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Proud Man Walking: Swansong for Ranieri?

“Inter remain the favorites for the title. The other contenders are Milan, and they will fight it out among themselves. The Scudetto doesn’t interest me.” With nine games to go and four points behind the league leaders, Roma, not Milan, are best poised to knock Inter Milan off its berth and win the scudetto. Moreover,…

Lyon – a team flattering to deceive

Overshadowed by Real Madrid’s new “Galacticos” circa 2001 and Man City aka money city’s lavish spending spree a la Chelsea 2004, perennial French heavyweights Lyon – under the cover of the fanfare surrounding Barcelona’s trade by barter plus 40m Euros swap deal for Ibrahimovich and the transfer saga starring Frank Ribery nom de plume “World’s…

Ligue 1 Preview – Bordeaux, Marseille and Lyon’s Summer of Love

What a difference a year makes. Against odds, FC Bordeaux dethroned Ligue 1′s 7 time consecutive champions Lyon to lift the Ligue 1 trophy. With 12 wins on the trot at the tail end of the season, FC Bordeaux secured a top dog status with its first league title in a decade. Along with the…

Synopsis Russia : Zenit’s Zenith, Loveless Moscow and a New Czar

Zenit St. Petersburg was the straw that broke the Camel’s back. Rubin Kazan let the cat out the bag. In 2007, after years of domination by Moscow teams – Spartak, Lokomotiv and CSKA – Dick “the little General” Advocaat coached the Sine-Byelo-Goluboy (Blue-White-Sky-Blues) to its first ever Russian Premier league title, followed suit by winning…

Valencia and the Trojan Horse

We all know the story of the Trojan Horse  - after a fruitless 10 yr siege of Troy, the Greeks built a figure in shape of a horse in which a select group of soldiers hid. The Greek army then pretended to sail away which tricked the Trojans who pulled the horse into their city…

An unwanted French Kiss and a pleasant Brazilian Wax

Bordeaux 1 – 0 Lyon. No Cavegol, no problem. French international and ex-Lyon player Alou Diarra’s 43′rd minute poke gave Les Girondins a deserved win against a rather lackluster Lyon side; adding misery to manager Claude Puel’s future and potentially kissed away Lyon’s title hopes. In the biggest game of the Ligue 1 season, Laurent…

Lyon: Falling From Grace?

“I am not the coach but it’s true that with all those changes we sometimes find it difficult to get our bearings… It would be a catastrophe of the prospect of Lyon not winning an eighth consecutive title.” Those words, by Lyon ace Karim Benzema, adequately describe the club’s state of mind. As the recently…

Wolfsburg, Hamburg, it’s now or never!

Das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist. The famous proverb – make hay while the sun shines – aptly applies to several clubs aiming to strip Bayern of consecutive Bundesliga titles, its 22nd in waiting. Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Hertha and to a lesser extent Stuttgart  harbour title hopes in the most exciting Bundesliga season, and perhaps…

Lyon might, Marseille should, but Bordeaux will win Ligue 1

“I’m an honest man and you’ve got to say that Marseille and Bordeaux have worked well these past two seasons. This year maybe they deserve to go all the way…” Those truly sincere words were uttered by Lyon’s Juninho following the team’s 2-2 draw last weekend which saw the seven consecutive domestic champions lose top…

Ligue 1 Review: PSG dreaming of champagne on the Champs-Élysées

Arithmetic took center stage with number “7″ as second place PSG travelled away to ninth place Lorient this past weekend. Living up to his number jersey number, 32-year-old Ludovic Guily scored his 7th league goal as he volleyed in Guillaume Hoarau’s carefully headed pass. The 1-0 result see PSG close the gap on Lyon as…