A few weeks ago Jose Mourinho issued a warning to his replacement at Inter Milan, Rafael Benitez.
In an interview, Mourinho explained that “one thing is certain, Benitez won’t do better than me.” Whilst there was little to dispute this, given the historic treble victory enjoyed by Inter last year, confidence still remained high of otherwise in the blue half of Milan.
English clubs are becoming more obsessed than ever about winning the Champions League. Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham are on the road to try and claim their first win in this great competition whilst Manchester United are trying to reclaim it. Many people in Europe believe that to be a big club around the world you have to win this tournament, so this is why clubs have an endless drive to win the thing. Even though the English Premier League is much more lucrative than the Champions League money wise it does not stop the English clubs concentrating on it more than the premier league.
The way in which England have started their new qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 has seen a remarkable about turn by certain sections of the English media in their regard for the national team. Football like a lot of sport is a fickle business so maybe the reporting of it is as prone to the highs and lows as those who partake in it.
For example fans always get on the back of a striker during a goal drought, but other supporters and pundits will be just as keen to stress that once the drought is broken the goals will come flooding back. Likewise there is the old adage that form is temporary and class is permanent, a good line for those that wish to argue with detractors of a player going through a rough patch.
In the weeks leading up to the start of the new La Liga season in Spain, much of the talk had focused on the increasing predictability of the Real Madrid and Barcelona duopoly.
After all, last year’s runners up Real had been busy yet again this summer assembling another new look team with their new look manager. Whilst Barcelona, for all their financial woes, had still found room to sign David Villa.
The Bundesliga is off and running and this weekend delivered the second round of league matches for the 2010/11 season. The British press will be keeping a particularly keen eye on the competition this campaign as they wait to see if Steve McClaren can follow up his successful two-year tenure at FC Twente with another league title in a new country.
Whilst McClaren's new employers Wolfsburg should be in the mix of the title race, the focus will also be on some usual suspects. Lois van Gaal's Bayern Munich will be the team for everyone else to beat after they secured a domestic league and cup double last season and almost claimed the Champions League as well. Another strong contender is Schalke 04, runners-up last time out and managed by Felix Magath- a man who has already won the Bundesliga 3 times with Bayern and Wolfsburg.