Liga – Il Real Madrid chiama, il Barcellona risponde. Continua sicura la marcia delle due squadre più blasonate del campionato spagnolo, avversarie delle milanesi nei gironi di Champions. Entrambe infilano la quinta vittoria consecutiva: il Real travolge 3-0 il Tenerife con una doppietta di Benzema e un gol di Kakà. I catalani superano fuori casa 2-0 il Malaga: ad aprire le marcature dei blaugrana un gol di Ibrahimovic, cui è seguito il raddoppio di Piqué. Per l’ex attaccante svedese dell’Inter si tratta del quinto centro della stagione. In classifica Real e Barcellona sono a punteggio pieno: entrambe con 16 gol fatti, ma il Barca ha subito un gol in più dei rivali (tre a due).

Premier League – La 7ª giornata di Premier League è fatale al Chelsea, sconfitto 3-1 (Cech espulso) a Wigan dopo aver collezionato 6 successi nelle precedenti gare. Ne approfitta il Manchester Utd, che con Berbatov e O’Shea trova i gol del 2-0 a Stoke-on-Trent. Ora i Red Devils e i Blues sono appaiati in testa alla classifica, ma la squadra di Ferguson è prima per la miglior differenza reti. Il Liverpool travolge 6-1 l’Hull City, il Tottenham sommerge il Burnley con un 5-0. Aston Villa sconfitto a Blackburn, il Bolton passa a Birmingham e l’Everton si impone a Fratton Park, lasciando il Portsmouth a zero punti.

Bundesliga – In Bundesliga, in attesa del big match tra Amburgo e Bayern Monaco, continua la corsa del Bayer Leverkusen che si è imposto in casa del Colonia grazie alla rete di Rolfes all’82′, mantenendo in tal modo la testa della classifica. Tengono il passo anche lo Schalke 04, impostosi sul campo del Borussia Dortumund (0-1, rete di Farfan dopo 31′), il Werder – 3-0 casalingo contro il Mainz con doppietta di Pizarro e rete di Hunt – ed il Wolfsburg campione in carica – 4-2 contro l’Hannover con reti di Misimovic, Gentner, Hasebe e Dezko. Bella vittoria esterna dello Stoccarda in casa dell’Eintracht Francoforte per 3-0 (doppietta di Schieber e rete di Hitzlsperger).

The Czech keeper feels the club will bid big for players under Ancelotti.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has stated that he expects a few big name players to arrive at Stamford Bridge over the summer.

The Blues have a new manager in Carlo Ancelotti, and the Italian has been quick to sign keeper Ross Turnbull, and midfielders Daniel Sturridge and Yuri Zhirkov since his arrival.

Blues chairman Bruce Buck has recently stated that the club will definitely make a ‘marquee’ signing this summer.

The man tipped to be that purchase is Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has been linked with a big money move to Stamford Bridge, and is refusing to deny the rumours.

Cech meanwhile believes that more signings will arrive at the club once Ancelotti gets settled.

Speaking to Sport.cz, Cech said, “The squad always requires one, two or three new members.

“But much depends on the coach’s thoughts. We have a new boss who will want to find out about the team before looking for some new players.

“I think it is still too early for new signings. We are going to have one week of training in London and then we depart for the United States on a 10-day tour.

“So there is still lots of time and space for new signings to take place. I am sure new players will emerge, and some will be leaving the club. Chelsea will conduct business.”

The Czech Republic international has also revealed that he will be wearing his protective headgear again next season.

“There has been no change so the doctors recommend that I use it. Thus I will be playing in it in the new season,” added the former Slavia Prague player.

The former Rennes stopper has been at Stamford Bridge since 2004, and has played a total of 150 league games for the club.

Goal

The drawn draw in no way reflects the true nature of the game last night. That Chelsea managed a draw despite being rode on by a pumped up Barca inspired by a flamboyant though erratic Messi, is a miracle. The first half was a comedy of sorts with Barca toying with the Chelsea lineup. All 11 canaries were spotted on the Chelsea side of the field almost throughout the half. The saving grace was a disgraceful attempt from Drogba who came close to scoring in the 39th minute. Though it managed to work up the yellow jerseys for the remainder of the first half, it was an unforgivable error. A goal then would have put Barca under tremendous pressure and they wouldn’t have had time to recover with only 7 minutes remaining in the half.

Tired looking canaries took on the field in the second half and surprised me with some vigorous play. But soon things returned to normal and Barca took firm control. Boy, they came so close to scoring each time, that it was a heartbreak to see the 0-0 scoreline at the end. The immensely lucky Peter Cech was the only thing that saved Chelsea from a rout. His brilliant reflexes ensured that the scoreline remained untouched. Chelsea never really threatened the Barca goalkeeper in the second half, and focussed more on trying to contain the Catalans. God perhaps knows what game plan had Guus Hiddink come up with. Bringing on Anelka with a couple of minutes left in the game hardly seemed any strategy. If anything, Chelsea should have gone all out for goals here for defending would be easy at London. The importance of away goals seems lost on them. It seemed as if the Chelsea side were a German outfit. Physically abusive and playing in the air with hardly a dribble coming by, they showed though why opponents should fear their muscle power.

Iniesta, Xavi, Alves and Messi were brilliant on field but poor finishing saw them deprived of a goal. Alves in particular played his heart out, marking Malouda persistently and creating chances on rebounds. Eto’o was also good, especially in the couple of counters that he led from the Barca side, offsided in both. The game saw intense rivalry and insipid sportsmanship with more than a dozen fouls and almost half a dozen cards handed out. The date at Stamford Bridge promises to be exciting, with Barca keen to dump the Londoners on their ground. They would remember that Chelsea is the first team that denied them a goal at Nou Camp in the championship. And statistics proves that the team on home ground on the second leg has always won the tie. Though things favor Chelsea right now, it’d be interesting to see what the coach has in mind for the big game.

Manchester United really are invincible. THE Edwin Van Der Sar has set the record for most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. The new mark stands currently at 1,122 minutes (approximately 18.7 hours or the approximate time in which it would take you to watch Michael Phelps’s world record 200M butterfly 600 times, or Usain Bolt’s world record 100M dash 6,947 times, or, according to Google Maps, the time it would take to drive nonstop from Columbus, Ohio to the Denver Airport). For the majority of the record, the United defense has been in absolute shambles with, at one point, the whole of the starting 4 defenders out and many other injuries to the club that saw them at one point with more injuries than anyone in the league, most of which were injuries to defenders! In 2004, due to the astonishing feat, I literally shat myself when Peter Cech set the previous mark, but this, this is absolutely inconceivable! The numbers in all show that United have not allowed a goal in 12 Premier League matches. They have not been scored on since the 8th of November. During this same time period they have climbed to number one in the English Premier League, 5 points clear of Liverpool and Chelsea, and currently 10 clear of Arsenal (who has fallen out of the top four to newcomers Aston Villa). While United have been literally dominating the whole league, Liverpool have tied 7 of their last 10 games, conceding 7 goals, Arsenal have tied 5 of their last 8 while conceding 6 goals, and Chelsea have tied 4 and lost 2 of their last 10 while conceding 9 goals.