Media reports suggest that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is set to move for experienced German defender Christoph Metzelder. Having let Swiss centre-half Philippe Senderos join AC Milan last week on a season-long loan deal, media reports claim that Wenger could bring in the Real Madrid's Metzelder in a similar move. Click to continue reading...

Morning, or should I say afternoon, fellow gooners.

Apologies for no blog over the weekend. I was in the process of moving house, something i will have to do again by the end of the month. What joy.

As such, I only caught the second half of the Newcastle performance, but what I did see was rather lovely. Click to continue reading...

  Arsene Wenger has gone one record as saying he will augment the current squad today or tomorrow.  Expect tomorrow to be a hectic day with rumours and counter rumours.  There are two positions that Arsene will be looking at, central midfield and another wide midfielder. One position that we need to re-enforce is the wide positions. Click to continue reading...

Fabio Cannavaro could be about to start his third and last season with Real Madrid, according to his agent. In an interview with Italian radio station Kiss Kiss, Gaetano Fedele said that "the way things currently stand, this will be Fabio's last season wearing the Real Madrid shirt. In any case, we will see during the season whether there is an opportunity to renew the contract with Real Madrid. Click to continue reading...

I wanted to get this post up sooner, but I've been blog-less for the past few days as a result of a beer-filled long weekend out of town. I did watch the final on Sunday, though, and although I was cheering for Germany, I can't say I'm disappointed that Spain won -- they were the best team both over the course of the tournament and in the final itself. Click to continue reading...

Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has told Fernando Torres that he is still not as good as Thierry Henry at his best, but could get there in time.

Torres was the match-winner for Spain in the Euro 2008 final as he latched onto a Xavi pass and finished expertly past Lehmann.

Lehmann has been impressed by the Liverpool striker but feels there is still room for improvement. Click to continue reading...

Spain, then, are the European champions and, with the benefit of hindsight, it's difficult to argue a case against them winning it. Euro 2008, however, was just like that in many respects. How many times did you sit down in front of the television and think, "Well, they're definitely going to win it"? Click to continue reading...

They think it's all over, and it is now.
Wow, what a tournament, 31 matches with only two or three duds and with several genuine classics and plenty of high drama, especially in the knock-out phase where tournament football usually gets too nervy and cagey to be truly entertaining.
With Torres's winner in the final it meant that 77 goals were scored, exactly the same as at EURO 2004, but the manner of many of the goals has meant that it's been an entirely different tournament from last time with fantastic quick counter-attacking and passing moves replacing the reliance on set pieces that saw Greece crowned as champs last time out. Click to continue reading...

Spain put behind them 44 year of disappointments and relinquished the mantle of "perennial underachievers" (leaving that moniker to England, perhaps?) after beating Germany to their second European Championship. It's been a fascinating tournament, with some great open, attacking football, high drama, and, from this fan's point of view at least, the right result. Click to continue reading...

I have tears of joy. Watching Spain get over their mental block against their more heralded European rivals, doing it their way, playing beautiful, attacking soccer and finally winning what was rightfully theirs. There is a God occasionally and he chose the right time to be munificent.

There was Ballack his face streaked with congealed blood and the nonplussed Metzelder and Mertesacker, their faces frozen in disbelief and dismay, as they contemplated another championship without a title.

Click to continue reading...

Watch out, Cristoph Metzelder just hoofed another clearance in your direction. Pregame odds were split relatively evenly between Spain and Germany. What I'd like to have seen where the odds that that ABC's pre-Euro 2008 final MLS tilt between DC United and the Los Angeles Galaxy would have been the more exciting affair. Click to continue reading...

The final! Will Spain throw off the mantle of underachiever? Will Germany triumph, sending the momentum of its fans gained during the World Cup into a frenzy?
Funny how Foudy talks about how goalkeepers need games to be sharp in reference to Jens Lehmann. Foudy didn't say anything like that when saying she wouldn't want to play in front of Hope Solo after Solo protested getting replaced at the Women's World Cup by Scurry, who had hardly played. Click to continue reading...

Expect David Villa not to be in the line up, the Valencia striker has a muscle tear in his thigh and has been ruled out.

Expect Cesc Fabregas to start. Arsenal's maestro has been having quite a tournament

Expect Michael Ballack to be a gametime decision.

Expect a foul filled initial 20 minutes as the Germans try and break the rhythm of the free flowing Spanish midfield.

Click to continue reading...

And so onto the final of Euro 2008, which will see Germany, in their 5th finals, facing Spain, in their 2nd. Here's how the Real Madrid players on either side (there were none playing for either Russia or Turkey) performed in their semifinal pairings. Metzelder (Germany): Still well off the pace, it seems strange that Germany has not ben punished more heavily for the poor performances of their Click to continue reading...

As we approach the final three games contested between the final four teams, Goal.com's Sulmaan Ahmad runs through the tops and flops of each nation at Euro 2008...



Not hot: Cristoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker Click to continue reading...

We say goodbye to the first batch of Real Madrid players after the quarter finals, with the surprising elimination of both Portugal and Holland, two of the more fancied sides after their group games. Aside from Spain's first defeat of Italy in official competition for 88 years, all the group winners fell at the quarter final stage. Click to continue reading...

Germany 3-2 Portugal
So, the quarter-finals are off to an excellent start, both from my own perspective (DEUTSCHLAND!) and for those of us who just want to watch good football. The only downside was that we didn't get to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry. (Nor did he take his shirt off, as far as I can tell. Click to continue reading...

I'm switching back and forth from ESPN Deportes and regular ESPN for this, the first major clash of the quarterfinals.
The nearly-consensus #1 player in the world and his posse versus the German machine of soccer efficiency.
Mario Kempes is calling out Ballack and Ronaldo, saying they have to step up for their teams. Click to continue reading...

Though half of the national sides taking part in Euro 2008 have now been eliminated, all of the Real Madrid players who started the tournament have booked their ticket to the quarter finals with varying degrees of brilliance. Rubén de la Red, back from his season-long loan at Getafe, and still a Real Madrid player (it's not yet clear whether he will feature in the transfer market this summer) Click to continue reading...

Germany 1-0 Austria
It wasn't exactly an inspiring victory, but Germany have booked their place in the quarter-finals with this win. They've made hard work of what should have been an easy group, but now it's time for them to really get their act together for the knock-out stages. They did at least look much more solid defensively here, although that's kind of hard to judge against a team as goal-shy as Austria. Click to continue reading...

Matchday 2 of Euro 2008 has already seen some of the nations eliminated, while others have secured their passage into the knockout stages. At this point, we have not yet said a definitive goodbye to any Real Madrid players, although some have not yet guaranteed their place in the quarter finals: Pepe (Portugal): no goals this time (though he did come close on one occasion), but another solid Click to continue reading...

As all the nations complete their first game in Euro 2008, those Real Madrid players involved in the tournament made an immediate impact. Well, those who weren't injured, at least: Pepe (Portugal): scored his first international goal in his first major championship and opened up a potentially tricky tie against Turkey, momentarily taking everyone's attention away from Cristiano Ronaldo. Click to continue reading...

With the Bernabéu not yet cleaned of the many tons of confetti poured from the stands following Sunday night's celebrations, Real Madrid have been quick off the mark announcing a new signing. Ezequiel Garay, Racing de Santander's highly rated Argentine central defender, is set to join Real for a cool 10 million euros in cash. Click to continue reading...

Given the week-long gap between games at this stage of the season, press reports on Real Madrid during the greater part of the week have been concentrating on possible transfer movements during the summer. I normally don't bother reporting 90% of this stuff as it's more often than not concocted out of thin air, so I tend to wait till it's either officially announced, or the buzz is so insistent that there's a good chance it will happen. Click to continue reading...

In the latest twist to the problems afflicting Real Madrid central defenders Metzelder has suffered a relapse of the plantar fasciitis he had nearly recovered from. All told, he's been unavailable for selection through injury or lack of fitness for most of the season, featuring in only 7 of 21 league games so far, and runs the risk of going the way of Jonathan Woodgate (though not quite as expensive). Click to continue reading...

It's been many years since Valencia lost by such a margin of goals at home (1933, in fact), but then, it's been many years since Valencia played with a diamond formation in midfield and the defensive line pushed forward to contribute to attacking duties. They didn't play like that under Cúper, or Ranieri, or Benítez, or Quique. For years the Valencia side has been a byword for solidity in defence. Click to continue reading...

Rather than go into details about the two matches Real Madrid played in Moscow, I'll concentrate on a few of the things to take away from the performances we've seen in the preseason so far.

Results-wise, it's not been too bad (the exaggerated 3-0 scoreline against Hannover aside). All the teams faced so far are at least a couple of weeks further along in their preseason training than Real Madrid; this makes a big difference at this stage. Click to continue reading...