THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THE 2012 “BEAUTIFUL GAME” SEASON: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (SERIES 7)

         

 

                    

      THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The most prestigious continental across the border football tourney as far as club football in Europe is concerned, the UEFA Champions League provided club football with the biggest twists and turns.

UEFA, the annual convener of the best of the best 32 football clubs in Europe had among the best, regular partakers; Real Madrid, Arsenal, Lyon, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Internazionale and of course Chelsea in the showdown as it, from kick off promised to radiate a torch of excitement at an unprecedented pace and level beyond the continent of Europe.

With the tourney underway, a host of pundits and lovers of the games expected it to be Barcelona’s 4^th Champions League final appearance in 7years. 

On the flip side, La Liga rival, Real Madrid was the team expected to battle Barcelona in the Allianz Arena final, a final expected to bring back the memories of the 2010/11 semi finals when Barcelona came out top 3 – 1 on aggregate. 

On this note, among these great enthusiasts of the Champions League is UEFA President, Michel Platini. According to soccernews.com, Michel Platini said ....“I do not know who will play in it but a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona could be a great final. The aforementioned expectation by the UEFA president was widespread and sang by many around me too. 

Interestingly, if the group stage performance of the 2011/12 Champions League was anything to go by, of all the table toppers, Barcelona (Group H) and Real Madrid Group D) with 16 and 18 points respectively garnered the highest points in the group stage of the competition. Asides these 2 Spanish giants, other group leaders reaped lesser points . On this note, Bayern Munich (13 points at the summit of Group A); Internazionale (Group B, 10 points); Benfica (Group C, 12 points); Chelsea (Group E, 11 points); Arsenal (Group F, 11 points) and lastly; Apoel Nicosia (Group G, 9 points).

But, asides these table toppers, added to the table runners - up that made it through to the 2^nd round 2-legged knock out stage, Manchester United and their Champions League debutant neighbour, Manchester City failed to make it through but got relegated to the second tier UEFA Inter –Club tourney, the UEFA Europa League. With all due respect to Benfica, FC Basel and Otelul Galati, the non qualification of Manchester United indeed was a shocker, because by merely looking at Group C prior to the commencement of the tourney, Man U had themselves the choice by many to top the group but the bombshell that makes football beautiful, manifested itself further making the UEFA Champions League more spellbinding. 

In addition, the exit of FC Porto, the 2003/2004 UEFA Champions League winners and 2010/2011 UEFA Europa Cup winners was a big twist as the competition advanced due to these teams being UEFA Champions League heavy weights and as thus, expected to make it through the group stage. 

However, sequel to the earlier discussed exit, it was high time the boys got separated from the men as Bayern Munich, Napoli, Internazionale, CSKA Moscow, Benfica, FC Basel, Real Madrid, Lyon, Chelsea, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Marseille, Apoel Nicosia, Zenit St Peterburg, Barcelona and AC Milan ushered in the second round with very tough fixtures that added more glamour to the competition. Among these thrilling fixtures were the AC Milan VS Arsenal and Chelsea VS Napoli matches.

In the former, Arsenal having had a 4-0 score line away loss to AC Milan in the San Siro, were in the reverse fixture very close to establishing a dramatic comeback via a 3-0 victory, which was a goal shy of them scaling through to the quarter final stage.

Though Arsenal did not scale through, Chelsea did theirs in grand-style. Having lost the first leg by 3 - 1 to Napoli followed by the sack of manager, Andres Villas Boas (AVB) in March, the blues were widely ruled out of advancing to the quarter finals stage due to their lackluster display evident in the drop of their Premier league performance and the first leg Napoli loss. 

But newly appointed interim boss, Roberto Di Matteo brought forth a breath of fresh air that slowly rejuvenated Chelsea, seeing them through the second leg, then to the semi finals where they face Barcelona. In both legged matches against Barcelona, Chelsea displayed the best defensive approach to football I have watched in a very long time, coming out tops with a 3- 2 aggregate scoreline. 

On the flip side, Bayern Munich, which had the advantage of being the host of the Champions League final had this somewhat as an added momentum to get through to the finals. This drive no doubt contributed to their tenacious display against Real Madrid in both semi final as the scores was all squared with 3-3 scores on aggregate.

May 19 is a day to remember in the world of football as Bayern Munich and Chelsea had a classy final. one to be forever remembered by  Chelsea but oops, forgotten by Bayern munich, This is due to the dramatic end to the match on full time in which Bayern Munich through Thomas Muller, having scored what seemed like the only and winning goal on the 83rd minute, got heartbroken by Didier Drogba's leveler on the 88th minute.

This got both sides unable to break the deadlock in the 30 minutes extra time, taking Munich 2012 to penalty shoot- outs that was eventually won by Chelsea, a final that made the twists and turns of the UEFA Champions League one to get much more people following and unprecedentedly addicted to.

Below is a picture of the very excited Chelsea players.

Image Source:   Google Image

And noteworthy, sequel to the final penalty taken by Didier Drogba, the G8 Summit meeting in Camp David had the German Chancellor showing the Spirit of Sportsmanship to Prime Minister David Cameron which had a multiplier effect of adding spice to the May 19, 2012 finals. 

That said, there is no better definition to the spirit of sportsmanship and love for the beautiful game but the embrace between both leaders, a hug that in no small measure showed what it means to accept defeat.

Image Source: The Guardian

David Cameron, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, José Manuel Barroso, François Hollande (seated) and advisers watch the penalty shootout that determined the Bayern Munich v Chelsea Champions League final in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the G8 summit at Camp David

And noteworthy, sequel to the final penalty taken by Didier Drogba, the G8 Summit had the German Chancellor showing the Spirit of Sportsmanship to Prime Minister David Cameron which had a multiplier effect of adding spice to the May 19, 2012 finals.

That said, there is no better definition to the spirit of sportsmanship and love for the beautiful game but the embrace between both leaders, a hug that in no small measure showed what it means to accept defeat.

Image Source:  The Guardian

José Manuel Barroso looks on as David Cameron hugs Angela Merkel after the penalty shootout that gave Chelsea victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the G8 Summit at Camp David.

REFERENCES

UEFA Champions League” ESPNsoccernet 26 May 2012 <m.espn.go.com/soccer/standings?leagueTag=uefa.champions&lang=EN>

“Platini dreaming of all - Spanish final” Soccernews 4 June 2012 <www.soccernews.com/platini-dreaming-of-all-spanish-final/90039/>

“Chelsea sack Andre Villas-Boas; Roberto Di Matteo appointed interim manager until end of season” The Telegraph 04 Mar 2012

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9121897/Chelsea-sack-Andre-Villas-Boas-Roberto-Di-Matteo-appointed-interim-manager-until-end-of-season.html>

THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THE 2012 “BEAUTIFUL GAME” SEASON: FA PREMIER LEAGUE (SERIES 6)

RECAPITULATION

So far in the last 17 days, we have analyzed the year 2012 of the beautiful game which has been a spectacular season to behold.

On this note, we kicked off this series on 14 June, 2012 with the Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON). Following the AFCON, we  further discussed the Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga  that were published on this blog on the 17^th, 20^th, 22^nd and 23^rd of June 2012 respectively.

At this point, of the top rated European leagues, the English Premier League (EPL) is discussed now and last but it will not be the touchdown point to bring down the curtains on “the twists and turns of the 2012 “beautiful game” season. This is due to the fact that two more tournaments will be discussed in due course. 

However, my chose of the English Premier League to be discussed last is guided by the saying save the best for last. 

                                     
                             

 THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (EPL)         




    

According to Wikipedia, “the Premier League ranked first in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years, ahead of the Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A.” 

In addition, the EPL is also rated high with respect to the level of following on television and to this end, as also revealed by Wikipedia , “the Premier League is the most watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to an audience of 643million viewers.” The incredible following by the EPL is one I have for long heard in my over 8 years of being an ardent follower of the league and the attitude of my compatriots to the EPL adds credence to this and makes me proud of being among the over 643million people.

The just concluded 2011/12 season of the League which was the 20^th anniversary of the newly formed FA Premier League was indeed a season to treasure and easily reminisce which also doubles as adding spice to making the twists and turns of the 2012 football year much more special in an unprecedented manner.

Among the greatest events that got the league one to treasure is the twists and turns in the performance of a host of the teams, notably Arsenal and Wolverhampton.

As at match day 3 on 28 August, 2011 the gunners (Arsenal) had lost 2 matches and drawn one, having a deficit goals difference of 8. The high goals deficit and worse start of Arsenal in their Premier league history was mainly attributed to the exit of club captain Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri whom left to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. This depletion in the Arsenal squad got them an underwhelming performance away to Manchester United in which they were bullied by 8 goals to 2. 

Though Arsenal still had a couple of below par performance in a few matches, the transfer deadline acquisition of Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Andres Santos, Park Chu - young and Per Mertesacker, rejuvenated the gunners as subsequent matches got them having a balance and getting the results to at least shock those whom never gave them breathing space and wrote them off a champion league qualification, a notable example these pundits; Tommy Smyth of ESPNsoccernet Press Pass. 

On the other hand, though too early to conclude as at the opening stages, Wolves seemed to be a repented side as far as late season survival battle is concerned. This is due to the unusual manner they kicked off the 2011/12 Premier League season in which they had possibly the best start to their premier league campaign in their inconsistent and sojourn years in the top flight division. In this regard Wolverhampton in the first three matches recorded 2 wins and a draw having a surplus/positive goal difference of 3 which got them placed in 5^th position, though for a very short while with such bright start sojourned, leading to an ironical ending as they subsequently got 18 points in 35 league matches bidding goodbye to the premier league pending when they get promoted back to the top flight. But this was just a tip of the iceberg of the side attraction that made the 2011/12 season more twisting and spellbinding.

However, asides the 8 – 2 whitewash of Arsenal, 19 times Champions Manchester United had a groovy start to the 2011/12 season and a good but unfortunate ending. That said, Man U as they are fondly called were on the 29^th of October 2011 made to have a feel of how the gunners felt bullied in their hands, no thanks to the 6 – 1 home defeat they (Man U) suffered in the hands of Manchester City. A performance that got Manchester City on the lips of more people as expected League Champions.

As the league climaxed, the premier league became a two horse race between both Manchester sides while other teams, notably Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and remarkably, Newcastle United were left to fight for the 2012/13 Champions league spot. Though Chelsea lost out in the race but had a more outstanding way to qualify for the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League season. To this end, please watch out for part 7 of this series.

On Newcastle, though they were not able to get a date with UEFA Champions League but UEFA Europa League in the forthcoming 2012/13 season, Newcastle United was impressive, somewhat making me have a flashback to the performance of Montpellier in the French Ligue 1. The incredible display of football and resilience by Newcastle United was evident in the award of the Barclays Premier League Manager of the year to their gaffer, Alan Pardew whom guided the club to 5^th place, their best position in 9 years added to the fact that this is a side that got relegated in the 2008/09 season further gaining an immediate promotion in the 2010/11 season where they had a 12^th place finish. That said, the 2011/12 season 5^th somewhat of a geometric progression finish of Newcastle United is indeed a remarkable twists in their once again romance with the EPL. 

Oh, I forgot, at some point in January Tottenham were also big contenders for the league title not until they got struggling for form to get the results for the UEFA Champions Leguae which they ended up losing out due to Chelsea’s historic UEFA Champions League triumph which I must reiterate will be discussed soon.

At this juncture, Manchester City winning the league though a twist is not surprising as it has been long awaited due to what I call the bottomless well investment since the Abu Dhabi United Group take over in August 2008. That said, since the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover of Man City, starting with the acquisition of Robinho from Real Madrid for a reported £32.5million and of recent Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid for £35million, Manchester City has spent over £200million in the acquisition of players. Others are Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg at £27m, SAMIR Nasri from Arsenal at £25. Also, Yaya Toure, James Milner and David Silva were purchased from Barcelona, Aston Villa and Valencia respectively at £24m each to mention very few as many other big names are not on the list. 

In the 2008/09 season, the season of takeover, they finished at 10^th place and have since had an ascending finish to the season. To this end, in the 2009/10 season and 2010/11 season, they finished in 5^th and 3^rd place respectively, a progressive finish of a kind I call a geometric progression league position improvement.

That said, 4 years since takeover, Manchester City have established themselves as a firm competitor for the Premier league and other trophies which has had a multiplier effect in them winning 2 trophies (English FA Cup in 2010/11 season and 2011/12 EPL) so far and having a successive UEFA Champions League qualification after having had their first experience in the 2011/12 season.

But indeed, the 2012 was closed on a beautiful note with the tenacious performance of Manchester City whom had to wait till the dying minutes of the game to turn around what seemed to be a 2 – 1 defeat to 10 man Queens Park Rangers to avoid ceding the 2011/12 Premier League title to rivals Manchester United that had their eyes firmly on the trophy having had their 1 nil victory match over Sunderland concluded a few minutes before the Man City game ended.

Moreover, what makes this year one to fondly look back at, most especially to the Man City fans is due to the fact that firstly Man City had to wait 44 years to win the league title and also the manner in which they clinched the 2011/12 title which is a déjà vu to the 1967/68 season when they (Man City) had to wait till the final day to win the league at the expense of Manchester United courtesy a 4 – 3 victory over Newcastle United.

The dramatic ending to the season with both clubs tied on 89 point but the 64 goals difference of Manchester City ahead of the 56 by Manchester United made the 20^th anniversary of the EPL worth remembering and no doubt will give more room to more twists and turns in the forthcoming 2012/13 season, a season I can’t wait to witness.

Image Source: Google Image

The above image depicts the victorious Manchester City sequel to their fisrt league title in Eddie,

REFERENCES 

 

“Football transfers – August 2011” BBC SPORT 25 May 2012 <www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14365319>

Griffin “Top 10 Most Expensive Football Transfers” Soccer Lens 3 Sep. 2008. 25 May 2012 <soccerlens.com/top-10-most-expensive-transfers-in-football/5244/>

“Manchester City F.C.” Wikipedia 27 May 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_City_F.C.>

“Premier League Manager of the Season” Wikipedia 27 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_Manager_of_the_Season>

THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THE 2012 “BEAUTIFUL GAME” SEASON: LA LIGA (SERIES 5)

 

  

LA LIGA DE ESPAÑOL        

   

La Liga (The League) is a league that has historically been one of the best in the world with an unending level of glamour. The fascination of the Primera División de La Liga de español (First division of Spanish league) is attributed to the league being a force to reckon with which is all thanks to it having somewhat of a magnetic attraction effect on the best of the best footballers. 

These footballers include the likes of Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram , Fabio Cannavaro. 

And of course, asides these mentioned football greats, this work will be incomplete without the mention of 2 special outstanding players that never stop the world of football from marveling at their performance. With all due respect to current great footballers like Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Robin Van Persie, Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovich; Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two players that surpass ones imagination. For this reason, I refer to them as 2 great football players from a yet to be named special planet where only their kinds and better of their kinds (yet to be born) are made. But for the purpose of this work, I will dub the Planet football planet of the gifted.

In most of the years since the founding of La Liga in 1928, the league has been a 2 horse race, courtesy its dominance by barça and los blancos. 

According to Wikipedia, Barcelona (Barça) has had 21 league titles while Real Madrid has won the league 32 times, thus having a combined league title victory of 53 in the 84 year old league. 

That said, prior to the commencement of the 2011/2012 La Liga season, it was widely expected that as usual the season was also going to be a 2 horse race and of course it was.

The eventual success of Real Madrid, the 2011/2012 champions is on point and highly commendable but long delayed.  In this regard, we will look back at the high amount of investments and monies by Real Madrid in recruiting the “best of the best” players, most notably in 2009. In 2009 Real Madrid spent ₤80m and ₤56m pounds respectively on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, an amount too mouthwatering for many clubs to consider a fortune. But having spent this heavy amount on not just these 2 world greats but others like Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzima, los blancos went two years without winning the Spanish league. 

These said, such amount of investment with no immediate returns ironically adds to the spice of what makes football not just beautiful but delicious to watch which is an added taste of suspense that gets one addicted to the beautiful game with no limit. In addition, it also added credence to the popular saying that money does not immediately bring nor attract trophies. A justification guarded by Real Madrid since the purchase of these goal post assassins waiting three years to win the league and two years to win the King’s Cup (Copa del rey), trophy they last won in 1993. 

Irrespective of this, the popular saying; the patient dog eats the fattest bone defined the tenacity of Real Madrid which productively landed them the league title and trophy in the just concluded 2011/2012 season, a trophy they won in grand style by being the first club in the Spanish La Liga history to win the league with an unprecedented 100 points. An achievement that has indeed brought to fruition the fortune spent on both Christiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Kaka, added to Xabi Alonso Karim Benzima and a host of others that have been acquired sequel to the 2007/2008 season when they last won the La Liga that was dominated by the invincible (Barcelona). 

In the last 12 years, Real Madrid has finished the season as winners 5 times and runners up 5 times while Barca have had 5 trophy triumph and 3 second place finish. The two horse race overwhelming effect by these two clubs on the La Liga title has been transcended to two of their priceless assets. These 2 assets are of course, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

To this end, the Spanish La Liga have been dominated by both players particularly since 2010 with Messi being the top scorer in the 2010, added to the just concluded 2012 season while Ronaldo was the top scorer in 2011. No doubt the La Liga top scorers award just like the league has been a two horse race between Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. 

In addition, the FIFA World Player of the year award (now the FIFA Ballon d’Or award), has also been diffused by the flawless approach to the beautiful game by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. This is marked by Messi winning the highly coveted award for three straight years as thus 2009, 2010 and 2011 while Ronaldo being the  Runner Up in these three years. It should however be recalled that in the 2008 awards when Ronaldo was awarded the FIFA World Player of the year award, Lionel Messi came second.

Though Real Madrid clinched the just concluded La Liga title, Barcelona were not left out as they clinched the Copa del rey, which entailed both clubs having somewhat of an exchange or swap of the 2010/11 domestic football year when Barcelona were the La Liga Champions and Real Madrid the King’s cup, an exchange that indeed makes Spanish football a delight to watch.


The picture below depicts Real Madrid players sequel to the La Liga triumph applaud their fans that has for long kept faith in the team.

 

Image Source:   realmadrid.com

References:

“List of Spanish football champions” Wikipedia 21 June 2012  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_football_champions> 

Eddie, Griffin “Top 10 Most Expensive Football Transfers” Soccer Lens 3 Sep. 2008. 25 May 2012 <soccerlens.com/top-10-most-expensive-transfers-in-football/5244/>

“Copa del Rey” Wikipedia 18 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_del_Rey>

THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THE 2012 “BEAUTIFUL GAME” SEASON: SERIE A (SERIES 4)

 

                       The Italian Serie A                         

         

The fourth football tourney in view is the first tier football in Italy, the Serie A. The Serie A and Italian football in general, inclusive of the Italian National football team is one that is widely known for the tight marking, physical approach to the beautiful game, in addition to a disparate more attention paid to the defence rather than the attack. To this end, the Italian football league compared to the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga has a slower flow and pace inherent in their approach to the game play.

The manner in which the 2011/2012 Serie A season was won by Juventus F.C. aka the Old Ladies has got the Italian League added to the twist and turns of the 2012 year of football. This is due to the fact that Juventus clinched the league in grand style and in a distinct fashion that was marked by their invincibility leading to them adding to their 27 Serie A title and extending the gap between them and the two Milan sides (AC and Internazional) with regards to the number of Italian League titles won in history.  To this end, both AC and Inter Milan have won the Italian Serie A 18 times and I must reiterate with the 2011/12 Serie triumph by Old Ladies, Juventus have won the Serie A at an unprecedented 28 times.

In highlighting the remarkableness of Juventus awesome clinch of the 2011/12 Serie A title, it is high time we went back memory lane, though of recent, the 2006 Calciopoli Scandal. 

That said, what makes Juventus clinch of the 2011/2012 Serie A one to savour is looking back to 2006 when the old ladies got relegated to Serie B. A relegation that arose from the 2006 Calciopoli Scandal. 

The Italian football scandal in 2006 which was born out of match fixing accusations shook the Italian football league, further stripping the old ladies off the titles they won in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons. In addition, Juventus were relegated to Serie B and had 9 points docked off their transient in the second tire of Italian football.

With the relegation of Juventus to Serie B, a handful of players left the club. These players included the then world footballer of the year Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, zambrotta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But club veteran, Alexandrio Del Piero; “my then best striker in the world”, David Trezeguet and of course the one and only ever reliable midfielder, Pavel Nedved portrayed their allegiances to Juventus by staying back to fight for promotion back to where they truly belonged, the Serie A. This indeed paid off as Juventus sojourned in Serie B and were back in Serie the following season.

With Juventus back in the top flight in the 2007/2008 football year, it meant an old team that just got back to get acquainted once again with an old league level they had for old dominated more than any other team as far as Italian club football is concerned. 

Now in Serie A in the 2007/08 season, the Serie B Champions were generally not considered for the title but in my opinion were impressive in their performance, finishing 3^rd on 72 points behind Champions Internazional and AS Roma who finished on 85 and 82 points respectively.

My reason for the aforesaid postulation is due to the fact that due to their relegation to Serie B, I perceived that Juventus was undergoing somewhat of a recovery, a recovery that finishing the league in 3^rd place was one I considered an achievement that got my jaw dropping. 

As the years went on, Juventus proved to be a force to reckon with and exhibit a remarkably fast acquaintance with the Serie A by finishing in 2^nd place on 74 points, signifying a 10 point finish behind the 2008/2009 league champions, Internazional. Indeed, the old ladies were moving close to the trophy with all eyes on the subsequent (2009/2010) season in expectation of a continuation in the upward trend, signifying a 2009/2010 title clinching year for the once upon a time foes of Italian football.

But in the 2009/2010 season the closeness of Juventus to the trophy had a heavy knock. This is due to the fact that going by the remarkable two years performance of Juventus since promotion rather than having a continued upward performance entailing a clinch of the Serie A, Juventus had a downward and title distancing performance, finishing 7^th place in the league. 

Though Juventus had a 7^th place finish in the 2009/10 season, the 2010/11 season had Juventus being tenacious in their quest to avoid a drop. This tenacity entailed them having a déjà vu to their 2009/10 season performance. 

But with the 2011/12 season performance by the Old Ladies, the only conclusion to generate is that Juventus had their eyes on a huge mountain they had dreamed they climbed successfully, a mountain they climbed with style in an unprecedented fashion and an unimagined display of obstinacy to defeat which marked the old ladies finishing the league undefeated.

Due to the recent years of adverse happenings surrounding Juventus F.C, the 2011/2012 season is one to behold, climaxing a happy ending at least to the players, fans and management of the old ladies, a season to go down memory lane, not just in the history of Juventus F.C but the Italian Serie A.

...Juventus F.C. Players in jubilant mood following the trophy presentation 

Image Source: Google Image

References:

“2006 Italian football scandal” Wikipedia 21 June 2012    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Italian_football_scandal>

“2011/12 Italian Serie A Table / Table” ESPNSoccernet  21 June 2012 <http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables/_/league/ita.1/ita-serie-a?cc=3888>

 “Italian Serie B (Season 2006-07)” ESPNsoccernet 22 June 2012 <m.espn.go.com/soccer/standings?leagueTag=ita.2&season=2006&lang=EN>

 

“Juventus F.C.” Wikipedia  20 June 2012 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juventus_F.C.>

“SerieA” Wikipedia 20 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serie_A>