The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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A great week for Inter, Blackpool and the football team from Cape Verde, while Portugal, Cardiff and Manuel Pellegrini all had bad weeks. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

A great week for Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan as they beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Champions League final to complete an historic treble – the first Italian side to win the domestic league and cup double and the Champions League. it was the first time Inter had won the Champions League since 1965 and the first Italian team since 2007. Argentinian striker Diego Milito was the hero with two well-taken goals to sink the Germans who were simply unable to break down the Italian defence. In addition to Bayern, Inter also defeated Chelsea and Barcelona on their way to the title so a well-deserved treble for them indeed.

A fairy tale, in the English football league at least, as Blackpool F. C. become the smallest club ever to qualify to play in the Premier League. The team from a famous seaside resort in the north west of England, booked their place in one of the World’s top leagues by overcoming Cardiff 3-2 at Wembley despite falling behind to an early goal. The ‘Seasiders’ are managed by the charismatic Ian Holloway, known for his interesting and often humourous press intevews and have gained a lot of plaudits for their positive attacking style of play. They are already favourites to be relegated next year, but well done to Blackpool and if Hull could survive for two seasons, why not Blackpool? continue

The good

Chelsea and Inter secure doubles (the league title and the domestic cup) in England and Italy respectively, while Barcelona also win La Liga after being pushed all the way by Real Madrid. Chelsea overcame a plucky Portsmouth 1-0 at Wembley despite giving a penalty away to the south coast side, which was missed, and fluffing a spot kick of their own. In Italy, Inter wrapped up the title and a double with a 1-0 victory of their own over Siena. They now look forward to the Champions League and a possible treble when they clash with Bayern Munich, also in with a shout of an amazing treble. continue

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A great week for Chelsea and Bayern Munich as they win their domestic titles but not such a good one for Gianfranco Zola who was sacked by West Ham. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Good

Congratulations to Chelsea for winning their fourth English League title after demolishing Wigan 8-0 last Sunday. Striker Didier Drogba was the league’s top scorer, the team scored a huge total of 103 goals during the season, while they also had doubles over Liverpool, Arsenal and crucially Manchester United, meaning that the title deservedly returns to the team from West London. There was celebration in Bavaria as well as Bayern Munich won their 22nd title – a record – after a 3-1 away victory at Hertha Berlin last weekend. They face Bremen in the domestic cup final this weekend and then play Inter Milan the following week in the Champions League final – great times for Munich and their manager Van Gaal who amazingly was under pressure way back in autumn. continue

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Congratulations to FC Twente in Holland, Marseille in France and Rangers in Scotland as they all win their domestic championships, while victories for Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Inter mean those clubs remain favourites to win their respective leagues. Inter also win the Coppa Italia while my team Spurs make the Champions League. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Good

A great night for Spurs’ fans as they beat direct rivals Manchester City 1-0 to guarantee at least 4th place in the Premier League – their highest league finish for 20 years. Tottenham have won 9 out of the last 11 games including victories over City, Chelsea and Arsenal and have not wilted under the pressure which many thought they would do. Well done to Harry Redknapp and the players. Would it be too much to ask for a third place finish and leapfrog Arsenal this Sunday?

Many of the leagues around Europe have been decided or are very close to seeing the Champions crowned. So it is good for FC Twente in Holland, and particularly coach Steve McClaren who left the England job under a cloud but now becomes the first Englishman to win a major European Championship as manager since the late Bobby Robson did it with Porto in 1996. Well done to Marseille in France and Rangers in Scotland, too, who have won the titles in their countries. And while Inter beating Roma in the Coppa Italia is worth a mention, so is Everton’s win over Arsenal in the Women’s FA Cup. The female Blues won the final in front of 17,00 fans at Nottingham Forest’s City ground 3-2. Well done to all those teams. continue

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Chelsea bounce back to the top of the League, the finalists for the Champions League final in Madrid have been decided, and elsewhere there’s fighting in the dressing room, dodgy rulings by the Premier League and Fulham! These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Good

A great result for Chelsea in a must-win game against a tough Stoke side last weekend. The Blues reclaimed top spot from a battling Manchester United in the Premier League with an emphatic 7-0 thrashing of the midlands side. This game was a potential banana skin for the London side, but they were totally dominant and managed to rack up seven goals without their two lead strikers, Drogba and Anelka, scoring. They must now go into their match against Liverpool on Sunday, as clear favourites and a win would surely be enough for them to see off the challenge of Manchester United and capture the Premier League crown.

European glory for Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Fulham as they all won through to European finals this week. Bayern were comfortable winners against a poor Lyon side, while Jose Mourinho masterminded a superb defensive display by Inter Milan against Barcelona – what drama there was in that game. The Europa League has often been derided as the poor cousin of the Champions League but the semi-finals had two tension-filled games this week. Atletico Madrid scraped past Liverpool thanks to a Diego Forlan goal while London side Fulham reached their first ever European final after yet another come-from-behind victory, this time against Hamburg. Fulham started out in this tournament in July and have managed to beat holders Shakhtar Donetsk, Italian powerhouse Juventus, Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg and final hosts Hamburg on their way to the final. Amazing stuff indeed. continue

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Bayern Munich’s French star Franck Ribery and Inter Milan’s Balotelli both endured tough weeks yet their respective clubs remain in pole position to make the Champions League final. It was also a good week for Manchester United and Roma as they won local derbies to maintain their challenge at the top of the Premier league and Serie A respectively. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

A very good week for Tottenham after they beat league leaders and local rivals Chelsea 2-1 on Saturday. Goals from Jermaine Defoe and the outstanding Gareth Bale ensured that Spurs keep their Champions League hopes alive and notch their second successive London derby win in three days. Great stuff! continue

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Chelsea, Barcelona, Roma and Portsmouth all had good weeks while it was good and bad for Tottenham and just bad for Manchester United as their poor run continues. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

Good for Chelsea who are through to the the FA Cup final after beating Aston Villa 3-0 and they also increase their lead at the summit of the Premier League with a 1-0 win at home over a well organised Bolton team – The Blues are now four points clear of Manchester United with four games to go. Barcelona also leapfrogged Real Madrid in el clasico to go top of La Liga. They were always comfortable in their 2-0 win at the Bernabéu and followed that up with a 3-0 thumping of Deportiva La Curuna.  Elsewhere in Europe Marseille extend their lead in League 1 to five points by beating Sochaux 1-0 away and Inter were deposed as leaders in Serie A by an in-form Roma, whose 2-1 win over Atalanta makes it five wins in a row and no losses in 23. continue

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Leo Messi, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Lyon and Marseille all had good weeks but not so for Burnley or Sir Alex Ferguson. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

Good for the four teams who all made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League. However, it was yet again a spectacular week for Argentinian superstar, Leo Messi. This time he scored all four goals against Arsenal to send his club Barcelona to the semi-finals of the Champions League where they will face Inter Milan in an intriguing tie. Described by Arsene Wenger as a ‘play station’ player, Messi scored a hat trick in 22 minutes before he added a fourth to leave him as Barcelona’s all-time Champions League scorer. He has now scored 39 goals this season and 24 in the last 28 games. Here are the goals. continue

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Bayern exact some revenge, Lyon win all-French affair, Portsmouth suffer again and Boca Juniors continue to struggle. These and many other stories all feature in this week’s the good, the bad and the ugly section from our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

Wayne Rooney gets injured in the quarter final clash with German team Bayern Munich mid-week, and it looks like the England and United striker will be out for about four weeks with an ankle sprain. Rooney’s team lost 2-1 at Bayern and with his injury it may seem like bad news at first, but it will mean that the in-form forward will have a nice month break before the World Cup in June, which will surely be good news for England fans. He’ll come back rested, fit and hungry for more goals. continue

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It’s been another good week for Barcelona and in particular their Argentinian star Leo Messi, my team Tottenham also had a good 7 days as they made it to the FA Cup semi-final. However, it has been a bad week for Celtic and Sevilla as they fired their managers for poor league performances. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

Barcelona continue their impressive run of form with another victory to keep them in the race at the top of La Liga. This time they destroyed Zaragoza, or more accurately, Leo Messi destroyed them. He scored yet another hat-trick – his third of the season – to notch his 33rd goal of the campaign and all three goals were beauties. continue

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A bad week for David Beckham and John Terry as they suffer injury and defeat respectively. Good however for Jose Mourinho, Leo Messi and Keisuke Honda as Inter, Barcelona and CSKA Moscow all progress to the last 8 of the Champions League. These stories and more in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

A good week for Inter Milan, Barcelona, CSKA Moscow and Bordeaux as they all qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals after impressive victories over Chelsea, Stuttgart, Sevilla and Olympiakos respectively. Few expected CSKA Moscow to beat Sevilla away from home, while few were surprised that Leo Messi was the inspiration for Barcelona yet again – he scored twice to bring his tally for the season to 32 – but the biggest performance of the night was Inter Milan’s victory in London against Chelsea. Former manager Jose Mourinho came back to haunt his old club as his current side dominated the Blues, with Dutchman Wesley Schneider in particular standing out. This win will have given the Italian side a huge confidence boost and after today’s draw for the quarter-finals they will be even more so as they face CSKA. Can this be the year that Inter finally become the best team in Europe again a mere 45 years after the last time? continue

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Lyon shock Madrid, Portsmouth make it to Wembley, FIFA turn down technology and Wayne Rooney keeps on scoring goals. These stories and more feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly section of the podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

A good week for Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Lyon and Arsenal as they all made it through to the last 8 of the Champions League. The two English clubs won easily – United thrashed AC Milan 4-0, while Arsenal hammered Porto 5-0. Bayern lost 3-2 at Fiorentina but won through on away goals while Lyon caused the shock of the round with their 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu to knock out Real Madrid. continue