Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund – Recent meetings analysed

May 22nd, 2013 by Michael Cox

When Bayern Munich meet Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening at Wembley, it will be their tenth meeting in the last three seasons, spread over five separate competitions.

The first five of those nine meetings ended in Dortmund victories – but the previous four matches have seen two Bayern victories, and two league draws that played into the hands of the Bavarian side. Here’s a look at each match in turn, and what lessons we can learn from each contest.

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Top 5 Champions League Teams of the Century

May 1st, 2013 by Michael Cox

5. Inter Milan, 2010

Jose Mourinho’s second European Cup victory perfectly summed up his management style – Inter were defensively solid and ruthless on the counter-attack. Many remember their incredible bus-parking exercise at the Camp Nou in the semi-final second leg, but Inter were also capable of attacking with power and pace. Their 3-1 first leg victory was arguably the most impressive dismantling of Guardiola-era Barcelona, while their convincing destruction of Mourinho’s former club Chelsea confirmed Wesley Sneijder’s brief status as Europe’s most dangerous attacking midfielder.

Mourinho could switch between defence and attack without altering the identity of his players – in theory, Sneijder behind Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev was an absurdly adventurous quartet. However, Mourinho managed to persuade Eto’o and Pandev, both centre-forwards by trade, to drop back into extremely deep midfield positions, so Inter could be either 4-2-1-3 or 4-4-1-1 in Europe, despite favouring 4-3-1-2 in Serie A. Sneijder’s relationship with Milito was always key to their quick attacking.

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Top 10 Champions League performances this century

April 24th, 2013 by Michael Cox

10. Milan 0-2 Arsenal, 2008

No English side had ever defeated AC Milan at San Siro, and Arsenal travelled to the reigning champions feeling they’d missed their opportunity to take command of the tie in the first leg, when Emmanuel Adebayor hit the bar late on.

Arsene Wenger named a very cautious starting XI, with Emmanuel Eboue and Abou Diaby on either side of the midfield, but it proved effective as Arsenal competed with Milan’s diamond in the centre of the pitch, upsetting Andrea Pirlo’s rhythm and denying Kaka space to work in.

It took 84 minutes for the first goal of the game, with Cesc Fabregas’ long-range strike, before substitute Theo Walcott teed up Emmanuel Adebayor for the second. This was Paolo Maldini’s final European game, and marked the end of Milan’s mid-2000 dominance of the European Cup.

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Celtic v Spartak Moscow FREEbets Preview

December 5th, 2012 by Paul

Both sides go into this fixture on the back of some poor domestic performances. For Celtic, who will be competing in their 150th European Cup match tonight, they must better Benfica’s result away to Barcelona at the Nou Camp to progress into the Last 16 of the Champions League.

As for Spartak Moscow, they’ll basically be playing for pride. Sitting at the foot of the group, their points tally is so poor even if they do manage a win tonight at Celtic Park they’ll still be unable to even qualify for the Europa League safety net.

Domestic woes for both Celtic and Spartak!

Celtic have failed to win any of their home games since that astounding 2-1 victory over Barcelona just over 4 weeks ago.

A draw against St. Johnstone in the league was followed by defeat to Caley Thistle and their poor home form was once again compounded last week when they failed to dispatch 2nd Division side Arbroath in a 4th Round Scottish Cup tie.

Thankfully for Celtic their away form hasn’t suffered similar jitters with convincing wins over Aberdeen and Hearts to help them cling onto the top of the SPL by just 1 point from a chasing Hibernian.

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Celtic v Benfica Preview

September 19th, 2012 by Paul

It’s hardly been the best preparation for Celtic ahead of their Champions League Group G opener with Portuguese side Benfica. An unexpected weekend 2-1 loss away to St.Johnstone has the Glasgow east end club languishing in 5th place in the SPL – five points behind leaders Motherwell.

Neil Lennon will be hoping the Hoops can turn on the style in front of a full house at Parkhead on Wednesday evening. It’s a welcome return to the big stage for the Celtic faithful having missed out on qualifying since 2009.

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