Football Derbies, or Football Classicos: You Choose

Go Barca

I'm torn: Do I like Classicos or Derbies more?

I've been tossing this one around for a couple of days since Porto's 5-0 thrashing of Benfica. In Portugal, that game is known as the Classico, while Benfica-Sporting is the Derby. To me there's a subtle difference, to others, maybe not so much.

I think by the strict definition, derbies are between local clubs, i.e., same city or region such as Benfica-Sporting, Celtic-Rangers, Lazio-Roma, Inter-Milan, Liverpool-Everton. Meanwhile, Classicos are huge rival games regardless of geography, such as Benfica-Porto, Manchester United-Liverpool, Real Madrid-Barcelona.

Those are my definitions and my parameters. A lot of people interchange the two, but for the sake of football fandom, I think we should differentiate. I'm all for a good derby (daar-bee?). There's nothing with a little intra-city pride and bragging rights. Generations of fathers, grandfathers and drunken uncles haggle over which club is better and why. It's all about our side of the street versus their side of the street. There's no right answer, of course until the final whistle blows. And God forbid there's a tie, because then both sides of the street certain to take it out on the referees.

Classicos, unlike derbies, are almost certain to give you a cracker of a match. You can't tell when Lazio, or Sporting, or Atletico will be in a down year, while you're always certain that Real Madrid, Barcelona and United will be in close to top form. Is there a better match than Real Madrid-Barcelona? Let me interject a "Hell No". Yet there's nothing binding those two teams aside from a warehouse full of European Cups and billions of Euros worth of footballers. Culturally, these are two diverse cities and peoples, with different agendas and political points of view. On the field, it's brilliance--classic brilliance--and there's almost a direct impact on the ultimate champion in Spain.

I'm not demeaning the derby; but I think someone has to stand up and make the distinction. Derbies are great, but they're insular. If you're not from Madrid, do you care about Real-Atletico? Probably not. But if you're in Taipei or Toledo, chances are you can find some kind of audience for Real Madrid Barcelona.

Do you make the distinction? Maybe you should.

How to Fix the Champions League, NCAA Tournament style

Go Team Go

After today, we'll be four games into the Champions League for all 32 teams. And honestly, the group stage has been such a snooze so far, I actually had to look hard at the tables this morning to figure out who was on top, who was in trouble and, well, who was actually in the tournament.

You see, the group stage sucks. I'm not talking out of school here. No huge revelation either. No one likes the group stage. All of us yearn for the days of yore when the whole tournament was a knockout affair, instead of this whore-fest of Buraspor, Zilina and Cluj clogging the arteries of my Champions League experience.

It's clear to me--and I've said this before too--that UEFA has to go all NCAA Tournament on this thing to breathe some life back into it. So that said, current tables be damned, I'm going to rank them teams 1-32, match them up NCAA Tournament style, and pick a winner. Chime in with your thoughts via comments. Thanks.

Seedings

1. Chelsea
2. Real Madrid
3. Barcelona
4. Inter Milan
5. Manchester United
6. Arsenal
7. Lyon
8. AC Milan
9. Valencia
10. Bayern
11. Ajax
12. Shaktar
13. Rangers
14. Schalke
15. Tottenham
16. Auxerre
17. Benfica
18. Roma
19. Werder Bremen
20. Marseille
21. Spartak Moscow
22. Braga
23. Twente
24. Partizan Belgrade
25. Panathinaikos
26. Cluj
27. Basel
28. Copenhagen
29. Rubin Kazan
30. Hapoel
31. Buraspor
32. Zilina

First round

Chelsea-Zilina
Real Madrid-Buraspor
Barcelona-Hapoel
Inter-Rubin Kazan
ManU-Copenhagen
Arsenal-Basel
Lyon-Cluj
Milan-Panathinaikos
Valencia-Partizan
Bayern-Twente
Ajax-Braga
Shaktar-Spartak
Rangers-Marseille
Schalke-Bremen
Tottenham-Roma
Auxerre-Benfica

Second round

Chelsea-Benfica
Real Madrid-Roma
Barcelona-Bremen
Inter-Rangers
Manchester United-Spartak Moscow
Arsenal-Ajax
Lyon-Bayern
Milan-Valencia

Quarterfinals

Chelsea-Valencia
Real Madrid-Bayern
Barcelona-Ajax
Rangers-Manchester United

Semifinals

Valencia-Manchester United
Real Madrid-Barcelona

Final

Valencia-Real Madrid

Champion --Real Madrid

Platini's Criticisms of Club Spending is Misguided

As Cristiano Ronaldo turned-and-coughed and smirked-and-dribbled for Real Madrid and 80,000 of its closest friends

yesterday, UEFA president Michel Platini was tsk-tsk-ing the whole damned thing.

Platini is watching his European football empire crumble about him as the game's biggest stars are garnering ridiculous transfer fees and are paid outlandish salaries.

He told L'Equipe:

“I think something is not right. I don’t like it. What I don’t like either is that nowadays, contracts only seem to be signed to be broken. On the other hand, if clubs have the money, what can I do about it? Personally I can’t understand that you spend 90 million Euros for just one player. But I also remember the transfer of Diego Maradona, who joined Napoli from Barcelona for 6.5 million Euros in 1984. The money for Ronaldo will be the equivalent, more or less, of what was paid at the time. Back then, people thought it was excessive too."

The key takeaway there isn't the big money, but the fact that contracts are paper tigers. They mean zilch. Players sign for three, four, five seasons, but at the first hint of success, they want out--and the clubs are usually willing to accommodate them because they giant transfer fee will enable them to either buy or develop more players, who will eventually be sold as well, and the vicious cycle continues.

Platini desperately wants parity in football. He's making the road into the Champions League easier to travel for smaller clubs, and to be honest, that's not a bad thing. But sticking his nose into the personal business dealings of private enterprises is another thing. If Real Madrid and Manchester United want to spend themselves into oblivion and rack up debt like yellow cards, they should be able to do so without the UEFA president speaking out. Let them fail fiscally on their own accord.

If Platini wants parity, then institute an UEFA-wide salary cap. Go ahead, try it. Florentino Perez already is making a call for a European Super League and says if UEFA won't sanction it, he'd like to see the participants break away and form the league on their own.

Platini's intentions on the surface may be honorable, but I don't think it's his place to legislate fiscal responsibility. When he invests in Real Madrid or any other of the big spenders, then he can have such a say. Until then, not so much.

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Bayern Driving Up Price for Franck Ribery

Who doesn't love Franck Ribery? The guy's awesome.

But €150M worth of love? No way.

That's what Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness says the France international is worth. In the meantime, chairman Karl-Heinze Rummenigge says Ribery, who is under contract until 2011, is not for sale. The former German scoring machine says Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester United have made offers to scoop up the sensational Ribery.

Real Madrid? Not so much, says Rummenigge.

Ribery plugs a lot of important holes for Madrid and could be the best signing of the offseason for the Galacticos if it were to happen. He's a complete player, more so than Ronaldo and Kaka, who have already started looking for pricy real estate near the Spanish capital. It makes sense he go there. He also makes a lot of sense for Chelsea, who is looking to dump a lot of former F.C. Porto stars to a certain special coach in Italy, clearing the decks for some big signing. And Barca? Well, Ribery would have no trouble finding playing time for the European champs either, especially if he's joined by the likes of Cesc Fabregas.

So what's the big whoop?

Well, the cynic in me says Bayern would sell its best player, but it has a certain number in mind for a transfer fee, and one not as exorbitant as €150M; probably closer to €100M. By dragging Real Madrid's name into the fray, Rummenigge and Hoeness are doing nothing but driving up the price.

Question is, clearly, does Madrid have enough of a credit line left to scoop up fast Franck? He would complete the biggest triple play in sporting history and simultaneously put Madrid in line to become the greatest team in football history [where's my sarcasm font?]. Would it ever lose a game?

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Ronaldo to Madrid for Record Transfer Amount, or Rooting for Laundry is Passe

I am at a loss for the written word today. Cristiano Ronaldo is going to Real Madrid. The deal is for a record transfer amount of $131 million. It will be completed by the end of the month. Kaka who?

Frankly, I don't care. Honestly. I'm not a Real Madrid fan; nothing personal, just not my club. I like to watch them play, I watch El Classico without fail. I don't care that they've spent a quarter of Billion dollars this week on talent. I don't care that their president is setting the team, its fans and coach up for the biggest failure in the history of not only professional sports, but business.

Doesn't matter to me.

I am kinda saddened by this cherry-picking of talent. Now before you call me a hypocrite (I stick by my stand that clubs should spend and scoop up players as they please), it bugs me that guys like Cristiano Ronaldo don't stick with the same club for their whole careers. Yeah, yeah, I know that's the way of the world, that we shouldn't root for laundry any more. But what the hell, for one day, I'll root for laundry.

Thank God Larry Bird never wore any jersey other than a Celtics'. Equal praise that Magic Johnson never wore anything other than Laker purple. Didn't it suck when Michael Jordan played for the Wizards? Bobby Orr playing for the Blackhawks (ugh, pass the puke bucket). Terry Bradshaw stuck with the Steelers (I'm flipping off Joe Montana as we speak). Imagine Mickey Mantle wearing the Padres diarrhea brown?

Like or loathe him, you associate Cristiano Ronaldo with Manchester red. No more. There is no identity in sports. Imagine if Eusebio played today? Benfica? Sure, for the first season of his career then it's off to one of the Milans; I hear Barcelona is lovely this time of year. Pele? Santos? Hahahaha. How long is the flight from Rio to Europe again?

I have to laugh every time my kid wants a pro sports jersey or t-shirt. Yesterday he wore a Jonathan Papelbon jersey. Luckily he'll outgrow it soon because by the time he does, he can get the Yankee version of a Papelbon T.

Point is, I guess (I'm ranting in case you can't tell), that the players will soon become the soverign nations of football, and the clubs will be secondary. Hell, it's that way already. They shouldn't sell Ronaldo Madrid jerseys; Ronaldo should come up with his own logo and marketing and sell CR7 kits. Cuz, hell, he won't play out his career in Madrid, you know it, I know it.

How do you think Ronaldo would look in Galaxy white? Tune in, oh, say, 10 years from now to find out.

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Kaka Moves to Real Madrid; Perez Creating Galacticos Second Coming

Kaka's monster deal with Real Madrid (six years, €68M or $94M) is the first chess piece that Madrid president Florentino Perez has put on his board that he soon hopes to fill with Galacticos. Perez wants to emulate the Beckham-Figo-Ronaldo-Owen days of the early '00s, but if he pulls it off and brings over Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribery and David Villa among others, this team will dwarf that team in not only talent, but payroll.

Why? May seem like a dumb question to ask, but I think it is a legitimate one. Has it ever worked? Madrid last won the Champions League in 2001-2002, and that team had Zidane and Figo and Raul, but it was hardly the superstar-laden team that followed. It was immensely talented and cohesive enough to win the continental title without the over-the-top spending on Beckham and Owen and (fat) Ronaldo that followed. A team that won squat by the way.

Why?

• Filling the Bernabeu? Never an issue for Madrid.
  
• Selling shirts? Well, OK, they'll sell more, but enough to offset the debt incurred to pay Kaka et al.?
• Foreign tours? OK, sure, the world will want to see these guys play everywhere, but at what physical toll? And how many times do ALL the stars play on these tours?
• Titles? Maybe. If history is any indicator, it's no guarantee of a championship. Look at Mourinho's Chelsea and Porto teams; neither of which was outlandishly decorated with the kings of the game, yet they won and won and won. Same goes for Liverpool. Same goes for Valencia (twice Champions League runners up, UEFA Cup winners, UEFA Super Cup winners). Same goes for Sevilla (two UEFA Cup wins, one UEFA Super Cup win.)

So why? Is Perez and ego gone mad? Perhaps. You can bet that a lot of it has to do with Barcelona's dominance in Spain and Europe this season and the lack of Madrid headlines worldwide. I'd love to feed manager Manuel Pelligrini some truth serum to see what he really thinks of Perez's Galacticos strategy. It's definitely squeaky-bum time for him because the fans won't turn on the players--at first--if things don't start out with a swathe of 3-0 victories.

Meanwhile, Kaka is the first pawn in Perez's game. Certainly, if he has his way, Ronaldo will be next, and maybe Villa and/or Ribery. It will be intersting to see how this works; there's only one ball and many superstar egos. That equation usually doesn't work out to the No. 1.

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Real Shenanigans: New Prez Stuck with €30M Bill for Ronaldo: We Call B.S.

Gotta love the new regime at Real Madrid trying to blackmail the club and its fans with threats that if they don't sign Cristiano Ronaldo, they'll be forced to honor an alleged "pre-contract agreement" arranged by former prez Ramon Calderon and the player's agent Jorge Mendes that says Ronaldo will be owed €30M as a penalty.

We call B.S.

New president Florentino Perez and his VP henchman Fernando Tapias are blitzing the media with this story trying to gain support for the outlandish €90M deal Ronaldo reportedly would get from Madrid. "Either we pay €90M for the best player in the world, or we pay €30M for nothing." Wow.

Tapias told a Spanish radio station that the agreement exists and suggested that maybe FIFA take care of the issue by capping transfers at say, oh, €50M.

Real Madrid is at the head of the Silly Season class. The Independent reports they're going to sign Kaka for €56M-plus on Monday and perhaps Ronaldo soon thereafter. Madrid is in a headline-grabbing war with Barcelona, which won the Spanish League-Copa del Ray-Champions League treble a couple of weeks ago. Signing Kaka and Ronny may not put Madrid back on top in those three competitions, put it puts them on top of the Galacticos competition and on the back pages of the Spanish tabloids.

We wonder which is more important to Perez and Tapias? Perez told the Spanish media:

"People say that [Zinedine] Zidane was the most expensive signing but he turned out to be the cheapest in many ways. It was that type of signing that made us the club with the highest income in the world. When [David] Beckham came we went from earning €7m a year to €45m a year through our deals with our sponsors. We salvaged the situation of the club. If Cristiano Ronaldo comes, even though he is currently with Nike, he then puts on an Adidas shirt every week. There are certain players who are very profitable because they have spectacular commercial repercussions that earn the club money."

Don't feel badly, however, for Madrid. Like the New York Yankees, the Spanish giants have a pretty steady flow of cash coming in. Again, courtesy of The Independent, Madrid gets £100M annually from a seven-year MediaPro deal (double what Manchester United earns from a similar deal); Spains tax laws tax foreign players at 23% while England tops 50%; banks in Spain give the club "unwritten privileges", e.g., low interest rates on loans; attendance is high, as is revenue from overseas trips and merchandise sales.

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Kaka to Chelsea? Kaka to Madrid? Kaka to Milan?An Early Silly Season Sampler

Stay tuned: Kaka might be wearing Chelsea blue, Real Madrid purple, or Milan black and red next season; sounds like he's got the whole rainbow covered there. And we know since he's no longer the last Brazilian virgin alive, at least he won't be wearing white--home whites notwithstanding.

While we wait for the Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid talks to sizzle again, let's fire up the Silly Season cauldron and talk about Kaka's impending departure from the San Siro. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy prime minister, senior G8 leader and owner of A.C. Milan (I wonder if Obama wants to pony up for the White Sox?), says Kaka may be leaving Italy after all, but over his dead body is he going to Stamford Bridge with former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Berlusconi, ahem, hates(?) Ancelotti. He all but blamed Ancelotti for Milan's dismal season and said he had the magic formula for on-field success all along; the manager just wasn't listening to the owner. Berlusconi told Canale 5 in Milan (a channel he owns):

"This season Milan didn't play with the tactics I suggested. They only did so in the last game which allowed us to qualify for the Champions League. Games were lost because in the last minutes the team failed to play the way I advised."

Berlusconi bristled that Ronaldinho was a substitute for much of the season, and decisions such as that one led to a lack of team morale in Milano.

Kaka, meanwhile, would fetch many Euros for Milan, which finished third and qualified for the Champions League on the final day of the Serie A season. The club reportedly lost $70M Euros last year, and selling Kaka to Madrid would recoup most if not all of that sum.

As for Ancelotti, he's tweaking his former club, hinting that he'd like to see Kaka play for him at Chelsea, and while he's at it, why not bring over teen sensation Alexandre Pato and/or Andrea Pirlo. Hell, Roman Abramovich's Russian rubles stretch pretty far, don't they?

It's funny how easy it is to goad non-football people into pissing matches about something that really isn't their element. One would think Berlusconi has enough to entertain himself with--you know, running the country!--that he'd leave football to football people. But boys will be boys, and we all know it's the boy with the most toys who wins.

Berlusconi, however, is going to lose one toy it looks like. Kaka has likely played his last match for Milan and will likely end up playing for Real Madrid, which is desperately trying to regain stride with European champions, Barcelona.

Meanwhile, I'll call it now: Wanna bet that somehow, some way, Milan and Chelsea end up in the same group in the Champions Leauge?

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Promoted Sides Get Best of Milan, Barcelona

Bad day to be a soccer superpower.

• AC Milan loses to promoted Bologna, whom everyone associated with Spanish football, says will be relegated this season;
• Real Madrid and Barcelona open the La Liga season with losses, Barcelona to a promoted side as well!
• Spiraling Spurs draw with Chelsea;
• Benfica can't buy a win;
• and Celtic loses to Rangers--again.
  

Having watched the second half of Milan's 2-1 loss to Bologna, let's just say it was no surprise Carlo Ancelotti was lighting up a cigarette with less than 15 minutes to play. Stress relief was a must. Milan was a miscarriage of poor intentions passing the ball forward with neither imagination nor hope. Ronaldinho is a shell of his former self, Shevchenko sadly a step slower than the looping over-the-top passes coming from Pirlo and Co. in the midfield. And Clarence Seedorf, well just one word: Shocking. How many times was his pocket picked by a rag-tag bunch of nobodies from Bologna that he had to resort to fouls from behind?

Thankfully for the Rossoneri faithful, eight-plus months remain in the Serie A season.

Rough day all-around Europe too. Inter drew 1-1 with Sampdoria in Jose Mourinho's debut. Real Madrid loses 2-1 to Deportivo while Barca falls 1-0 to Numencia. Real has not won in Coruna in 17 years, while Barca hit two posts in losing to the upstarts. Atletico Madrid, however, may be the best team in the capital, winning 4-0 over Malaga, avoiding losing to a promoted side!

In England, not only was Chelsea held by the soap operatic Tottenham, 1-1, but Liverpool drew at Gareth Barry's Aston Villa nil-nil and Fernando Torres left the game with a hamstring injury.

In Portugal, Derby 1 ended 1-1 between Benfica and Porto.

Real Madrid Closes on La Liga championship, David Villa

Real Madrid isn't just chasing the LaLiga title today, it's in hot pursuit of Valencia stud David Villa. Real Madrid Talk reports that Ramon Calderon is offering 35 million pounds for the Spain striker.

Villa is coveted on many fronts, including Champions League finalists Manchester United and Chelsea. TotalClubFootball reports that Real began its pursuit by offering cash and a combination of players including Julio Baptista, Esteban Granero and Ruben de la Red for Villa, who has already turned down an offer from Tottenham.

Villa is 26, and has made 30 appearances for Spain, scoring 13 times. He scored three times in the 2006 World Cup and displaced Raul. In 96 LaLiga matches, he's potted 52 goals.

It's tough to get a read on whether Villa is intent on staying in Spain, or taking a similar route as fellow Spain striker Fernando Torres and heading for the Premier League. Torres was immense for Liverpool and clearly the best acquisition of the offseason. Liverpool led the Premier League for the first quarter of the season before dipping to its customary fourth place. Also customary was Liverpool's deep run into the Champions League, losing in last week's epic semifinal to Chelsea.

Torres scored 23 Premier League goals, third best in the league, 32 in all competitions. Liverpool broke the bank to get him, ponying up 26.5 million pounds. Villa apparently will command more, and the expectations on him will be at least similar to those heaped upon Torres.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, hosts Barcelona today (4 p.m. ET live on GOL TV) and can wrap up its second straight domestic championship. The Classico doesn't have the shine it should given Barca's poor form of late; will the Catalans find some pride and play for a result today? It's been a rough go of late. Frank Rijkaard is all but out at Barcelona. Reuters is reporting that Pep Guardiola is in the wings to take over for Rijkaard, who won two championships and a Champions League trophy during his tenure at Barca.

Real has been in cruise control for a while in LaLiga. It leads by 10 points over Villareal, while Barca is 14 points back in third. Read has won five of its last six, tying once. Its last defeat came March 23, ironically enough, to Villa's Valencia team, 3-2. Raul is the team's leading scorer with 17 goals; Ruud VanNistelrooy has 12 and Robinho 10.

Barca, meanwhile, beat up on Valencia last weekend 6-0, but that was its first win in five games, and its first in LaLiga since March 23.

All the pegs are in place for a glorious week for Real Madrid; a second straight championship and David Villa--not bad for a week's work.

Champions League: Can Real Overtake Roma?

Real Madrid is seriously hobbled going into to morrow's second leg of its Champions League round-of-16 tie with Roma. About the only positive in Real's corner is that La Liga's leaders are home today--oh yeah, they get Robinho back too.

Roma edged Real in the first leg, 2-1, but today it won't have Ruud VanNistelrooy, nor Arjen Robben, both out with injuries.

Robinho returned over the weekend, and scored in Real's 3-2 win over Huelva. But the hotter team has to be Roma, which demolished Parma, 4-0, and now trails Inter Milan by six points in Serie A.

Roma is in great shape, and is a darkhorse to win the whole thing. It's all about timing when you get to knockout rounds; and aside from Manchester United, there may not be a hotter team in Europe than Roma.

Barcelona Abused by Atletico; Juventus Loses; Bayern Beats Schalke

A couple of hours ahead of the Lisbon derby between Sporting and Benfica, let's look at what shapes up to be another great race in Spain, the curious case of Barcelona, and a trip around Europe.

SPAIN
How does Barcelona get absolutely abused at Atletico Madrid, 4-2. This was a 4-1 game for a long time after Ronaldhino's spectacular bicycle kick goal to open the scoring. Real Madrid, meanwhile, wins 3-2 against Huelva.



Barca is five points back of Real, which inched closer to a second straight title, added more mud to Frank Rijkaard's future at Barcelona. Is Jose Mourinho packing yet? He should be.

Dropping three points a few weeks ahead of what would have been a decisive derby between Barca and Real is good enough for me if I'm president Juan Laporte.

ENGLAND
Manchester United gained two points on Arsenal after its 3-0 win over Fulham, and Aston Villa's 1-1 draw at the Emirates. United is a point behind the Gunners for the Premiership lead.

The other spicy race in England is for fourth where Liverpool and cross-town rivals Everton are tooth-and-nail for the final Champions League spot.

ITALY
Fiorentina upset Juventus this morning, 3-2. Inter Travels to Napoli in about a half hour. Milan continues to slide, tying with Lazio yesterday 1-1, while Roma beat up Parma, 4-0. Inter must win to keep its eight-point edge over Roma.

GERMANY
Bayern beat Schalke04 1-0 to put coach Mirko Slomka's tenure at Schalke in deep peril. A loss Wednesday to Porto and ouster from the Champions League is likely the final straw there. Bayern is four points up on Werder Bremen.

Champions League: Roma vs. Real Madrid Starting Eleven

Roma
No.	NAME	POS
32	Alexander Doni	(G)
2	Christian Panucci	(D)
5	Philippe Mexes	(D)
77	Marco Cassetti	(D)
4	Juan	(D)
14	Ludovic Giuly	(M)
20	Simone Perrotta	(M)
7	David Pizarro	(M)
16	Daniele De Rossi	(M)
30	Alessandro Mancini	(M)
10	Francesco Totti	(F)

Real Madrid
No.	NAME	POS
1	Iker Casillas	(G)
16	Gabriel Heinze	(D)
5	Fabio Cannavaro	(D)
4	Garcia Sergio Ramos	(D)
22	Miguel Torres Gómez	(D)
11	Arjen Robben	(M)
6	Mahamadou Diarra	(M)
14	Jose Maria Guti	(M)
8	Fernando Gago	(M)
17	Ruud van Nistelrooy	(F)
7	Gonzalez Raul	(F)

Champions League Draw: Knockout Round-of-16

Now it gets good.

The Champions League round-of-16 draw is out and there are some juicy ties awaiting us in February. I'll do a separate post on England's teams. For now, here's a look at the rest of the draw:

Roma-Real Madrid: Roma is the team no one wants to face. Roma is cursed with some odd luck in terms of teams it draws. In Serie A, it's looking up at Inter Milan, which is running away with the Scudetto with 40 points and a seven-point lead over Roma. In its the group stage, Roma ran into Manchester United, which is on an absolute tear and has not lost a game in three months. Francesco Totti has seven goals this season and is among the leaders in Italy. This should be the tie to watch. Real leads La Liga by two points over Barcelona, whom it plays Sunday in the Spanish classico. Real has been nothing if not consistent this season and both teams figure to have their hands full in this tie.

Celtic-Barcelona: Ho-hum, Celtic leads the Scottish Premier League, what else is new? If you dont' follow Celtic or Rangers, what's the interest in Scottish football? Someone enlighten me, please? Either way, Celtic held off Benfica for second in its group and fell two points short of AC Milan. Barcelona may not have Leo Messi back in time for this tie, which could draw these two closer. Barcelona did not lose during the group stage and beat back Lyon to win by four points.

Schalke 04-F.C. Porto: How odd that Germany's best hope for European silverware, heck Germany's best team, is in the UEFA Cup? Schalke has the Bundesliga's top scorer in Kevin Kuranyi and is in fifth right now, six points back of Bayern Munich. Porto is a tall order indeed. Porto has not lost in Portugal and nicked Liverpool by a point to win its group. Porto has Lucho Gonzalez and Lisandro Lopez, a far cry from the Mourinho days, but still formidable.

Fenerbache-Sevilla: Sevilla, two-time UEFA Cup winners, are after the big prize in Europe this team. The Spanish side is strong right up the middle with Luis Fabiano the leading scorer in Spain, Sergio Duda in midfield and Morgan De Sanctis at stopper. Sevilla beat Arsenal in its group. The Turks, meanwhile, were second to Inter Milan and are realtive newcomers to the knockout stages.

Preview: Barcelona-Real Madrid--Will There Be Another Messi-style Breakout?

Hype kills. Just ask most of the Super Bowls and World Series'.

The same goes for football derbies. How often does Man. U.-Liverpool, Roma-Lazio, Inter-A.C., Boca-River or Sporting-Benfica live up to its billing. Not often, but when they do, that's what keeps us coming back.

Case in point: nine short months ago, Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed in what was arguably the game of the year. It was a 3-3 tie but no matter; it was legendary. And it was essentially the worldwide coming out party for Lionel Messi. The Argentine scored three times, each goal more flamboyant and elegant than the previous. This was tying with style and probably established La Liga as the best league in the world, top to bottom. And great players emerge in great games.



Like any other league, La Liga is top heavy, but nonetheless, a multitude of talent is attracted to Spain, and on Sunday, the world will be watching for a replay of the Barca-Real rivalry. Unfortunately, Messi is injured and will miss this game and be out for up to six weeks. Odds are, Sunday will not match the intensity and emotion of that day at Nou Camp, but here's hoping it gets close. Football--sports--is about the big teams, the big games and big performances.

Will there be another break-out performance? If there is, football derbies may just be winning the war against hype.

Fabio Cappello Opportunistic in Defense of Real Madrid's Raul

Real Madrid seven points clear in LaLiga after its 1-0 win over Atletico Bilbao, but the real noise coming out of Spain is courtesy of former Madrid manager and England contender Fabio Capello.

Capello, firing back at his former bosses in Spain, says it was he who rebuffed efforts to loan out the Spanish legend. Capello claims management was down on Raul, that is performance on the field didn't match his salary. Not to mention that he is old [29!]. In hindsight, Capello was correct. Raul is second in the scorer's table in Spain with 9 goals and Madrid is on track for another championship.

Capello wrote in a column this weekend in an Italian paper:

"In the first meeting I had with the club president (Ramon Calderon) and the technical staff I expressed my doubts about what they told me and said that a 30-year-old player of his class and personality was vital for the team. But they told me he was a player in decline."

Soccerlens has a good take on Raul, noting he's been with the club since 14 and that Capello was firing back at criticism leveled by Madrid brass.

Capello is trying to look noble in defending and propping up a football great, who by the way, needs no help in either department. One has to wonder if Capello would have written the same thing if Raul had one goal and minimal playing time this season?