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Having been defeated by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final, relinquishing their La Liga title to Barcelona and losing the Copa Del Rey final to Atletico Madrid has marked Mourinho’s third and probably final season in Madrid as a failure. Mourinho described this season as ‘the worst of my career’ in his first full…
Following on from my piece on the business model of FC Porto, the policy of buying players cheaply and selling them on two or three years later for a higher price which has worked for them over the last decade, here is one on their rivals Benfica’s similar method. In recent years Porto’s rivals Benfica…
Jose Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid will be coming to an end shortly and he certainly isn’t going out quietly. Real Madrid even cancelled the pre-match press conference ahead of their league meeting with Espanyol on Saturday to try and keep him quiet for at least a few days in a bid to calm the…
The modern day No 10′s spend most of the game trying to get into the space between the lines. Chelsea have their “Three Amigos” for this task, Arsenal have Santi Cazorla, Manchester United have Wayne Rooney and Tottenham Hotspur have the mercurial Gareth Bale. Although all these player have very distinct playing styles, one trait common…
Everyone involved in football has heard of the fine youth academy that AFC Ajax possesses called ‘De Toekomst’ or ‘The Future’. Founded on 18th March 1900, the club plays the so-called ‘Total Football’ approach in a 4-3-3 system invented by the great Dutch manager Rinus Michels. It is this ideology that makes Ajax stand out…
Xabi Alonso has been heavily linked with a move back to the Premier League in recent weeks. The news that Jose Mourinho is likely to come to Stamford Bridge has only fueled speculation further that he might bring Xabi Alonso with him to Chelsea, with the former-Liverpool man reportedly a loyal Mourinho supporter in an otherwise divided…
Everyone in the world has heard about ‘La Masia’, Barcelona’s youth academy which year after year produces exceptional talent and has housed superstars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta (just to name three). Almost every game they have many youth products in their starting eleven and the publicity their academy gets is understandable…
There are several ways to run a football club, from Ajax’s youth policy to PSG’s short term policy of wanting instant success through buying talent from across the world. Perhaps the best example we have seen over the last decade is that of FC Porto. They seem to make ridiculous amounts of money on players…
What a turnaround 2 years can make. The all conquering Catalans, having previously been hailed ‘the best team ever to grace the football pitch’ are no longer as dominant as we were so used to seeing. Despite their continued success in their domestic league (on the verge of claiming their 4th La Liga crown in…
There are plenty of big games in Europe this weekend and Sam Thompson joins us again to preview the weekends biggest three matches from Europe’s top five leagues… Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich (Saturday 4th May, 5.30pm, Bundesliga) Let’s not pretend that both sides wouldn’t be happy to lose this weekend if it meant victory…