#1. The English teams are in serious Champions League trouble
While Arsenal were able to scrape a victory and advance to the qualifying stages, Chelsea and the Manchesters weren't as fortunate. Chelsea, a squad severely out of form, must now beat an in form Valencia or draw nil nil to advance. Man U must win or tie Basel away to advance. And Man City must beat Bayern Munich AND have Villarreal take some points of Napoli to advance. Prediction- Chelsea and Man U advance, Man City does not.
#2. Lucas Leiva tears his ACL
The most important injury no one seems to be talking about. After his 3rd consecutive man of the match performance where Liverpool dominated Man City and were unlucky to not come away with all 3 points, the conservation should have been about whether Lucas has cemented himself as the best CDM in the EPL, or in the world. Instead, it was about how severe his injury would be. And unluckily for Liverpool, Lucas has torn his ACL and is out for the season. Being arguably the most underrated player in the world (how a starter for Brazil's national team can be underrated I do not know), this could potentially have serious consequences on Liverpool's Champions League spot hopes. If Gerrard comes back to his form from years past, the blow will soften significantly. If he does not, they are in serious trouble. Prediction- Gerrard can't rediscover his old form and Liverpool ends the season a couple points away from 4th place.
#3. Madrid look unstoppable, Barcelona does not.
Including national teams, these are easily the 2 best teams in the world. On paper, these might be the 2 best teams of all time. Their second string squads would beat almost every other teams first strings. I can go on and on about how good these squads are but while Madrid look to have finally figured out their best formula, counterattacking at a ruthless pace and letting Ronaldo do his thing on the left wing, Barcelona seem to be losing theirs. With Barca losing to Getafe last week, Madrid have a 6 point cushion on them that is huge when you are talking about a team with their quality. Yes it is a little early to come to any conclusion. Yes defensive injuries have essentially forced Barcelona to play a weird 3-4-3 formation. But with such a deficit, Barcelona need to play near perfect to defend their title. Prediction- Barcelona closes the gap on Madrid but does not have what it takes this season to overtake them as Madrid takes the Spanish title.
#4 Gary Speed dies
One of my favorite players of all time, Gary Speed, passed away last week in what looks to be a suicide by self hanging. This has to be one of the most confusing suicides of all time. He was the manager of his home country, Wales, and was loved by everyone he ever met. He was a true hard working professional and was one of the players I grew up idolizing when he was dominating the center of the pitch for Newcastle. He was a good looking lad who had a wife and two sons who seemed to love him dearly. Why he committed suicide will be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. RIP Gary Speed.
#5 Euro '12 draw
For those of you unaware, the Euro '12 draw came out this morning. And o what a draw it is. Group A is Poland, Greece, Czech, and Russia. Group B is Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Portugal. Group C is Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Croatia. Group D is Ukraine, Sweden, France, and England. It is the only draw in my lifetime where one groups best team (Russia in Group A) is worse then another groups worst team (Denmark in Group B). Group B is the obvious group of death where all 4 teams have the talent to win it all. With there being 3 teams in the tourney head and shoulders above the rest, Spain-Germany-Netherlands, and 2 of them in the same group as the best player of the tourney, Ronaldo, this makes for an interesting group to say the least. Group C is easily the second best group and Group D the third. Yes with Group A being so weak and Group B being so strong, the pot system is severely flawed and unfair, but in sports not everything is fair. Ooo how June 9nth can't come soon enough. Prediction- Way too early to tell but if the tourney started today Germany over Spain in the final.
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