Recent season of football (news) transfer has created new records in the sky high transfer fees of star soccer players. Records of transfer fees are created and broken in weeks. The case of Kaka and then Cristiano Ronaldo has turned football fans crazy with the large figure of money. .Various calculations are going on within the closed doors and participated by club officials for their best interest. Latest comments are examples of these secret activities that influence team’s structure.

Chelsea, the giant of the Premier League has its own story. Ricardo Carvalho finds himself neglected by club officials and sees no future in the club. He is getting offers from Inter Milan because of Coach Jose Mourinho, who had already been working together in Chelsea and Porto. The experienced defender of Chelsea expressed his displeasure with the club in an interview with a daily and hoped to do better in Italy.

England soccer team captain Stephen Gerrard expects to bid goodbye to football some time in 2013. The one club footballer intends to maintain the record and is proud of his team Liverpool with the Coach Rafa Benitez. He hopes to win the Premier League for his club with the induction of a few efficient players. Liverpool’s ace striker Fernando Torres strongly recommends the induction of another Spanish striker David Villa as the duo proved to be useful partners in International soccer. The mighty club has confirmed that they would retain the services of two star midfielders Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso against some news floated in the market for release of the pair from the club.

Manchester United is looking very hard for the replacement of their star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who opted for Real Madrid this season soccer . Accordingly, United has drawn a list of probable players to fit in the slot. One of them is the 18 year old Brazilian, tricky midfielder, Douglas Costa from Gremio.

The match against Manchester United and Hull City was the most eagerly looked forward too match in the Barclays Premier league! Main players Kamil Zayatter and Bernard Mendy had missed the last match due to injuries and this match showed what the spectators were eagerly looking forward too. The Manchester United who was quite a weak side managed to squeeze out a 1-0 lead against Hull City.

In the first half, it was Darron Gibson, who with a spectacular strike managed a goal to kick off a tense match at the KC stadium. As Newcastle United lost the match at Aston Villa, the Tigers had managed to get to high ground with a meager tally of 35 points. Sir Alex Ferguson prowled the match endlessly and made 10 changes. The top players were however not rotated out as he planned to rest them for the final of the Championship league! Players on the field had an standard age of barely 23, but Captain Gary Neville whipped the team into shape showing off in the eventual win against Hull City!

Hull looked poised at first, by getting 2 early corners and Craig Fagan missed a chance early on. Kuszczak played brilliantly and managed to clear two attempts. United's first attempt was made by Nani with a free kick but Boaz Myhill just flicked it off. Marney did try to hit a goal but Kuszczak was outstanding in ensuring a safe time for his team. Gibson struck hard at the 24th minute and that changed the entire match. It was a strike from the 25 yards which flew right at the top corner of the goal. United went to dominate Hull players and Hull went down as Danny Welbeck  took possession of the ball but unfortunately, he dragged his shot a bit  wide.

Geovanni had a couple of chances but he could not convert them into goals. There was an electrifying atmosphere just before the break as news of other matches poured in. Hull's Kevin Kilbane's missed a chance and team manager Phil Brown replaced Geovanni with Caleb Folan but there was no marked improvement.

At one point of time United's Macheda stood a chance to score a goal but he shot wide.  Four minutes from the end of play, Nani shot but Myhill did not allow the ball to pass through. Hull sighed in relief when the final whistle came and their berth was confirmed.

An altogether well played match, but Hull City could have really done much better!

Manchester United versus Barcelona. It is the match that a lot of people, me included, were looking forward to. In spite of the late night timings for the match here in India, there were a lot of us who did stay up half the night to have a look at the final. This was after an evening spent arguing the merits of our favorite sides and players. I did get ridiculed for championing Barcelona by some of my younger friends. To me this is simply because we just see more of English League Football here. Even the papers are more likely to report EPL matches in detail, giving just a passing mention to European football. Messi is better known here, because he is an Argentinean and Argentina is one of the favorites in India. My own reading of the match was the artistry of the front line that Barca had with Messi and the wizardry of Iniesta thrown in. There could not be a more potent combination than that. And Xavi definitely helped.

To my mind Barca won because they played as a team, while the Manchester United forwards played individual games, more interested in besting their rival trackers. The game was won by Barca more in the mind, and United simply did not have the answers to the subtle questions that the brilliant European side posed. The ball retention by Barcelona was what made all the difference between the two sides. Rooney and Ronaldo were the major culprits for Man U and it is their lackluster performance that allowed Barca to dominate the game almost throughout the match. And the midfield was simply unable to contain the Barcelonans as they surged forward, and the backs seemed to be desperate in their clearances.

So Barcelona has won their fourth title of the season and Manchester United has had to make do with being Champion’s League runner’s up.  It was all over the news.

Barcelona can beat Manchester United in the Champion’s League final when they play each other on May 27^th. They are the winners of the league and Copa del Rey titles already and seem set to add the Champion’s league trophy to the other two already on their shelves.

There is a marked difference in the way Barcelona play football compared to United. They play only with the idea of scoring goals, and if they lose they just pick themselves up and go out to the next game and again aim for the goalposts. They are therefore always dreaming of their next game and how to win it, and it is this ethereal quality of theirs which separates their game from United’s.

Barcelona always plays attacking football with Lionel Messi always in the forefront of all their moves. He is the sort of footballer who always creates excitement every time he has possession of the ball. There is always a buzz of happiness among Barca supporters every time he has the ball, and even if he does not score there will always be a lot of smiles around the stands when he is showing his wizardry with the ball. Messi’s age is an advantage and one can see a long future for him at Barca or wherever he decides to go. His handling and control over the ball is masterly and not too often seen in European football.

Manchester United play equally offensive or should I say attacking football. But if they come up against the defense of Barca, who have done so well for them during the current season, United could end up getting frustrated. And when they get frustrated they are apt to come close to fouls as happened against Chelsea. And then their game could come apart.

Rest assured this Champion’s League final will have people all over the world watching what one hopes will be a match that one can remember.

This blog is not a comment on any game or football matches anywhere in the world. It is a journey back in time to the way I have followed football since my school days in the 1950’s. In those days, television was of course nowhere on the horizon and unheard of in India were I lived. One was dependent on the sports magazines and newspapers. I especially remember a colorful small weekly meant for school children. And we friends followed the exploits of Manchester United, Liverpool and the other greats, in news that was by then at least a couple of weeks old. One of our heroes was Dennis Compton and we admired him more for his football exploits than his centuries in cricket. The 1958 plane crash that killed a lot of famous footballers saw the magazine bordered in black, and by virtue of being the secretary of the school magazine club I had first bite of the sorrowful news.

Football remained a focus during my college years but the stress went on to attending matches that my college played. We were good enough to win the University trophies for a couple of years and I always felt proud though I was never a member of the team. Just a mascot and avid camp follower.

My first football matches on television were watching English Premier League matches shown on prime time on Channel 33 in Dubai where I was working. We made sure to shut shop and the office and rush home to be on time to watch those matches. And the analysis and discussions next day were sometimes quite heated. Each had his own favorites, mine being Kevin Keegan.

And then came the momentous times in the late 1970’s when the World Cup was first televised live all over the world. One stayed up until late watching all the matches and went to work quite bleary eyed the next day.  

Nowadays football matches on television and live as they happen is quite a common thing. But I think I miss those days when football roused us in the passion of true fans. Probably the surfeit of football has caused this lethargy. Or is it age?

With all this discussion of Manchester United and their 18th league title it is easy to forget that North of the English Scottish border is a team to whom 18 titles was an achievement now long forgotten back in the mists of the last century.

Glasgow Celtic has dominated football in Scotland since their inception back in 1888. Many deride them and their great rivals Glasgow Rangers as big fish in a very small pond but nevertheless it was this fish that managed to be the first British team to win the European cup and did so with a team in which all the members had been born within 30 miles of the home ground Celtic Park in Glasgow’s East end. It was all over the news. Undoubtedly that is an achievement that will never be repeated by any team in Britain where the foreign player import has become such a feature of footballing life.  

The questions is, now that we have Manchester United seeking their third European Champions League triumph in Rome on 27^th November after having disposed of Arsenal in the semis, is league football any more a game that recognizes local or even national aspirations?  Many say that to have Glasgow’s two top teams effectively fighting each other for the Scottish footballing honors is a waste of talent. Why not let them take part in the Premiership? Surely their fan base would prefer to be making the trip to Manchester or London than hiking up to Inverness or the wilds of Aberdeen!

In the same way, it has to face Hull City on a wet Sunday afternoon next weekend a fitting climax to Manchester United’s league campaign? Undoubtedly not. Surely what we need all these European Uber Clubs to face each other on a more regular basis. Winning the English or Scottish Premiership with a team drawn from all parts of the Globe seems frankly pointless. The Chelsea team have no more affinity to the part of London that has named them than the occupants of the Park Lane Hilton would have to Hyde Park.

So let us put these teams up where they belong: on a Global stage. Manchester United versus Barcelona should be a fixture we can enjoy twice, maybe four times a season not just the once. Football is not coming home; it left for foreign parts years ago so let us embrace that and enjoy the ride.

27^th May of this year, the main battle of the world famous league, the Champion League between Manchester United and Barcelona is going to be held on Rome. This is also said as the Rome Battle. Man U and Barcelona both got their league champion ship and now they want to be champion of Europe.

Man U had the opportunity to get the five championship, and that would have been a record if they did not loss the King’s Cup. But they still have the chance to get the four championships. They have the world club cup championship and want to get European Championship.

Barcelona also has the opportunity to get three championships in a year. As per news, they have the league championship, the Curling Cup Championship final in this week and the Champion’s League final the 27^th May. If they can be able to get three championships Barcelona will be the first Spanish club to get the three championships.

This battle will also make the decision about the best player of the world. Lionel Messy and Cristiano Ronaldo are the two best players of the world. Cristiano Ronaldo had gotten the FIFA Player of Year award last year. But many people said that Lionel Messy is better than Cristiano Ronaldo. This final will make the difference between them.

Cristiano scored 42 goals last year for his club but this year he was quite flop than last year. But from last few matches he has gotten his natural play back. In the quarter final of Champion’s League he scored the only goal to get his club to the semifinal where he scored the match winning goal for his club.

Lionel Messy has scored 36 goals in this season. He not only goal for himself but also make goals to the other player of the club. So far in the champions League he scored 8 goals and make chance to goal to the other player of his club is 5.

So in the 27^th May, Rome will decide which club will be the champion as well as the best player Lionel Messy or Cristiano Ronaldo. It is confirm  over the news that the final will be so attractive and aggressive too. People all over the world are waiting to see the best final of the year.

It is the second time of premiere league history that Manchester United became the champion of English Premiere League continuously three seasons. No other clubs have this experience. Chelsea had the experience of two times continuously. But Man U has done this two times first 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004 and then 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and now this season 2008-2009.

Man U wanted only one point from the match vs Arsenal in Old Trafford to become the champion. They play like to get only one point not to win this match and they get the point. Arsenal could not make any pressure to the champion.

Man U did what they wanted to do, just get one point not all the three points. Arsenal only got two half chances to give a goal, but they could not. First Robin van Persie had the chance to goal but he could not make the correct contact of Arshavin cross.

 But in the second half, Arsenal had some good game. Alex Song played some outstanding game but he could not make a goal. Arsenal did not have their two important players Cesc Fabregas and then Samir Nasri. Patrice Evra said, without them they played well.

Emmanuel Adebayor, the main forward of Arsenal could not get his natural play. It can be happen for his unconsciousness about his attempt. From last year, he wanted to get away from Arsenal but sometimes he said he wants to stay in Arsenal. He probably wants to go Milan as well as Barcelona. Neither he nor the club does know what to do.

There is a rumor that the Arsenal boss Arsen Wenger can go out of the club. It also hampers the club’s performance. Though there are problems with every club but performance is the best opportunity to overcome all problems. Everyone wish that Arsenal will comeback next season and they will get a better performance next season.