Schuster heads down Capello way

Bernd Schuster bears some intriguing similarities to former Chelsea boss José Mourinho.
The German disregards the media with contempt, is utterly single-minded and could not deliver the prize he was ordered to win, the Champions League.
Schuster does offer a far more exciting style of football than Mourinho ever did at Stamford Bridge or Fabio Capello managed […]

Peak time for Barça as momentum carries them towards the title

Barcelona have moved within two points of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after a potentially critical set of results in February, and Rijkaard’s side could be heading for an unlikely treble.
Real seemed destined to make it two La Liga titles on the spin after a fantastic first half of the season that […]

Tearful Ronaldo may have kicked the last ball of an illustrious career

A three-time Fifa World Player of the Year and the record World Cup Finals goalscorer, Ronaldo has enjoyed a sparkling career but it may have come to a premature end on Wednesday evening after rupturing a tendon in his knee during the 1-1 draw with Livorno.
He was left in tears and the early prognosis […]

They deserve them, but will sizzling madridistas Guti and Raúl earn recalls?

Real Madrid may have stolen the Liga title from Barcelona’s grasp last season, but there is nothing undeserved about their number one position in the table this campaign.
Bernd Schuster, like all Real Madrid coaches before him, has endured plenty of criticism but the weekend’s 7-0 thumping of Valladolid and the opening up of an eight-point […]

The Real machine shows no sign of letting up

It was a familiar story at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday evening following yet another Real Madrid success over their poor, downtrodden relatives. A story that more often than not involves rotten luck and a reality check for Atleti, and culminates in a relentless march to success from Real. It’s been that long since the […]

Koeman’s impossible task

Unpopular he may have been, undesirable definitely not. Valencia’s former coach Quique Sanchez Flores is sitting with his feet up at home with a smug look upon his face as he observes from afar the turmoil engulfing his former employers.
Flores’s successor, Ronald Koeman, was not the name Valencia fans had on their lips after the […]

In-form Valencia ready – and expected – to compound Chelsea’s crisis of confidence

Quique Sánchez Flores’s Valencia job has been on the line for the last year, with constant murmurs of discontent and the failure to last in the title race edging the Spaniard closer to the edge at the Mestalla. Ultimately, Los Che finished a lowly fourth having had their Champions League ambitions ended in unsatisfactory circumstances […]

Time might be right for Ramos to amicably discover places new