was a change at the top in England and Borussia Dortmund conceded ground in Germany. Ligue 1 is turning into a neck-and-neck dash for the line between the clubs from Paris and Montpellier.

Review

Moyes: A Decade of Service

He walked into a relegation-threatened club, short of confidence and struggling for goals; one whose only wins in 11 games came against the lesser lights of Leyton Orient and Crewe. He was an untried manager at the highest level, a journeyman defender turned coach who was confronted by a dressing room of players only a few years his junior and with rather more concrete achievements in their careers. He flourished.

The Swiss Ramble: Aston Villa - Prophets And Losses

It is fair to say that this has not been the most enjoyable of seasons for Aston Villa fans. Their team currently sits in 15th place in the Premier League and was eliminated in the early stages of both cup competitions. Although it is unlikely that they will be dragged into a relegation battle, as there are many teams worse than them in England’s top tier, their form does not inspire total confidence. Their problems are all the more poignant, as 2012 is the 30th anniversary of their memorable victory in the European Cup when a Peter Withe goal was enough to defeat the mighty Bayern Munich.

Five Thoughts From the Opening Night of the 2012 MLS Season

From the Montreal Impact's MLS debut to Columbus' forgetful night, here are five thoughts from the opening few games of the 2012 MLS season.

Off The Ball



Too sexy for you!


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, frog-juice drinking Manchester United midfielder Ji-Sung Park asked to help save frogs, Neymar scores a solo wondergoal to remind the world it's not all about Lionel Messi, Atalanta winger Ezequiel Schelotto dumps his model girlfriend because his parents says she's 'too sexy' and a former semi-pro claims the church ruined his chances of playing for Manchester United.