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About a Ball Guide to Sporting Braga - Challenging Portuguese dominance
Sporting Braga - Bolton's opponents in Thursday's UEFA Cup are a hugely ambitious side looking to try and challenge the dominance of Portugal's established top three teams. Their aggressive investment in the squad has partially yielded results as they finished 4th last season. With a brand new stadium, which was created for Euro 2004, an increasing fan base and a squad now capable of challenging the like of Benfica and Porto in one-off games Braga are also looking to flex their muscles on a European level.by Walter Townsend on Thursday, 25th October 2007
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About a Ball Guide to Panathinaikos - A Greek Tragedy for Aberdeen?
Aberdeen play their 100th match in UEFA competition on Thursday evening when they travel to Greek giants Panathinaikos. The Greek side have only played 5 games in their league after the start was held up due to a quibble about team eligibility and Greek elections and as a result the league is still in it's infancy. Nevertheless under the new management of former Sporting Lisbon coach Jose Peseiro they have started brightly recording three wins and a 0-0 draw in their first match against arch rivals Olmpiacos.by Walter Townsend on Wednesday, 24th October 2007
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The About a Ball Guide to Getafe; A downward trend?
Little known Getafe play Spurs on Thursday night in the UEFA Cup group stage and the Madrid based minnows will have their work cut out if they are to qualify from the group. Getafe have been in the Spanish top flight for 3 seasons and are embarking on their fourth full season in the top flight. A string of inspired managerial signings saw Getafe rise from lower league mediocrity to La Liga under the guidance of amongst others Bernd Schuster (at Real Madrid) and Quique Sanches Flores (at Valencia). This season though the side have failed to gel under the new manager Michael Laudrupby Walter Townsend on Wednesday, 24th October 2007
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Resilient Rangers repel Barca attack; Rangers 0-0 Barcelona
A brave Rangers rearguard action saw them frustrate Catalan giants Barcelona this evening at Ibrox keeping the Spanish side at bay for the full 90 minutes to secure a 0-0 draw and a valuable point. Despite Barcelona dominating possession as well as peppering the Rangers goal with shots throughout the match, the Scottish side held out and even at times went close to snatching a winning goal themselves on occasion. The point means that Rangers stay joint top with Barcelona, having only to cede top spot to their visitors as a result of the goal conceded in the first match of the group to Stuttgart.by Walter Townsend on Tuesday, 23rd October 2007
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The About a Ball Guide to Besiktas; A hot welcome awaits Liverpool
Liverpool travel to Turkey on Wednesday evening to play their third qualifying game in the Champions League knowing that a win or at least a point will be crucial to their hopes of qualifying from the group stage. The Turkish fans will be sure to create a hostile reception for the Liverpool team but their side have yet to record a point in the Champions League and are in an even more precarious position in the group desperately looking for a result to kick start their campaign in Europe.by Walter Townsend on Tuesday, 23rd October 2007
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About a Ball Guide to Dynamo Kiev; Szabo sorts out Dynamo
Dynamo Kiev are one of the biggest names of Eastern European football enjoying a large period of dominance since the break up of the Soviet Union in the new Ukrainian league and also being one of the major forces in the old Soviet league. Dynamo have had their domestic dominance challenged since the turn of the Millennium by Shakhtar and their downturn in fortunes coincides with the death of their enormously charismatic manager Valeri Lobanovsky.by Walter Townsend on Monday, 22nd October 2007
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Rangers win leaves Lyon stunned; Olympique Lyon 0-3 Rangers
Rangers pulled off the shock of the night in the Champions League when they recorded a surprise 0-3 win against 6 times French Champions recording in the process their first away win in the Champions League since December 2000. The three points gained in addition to the win against Stuttgart leaves Rangers in a commanding position in the group with 6 points form the first two games. Rangers grabbed a goal in the first half through former Wigan striker Lee McCulloch and added two quick fire breakaway goals in the second half to leave Lyon reeling from their second consecutive loss in the group.by Walter Townsend on Wednesday, 3rd October 2007
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About a Ball Guide to Olympique Marseille; Can Cisse return to haunt Liverpool?
Wednesday night sees the return of Djibril Cisse to Anfield with his current club Marseille in the Group Stages of the Champions League, Marseille are currently struggling badly in Ligue 1 but have started their Champions League campaign with a win at home to Besiktas. That poor run in the league cost previous coach Albert Emon his job and Belgian manager Eric Gerets has been brought in to try and get the Marseille season back on track. However, Liverpool represent a tough test for the team from the Mediterranean coast.by Walter Townsend on Wednesday, 3rd October 2007
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The About a Ball Guide to AS Roma - How to stop Totti?
Manchester United meet AS Roma tonight in the Champions League group stage with last season's Quarter Final match still fresh in the minds of Roma, who suffered their heaviest away defeat in Europe at Old Trafford when the slipped to a 7-1 loss that evening. After starting the season brightly Roma have just gone off the boil in the last week recording 2 draws and a defeat in the league. The main man, of course, is Francesco Totti, and they key to the match from United's perspective might be to effectively shackling the Roma forward.by Walter Townsend on Tuesday, 2nd October 2007
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About a Ball Guide to Olympique Lyonnais; French Champions beginning to pick up?
On the eve of Rangers’ meeting with Olympique Lyonnais the signs are that after a difficult start to the French season the French Champions might be picking up, an ominous sign for Rangers, who are due to meet them on Tuesday night in the Champions League.by Walter Townsend on Monday, 1st October 2007
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The About A Ball Guide to Steaua Bucharest; What's good for Chelsea is good for Steaua?
Arsenal's next opponents in the Champions League on Tuesday night are Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest, who like Chelsea have decided to dispense with the services of a popular manager after a "slow" start to the season. Last week whilst Mourinho was grabbing the headlines in West London after his Chairman decided he wanted to see a different brand of football so the same thing happened in Romaniaby Walter Townsend on Monday, 1st October 2007
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Derby fever in Portugal; Benfica and Sporting trying to stay in touch with flying Porto
In a quirk of the fixture list in Portugal this season both the Lisbon and Porto derbies will be played on the same match day in the BWIN-Liga this Saturday with Benfica hosting Sporting and Boavista travelling to their near neighbours Porto.by Walter Townsend on Friday, 28th September 2007
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First Turkish derby of the season could be a cracker; Galatasary-Besiktas Preview
The first “super-classico” of the Turkish season will be played at the weekend between the two Istanbul based giants Galatasary and Besiktas, both of whom are located on the European side of the city. Both sides are currently unbeaten in the Turkcell Superlig and inevitably occupy the top two spots. Therefore Saturday’s match could be a real corker not only with local pride at stake but also the chance to grab top spot.by Walter Townsend on Friday, 28th September 2007
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Top two meet in Germany; Bayer Leverkusen-Bayern Munich Preview
Another interesting weekend of German league matches are coming up this weekend including a meeting between the current top two with Bayern Munich travelling to high flying Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile on Friday night Schalke in third meet Hertha Berlin in fifth in what promises is to be an exciting match day 8 in the Bundesliga.by Walter Townsend on Thursday, 27th September 2007
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Roma looking to bounce back in Florence; Fiorentina-AS Roma Preview
AS Roma will be looking to bounce back from the late concession of an equaliser on Sunday afternoon against Juventus, which ended their perfect 100% start in the league, by taking all three points off Fiorentina tonight. Fiorentina have also started the league promisingly and are yet to taste defeat, meaning that the match in Florence will be the game of Matchday 5.by Walter Townsend on Wednesday, 26th September 2007
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How much truth is there to the Ronaldinho rumours; Is he really moving to Chelsea?
Rumours abound that Chelsea may be mulling over a move for Barcelona’s Ronaldinho and that Barcelona’s Brazilian star may be open to a move away from the Nou Camp. But is there really any truth to this?by Walter Townsend on Tuesday, 25th September 2007
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Wasteful Roma pegged back by Juve; AS Roma 2-2 Juventus
An exciting game yesterday afternoon at the Stadio Olimpico saw Serie A giants Roma and Juventus battle out an engaging 2-2 draw . Totti bagged a brace for the home side initially cancelling out a lead given to Juventus by Trezeguet before the ‘Old Lady’ hit back with an Iaquinta strike late on to grab a share of the points. However, Juventus have profligate finishing from Roma to thank for even still being in the game late on as the Spaletti’s men wasted several decent chances in the second half to extend their lead.by Walter Townsend on Monday, 24th September 2007
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Battling Bochum hold high flying Frankfurt; VfL Bochum 0-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Mid-table VfL Bochum held Eintracht Frankfurt to a 0-0 draw yesterday at the Rewirpower Stadion in a tight but frankly dull encounter in the Bundesliga, with both sides cancelling each other out. Frankfurt stood to go top with a win leapfrogging Bayern Munich, at least temporarily, but were unable to find their way past a stubborn defence. Bochum, for their part, were also unable to create many meaningful chances in a game of few clear cut opportunities.by Walter Townsend on Saturday, 22nd September 2007
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Pressure on Barcelona to continue good work against Sevilla; Barcelona-Sevilla Preview
On Saturday night Barcelona welcome the unpredictable Sevilla to the Nou Camp for an important clash in this season’s race for the title. Despite having only played 3 match days so far in La Liga Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard is already under pressure to improve league results as his expensively assembled side has only picked up 1 win in 3 matches. Sevilla come into the game off the back of a 3-0 loss at Arsenal looking to pick up after a disappointing outing in London.by Walter Townsend on Friday, 21st September 2007
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Feyenoord with chance to stake title claim; PSV-Feyenoord Preview
The first of the planned “Super Sunday” matches is coming up this weekend in the Dutch Eredivisie with league leaders Feyenoord travelling to Eindhoven to meet PSV and Ajax making the short trip North to meet their near neighbours AZ.by Walter Townsend on Friday, 21st September 2007
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