El Clasico: My recipe for the perfect football feast

Woodstock 69’: love, freedom and prosperity. Wimbledon: elegance and tradition. For me, El Clasico is up there with these occasions as the greatest spectacles on earth. The two most successful sides in the history of Spanish football ripping chunks out of each other. And I love it. I love every...

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Racism is in the spotlight but what is being done to tackle homophobia?

The FA stamped down on Luis Suarez’s racism towards Patrice Evra. And it’s quite right that they did, isn’t it? For when we look back into the past, and certainly in football’s past, we see things that are shockingly vile. In the seventies and part of the eighties, black footballers were subjected ...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: A football overkill but Fabregas’ Barcelona adventure keeps us watching

At the top of this article you will see, if you can get past the crass, self-congratulatory overuse of my own name, that the tagline for this column mentions that there isn’t enough football on the TV. Obviously this pithy line is actually nonsense as there is in fact far too much football clogging ...

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It's the Italian job for Arsenal and Chelsea but who will win the Champions League?

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League draw has just been made and both Arsenal and Chelsea must overcome Italian opposition if they are to lift the coveted trophy. Arsenal reacquaint themselves with AC Milan while Chelsea must see off Napoli, who helped knock Manchester City out of...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: A love-in for O’Neill as marvel Martin ruins Rovers’ day

It was clear at 1pm on Sunday what the overriding theme of the day was going to be on Sky Sports’ Live Super Sunday. Ed Chamberlain, growing more and more comfortably into the role of football anchorman, opened the afternoon’s football coverage by loudly proclaiming, “Sunderland’s new era begins tod...

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World Player Of The Year: Big Three of Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi Dominate Again

The news that Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Christiano Ronaldo will make up the top three in the vote for World Player of The Year, would surprise no-one who takes a decent interest in the world game. These are the same three players who filled out those positions in 2009. Last year Messi and Xa...

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Reduce the size of the Premier League? You gotta be kidding me

Sometimes you have to wonder whether football is football anymore. Money has become part of our game for a long time now but the fear of how possessive riches will become, and how their grip will most probably tighten even further to strangle out every last penny from our game, is always in th...

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Spurs: How much is Gareth Bale worth?

It’s been reported that Spanish giants Barcelona are keeping a close eye on the mercurial talent of Tottenham and Wales winger Gareth Bale. Pep Guardiola’s men are said to be ready to test Daniel Levy’s nerve with a bid of £35 million. That’s the same amount Barca paid for former Arsenal captain Ces...

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Stoke City And Greece: Why Should 'Pretty' Success Matter?

The European Championships 2004. Ah, what a tournament. The Greeks told every single one of us that fairy tales can come true. They defeated France and Portugal along the route to triumph and won a major international tournament for the very first time as rank outsiders. Unfortunately, what came...

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Manchester United got off lightly: Here's five of the worst results ever

Manchester City rocked the champions at Old Trafford, hitting Fergies men for six, but Hugh Larkin recalls five of the worst beatings of all time. As Chris Pettit reminded us elsewhere on this site - Manchester Citys spectacular 6-1 victory at Old Trafford was the second jaw-dropping scoreline of t...

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Can any player, including Messi, be considered 'the greatest'?

Ah, the Champions League. Bringer of drama, stopper of dreamers, platform for Ray Wilkins to say ‘my word’ 50 hundred thousand times. And there are other things that are nearly always discussed, certainly when seeing the two dominant Spanish sides play. The great debate has moved from trying to ...

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Tevez, Mourinho and Zidane: Why football loves those shocking moments

When sitting down, reclining and watching the football on the TV, there are a few annoying things that one can expect. The first is that we will be subjected to some truly awful punditry and the second is we’ll probably be listening to the brilliant atmosphere – thousands upon thousands of footb...

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Who will win the Champions League 2011/12?

Spanish giants Barcelona are attempting to make history this season. In May they destroyed Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United to win the Champions League, but no team has managed to keep hold of the famous trophy since it was renamed 20 years ago. However, the bookies firmly believe Pep Guardiola...

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Top 10 bizarre injuries to footballers

Swansea City’s vice-captain Alan Tate is set to miss most of the Swans’ debut season in Premier League after breaking his leg in a freak golfing accident. The versatile defender was a passenger in a golf buggy that lost control and Tate will have to watch the majority of the club’s rollercoaster adv...

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Arsenal: Samir Nasri - Following Money or The Eastlands Dream?

Arsene Wengers stance on the imminent departure of Samir Nasri from the Emirates has been both refreshing and laden with common sense.He used the analogy that I have always believed in and relates to the normal working world.As much as you may love the company you work for, if you were headhunted to...

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Barcelona: How Do You Fit Fabregas Into The Team?

Argument and debate about players is one of the great joys of football and Barcelona are about to set a million bar room conversations going as it seems they are finallygoing to capture Arsenals Cesc Fabregas, but where will the midfield star play? Thisis the biggest conundrum since the last time B...

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Will the new season throw up any shocks across Europe's top leagues?

Here we go again ... Its that time of year again. Your club has had some embarrassing/great results in pre-season friendlies and the anticipation builds up as the new season approaches, but what can we expect from the big leagues around Europe? Some countries, of course, have already kicked off, su...

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Squarefootball's Fantasy football invitation

There is less than two weeks to go until the start of the 2011/12 Premier League season and time is running out for you to enter the Squarefootball fantasy football competition. Last season more than 100 teams competed for the Squarefootball title, which was won by P Oxenby and his team FC Poxo. He...

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Who is your club’s greatest signing?

It is time to dust out the sheepskin coat and training gear with matching initials. Yes we will soon be picking our fantasy football teams. The right signings will determine your chances of becoming the next Ferguson, Mourinho or Hiddnk. The chequebook has certainly assisted those who play for real....

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Manchester City: Tevez, Telephones and Tedium

Im not sure whats been worse over the last week or so, the phone hacking scandal or the Tevez transfer saga?Maybe if the News Of The World was still in existence it could report, with its tele-pathic powers, where Tevez will be moving to? If I were a Manchester City fan I would just like to see th...

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What five things would you do before the season starts?

Isn’t it normally New Years Eve when you get a top 100 favourite moments of the year or top 500 best movie credits or some other poor excuse for a programme? Well I thought I would also use it as a poor excuse for an article, but rather than boring you all with a list consisting of 100 or more items...

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Tevez, Modric, Nasri and co - Quit your moaning!

One of the lessons that I had drilled into me as a youngster is the old adage “asking never gets”. Maybe you too can recall a time when you asked your mum for a Penguin or something and she trotted out some half-cocked lecture about it being polite to wait to be offered blah, blah, blah. Well clearl...

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Football in 3D - A new risk to average attendances?

The world has evolved and developed a lot since the 1950s with the invention, evolution and development of everything from bladeless fans to electric cars and high definition broadcasts and beyond, but what have the boffins responsible for 3D been doing for 60 years since its inception? 3D today i...

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Footballers: Why don’t we flog them on eBay?

I have never been to Australia but I know two things for sure about the Land of Oz. One, they are better than us at almost every single sporting activity aside from football of course (although let’s be honest, the England team is not that much farther ahead than the Aussies at this point). Even the...

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The frustrations of being a football fan

As football fans we are a pessimistic breed. No sooner have we finished dancing in the stands or in front of the TV celebrating our club’s promotion, championship, relegation avoidance or cup victory, we turn our attention to the next competition and start convincing ourselves football life will nev...

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Would you like to write for Squarefootball?

Do you live, breathe and sleep football? Do you have a passion for writing and want your views to be read by a potential audience of millions? Then we at Squarefootball Towers would love to hear from you. Whether you follow Aberdeen or Accrington Stanley, West Ham United or Wolfsburg, we can offer ...

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Can Nicklas Bendtner be Arsenal’s saint at the Nou Camp?

Since beating Barcelona three weeks ago Arsenal’s fortunes have gone from bad to worse. Forced to a replay by Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, they blew their chance to end their trophy drought against Birmingham City in the final of the Carling Cup and passed up the opportunity to close the gap on Manc...

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Fabregas has an itch - can Arsenal scratch it and retain him?

Many players seem to reach a point when they want to move on - and when the good ones want to move there are only so many viable destinations. High profile recent examples of players who wanted moves include Cristiano Ronaldo who got his dream move to Real Madrid last summer and Thierry Henry who g...

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Get on side and sport your colours for Shelter this World Cup

In celebration of this years FIFA World Cup, housing and homelessness charity Shelter are teaming up with Nationwide Building Society, Official England Team sponsor, to launch their fantastic footy fundraiser, Strip4Shelter. Shelter is asking people across the country to replace their regular work ...

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Messi- Where Will He Rank In The All-Time Greats?

The debate has been rumbling along for a year or more - in fact, some observers have been tipping it since he was a teenager- but now its on in earnest. How great is Lionel Messi and will he be ranked as an all-time legend? Theres a hierarchy in these things which almost every football fan accepts....

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Champions' League turns back into the European Cup

Given the dominance of English teams in recent years, and in their turn the Spanish teams and Italian teams before them, the Champions' League has been a curious competition for a few years. It has become less about which is the strongest team, it has been more about which team from the strongest l...

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Arsenal v Barcelona- The History

Memories of the 2006 Champions League Final are still fresh in the memory. Arsenal lost keeper Jens Lehmann early on and battled away with ten men for most of the contest before Barcelona and some cunning from Henrik Larsson sealed their fate. The two clubs have hardly ever met in Europe. In pre-Ch...

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Transfer Speculation: Yaya Toure (Barcelona) to Chelsea/Man United

It's a kind of unwritten rule that European footballers who want a pay hike talk to their agents who drop little hints that their man want to come to Arsenal/Chelsea/Man United/Liverpool (delete as applicable). But it is rarer for agents to give the hurry-up simply to get their boy a game! Today T...

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Will the summer swapsies of Eto'o for Ibrahimovic bite Barcelona tonight?

There is always a group of death. Pick a series of at least 4 mini-leagues using the fairest system you can dream up (that simultaneously helps all the richest clubs from the richest footballing leagues) and one will always look nasty. But enough of Group A, where Bayern Munich look likely to be e...

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Squarefootball's fantasy football challenge

Do you see yourself as the next Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger? Do you think you can pick a better team than Harry Redknapp or Rafa Benitez? Brilliant, then why don’t you join us in competing for the coveted Squarefootball fantasy league crown? For the past few years we at Squarefootball towers...

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Sir Bobby Robson - A tribute to a true gentleman

The world of football lost one of its most famous sons yesterday. Sir Bobby Robson, the former Ipswich Town, Newcastle United, Barcelona and England manager, passed away aged 76 following a long battle with lung cancer. Fans, players, pundits and managers have been paying their respect to Robson wit...

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Real Madrid: A case for defence?

Barcelona won La Liga in May this year by scoring 105 goals, conceding 35, and losing only five games. Real Madrid, meanwhile, won only two games less than Barcelona, but lost twice as many. Third-placed Sevilla notched a very similar win-draw-lose ratio to that of runners-up Real Madrid, but Manolo...

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A Combined Manchester United/Barcelona Eleven

Pick a team from the squads at Manchester United and Barcelona. Sounds like a reasonable exercise until you begin and then realise that you could pick two teams from these clubs and still have star-sudded line ups. Here is an eleven for what its worth but I dont expect anyone to agree with it (whic...

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Prediction Panel: Chelsea vs Barcelona - First goal wins?

After Manchester United dominated both legs of the first semi-final we can savour the second game in what is proving to be an altogether tighter tie. Chelsea probably has a marginal advantage, but a Barcelona team that scored six away to Real Madrid four days ago will not expect another goal-less n...

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Barcelona vs Chelsea: Messi or Drogba

Much of the pre-match comment has centred on the mercurial Lionel Messi, who seems something of a shoo-in to replace Cristiano as World and European Player of the Year this season - but Barcelona has a defence that can be exploited by the power of Didier Drogba and I would not rule out a goal for th...

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Barcelona v Chelsea - The History

Barcelona- Chelsea is a tie that has become a familiar one in these days when the same teams return to the Champions League each season. When the clubs meet in this years semi-final it will be the fourth time in five seasons that they have met-usuallyin the knockout rounds. It will be the sixth me...

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Bayern Munich vs Barcelona: Bayern must show pride - even in defeat

Barcelona all but sealed progression to the semi-final by winning the first leg 4-0; but pride insists that Bayern Munich produce something at home especially with some domestic difficulties as well. Not sure that Jurgen Klinsmann has much future at FC Hollywood, if he is giving the tie - if not th...

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Barcelona vs Bayern Munich: Glamour tie of the round promises goals

In many ways the glamour tie of the round with Bayern Munich who thumped Sporting 5-0 and 7-1 in two completely one-sided games in the last round against tournament favourites Barcelona. The winner could well come from this tie (obviously fans of four English clubs will have a different opinion). ...

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Exclusive: Spurs agree deal for Thierry Henry

Tottenham Hotspur are sensationally expected to announce later today the signing of former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry in a dealwhich is expected to send shockwaves around the world and highlightTottenhams ambition for the coming campaign. Henry, who is currently playing for the Catalan giants Ba...

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Barcelona v Bayern Munich-The History

Expecting a long article? Well not really because these two giants of the European game have only met twice before and this is the first time in a knockout round of the premier competition. Its an odd situation. In the past few years its been down to luck of the draw. Before the Champions League al...

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Champions League Draw Reaction - Man United vs Liverpool final?

The Champions' League draw for the remaining games in the competition was again dominated by thoughts of how to avoid the English steamroller - even for the English clubs. And unfortunately the draw has thrown up yet another bout of deja vu. The tie of the round for me is Barcelona vs Bayern Munic...

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Please can the English clubs avoid each other in The Champions' League?

One of the traditional delights of European football is to see players on English grounds that would ordinarily only be viewed at the major international tournaments like the World Cup. These days when so many of the games best players are now concentrated in England this is less of a problem. How...

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Liverpool look best Champions' League value

After the last sixteen round whittled down the competition to four English teams and four others who now offers the best value? For me Liverpool is set up so well for European games that a run to the final (where anything could happen) seems very possible. Of the eight contenders; Villarreal and P...

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Champions League Preview: Lyon v Barcelona

Lyon drew the short straw in the last 16 when they were paired with Pep Guardiolas free scoring Barcelona team. The French side are perennial qualifiers from the group stage but are yet to reach the semi-finals. Seven French titles in a row have provided Lyon with plenty of experience in the Champi...

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Lampard, Ronaldo, Arshavin and Adebayor Moves Could All Hit The Buffers

Maybe it was the intervention of Euro 2008- or possibly the unprecedented all-English Champions League Final- but summer 2008 began with a cascade of speculation about multi-million pound stellar moves. While we all enjoyed the Euro spectacle, the close of that competition has ended the 'phoney war...

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