Speaking today in a post-training press conference, Real Madrid right-back Alvaro Arbeloa praised eternal rivals Barcelona for the footballing clinic the Blaugrana put on against Stuttgart in the Champions League yesterday to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. “Barcelona are playing extraordinarily well,” said the defender in comments reported by Marca. “We are talking about [...]

MADRID (AFP) – Two-goal Lionel Messi turned in another sparkling display as holders Barcelona marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 4-0 victory over Stuttgart at Camp Nou on Wednesday. Messi, 22, followed up his hat-trick against Valencia on Sunday with a brace either side of the interval to make it eight [...]

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) – Bordeaux squeezed into the Champions League quarter-finals after a tense 2-1 victory over Olympiakos on Wednesday that saw three men sent off. Laurent Blanc’s men were 2-0 up on aggregate and apparently cruising after Yoann Gourcuff’s sublime early free-kick and the second-half dismissal of Olympiakos striker Matt Derbyshire. But substitute Konstantinos [...]

MADRID (AFP) – Holders Barcelona hope Argentine sensation Lionel Messi can continue his rich vein of goalscoring form on Wednesday against VfB Stuttgart in the second leg of the last 16 Champions League tie at Camp Nou. Messi bagged a terrific hat-trick of solo goals in the 3-0 win over Valencia on Sunday to take [...]

Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by a magnificent Inter performance, capped off by a superb display by Wesley Sneijder and a 78th minute winner from Samuel Eto’o. The main team news came from the visitors, with Jose Mourinho starting all three of his available attackers Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev, [...]

Sevilla were boosted by the return of Luis Fabiano to the starting lineup, while CSKA used the same eleven as the first leg. Los Nervionenses had the first chance of the match, as Navas played an excellent ball in for Fabiano, who was denied by a fingertips save from Igor Akinfeev. After that initial burst, [...]

Stuttgart centre forward Cacau, the German side’s goalscorer in the first leg of the Champions League tie with Barcelona, has highlighted the importance of going to the Camp Nou to attack Barca and taking advantage of the chances they are afforded. In comments reported by Marca, the Brazilian-German declared that tomorrow night’s second leg will [...]

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes his side are well prepared to face Inter in the second leg of the Round of 16 in the Champions League, following the 4-1 victory over West Ham United on Saturday. The Blues dominated for the majority of the game, and opened the scoring through a header from Alex that [...]