By Michael Sinnerton

Had a very busy day so sadly haven't managed to do a proper football blog today. Instead I thought I'd take the time to pay tribute to the greatest tennis player ever.

How lucky we are to live at a time when Roger Federer struts his imperial stuff. 15 grand slams tournaments in just 6 years; it took Pete Sampras 12 years to get his phenomenal 14. Federer returned to world number one today, admittedly partly in the absence of Rafael Nadal through injury, but also after coming back from two heartbreaking five set defeats to the same man. Those two defeats at Wimbledon and the Australian Open could have led to Federer retiring early, instead he battled back and won the French Open title for the first time and regained his Wimbledon crown.

A clay court legend, whose name sadly escapes me, rates Federer as probably the third or fourth best player on clay ever. He is just unfortunate to have met the best clay courter of all time in final after final at the French. When time judges Federer though, having survived Nadal's onslaught to win more grand slams he may be held in even higher stead than had he won three or four French Opens. Andy Roddick's name must be mentioned here, so wonderful was his performance today. Though it will be of little consolation to him, he won many friends today and even the harshest of judges wouldn't begrudge him success next year (or at the US).

Those of us of English or Australian nature have the Ashes to look forward to this week as football takes a slight back-burner but it won't be long before football's back on our front pages as Franck Ribery is forced to move to Chelsea or David Villa makes Barca's dream team that little more special.

By Michael Sinnerton

Barcelona are in talks with Palmeiras over £12.8m rated striker Keirrison, something which raises several interesting talking points. Firstly and perhaps most obviously it seems to increase the possibility of an Eto'o to Manchester City story (City have just made a £25.5m bid). Personally I would rather see Eto'o stay and have one more, probably, glorious season with the new ‘dream team' but presuming he adapts to the Premiership ok there's no doubt he'll be a great signing (and will force Craig Bellamy out).

Secondly £12.8m is a huge amount of money pay for a 20 year old that has no experience of European football. On the plus side Keirrison was last year's top scorer in the Brazilian championship with 20 goals, has career stats of 89 goals in 158 games and has been linked with the big clubs before. Personally I hope that if Barca do sell Eto'o they sign David Villa as a replacement and use Keirrison as a replacement as I don't think Bojan is ready to step into the main role. Alternatively of course they could switch Thierry Henry to centre forward and bring in Franck Ribery.

The other interesting thing about this transfer is that it has cost the Palmeiras coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, his job. "Keirrison showed a lack of professionalism and respect towards me and the squad so, while I'm coach, he will no longer play for Palmeiras," Luxemburgo had said on his blog. Palmeiras were knocked out of the Libertadores Cup last week and Luxemburgo was sacked.

All this points to a further increase in player power given Luxemburgo is the most successful coach in the Brazilian championship (5 titles, 2 previously with Palmeiras). As if this small transfer story didn't have enough Keirrison is 80% owned by Traffic Sports Marketing so Palmeiras will only get 20% of any transfer fee. Perhaps some of it will go to Luxemburgo as a compensation package meaning the club will be nearly back where they started only without a manager and their best player.

Unfortunately for Brazilian clubs this process of 2 steps forward, 2 steps back shows little sign of abating.

By Michael Sinnerton

£18million for Roque Santa Cruz? Are you having a laugh? I know prices are inflated but we're talking about a player who has played ten seasons in Europe and scored more than 5 goals in only one of them.

Maybe he's built to play in the Premiership. After all he did score 19 goals in 37 games for Blackburn in 2007/08. The price seems way too high though, it seems this summer is going to be filled with clubs paying over the odds from Cristiano Ronaldo to Glen Johnson, so perhaps it's a bit harsh to pick on Santa Cruz but despite his goals for Blackburn I'm not totally convinced about him as a goal scorer.

Given Manchester City's aim is to at least break into the top four, a strike force of Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz seems a little short in quality to me (I'd like to see at least one world class striker, all the other top 4 clubs have one). Albeit a midfield of Elano, Barry, De Jong and Robinho sounds fairly decent. I'll stick my neck out now and call Roque Santa Cruz's move a flop and a waste of money.

                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What odds on a football version of 20/20? We already have the format, 5-a-side football and I imagine fans would absolutely love a weekend tournament but to be honest there's probably too much football in the calendar already. Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi against Cech, Terry, Essien, Lampard and Drogba sounds pretty good though, Barca wouldn't have a bad "B team" either.

by Joel Abraham

What the hell happened to Manchester United?

Some of us expected a thrilling final, and were left disappointed. It was, in truth, a trifle dull. The general consensus seemed to be that if Barca scored first, it would force United to attack and lead to a great game. Instead, the game looked over as soon as Eto'o scored. The Catalans defended through the art of possession, which does not make for exciting football. After all, if the opposition don't have the ball, they can't score. Xavi and Iniesta were at their majestic best, passing around the United midfield as if they weren't there, but the Barca performance wasn't so much spectacular as efficient. Two defensive errors, two goals. Guardiola's side are not dissimilar to Mourinho's Chelsea of 2005.

United seemed to crumble defensively under the pressure of the occasion. Ferdinand and Vidic were both at fault for the goals. The second was utterly horrifying. To allow Xavi of all players that amount of time and space to cross, and to leave Messi completely unmarked in the area was utter suicide.

Fergie blew it. They fell into the Madrid trap rather than following the Chelsea blueprint. Ferguson saw Barca's depleted defence, and subsequently tried to outgun them rather than stifle them. Chelsea showed us how to play against Barca, to hassle Xaviesta, to defend in numbers, to sit deep and crowd out the final third.

Last night, we got Michael Carrick v Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. Carrick is good, but not that good. Anderson lacks the positional discipline to be an effective defensive midfielder, and who knows where Giggs was supposed to be playing? That midfield trio might've worked had they been sitting in front of the defence and closed down the Barca midfield, with Anderson to chase, Carrick to cover and Giggs to intercept. Perhaps with Park in the deeper role instead of Giggs, United may have had more luck.

The front three of Rooney, Ronaldo and Park left United with no real striker, with Ronaldo demanding the ball at every opportunity, shooting on sight, and fading into obscurity as the match progressed. It could be argued that this trio were effective against Arsenal, but it was only effective because Kieran Gibbs fell over and Ronaldo scored a free kick. Perhaps Berbatov should've started centrally, flanked by Rooney and Ronaldo.

At half time, with the problem clear, Ferguson swapped Anderson for Tevez, which proved to be a poor decision. Tevez's first touch has been appalling lately, which one might attribute to lack of playing time, but his introduction certainly didn't help United. The man is clearly unhappy at the club. Rooney on the left wing is something of a mystery, it seems almost designed to limit his involvement in the game, and Rooney does not perform well in big games.

The system was set up to counterattack. The major problem with this being that if you don't score first, you're stuck. They let Barca play their football, which was sheer madness. United were unbeaten in Europe for two years because Ferguson stuck to a cautious 4-5-1. The man is not a tactician, but he is lucky enough to have such a good squad that he can pick the wrong team and still win. Barca, by all accounts, should not have been in the final, having rode their luck against Chelsea and profited from some truly appalling refereeing decisions. Yet United failed to genuinely test a side who had been for the most part outplayed by Chelsea.

Ferguson clearly thought his team was stronger and would win in a pure football face-off. Had Ronaldo scored any of his early chances and United won 1-0, then we'd be hailing Fergie as a genius. Unfortunately, there was such a gulf in class in the midfield battle that Barca were in control for most of the game. Against Xaviesta, the two best midfielders in the world, who've been playing together since they were 11 years old, United were powerless to resist.

Chelsea afforded Barca plenty of possession, but didn't allow them any penetration. This is how you beat teams who like to keep the ball. If you defend in numbers, the opposition will pass the ball from side to side for long enough that they run out of ideas and give the ball away. I said yesterday that if Ferguson set out his team to stifle Barca, United would win. Unfortunately for him, he did the exact opposite.

By Michael Sinnerton

Just a few thoughts that I’m not sure have been properly voiced by the media this week. Whilst it’s not a major story given the goings on at the bridge I would like to have seen more commentators pick up on the swings and roundabouts of Chelsea v Barcelona. Given that it’s generally accepted that a farcical refereeing performance cost Chelsea the tie, I can’t understand why John’s Terry’s late winner in 2005 (4-2) that put Chelsea through hasn’t been brought up. A clear foul on the goalkeeper by Ricardo Carvalho was completely missed by the referee and Chelsea went through as a result. To me that means both teams have perhaps wrongly gone through to poor decisions. Two wrongs don’t make a right but they sure do even things up.

Another thing that has probably been brought up more in Spain, and even Italy is Guus Hiddink’s record. During the 2002 World Cup his South Korea side were the beneficiaries of a similar number of ludicrous decisions against both Italy and Spain. Perhaps this added to the Dutchman’s calm persona having on the other side of the fence on more than one occasion. Hiddink, who I thought tactically got things pretty much spot on (at least until Barca went down to 10), is undoubtedly a great manager but a lucky one. It was his PSV side remember who won the European Cup without winning a game in the latter stages.

-              -              -              -              -              -              -              -             

by Joel Abraham 

Chelsea v Juventus

Chelsea have struggled at home recently, and may well profit from having the second leg in Turin. When Scolari's boys are on form they can rip the opposition to shreds, but Liverpool and Arsenal have shown that Deco, Lampard et al can be stifled by flooding the midfield. Ranieri knows Chelsea well and may have the upper hand here. Juve can play a direct game by utilising the height and power of Amauri and Iaquinta, and boast the constant goalscoring threat of Trezeguet, as well as the craft of Nedved and the evergreen Del Piero. They have strength and presence defensively in the shape of Chiellini and Mellberg, and the midfield bite of Poulsen and Sissoko. Don't expect this one to be pretty.

Prediction: Juve to nick an away goal and sit on it

Villarreal v Panathinaikos

The Yellow Submarine will need a good result in the first leg to ensure their passage into the last eight, as they are fragile away from the Madrigal. Pana seem to do better away from home, and their win at San Siro has shown them to be more than capable of causing an upset. They do not concede many, Gilberto, Karagounis and Ivanschitz are at the heart of a strong midfield, whilst Salpigidis is a danger up front. Rossi and Llorente will be looking for the goals for Villarreal, and Pires, Cazorla and Senna will create plenty of chances for them.

Prediction: Home form to see Villarreal through

Sporting v Bayern

Sporting saw off Shakhtar and Basel with ease, but were torn apart by Barcelona. They may find Bayern's firepower too much to handle. Moutinho and Veloso are a formidable midfield pairing, and Liedson is their top scorer in the competition. Bayern progressed serenly through their group, and boast the attacking prowess of Klose, Toni and Ribery. Sporting ought to be no match for the Germans.

Prediction: Easy victory for Bayern

Atletico v Porto

One of the more intruiging ties of the round. Atleti were untroubled by PSV and Marseille, and were unlucky not to beat Liverpool home and away. Kun, Forlan, Maxi and Simao are a constant threat, and can break down any defence.  Porto looked mediocre initially, but three consecutive victories has shown their ability to win when they need to. Argentine duo Lucho and Lisandro are their key players and will need to make the most of their chances to compensate for a shaky defence. Atleti are the favourites, but don't write off Porto.

Prediction: Atleti to win at home, lose away, and progress

Lyon v Barcelona

Lyon got the tie everyone else wanted to avoid, and it'll probably put paid to their European dreams for another year.  Barca are running away with La Liga, and have a frontline that is almost impossible to contain. The flipside is that they're vulnerable in defence too, so this could be a high-scoring affair. Lyon are no mugs and have an impressive scoring record of their own, and have the irrepressible Benzema on hand to fight their corner. Don't expect many clean sheets. Barca have the bigger guns, but if they get careless, Lyon could profit.

Prediction: Barca to score more than Lyon - just

Real Madrid v Liverpool

A fascinating tie. Benitez will try to strangle the life out of the game, but he'll have his work cut out. van Nistelrooy is a massive loss for Real, and in his absence, Higuain, Raul, Huntelaar and co. will have to step up. Liverpool may struggle to contain the dutch trio of Sneijder, Robben and van der Vaart, but the defence is not watertight. Expect Liverpool to swamp the middle of the park - Mascherano and Alonso will be key to their fortunes. If they can avoid defeat at the Bernabeu, then Real may become yet another victim to the cloying, mawkish sentimentality of Anfield and a dodgy late Gerrard winner.

Prediction: A mind-numbing stalemate in Spain followed by an undeserved Liverpool home win

Arsenal v Roma

Another interesting face-off between two teams who are struggling domestically. Arsenal's young side have an infuriating habit of slaying the big teams before surrendering meekly to poor opposition a week later. Depending on their January transfer activity and the injury situation, they may be a force to be reckoned with in the big games. van Persie and Nasri have shown themselves as capable matchwinners, but the defence is as porous as ever. Roma made a decent comeback in Group A, including an impressive home display against Chelsea. Put simply, they don't score enough and they concede too many. Vucinic will be a danger up front, and Baptista may yet have something nasty in store for his former employers. The second leg will be better than the first.

Prediction: Two draws, Arsenal to sneak through on away goals

Inter v Manchester United

Mourinho blah blah blah. Forget him, this ought to be a great footballing spectacle without the unnecessary soap opera sideshow. Inter are dominating domestically, but were somewhat fortunate to actually make it through their group. After much European disappointment in recent years, particularly at the hands of English opposition, Inter are better equipped this year around. If Ibrahimovic is on form, United will have a torrid time, but the midfield will decide the winners. Cambiasso, Zanetti and Muntari will have to isolate Rooney and neutralise the support play of Ronaldo, Tevez and/or Berbatov in order to frustrate United. At Old Trafford, Inter's attacking stars may begin to shine.

Prediction: Inter to topple the holders in their own back garden

by Michael Sinnerton 

With all four Premier League teams either top of their Champions League groups or having taken maximum points it's time for that age old argument about the best league in the world.

The Premier League is the most watched league in the world, has the European Champions, the European runners-up and the top four have all made the Champions League final in the last 3 years.

The League still has a veil of unpredictability with Arsenal already losing to Fulham and Hull, Liverpool being held by Stoke and Manchester United by Newcastle. Admittedly the top four will probably end up the same as last year (Aston Villa may challenge Arsenal) but then Spain's top four is likely to contain at least 3 of Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico and Valencia whilst Italy's will surely contain at least 3 from Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina and Roma.

However the league's second tier sides are where the argument has weakness. With Everton going out of the UEFA cup to Liege, Tottenham bottom of the league and struggling past Wisla. (The two teams to most closely challenge the top 4 in recent years) whilst Valenica and Espanyol (Getafe amongst others) regularly do well in Europe as do AC Milan, Sampdoria and sometimes Lazio.

Having said that Valencia struggled last year, and it may be that Aston Villa and Manchester City may be the Premier League's next strongest representatives rather than an Everton team who may have peaked (at least temporarily). Both Vila and City have the finanical capacity to go one step further something which Spanish and Italian teams probably lack.

The League's wages are higher, the clubs spend more money on transfers and this is bound to attract the best players and managers. If England had Spain's climate there would be very little reason for foreign players not to move.

Despite this there were less goals/game in the Premiership last year than in most of the other European leagues, with the Bundesliga the best value for goals. La Liga still has an element of the unknown and is the breeding ground for young South American talent. The likes of Messi, Aguero, Fernandez and Dani Alves (to name but a few) were always much more likely to join LA Liga, partially due to a technical capacity for football that can arguably not been found in the Premierships  "kick-and-rush" culture.

I am a huge La Liga fan but I don't think you can beat the Premiership for pure excitement and adrenalin.

But my favourite League in the world, despite it's dimunitive size and lack of status has to be the Isles of Scilly (where else) Football League which is a scilly little league with only two teams.

http://www.worldssmallestleague.co.uk/html/league_table.html

The Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers make up the League (a massive 12 game fixture list) as well as having four cup competitions. The league whilst perhaps more predictable than the Premiership (the same two teams make the finals every year) has a charm about it that I can't help but love. Obviously I've never seen a game but the Gunners are running away with the league this year largely thanks to the hugely unheralded Adam May, a part-time retailer who you shouldn't expect to be gracing our shores any time soon despite his impressive goal record.

The Garrison Gunners against Manchester United for a best league in the world title? Don't count on it.

by Michael 'Sinno' Sinnerton 

With the Primera Liga season five games in Saturday brings the first clash of the potential title contenders. Barca and Atletico have 10 and 9 points respectively following mixed starts to the campaign.

Current Form 

Barca have lost away at Numancia and been held at home by Racing Santander and despite racking up over 50 shots in the two games their one goal came from the penalty spot. Since then Barcelona have four straight wins against Gijon, Sporting Lisbon, Betis and Espanyol.

Atletico have been in good form when they put their first team out, but as anticipated perhaps don't have the strength in depth to prosper in both La Liga and the Champions League. As if to justify this, both their La Liga defeats have come in the games directly preceeding Champions League games when Madrid have been missing key players. With a 2-1 way defeat at Valldolid and a 1-0 reverse at home to Sevilla. Wins have come against Getafe, Recre, PSV, Malaga.

League Aspirations

Atletico are now in the middle of a ridiculous fixture schedule that sees every team in La Liga play Sevilla, Baca, Real and Villareal in consecutive games something which I think could derail their title chances before the season's in full swing. Particularly with their attentions seemingly focused on the Champions League - look out for home win against Marseille tonight.

Barcelona have the time and quality to recover but a worrying defensive frailty in which they seem to concede from at least every other shot and a lack of ruthlessness upfront are the familiar problems that confront Barcelona supporters year in/year out. As always, this could be their year.

Key Clashes

Puyol v Aguero

It is often said of the Puyol that what he makes for in defensive ability he makes up for with heart, passion and determination (see Jamie Carragher), but all his determination is unlikely to keep Aguero quiet if the little Argentine is in the mood. Aguero, almost certain to be one of the world's leading players in the next five years was, for my money, the standout player in La Liga last year and holds the key to his sides aspirations of silverware.

Messi v A.Lopez

The minute leading the small in this case. As 5ft 6in Messi takes on 5ft 8in Lopez, don't expect long crosses to the back post. Instead expect Lopez to get some freedom going foreward and the chance to deliver with his left but spend most of the game in a desperate struggle to nulify the threat of the diminutive genius. He will need help from the excellent Ujfalusi but I fully expect Messi to score in this game.

Predictions

With Barcelona having conceded in every league game so far it is hard to see a clean sheet here, likewise I can't see Atletico keeping Barca's out. Look for more than 2.5 goals in the game and a Barcelona win (8/15 on ladbrokes, 8/13 PP). Last year's games finished 4-2 Atletico (at the Calderon) and 3-0 Barca (at Camp Nou).

Outside Tips: Sinama-Pongolle 1st scorer; Repeat of last year's 3-0 (12-1)