Messi Still 'Hurt' Over Penalty Miss

Lionel Messi has today admitted he is still hurt over his penalty miss over Chelsea in April which sent Spanish giants Barcelona crashing out of the Champions League. 

Although, due to away goals, Barcelona would still have been knocked out, it was because of Messi's miss that Barcelona were scrambling to get the ball in the net with minutes to go leaving Torres with acres of space to put the ball past Victor Valdes.

Last season was a poor one by Barcelona standards as fans have become accustomed to seeing their side win countless trophies and scoring goals for fun. But with Real Madrid getting the better of them in the league, their Copa del Rey victory was the only reward to show for their efforts.

Lionel Messi though has said that he 'hopes we can get back to winning ways' and with the introduction of some new quality players such as Jordi Alba who impressed at this Summer's European Championships, there is no reason the Nou Camp faithful won't see the likes of Messi and his team mates lifting up silverware come the end of next season.

So do you think Barcelona will come back stronger or will Real Madrid just have too much for them?

Feel free to leave any comments you may have.

Footballers Turn Their Attention To Poker

Football is a game that take tremendous athleticism, stamina, focus, and concentration.  Many of the same abilities are needed to become a successful poker player.  As such, it is no surprise that current and former football players have chosen to take up the game of poker and many doing so at very high levels.

Teddy Sheringham, formerly of Manchester United, had a storied football career with 289 career goals and 11 international team goals.  After retiring in 2008, he turned his attention to poker.  His largest win to date is an $118k score at the EPT Villamoura Main Event in 2010.  So far, Sheringham has won $289,236 in live poker touranments.

Gianluigi Buffon, the Italian football icon, happens to be an avid poker player.  Currently a member of Serie A club Juventus and the Italian National team, Buffon is sponsored "Sportstar" on online poker site on PokerStars.  As such, he has appeared in many live events around Europe, such as the European Poker Tour.

Poli Rincon is a former striker who played the majority of his career with Real Betis and also played for the Spanish National Team.  Nowadays, he is a member of Team PokerStars as a "friend" of the site and has played in events such as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, EPT Monte Carlo, and the Estrellas Poker Tour.  Rincon is said to be taking the game seriously and frequently plays online.

Tony Cascarino is a former association football player and member of the Irish National Team.  After retiring from professional soccer in 2000, he turned to poker professionally.  In that time, he was won over $500,000 in live poker tournaments, including a win at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final in London in 2009.

If you look at a list of the most popular poker sites in the world, you will see that poker is potentially available in every nation on the planet.  As such, soccer players can take up the game at their leisure.  Many find that once they get started, it is almost as addictive as soccer, but without 50,000 screaming fans cheering you on. 

I would love to hear any comments you may have. 

Suarez Given Eight Match Ban

Luis Suarez has toinght been given an eight match ban after allegedly racially abusing Man United left back, Patrice Evra. It is believed that on more than one occasion, Suarez called Evra "negrito".

Luis Suarez, 24, has been prolific for Liverpool this season, being their main man as Steven Gerrard has been hit by injuries since the start of the season.

This lengthy ban comes as a surprise to many  and I'm sure this will also come as a shock to John Terry who now must be assuming the worst after he said a few naughty words to Anton Ferdinand as Chelsea lost to QPR way back in October.

Liverpool now have to rely on Andy Carroll or either play Craig Bellamy in a more central role and hope he can find the same form he found when playing with the likes of Newcastle and West Ham.

Andy Carroll, I think it is fair to say has been a bit of a shambles since moving to Merseyside but perhaps this could be his chance to be a Kop hero.

Who knows what was said, but I think the FA have made it very clear that they won't accept any racial abuse and of course I believe that this is the correct thing to do.

What do you think? Is eight matches too much? Can we expect Liverpool to appeal?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Man City Face Early Exit

After last night's defeat away to Napoli, Man City now have to hope that pointless Villareal avoid defeat against Napoli in the last match of group stages. But more importantly Man City have to get a win against Bayern Munich to stand any chance of qualifying.

The 2-1 scoreline didn't really reflect the match itself as Man City had 70% of the possession and had numerous opportunities but as they say, you have to take your chances. While saying this, City were fortunate that the score stayed at 2-1 as Napoli missed two glorious chances.

Mancini has stated that he feels that his side have a 30% chance of qualifying and that seems about right because you just never know, football is a funny game. I don't think City beating Bayern and Villareal getting at least a point at Napoli is impossible although it wouldn't be far off with the way Villareal have been playing in this years campaign.

Man City will now have to pick themselves up as they face Liverpool this weekend. Liverpool will be heading into the match with a lot of confidence after their victory over Chelsea last Sunday. I think Man City might have a little bit too much class for Liverpool but I do expect a very close encounter.

What do you think? Do Man City stand any chance of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Some Man For One Man

I know you're probably sick of hearing about Sir Alex Ferguson and the 25 years that he has spent at Old Trafford but I'm sure one more article wouldn't hurt.

It really is an astonishing achievement by the Scotsman especially in this day and age where managers are under pressure to deliver results more than ever before. I can't see United ever being the same when the day does eventually come when Sir Alex Ferguson must hand over the pleasure of managing United to another world class manager.

In his time at the Theatre of Dreams he has won 35 trophies which, in itself is truly remarkable but many more trophies look set to be making their way to the trophy cabinet at Old Trafford in the years to come.

There is no doubt that he is one of the best, but is he the best manager that there ever has been? There aren't many of the same caliber as Ferguson so to say he isn't would be gutsy and brave.

This season though, Ferguson looks set to face his biggest challenge yet as he tries to overcome the "noisy neighbours" City and win a 20th league title. Man United have been quite shaky these past couple of weeks, with a 6-1 defeat still fresh in the memory of both sets of Manchester fans.

What do you think? How much longer will Ferguson be manager at United and will he be able to stop City this season?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Man City Embarrass United At Old Trafford

In a game that was hyped up to be one of the closest Manchester derby for many years, it ended up being an annihilation as we saw the blue half of Manchester completely dismantle the red side.

Man City were simply superb and took full advantage of being a man up for a vast amount of the second half as Jonny Evan got the wrong side of "Super Mario" Balotelli and took the Italian down with no other red jersey in sight.

Although Mancini's men will get most of the praise, I think Mancini himself should get heaps of praise for tactically beating Ferguson. The supposed risk of starting Balotelli more than paid off and Milner who, for me was an unlikely feature, played a super game.

Man United did get a glimpse of hope with ten minutes to go as Fletcher scored probably the goal of the game which made it 3-1 but as they push forward, Man City punished them by banging in three more goals. You could blame Ferguson for getting his tactics wrong but quite simply no one showed for the red devils on the day.

Where does this leave City? Well I think it leaves them head and shoulders above the rest, for now at least, but anything can happen between now and May.

But judging by the disposal of both Tottenham and Man United away from home this early in the season, there is no reason why they won't get better and better and not only push on for the league, but start to perform in the the Champions League.

What do you think? Do you consider Man City favorites now to win the league?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

What Should Arsenal Be Doing Differently?

It's fair to say that Arsenal's season hasn't got off to the best off starts and the departures of Nasri and Fabrgas look to be already taking their toll. The arrival of Arteta has been successful thus far but will he be able to do the same for the majority of the season.

It looks as if Wenger will be finding it hard to capture even a Europa League spot with the way  things are going. We've all seen and heard the jokes made about Arsenal and their losses against the likes of Man United, Blackburn and most recently their local rivals, Tottenham.

Although the Man United loss will have to be considered a major blip, it will be interesting to see what the outcome will be when Arsenal next visit a team with genuine ambitions of winning the league and then we will then know where Arsenal stand.

I know it is hard to imagine, but maybe Arsenal ever so slightly becoming, not quite a mid table team, but a team which are along the lines of finishing 5th, 6th and possibly even 7th.

I know a lot of you may feel I'm being a little bit harsh but unless the club invest in world class players, It's inevitable that Arsenal will be slipping down the table.

It would be a real shame as Arsenal have been probably the most attractive team to watch but if your not getting the results what is the point in playing such fabulous football.

What do you think? Where will Arsenal be in the table come the end of the season?

I would love to hear any comments you may have.