Arsenal's attempts to cement a place in next season's Champions League were thwarted on Monday as Wigan claimed a notable 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium in the English Premier League.
Is the English Premier League title race done and dusted? Manchester United's Alex Ferguson gives us his opinion.
Manchester United joined neighbors Manchester City in the last 16 of the Europa League but were given an almighty scare by Dutch visitors Ajax in their second leg tie Thursday.
MADRID -- Diego Simeone always knew this day would come and, at the rate that they go through coaches, it was always likely to be soon. He could pretty much choose his moment and, after years of flirting, he has chosen now: on Tuesday afternoon, 2012 opened with the Argentine formally presented as the new coach of Atlético de Madrid. All is well with the world once more. You'd think so, anyway. The talk was of ilusión but deep down, beneath the smiles, the lingering fear is that this could be just another illusion.
Spanish side Atletico Madrid have named former player Diego Simeone as their new coach in succession to Gregorio Manzano, who was dismissed after this week's Spanish Cup defeat by Albacete.
Early season Spanish La Liga pace-setters Levante slumped to a third successive loss as Sunday's 3-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid leaves them eight points behind leaders Real Madrid in fourth place in the table.
Barcelona went top of La Liga with an unimpressive 1-0 win at bottom side Sporting Gijon Sunday.
Miguel-Ángel Gil Marín this past week announced -- and "announced" is the word -- that Real Madrid had offered €45 million ($61M) for Atlético Madrid forward Sergio "El Kun" Aguero. He also said that Chelsea had made a huge €60M ($81M) joint bid for Aguero and Uruguayan center back Diego Godín. But don't worry, he added proudly, we said no. And that was that. That was also pretty much the point.
He was the first Atlético Madrid player to win the European Golden Boot, almost single-handedly taking the club into the Champions League with 32 goals in 33 games -- the highest figure for a rojiblanco in 20 years -- while also providing 10 assists in 2008-2009. It was his second Golden Boot with two different clubs. In his first three seasons at Atlético, his average match-day rating, according to the newspaper AS, has made him the league's fifth-, first- and ninth-best player. No wonder the Calderón rang out to chants of "¡Uruguayo! ¡Uruguayo!"
MADRID -- The phone lines opened at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. At the same time, ATMs all over Spain were activated. Tickets were on sale for Atlético Madrid's Copa del Rey match against Universidad de Las Palmas at the Vicente Calderón -- the ground where the fans are proud of their loyalty and where season-ticket sales actually increased in the summer in which Atlético was relegated. When the lines closed that evening, 12 long hours later, 24 tickets had been sold.
Three years ago, World Soccer magazine published a list of the 50 most exciting teenagers in the world. With the benefit of hindsight, of those named, you could say there are 13 who either achieved stardom or are on their way to it: Pato, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Fabio Coentrao, Marouane Fellaini, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Ivan Rakitic, Gregory van der Wiel and Theo Walcott.
Atletico Madrid face second-bottom Valladolid Wednesday, the team that's won just six times all season, and it's Valladolid everyone expects to win. But Atletico doesn't mind. It expects Valladolid to win too -- and it won't be bursting any blood vessels to ensure otherwise.
Atletico Madrid took a huge step towards reaching a first European final since 1986 by beating Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal on Thursday.
World Soccer's Dan Brennan caught up with Argentina and Atlético Madrid star Sergio Agüero to discuss his country's World Cup chances and his very famous father-in-law.
If his incredible two-goal display against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday was any indication, Atlético Madrid superstar Sergio Agüero could be on the path to recovery after a frustrating beginning to the 2009-10 season.
These are difficult days for the Calderóns -- Ramón, the Real Madrid president, and Vicente, the Atlético Madrid stadium -- as both are forced to defend their honor in the face of what they deem to be "conspiracies" against them.
Since the day my Uncle George -- who was a panty-hose wholesaler and walked with a limp from a boyhood accident -- took me to my first Panathinaikos game, I've bled green.
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