THE FINAL

The date is set in Milan. We have a rematch on our hands, Real Madrid will face their city rivals Athletico Madrid on May 28th. Last time they faced each other in the final in 2014 Real Madrid walked away with the silverware. This marks the seventh time in Champions League history that there is a rematch in the final and Athletico Madrid is going in hot. The last time the two teams faced this past year Athletico dominated in a 4-0 match that showed Los Blancos they're a force to be reckoned with. Cristiano and his team are heavy favorites with their stacked team, but Athletico shows that defensive teamwork and fast counter play can be effective. The final will be an interesting one and I hope Athletico Madrid pull off an upset and win the champions league trophy.

Semi Finals - Update after Leg 1

Of both games played this week only one goal was scored. Manchester City and Real Madrid played their first leg in Manchester at the Ethiad Stadium to a 0 - 0 draw. Real Madrid was missing their key ingredient to success, Cristiano Ronaldo, due to injury. The line-up that their manager used against Manchester City was able to hold off the opposition until the final whistle. Manchester City suffered a loss due to injury, their playmaker David Silva had to come off early in the match due to a leg injury he sustained within the first few minutes. This draw has set the two clubs up for an all or nothing second leg in Madrid next Wednesday. Athletico Madrid was able to score in the first half against Bayern Munich and closed the game off at 1-0 pleasing the fans in attendance at the Calderon in Madrid. Saul was the man who was able to get the ball in the net for "Los Rojiblancos" and now Athletico Madrid will travel to Munich for their second leg next Tuesday with a goal in hand. The finals are approaching. Which teams will prevail? By this time next week we will know who it is that will square off in Milan for the 2016 UEFA Champions League final.

Final Four

The four teams left in this years champions league tournament are Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid. This past week had some intense action within the second legs for the final eight teams. The most shocking result was FC Barcelona's 0 - 2 defeat against Atletico Madrid. The rojiblancos advanced through with the magical touch of Frenchmen Antoine Griezmann. His two goals were the difference in the match and saw the defending champions to the exit door. Real Madrid went into the second leg, which was to be played at home in the historic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, down 0 - 2 against Wolfsburg of Germany. Los Blancos, or should I say Cristiano Ronaldo, showed who they really were. Ronlado was perfect in the match, scoring all 3 of his teams goals making the aggregate score 3 - 2 in favor of Real Madrid. Ronaldo proves once again that the champions league is his tournament, being the highest scorer and record holder for most hat tricks in the tournaments history. Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City played it out until the very end where it was Kevin De Bruyne who scored important goals in both legs to see his sky blues soar past the Paris giants 3 - 2 on aggregate. Bayern Munich, who have reached the semi finals every year since their last time as champions in the 2012/2013 season, had a tough second leg against Benfica. The aggregate score for both games ended in a 3 - 2 win for Bayern who eagerly want to win a European treble this 2015/2016 campaign. With the final four teams in place we wait the drawing of the next matches. Could we have all Madrid final like a few years ago? Will we see an English team advance to the final since Chelsea's win in 2011/2012? Or will Bayern Munich show why they are a force to be reckoned with by stating European dominance?

Updates & Quarter Finals

The teams that advanced through into the quarter finals were FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Wolfsburg, Benfica, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, and Bayern Munich. Over the past six years FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have been dominant in winning the trophy with the big ears with the exception of Chelsea FC's win in 2013. This quarter final sees defending champions FC Barcelona facing off against Atletico Madrid. Although Atletico went up early due to a brilliant strike from Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez of Barcelona showed why he is one of the worlds best strikers by scoring two goals for the Catalans. Bayern Munich defeated Benfica in their first leg with a goal from Arturo Vidal. The second legs for these matches should be exciting. Today, April 6th, we have Real Madrid facing Wolfsburg. Madrid are heavy favorites as they are every year but as the saying goes, "anything can happen in football." Paris-Saint Germain square off against Manchester City in a battle of the titans, financial titans that is. These two teams have some of the worlds highest payed footballers and have a lot of financial support from wealthy owners. At this point all the clubs remaining are giant clubs with great histories, but the footballing world knows which clubs have the money to buy the stars of today. After the end of next week we will know who advances into the semi-finals and is one step closer to Milan.

Bye Week - Round of 16 Second Legs Approaching

This past week we saw no UEFA action. All the teams did have games in their domestic leagues as this new week approaches. On March 8th we will see Real Madrid vs Roma in their second leg as well as Wolfsburg vs Gent. On Wednesday, March 9th, The Blues will have their second league against PSG. Last time they played The Blues lost in Paris 2-1. This time around we will be at Stamford Bridge in London and we look to finally advance past PSG since they have defeated Chelsea in the Round of 16 for the past two years. Benfica and Zenit St. Petersburg is the second game on Wednesday.

Round of 16 Week 2 Leg 1

Arsenal vs FC Barcelona ended in a 2-0 win for the catalan side thanks to Leo Messi scoring two goals at the Emirates Stadium. Surely FC Barcelona look to win again at home in the Camp Nou. FC Bayern and Juventus ended in a 2-2 draw. The next leg will be interesting. Anything can happen in the Atletico Madrid and PSV second leg since they tied as well at 0-0. Manchester City has secured a spot in the next round after crushing Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 in Russia. This upcoming week will not haven any games and the second leg for all 16 teams begins next Tuesday, March 8th.

Round of 16 Week 1 Leg 1

This past week we saw the first leg for eight of the final 16 teams in the champions league. PSG and Chelsea faced each other in Paris where Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani scored a goal each for PSG. Chelsea's goal was scored by John Obi Mikel, the final score was 2-1 to Paris Saint Germain. The Paris Giants will face The Blues at Stamford Bridge in London where Chelsea have been dominant having won their last two home games 5-1; Chelsea have a crucial away goal that could be a heavy factor in this second leg. Benfica had a late winner against Zenit in their first leg, and a much deserved late winner since according to the UEFA Champions League website Benfica 61% possesion of the ball for the match. Their second leg will be a close one. Gent and Wolfsburg had an exiting match ending 3-2 in Wolfsburg favor. This away win is a very big step towards advancing to the quarterfinals for Wolfsburg. Real Madrid crushed Roma 2-0 leaving the Italian side in a tough situation. Cristiano Ronaldo led Los Blancos to victory scoring a goal and making sure his team make it to the next round. This week will feature the first leg for the other eight teams of the final 16. Arsenal will face defending champions Barcelona. FC Bayern will play against runner-ups Juventus. Athletico Madrid faces PSV of Holland. Manchester City will play Russian side Dynamo Kyiv.

Transfer News

A few teams boosted their squads and are going to expect to see a few players back from injury for their Champions League match. Chelsea has seen the loss of defender Kurt Zouma, but the return of Gary Cahill in the defense will surely give the blues reassurance that their defense is still okay. Eden Hazard will look to make his first start since returning from injury, the top man for the Blues has been coming off of the bench for their last few matches and a start against the Paris giants would help Chelsea towards victory. Although Diego Costa has been scoring goals in 2016, Chelsea decided to add another striker to their squad during the January transfer window with the purchase of the Brazilian, Alexandre Pato. Pato had a good European run early in his career with AC Milan in Italy, but injury caused him to move back to Brazil and he remained at a local club for a few years. Pato is a striker who is ready to prove that he deserves to compete at the top level of the footballing world. 2016 has allowed for FC Barcelona's 2015 purchases to see game time. Arda Turan and Alex Vidal are slowly adjusting to the style of FC Barcelona, but with these two very talented players the defending UEFA Champions League winners will look to hold on to the trophy with the big ears for a second year. That has never been done by any club. Arsenal are hoping three key players, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, and Danny Welbeck, can recover 100% to make it in time for their round of 16 draw against the defending champions. Atletico Madrid icon, Fernando Torres, saw himself scoring his 100th goal for the club and they hope he can carry this confidence into their match against PSV. Antione Griezman will look to continue his run of good form for Atletico. Real Madrid, always a contender, haven't added any new players but do seek a victory against AS Roma of Italy. Cristiano Ronaldo and Los Blancos are ready to for their match against am Italian side who has signed Stephan El Shaarawy for a boost in their attacking play. All 16 clubs remaining are hoping that they will be lifting the trophy with the big ears in Milan on May 28th.

Intro to Round of 16

The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 is right around the corner with the first games being played on Tuesday February 16 and Wednesday February 17. All of UEFA's games are played on Tuesday and Wednesday in order to compensate for the teams' other games they play on the weekend in their respective countries for their domestic league. On Tuesday we have two big European Clubs facing each other for the third time in a row in the round of 16 in the Champions League. The defending English Premier League champions Chelsea will face French Giants and champions Paris Saint-Germain. Chelsea, who have had a bad start to their domestic title race, will be looking for win seeing that they are not contenders for the english title this season. PSG, who have been fantastic this season, look to continue their good form and get a win against Chelsea in the first leg. The other game on Tuesday features Benfica of Portugal and Zenit of Russia. On Wednesday we have Spanish giants Real Madrid, who have won the most titles in the champions league, facing the Italian Club Roma. Wolfsburg of Germany will play Gent of Belgium. All teams are looking to win the first leg in order to gain an upper hand on their opponent before the second leg.

What is the UEFA Champions league?

Every year Europe's top football clubs battle it out for the trophy with the big ears. The UEFA Champions League has been played annually since the formation of the European's Champions Club Cup which had its first game in 1955 in Lisbon where Sporting Clube de Portugal faced FK Partizan of Yugoslavia. Up until 1992/1993 season the competition consisted of only eight teams then the UEFA Champions League inaugurated the group stage to the traditional elimination stage making it 32 teams in the competition. In each countries top domestic league (for example in England they have the Barclays Premier League as their top league, then they have the English Championship League, then two more lower leagues after that) they take the clubs that place in the top four spots to participate in the UEFA Champions League in the group stage. The group stage has 8 groups of 4 for the 32 teams in the tournament. The teams play against each other within their groups to advance to the elimination stage. A win is 3 points, a draw is 1, and a loss is 0,  and the two teams with the most points in each group advance. During the elimination stage every game except the final consists of a home and an away leg. Having more away goals can break a tie if there is one from the two legs.

The elimination stage begins on February 16 for the 2015-2016 season.