Village Idiot

To be frank, the likes of Oporto and Benfica should have been proving themselves in the CL, not the EL. It's the top 2 Portuguese teams besting the second tier English/Italian/Spanish teams. Braga, though, that's a sensational run for them this year.

I suspect he needs to play in an uncool city. Can't do much in Santander at nights other than watching sparrows and getting drunk with old sailors.

KD, what are your plans regarding Dos Santos? He's been brilliant at Santander.

Can't think what would happen in this place if Owen really scored a late winner in the CL final.

Nani can do damage, he's actually the lone ManU player that I fear the most (and Rooney if he regained early 2010 form).

He looked a bit lost in here, to be frank, but I presume he didn't suit the league nor did have much chance or time to adapt. But scored a couple of good goals.

Our press has published an interview where, apart from saying that he dreams of scoring the wining goal at Wembley, mounts an hilarious defence of how important it is to be a bench player. EDIT: Looks like it's from ManU's official website. http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2011/May/michael-owen-has-wembley-dream.aspx?pageNo=1

He won't resign. But reading those quotes I think his job isn't really save. In case he gets sacked I think he'll go to one of those 3 clubs I've mentioned. Calderón's words have no bearing on what Madrid will do. He has a huge axe to grind against Florentino Pérez and will say anything to unsettle his regime. It is true that Madrid's board is uneasy about Mourinho, but it is very unlikely that they'll sack him as long as he remains popular with the stands, and Mourinho has played them very smartly.

Nah, most people seem to think he will continue. He's done a great job of deflecting blame away and has the backing of the stands. All in all, where would he go? Unless Fergie pulls a shock retirement can't see any job that could meet his ambition, no way he's back to Inter and endanger his legacy there with an aged squad on the way down. Maybe ManCity could tempt him. Also, who would get Madrid in his stead?

Vicente Engonga? Yes, I thought about him, but his stint in the Spanish NT was very unremarkable. He might have been the first black Spanish-born international footballer.

Anyones in particular come to mind that might progress? Well, there's Thiago. But he's a bit of an odd one since he was born to a Brazilian footballer that was playing in Spain at the time. Barça and Madrid academies have quite a few black kids on the 15 year old range and down, but it's still a bit soon to tell which one will make it. It will be refreshing when it happens.

We don't have black players because Spanish black population was very low until recently. We didn't really get immigration from Africa until the mid 90s, and we should start seeing the first black Spanish internationals towards the end of the decade. The likes of Senna, Catanha or Donato don't really count as they were Brazilians that took Spanish citizenship late in their careers. A bit sad to see this, always thought the 1998-2006 French team was a wonderful testimony to France's melting pot. Zidane born in Argelia, Vieira born in Senegal, Thuram from the Caribbean, etc...

FC Barcelona

He's not good enough for Real Madrid, but if ManCity are willing to sell Adebayor for €16m he'd be a good purchase for quite a few second tier clubs. He's probably on mental wages though.

Incidentally Marca reporting that Madrid won't be using their €16m option on Adebayor.

Dunno what's going on with him. From time to time he has one of those games when it looks like he might be back, but then he's invisible the next time he's given a start. Not that I'm complaining, mind, but it's always a bit sad to see such a great player becoming such a shadow on the pitch at such an early age for a footballer. My guess is he's going to Brazil, he's spending quite some time there lately according to most reports, and rumor is that he fancies settling back there. I'd give it a shot in Italy though.

Screams of Sidwell to Chelsea. Decent-ish player, although I'm still suspect of non-striking strikers no matter how "hard" they work. But he's completely out of his depth at Real Madrid. He's a cunt though, so will fit in the environment. Strange signing, although I suspect they are trying to do a Negredo here, and will be off somewhere else.

Personally I think we are a better team than 2009, and ManU a worse one. But anything can happen in a one off game, and I presume they will have the crowd advantage. Also, every time we are crowned favorites in a final we seem to lose it. Still burning from that 0-4 thumping in Athens.

Kaká was terrible. Was a bit worried when I saw the weather, but Real Madrid actually didn't threaten at all, their goal was their only shot on goal IIRC. We played conservatively but the deed is done, bring on Wembley.

How was De Bleeckere supposed to favour us when he didn't give a goal that would have sent us through?

Madrid's AssMan Karanka just railed against UEFA in their pre-match press conference for refusing to ban some of our players. They are on a roll. Will see if it pop ups on an English media to post a link.

Personally I think the only lifeline they have into the tie is going for it and getting at our necks the first 30 minutes. Higuaín, Benzema, Özil, Cronaldo, DI Maria, X. Alonso front six. Kaká super-sub.

I'm never confident man, us oldskool Barça fans are chronic pessimists. Newer generations have had it good.

The whole situation: That said, I don't recall the relations between both clubs reaching this level of hostility at player/coach/board level.

It's on Marca's cover today, hardly ITK info Why is this funny? The "I heard it from some guy who is very reliable" bit, it looked like the guy that told you that dressed it as some well kept secret or something. Not really having a dig at you, sorry if it came across that way.