When Lionel Messi scored his first goal in the Barcelona strip. The wonder-kid lobbed the ball over the Alabacete keeper from an exquisite Ronaldinho pass. Last night the 24 year old scored his 193rd and 194th goal for the Catalan club making him the joint 2nd all time top scorer.

He is 41 strikes behind the legendary César Rodríguez Álvarez and it won’t be a surprise watching him steal the crown this season.

Vamos!

These dudes made it happen.

Source: http://arsetumblr.arseblog.com/

A Spaniard, a German, a Portuguese, a Brazilian and a French on a football pitch.

11 touches and 16 seconds later… GOAL!

Real Madrid 1 -0 Ajax. Los Blancos ended up winning 3-0 pioneered by a sublime classic Kaka performance. But this goal was something else.

Speed, precision and movement.

image source: as.com

Retractable roof, 55,600 seats, a vivid explosion of primary colours and it is brand new. Sweet!

The Stadionul Național is a venue for several teams: it’s the home for the Romanian national team and FC Steaua București, it hosts European matches for Otelul Galati and FC  Rapid București. In addition the domestic cup finals will be played here.

More importantly, it’s the stage for the 2012 Europa League Final!

The Stadionul Național was inaugurated on the 6th of September 2011 entertaining the Euro qualifier between Romania and French which resulted 0-0.

Claudio Ranieri is a lucky manager. Since the Italian retired as a player in 1986, he has rarely experienced unemployment. The 59 year old was recently appointed the manager of Inter Milan succeeding Gian Piero Gasperini, the job became his 12th in football. Ranieri is a globetrotter of Italy as he’s worked at several clubs from North to South and the only major club he’s yet to manage is AC Milan. But don’t rule it out.

He’s not a winner but a creator, he coached illustrious names such as Zola at Napoli, the sublime Batistuta-Rui Costa partnership at Fiorentina and was the founder of Abramovich’s ludracriously expensive Chelsea revlotion signing the instrumental Lampard, Cech, Robben, Makélelé, Gallas and Terry (promoted through academy). However, it’s debatable that his greatest achievement was constructing a solid team at Valencia which went on to achieve great accomplishments.

Some like him and others don’t. But the point is, he’s alwas working.

Here’s his time-line

• 1987-88: Campania Puteolana
• 1988-91: Cagliari
• 1991-93: Napoli
• 1993-97: Fiorentina
• 1997-99: Valencia
• 1999-00: Atletico Madrid
• 2000-04: Chelsea
• 2004-05: Valencia
• 2007: Parma
• 2007-09: Juventus
• 2009-11: Roma
• 2011: Inter Milan

Featuring Benfica’s Javi Garcia and FC Porto’s João Moutinho. Ugly boots.

It’s Champions League Tuesday!

Benfica are in Romania to play against Liga I champions Otelul Galati. It’s going to be Benfica’s 6th encounter in the country where they’ve never tasted defeat.

• 82/83: FC Universitatea Craiova, UEFA Cup Semi-Final 2nd leg, 1-1
• 87/88: FC Steaua București, European Cup Semi-Final 1st leg, 0-0
• 94/95: FC Steaua București, Champions League Group Stage, 1-1
• 99/00: FC Dinamo Bucureşti, UEFA Cup 1st round, 2-0
• 06/07: FC Dinamo Bucureşti, UEFA Cup last 32 2nd leg, 2-1

Speechless.

Valencia is sailing in uncharted waters are they’re sitting at the top of La Liga, a position they’ve struggled to conquer since the glorious Ranieri and Benitez days. However, since 39 year old Unai Emery took control of the boat in 2008, he has fulfilled a productive job with the restricted resources available. To great disappointment the Basque manager has yet to lift a trophy for the club. But in the last two seasons Valencia finished in 3rd place and that achievement can be viewed as success.

Success is a defining term in football and one which certainly revolves around Pep Guardiola & co. Today the 4 times Champions League winners travel to the Mestalla stadium to take on a team which has yet to taste defeat this season. A team with options, youth, talent and quality. This summer has been a revolutionary one at the club where dozens of changes were made and the man leading this movement is Roberto Soldado who has scored 5 goals in 3 games.

We all know what to expect from the Barça boys but will Los Che deliver tonight?

Valencia vs Barcelona in 20 minutes. Vamos, vamos, vamos!