Village Idiot

Been very good in Brazil with the limited resources. Very good motivator, but not very good tactically and thats why he failed at Chelsea. Successful everywhere except Chelsea where he had a similar record to Ancelotti anyways in terms of losing. He hasn't succeeded in any European club side. As you say, he's a very good motivator which goes a long way in international football, but he's too limited to manage a club.

Scolari heavily rumored to take over, incidentally. Awful appointment if true.

That's Manzano sacked surely. It would be a good move on itself (good manager for lower half teams but can't hack it with ambitious ones) but I don't trust their board to find a capable replacement.

He actually shortened his contract when he resigned didn't he?

That little touch by Messi as the keeper was sliding towards him

To be frank, Santos only looked like doing stuff when those two got involved, very good players both of them. Would love to see Ganso in Europe soon, too.

Get in!

Why? Because we can't score against Swansea, and our guy that kinda sorta plays this way can't get a game for some reason. As a neutral, hey it's awesome, but s***. I'd love to see this every week.

Xavi-Messi

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal, Busquets, Thiago, Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta, Messi Only Alves and Abidal not coming from our youth setup

I gave up a perfectly good drunken Saturday night to be able to wake up to watch this. I hope it's worth it.

Marca alreading running a piece asking for him to be called up for the EC to replace Villa.

Hard case to judge, to be honest. It's true that the word he allegedly used isn't a slur in Spanish, but it is still an odd thing to call somebody you're not mates with. I'm aware it's more common in some places in SA. Suárez is a c*** though.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-fifa-switzerland-banthreat UEFA already working on a way to get ManU back in the CL (Don't see it happening, mind)

Sevilla - Real Madrid should be immensely entertaining tonight, and not necessarily for the football. The amount of shenanigans this fixture has had the past years rivals the Clásicos.

Ajax do knock it around very nicely, but their defence is like tissue paper. I really liked them in their both games against Madrid despite the losses.

Atlético will "rent" their shirt numbers to their fans, allowing them to "buy" a space in a number to have their face embossed in it until the end of the season for €15. It won't be too taky if it's done like they do it at Sevilla: http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/a5/a5313c66de9ec1834dab9d9025d5c4ca/sevilla_fans_paying_to_have_tiny_photo_of_themselves_on_players_shirts.jpg

Everybody knows he wants out and Atlético want rid. Hard to drive a good bargain I guess. Contract is until 2014 IIRC.

According to Marca, Sevilla have reached a €3,5m deal with Atlético for Reyes. A much better destination than the Turkish league.

I'd love that. San Mamés would explode for such a tie. I might try to arrange a trip there if I could get a ticket.

Lokomotiv for Athletic Club. Could have been worse, but not a glamour tie.

For some reason the thought of Stoke playing on Spanish soil bothers me.

Valencia vs Stoke, that can be fun.

Real Madrid - CSKA Moscow FC Barcelona - Bayer Leverkusen Arsenal just have no luck in that draw, have they? Barça last year in the first knockout, Milan this one (easily the toughest they could get)

Smacks me of "link a player of the team that has beat them in the CL" paper BS. ManU won't spend €30m on a winger.