Who need your sympathy, Gary?

I was browsing through soccernet to check out the Champion's League result, and the main page of the Champion's League page read "Neville has no sympathy"...

Wow! He is cold-hearted? I would have to credit the editor for attracting my attention with this catchy headline. But as the news turned out, he was talking about Liverpool's exit from the Champion's League.

He is saying "As a team, you get what you deserve, don't you?"

"We are where we are because we deserve to be there and it's the same with Liverpool."

"We went out ourselves a few years back. They just haven't performed well enough in the Champions League to get the results."

Well, I would agree with him in some part..ya, teams normally get what they deserved, but..sometimes luck play a part in life... at times the ball crosses the line, yet the referee and linesman miss it, thus not awarding a goal..

Or sometimes...some players have the "Hand of God"?

Ya, Liverpool's performance in Champion's League is below expectation, but, Gary, who are you to say about sympathy of other team? I watch the game you played against Besiktas, and you are not as good as you used to be...So I should I say " You get what you deserved (defeat to Besiktas), you are not playing well (because you are getting old)?...

*I'm not a fan of Liverpool, I just can't stand the arrogance..

Kaka, thanks for the memory!

Today is indeed a hard day for Milan fans. Kaka is leaving Milan for Real Madrid, at a whopping transfer fee of £59m. This amount is equivalent to the debts of the whole AC Milan, therefore this deal makes perfect sense, financially. But to lose a player of Kaka's calibre, no matter how much the money is, will be a lost to Milan.

As Kaka is not just another footballer, he is the greatest footballer, a great role model to the world as a footballer, when other footballers are disgracing the profession. He is down-to-earth and never let his stardom and money to get the better of his character. He is the unique one in the current crop of great footballers, who despite their great talent and skills, have shown some volatile and unprofessional behavior.

And in his last press conference as a Milan player, he said he joined Real Madrid to help AC Milan financially. I'm touched, but at the same time, feel unfortunate that Milan is in such difficult situation. If only Milan is stronger financially...

As a Milan fan, I can only say thank you to Kaka, for all the great memories, and his professionalism he had shown to the club during the 6 years at Milan. And I hope Milan had redeemed the pride they lost in the 2005 Champions League final by winning the same tournament in 2007, against the same opposition. Therefore I choose this pix to remind everyone of the great moments when he was at Milan. As he said in the press conference, "My professional link with AC Milan finishes now, but my sentimental link will never end."

Definitely, as he has become a legend in Milan! And wish you all the best at Real!

I pray for a proper farewell for Maldini

Paolo Maldini will no longer be around for 2009/2010. He will play his last match for Milan against Fiorentina tonight. It has been a disgrace for football, in general and to AC Milan specifically when a section of the Milan fans spoiled Maldini's lap of honour at the San Siro Stadium.

And tonight, Maldini will play his last match for Milan at Fiorentina's home ground, and I hope the fans in the stadium will honour this incredible footballer, who has always been a true professional,a role model, loyal and exquisitely elegant footballer.

He is one of the few in current world of football who never change his club. During his 22 years long career, he has always play for Milan, and achieved tremendous success at the club. But even more worthy to note, he stayed with the club, even during some turbulence period from 1996 to 1997, and 2000 to 2002. Therefore it's really disgraceful for the small section of Milan fans who jeered him during his lap of honour, he certainly doesn't deserved that!

So let us hope that..in his final match against Fiorentina, we will have a proper farewell to this illustrious footballer, a down-to-earth, but certainly outstanding footballer, who captained Milan for 12 years, who had given the world great moments of skills and the art of defending, who has always shown great sportsmanship a fitting end to all that he had contributed to the game. Arrivederci Paolo!

Could this be the end of another era for Man Utd?

Well, well, this is highly premature for most people. This is not such a bad season after all... League Champions and Champions League finalist, something that Chelsea and Liverpool could only dream of..

But the signs are there..the key players (Cristiano Ronaldo and, err, if you include Carlos Tevez as well) are publicly commenting on Fergie's tactics, something that will surely make him mad. If history is something to be referred to, then Ronaldo and Tevez will not be in Man Utd at the start of next season. Any players that had a rift with Fergie were booted out, examples? Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gabriel Heinze and even Roy Keane.

Ok, now forget about Tevez, as he never impressed me with his performance for Man Utd. Though I would say when he play for Man Utd, he is a really committed player, a player that play with his heart out, his performance now is a far cry from the days when he play for Argentina in the Olympics 2004.

So if Ronaldo really leave Man Utd for Real Madrid, where will Man Utd's source of inspiration and "magic" come from? From the current squad, there is no one who can fill his boot just yet, so Fergie will have to go into the market and get one. Therefore, there will be an uncertain period, where the new signing will need time to blend with the existing players, to create a cohesive team.

If the new signing do not play up to his potential, or take too long a time to blend with the existing team, then next season may not go Man Utd's way..

Why you should watch this year's Champions League final?

Finally, we all get to see the "real" Champions League final: A battle between Champions! The Barclays Premier League Champion, Man Utd against La Liga Campione, Barcelona!

Since the current format of the Champions League was adopted, where 2nd, 3rd and even 4th place team can get into the champions league, so often we are not looking at the battle between champions. The excuse given is that, it's too tough to win both the League title and Champions League together.

But now we have it! The real Champions League final!

Besides, Barca just score over 100 goals in La Liga, while Man Utd, though achieved a long run of no goals conceded against them, also play some attractive attacking game!

And the stars?..

Cristiano Ronaldo- World Player of the Year 2008
Lionel Messi - Runners-up of
Thierry Henry - 2006 European Footballer of the Year
Carlos Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta - European Champions 2008 with Spain's national team
Samuel Eto
Wayne Rooney
Carlos Tevez
Ryan Giggs....

and many more..almost every one of the team is a star..

So, tonight there will be a glittering of stars on display, don't miss it! The "Real" Champions League! (No connection whatsoever with Real Madrid!)

Champions: Man Utd

This post's title is not the easiest thing for me to write, but it's a fact that no one can deny. Man Utd secured their title last nite with a draw against Arsenal. From the game, again, I would say Arsenal is no longer a title challenger, and don't seem to be able to raise their game to threaten Man Utd. So if Arsenal don't seriously strenthened their squad for next season, they will again be a 4th place team.

So, congrats Man Utd and their fans. You guys had certainly did it again, and with style and ease. Liverpool... you lost your chance, and you better improved, and stop relying too much on Torres and Stevie G.. With the current team, and without the duo, you don't seem to be capable of assaulting for the BPL title next season.

And Chelsea...hmmm.. they actually have the mentality and the squad..now they need to have a tactical coach (Brazilian coaches rely more on individual performance of their players then tactics). But even if they do win some titles, they will not create a generation of greatness like Man Utd. Their players is at their peak, and there are not enough young players to mature through the rank and filled the gaps by the older players. So if they want to continue winning, they need to keep on buying new players, which will very much depends on whether their boss will want to continue forging out huge money..

But this moment, it's for Man Utd and their fans to celebrate.. " We are the champions, my friennnnd "..

El Clasico: Barcelona vs Real Madrid

The focus of the match has to be Real's new coach: Juande Ramos. The former Tottenham manager, who was sacked recently, returned to Spain with his reputation still intact, as Real look to him to save their title challenge this season.

Real is in unfamiliar territory: they are struggling in the 5th position in the La Liga, while Barca is starting to find their feet, with Messi, Henry and Eto in scoring form. But all these obvious advantages may just be the banana skin that plotted Real's victory in this game.

El Clasico, as in many other derby matches and bitter rival match-up, is an unpredictable match where form cannot be rely upon. In fact, for Real, this is a golden opportunity to turn around their disappointing season. With all their talents around, and Raul record-breaking form, Real will not be the underdogs for this tie. And with Juande Ramos at helm, the Real players will be trying even harder to impress their new boss.

As Juande Ramos said, Real have nothing to fear. If Real, with the hosts of talent they have, need to fear Barca, then the rest of the league might as well give the title to Barca. Bernd Schuster's negative statement is of no logic, and really irked the President and fans. Bernd practically talks himself out of the job, as not long ago, Real president had given him a vote of confidence.

This game may well be determined by the brilliance of the top stars of either side, be it Messi, Henry and Eto for Barca, or Raul, Gago and Sneijder.