football

[westcorklad]

Celtic got back to winning ways in the SPL today beating Kilmarnock 2-0 but with Rangers also winning 2-1 against Dundee Utd they remain 13 points behind their city rivals though they do have 2 games in hand over them.

[westcorklad]

Some sad news, former liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has died. He was 73. Rip .

Yes I have just seen this. Very sad news. RIP Gerard.

[Ryankelvin]

So sad to see this, Gerard was a lovely gentleman, and brought some success to Liverpool, the treble in 2001 , of FA cup , League Cup and UEFA Cup was his finest moment, he would also have overseen the debut and development of Stevie G
It ended on a sour note , and I have to admit, I was one of the supporters who wished for LFC defeats and his departure,
He always loved Liverpool, he was probably too nice a man for the cutthroat business of PL management
RIP Gerard

[FullIrish]

Ok, I'm a bit biased wanting Atletico to win the league, but Atletico should still be favourites at this stage.

Increasingly, they don't look like dropping too many points to teams outside the top six (and their defence is rock solid), whereas Real have barely put in a convincing performance all season.

They don't have to play their rivals who have a psychological stranglehold on them every week, should be a lot easier against the likes of Betis and Bilbao

Yeah, Jao Felix has too much for the smaller teams but his talent doesn't show in the bigger games so far. But it'll be enough for Athletico to just beat all the minnows this year to win the title.

[westcorklad]

The draw for the last 32 round of the Europa League was made earlier today. Man Utd have been drawn against the current La Liga leaders Real Sociedad with David Silva among their squad. Not a tie the Red Devils would have wanted on their current form. Arsenal will take on Benfica and hope that their good form in the group stage of the competition will continue. Spurs will face Austrian club Wolfsberger, Leicester will take on Slavia Prague and Rangers have been drawn against Belgian club Royal Antwerp who were in Spurs` group.

Full last 32 round draw.

Wolfsberger v Tottenham
Dynamo Kiev v Club Brugge
Real Sociedad v Manchester United
Benfica v Arsenal
Red Star Belgrade v AC Milan
Royal Antwerp v Rangers
Slavia Prague v Leicester
RB Salzburg v Villarreal
Braga v Roma
Krasnodar v Dinamo Zagreb
Young Boys v Bayer Leverkusen
Molde v Hoffenheim
Granada v Napoli
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Shakhtar Donetsk
Lille v Ajax
Olympiakos v PSV Eindhoven

First legs will take place on 18 February with the return legs on 25 February. Tottenham's home game will be on 24 February.

[Ryankelvin]

Real Sociedad , will be a tough tie for Utd , difficult enough ties in general for British clubs

[FullIrish]

Real Sociedad , will be a tough tie for Utd , difficult enough ties in general for British clubs

Yeah, it'll be a difficult tie. United have a much bigger and stronger team but Real keep the ball very well and have been very good defensively this season. They have lots of good creative players, I wonder will D Silva or Januzaj play?

[westcorklad]

Real Madrid have beaten Athletic Bilbao 3-1 tonight to move up to 3rd place in the La Liga table. They have the same points total as their city rivals Atletico and Real Sociedad although Atletico do have 2 games in hand over the others.

[westcorklad]

Another big game in la liga tonight. Barca v sociedad. Barca are 9pts behind them but have 2 games in hand.

Barca have come from behind to lead 2-1 against Sociedad at HT in this match.

[westcorklad]

Rangers have lost a game for the 1st time this season tonight coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline against St Mirren in the QFs of the Scottish League Cup. Neither Celtic nor Rangers have made it through to the last four of this competition this season.