The Champions League Final at Wembley this year will be an all German affair. At the start of the competition this is something that very few expected; the Bundesliga after all is continually overlooked in discussions of the best leagues in the world. Here are eight reasons why you should pay the Bundesliga more attention than you already do.
There’s undoubtedly a fair amount of subjectivity when considering which football kits are the best, but here are a few of the current numbers that ought to tickle your fancy. The more daring manufacturers tend to traverse a difficult line between fashion faux pas and magnificence, so hopefully these ten lean towards the latter.
In the first instalment of a new Oddslife feature, we take a look at some of the weekend’s action from continental Europe. Hopefully readers of the round up each week will get a head start in the Oddslife predictor game with some extra knowledge of who the continent’s form teams are! Our European player of the week this time – Arjen Robben.
The Suarez handball against Mansfield has polarised pundits, and as the forward isn’t exactly the most loved player away from Merseyside it has proven a rather easy stick to beat him with. Here’s a clip of it, but surely the Suarez handball wasn’t as bad as these?
Oddslife readers have been particularly interested in which players to sign on Fifa 13, but what about their style of play? Formations are the bread and butter of the game, in Ultimate Team particularly. A bad choice can turn your decent team into a poor one, while those pesky formation cards price some players out of the more popular systems.
That Pigbag song might have been a laugh at a school disco in the eighties but it has no place at a football match. If you play music when a goal is scored you are a tin pot outfit and I will never respect you. Mr Mancini I respect you an awful lot with your four league titles and your beautiful silvery hair, but every time you wave that imaginary card I want to respond with a rather less imaginary punch to the face.
The Premier League takes a break this week, as the 2014 World Cup qualifiers resume. England face 2 games in less than a week and Roy Hodgson’s men need to bag 2 wins to bounce back from the disappointing draw at home to Ukraine last month.
The Premier League takes a break this weekend, making way for the first round of World Cup Qualification matches. With all 4 of the home nations and the Republic of Ireland involved it promises to be exciting. First up England travel to lowly Moldova. This shouldn’t be a test, but with concerns about the pitch and a potentially hostile atmosphere, it could be tricky.
We’re without the Premier League this weekend, so having just about recovered from penalty heartache in Kiev we can now watch the third best team in the world (allegedly) attempt to qualify for a tournament so they can get knocked out in the quarters again (probably).
It’s bad news for the rest of us! Spain youth ranks are continuing to produce the nectar needed to win major international trophies. The Spanish under 19 were crowned European Champions in Romania last summer, whilst the under 20′s remain unbeaten in over 12 matches. Much may have been written about FC Barcelona’s Mesias youth system but all La Liga clubs are chipping in to produce top quality talent.
After looking invincible in recent years, the 2011-2012 season was somewhat disappointing for Barcelona, despite winning the Copa Del Rey, European Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. Ultimately though, being pipped to the La Liga crown by arch rivals Real Madrid and failing to hold on to their Champions League crown results in a rather baron year for the Catalan club.
In England we tend to have a fairly stereotypical view of Italian football; boring, slightly racist and fixed. Well, Serie A averages fewer goals per game than any of the other major leagues in Europe this season and in a week when Mario Balotelli has spoken openly about the treatment he received while at Inter, I think you could make a good case for two of those stereotypes.
