Euro Watch May 20th
Barcelona Plan Summer Move For Arsenal Captain Fabregas – Report
Six years after he left, Cesc could be returning to the Camp Nou…
Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal captain, could be set for a summer return to Barcelona.
According to Sport, Barca are keen to regain the services of Fabregas, who left the club for the Gunners when he was 16. Indeed, they are keen to conclude the deal post haste, before the midfielder gets tempted by Florentino Perez at Real Madrid.
One of these years the papers will get the Fabregas to Barcelona rumours right. With Xavi and Andrés Iniesta still in their primes my gut feeling is that Barcelona won’t make a move for Fabregas this summer either.
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Werder Bremen
The last UEFA Cup final will be a clash of German brawn and Ukrainian technique, Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu said ahead of their clash with Werder Bremen in Istanbul on Wednesday.
I’m going to watch this game strictly as a fan. The form Werder Bremen has displayed in the Bundesliga is almost night in day different from their form in Europe and DFB-Pokal (German FA Cup) both of which Bremen has made it to the final. Aside from when Sporting Clube de Portugal played Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League this year which was close to 6 months ago I haven’t exactly been paying close tabs on the Ukrainian side. Would be nice from a Werder Bremen fans stand point if Diego ends up leaving the club on the heels of some silverware.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am
i took a liking to shakhta after your first post about them
being in the group stages, and since then ive been impressed. their 3 CL wins this past year were well deserved, that 5-0 rout of basel was just brilliant to watch, and being a barca fan , i wasnt too sad over losing to them as well. Yeah their 2 loses were the two 0-1 games to sporting, and then that amazing barca comeback by messi in the final seconds of the game. overall, taking 9 points from 6 matches in their group was decent, especially considering inter slipped thru somehow with 8 points.
i’d take that over bremen’s sorry 1-4-1 CL performance that somehow landed them in the cup finals.
despite being pretty far back points wise in the ukraine league, their uefa cup performance has been awesome, going thru tottenham, CKSA, marseille.
since november, theyve pretty much become accustomed to starting their quartet of brazilians in ilsinho, fernandinho, jadson, and luiz adriano…and subbing in willian, gai, srna, moreno, and sumone else i forget.
i did have a question. i dont really know too much about the ukraine league, but do u know how many spots they have reserved for CL? like is it the league winners and a qualification spot?
because i think shakhtar had to play a qualification round last year to make it to the group stages.
and also, this is prolly stupid question, but does the UEFA cup winner get an automatic spot in CL next neason?
because i think thats how zenit did it, but wasnt sure if they just won their league or not.
anyways, always enjoy reading your posts! i check out this website at least 2wice daily!!
May 20th, 2009 at 9:36 am
It still shocks me to know that somebody actually reads what I write.
You are correct regarding the Champions League. The winner in Ukrainian League goes directly in the Champions League group stage. The runners up goes in the 3rd and last qualifying round so they need to beat another team before gaining entry to the CL’s.
The winner of the UEFA Cup does not get a spot in the Champions League. Zenit got in because they won the Russian league in 2007. As Rubin Kazan won it in 2008 (Russian league goes from March-Novemeber which is why its a year behind) they qualify for the Champions League out of Russia this fall.
Thank you for the kind words.