Little Diego's Big European Adventure

         Standing at 1.61m Diego Buonanotte isn't the tallest of players but the diminutive winger has an extraordinary amount of talent that he'll be hoping to use to set La LIga alight as he starts his first foray into European football. Having signed for Malaga CF for around €5million on the 14th January it will be the first time that Buonanotte has moved from the club, River Plate, that nurtured his talent through a tumuluous couple of years that has seen little Diego nearly die, go to prison and receive a premature end to his football career.

       Making his debut at the age of 17, Diego became a pivotal part of the River team that won the Apertura in 2008 and saw him recognised by World Soccer Magazine as one of the '50 most exciting teenagers in world football'. His ability was not overlooked by the big European teams who were constantly linked with moves for Diego. It all seems as though the world was at young Buonanotte's feet, however it all nearly came crashing down on one unfortunate night in December 2009.

      Driving back to his home town of Teodelina with 3 childhood friends, Diego's car swerved off the road amidst a heavy downpour and hit a tree killing his three friends and leaving himself severely injured. After being rushed to intensive care it was found that Diego had a broken collar bone, broken arm and a bruised lung, however, it was the mental scars that everybody involved with Diego were worried about. Having thought to be out for around 7 months or so Diego made a speedy recovery and was back playing for River in April 2010. So his career would return back to normal, right?

       Not quite, there was yet another thing marring Diego's career. Due to the deaths of his friends and him being at the wheel when he car swerved off the road Diego was charged with the triple involuntary manslaughter of this three friends after the prosecutors said he was 'driving negligently'. Facing up to 5 years in prison it was an uncertain period for Diego who continued to play for River. Finally, after such misfortune Diego receive a bit of good luck! Judge Marisa Munoz Saggese dismissed the charges the charges against Diego. With his new club the future looks bright for Diego Buonanotte, who is still only 22, and it is now up to him to show Europe what he's got...

Klopp has Borussia on top.

     With Bayern dominating German football by winning the Bundesliga and the Pokal last season as well as reaching the final of the Champions League, many thought that the Bundesliga would be a walk in the park for Die Bayern. However, as the Bundesliga resumes after its winter break it is Borussia Dortmund who are at the zenith of Germany's top league.

Mario Götze and Shinji Kagawa 

      Jürgen Klopp has cultivated a squad littered with good young talent from defence to attack. One surprise is summer signing and Japanese sensation Shinji Kagawa. The attacking midfielder has already notched up 8 goals this season making him the clubs joint top scorer since joining from Cerezo Osaka. His goal return has already make him a shrewd bit of business having signed for the megre amount of €350,000. His signing could yet be more lucrative for Borussia as many of the gossip columns have linked the 21 year old to Manchester United for a figure of around €10million. However this move is higly doubtful as the pint-sized playmaker has become an integral of die Schwarzgelben's success this season and could be if they want to maintain it for the foreseeable future.

    Another player who has been intergal for Borussia is midfield maestro Nuri Sahin. Tipped as a future star at such a young age having made his debut at just 17, Sahin seems to have matured within the last season and a half into a consummate playmaker and passer of the ball. Having started all of Borussia's 17 games this season weighing in with 6 assists and 4 goals, Sahin has been instrumental in Borussia's rise to the top which will be pleasing to everyone involved at Signal Iduna Park as they have nurtured Nuri Sahin's talent through the youth teams.
    The final player I'm going to mention, even though there are many more that deserve to be, is also a product of the Borussia Dortmund youth system. 18 year old Mario Götze has been a revelation in midfield this season. Having been at the club since the age of 8, Götze made his debut last season against FSV Mainz 05 and featured spodically throughout the season however this year he has had more first team action featuring 16 times, including 12 times in the starting eleven. Götze's performances this season, including 2 goals and 6 assists, have earned him a call up to the German national side, in which he is one of many in an astonishingly good crop of new German talent, . 
    With their first game after the winter break coming on the 14th January against Bayer Leverkusen it remains to be seen whether these three players along with Lucas Barrios, Kevin Großkreutz and Robert Lewandowski can continue with their great run of form and gain Borussia their first Bundeliga title since the 01/02 season.

Wisła triumph in Kraków's 'Holy War'

      There are many brutal and violent rivalries throughout football but not many can compete with the pure anger and hatred that is displayed between Wisła Kraków and their local rivals Cracovia. Dating back more than 100 years this rivalry spans the length of Poland's professional footballing history as they were the first two clubs established in Poland in 1906. Known as the 'Holy War', the name was first use to describe the rivalry between Kraków's two Jewsish teams, Makkabi and Jutrzenka, however after a defender from the latter club join Cracovia he supposedly shouted to his team mates "Come on guys, lets win this Holy war!" before a derby game against Wisła and the 'Holy War' name was born and is now incorperated into many of both team's songs.

     Since the first official game in 1908 the Holy War was played annually up until 1990 when, after a derby game, supporters clashed with police officers (not an uncommon feat) however this time the police responded with what was to be judged as brutal force which caused both Wisła and Cracovia fanatics to fight side by side against the police and push them back into a USSR consulate building where they took shelter. After this the annual Holy War anniversary game was banned. It wasn't until 20 years later when Cracovia returned to the Poland's top division that the Holy War resumed.

      On the day of the Holy War Kraków becomes a completely different place. The streets become a battle ground between the opposing sides, the only 2 firms in Poland who did not agree to stop using weapons. The hooliganism completely consumes the city to the point where everybody not involved with the football stays inside in fear of their lives. The latest of these Holy war derby days was on the 5th November at Cracovia's Marszałek Piłsudski Stadium. Wisła snatched the game with a late goal from on loan Moroccan attacking midfielder Nourdin Boukhari in the dying minutes of extra time. The result was no surprise as Wisła are by far the more successful of the two teams however every Cracovia fan will be waiting eagerly for the next time the teams meet in May of next year.

Les Nouveux Bleus

          It was obvious for all to see that the French national team was in crisis at the World Cup in South Africa. With training ground bust-ups, players being sent home and an inquisition by the French government it was obvious to all that the French team needed a bit of a shake up. The figurehead of this 'French Revolution' is Laurent Blanc who left his post at Bordeaux to take up managing Les Bleus in the wake of France's World Cup embarrassment. Naturally with a new manager and the need for a complete overhaul of the team, new players have been selected to play for Les Tricolores. Here are a couple of players that have particularily caught my eye...

        Dimitri Payet - Originally from the French colony of Réunion, the 23 year old Saint-Étienne attacking midfielder was called up for the French national team for their Euro 2012 qualifiers against Romania and Luxembourg. Making his debut as a substitute for Karim Benzema in the 86th minute of the Romania game, Payet made an impact immediately by dribbling to the byline before neatly pulling it back for Yoann Gourcuff to slot home from the penalty spot. This wasn't beginners luck, Payet assisted Gourcuff yet again in his second cap against Luxembourg. His rich form is hardly  surprising as he has frequently set Ligue 1 on fire this season with his mazey runs that have pulled Saint-Étienne up to third in the table and have also seen Payet reach the top of the goalscorers chart with 8 already this season.

     

  Yann M'Vila - At only 20 years of age M'Vila was called up for Les Bleus for the first of his 4 caps so far in Laurent Blanc's first game in charge against Norway. Despite losing the game 2-1 M'Vila was highly praised by the French media who widely regarded him as France's best player. His decision making, positioning and distribution has not only helped him keep his place in the French team but has also catapulted his club side Rennes to the top of the league. With big clubs sniffing around M'Vila and having already expressed his desire to play for a big club abroad it won't be too long before Yann M'Vila is snapped up by one the the bigger European names.

       With this new look French side and their already successful fledgling international careers it his highly likely that Dimitri Payet and Yann M'Vila will be in many of Blanc's selections to come. One player yet to make his Tricolores debut but who will most definitely be considered for France's next game against England in a friendly at Wembley is M'Vila's Rennes team mate Yacine Brahimi. Despite a dark year for French football the future is bright for Les Bleus...
  

The Dutch Goal Machine - Ricky van Wolfswinkel

       From Cruyff and Van Basten to Kluivert and Van Nistelrooy, the Netherlands have always produced quality strikers and true to form they have produced yet another in Ricky van Wolfswinkel. The Utrecht striker has had a lightening start to the season which has included 9 goals in 9 appearances in the Eredivisie and 6 goals in 9 appearances in the Europa League, including a hat trick against Celtic. Van Wolfswinkel started his career at Vitesse where he made his first team debut on the 25th April 2008 against Sparta Rotterdam. After 33 appearances for the Arnhem club Van Wolfswinkel moved for around €5 million to his hometown club FC Utrecht after rejecting a host of big name clubs. His prolific goalscoring this season earned him a call up to the national team for the friendly against the Ukraine in August and has also attracted even bigger names such as Liverpool, Tottenham and Napoli to pursue Van Wolfswinkel. It is undoubtably only a matter of time before the Dutch striker applies his trade in a bigger league.

Unai the Great?

       La Liga has been dominated over the last 7 seasons by the Spanish super powers Barcelona and Real Madrid but this year a thorn in the side of the top two is debt ridden Valencia who, after 6 rounds of matches, lie at the top of the league with 16 points. With debts estimated to be around €400 million, a half built new stadium and having to sell two of the brightest lights of Spanish football in David Villa and David Silva this many had little hope for Valencia this season. One asset they do have though is manager Unai Emery.

     Having taken over from Ronald Koeman in 2008 Emery led Valencia to 6th place in his first season in charge and Europa League qualification. A year later Emery delivered once more by getting Valencia to 3rd in La Liga, securing Champions League qualification, and reaching the quarter finals of both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey. This season, however, is by far his biggest task. The sale of David Villa, Valencia's top goalscorer for the last 5 seasons, to Barcelona left a massive hole in the squad that many thought he would be unable to fill however he seems to have consummately filled that with the signings of Roberto Soldado and Artiz Aduriz. The latter in particular seems to be a masterstroke of a signing having scored 3 goals in 5 appearances after his £3,870,000 (€4,300,000) from RCD Mallorca in the summer. Aduriz's form for his new club earned him his first call up for the Spanish national team in the 3-1 home win against Lithuania.

      This Saturday will be Valencia's biggest test so far this season and the first chance for Emery to show that his side have the true strength to contend for this year's La Liga when they visit the Camp Nou to play Barcelona. Although it's still early in the season this game could be pretty pivotal in the title race for Unai and his men.





Rubin Kazan, Champions League dark horses?

         Russian football has never been represented greatly on Europe's biggest stage, although Zenit St Petersburg won the UEFA cup in 2008, no Russian club has ever truly shown their full potential in the Champions League. Rubin Kazan, however, may buckle this trend this year. Kazan, the sixth biggest city in Russia, lies on the Volga river and is the home of local side Rubin Kazan who, over the last few years, have been transformed from a little known team from the Republic of Tatarstan to Russian Champions. Having gained promotion to the Russian Premier League for the first time ever in 2003, Rubin quickly became established in the Russian Premier League before becoming consecutive champions in 2008 and 2009.

      They competed in the Champions League for the first time in the 2009/2010 season but were drawn in a tough group with 2008/2009 champions Barcelona, the eventual winners Inter Milan and gritty Ukranian side Dynamo Kyiv  Finishing a respectable 3rd in the group Rubin still caused many surprises by beating Barcelona away at the Camp Nou and getting 2 draws at home against Inter and Barca.
      When you think of big spenders in international football you think of Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid but last summer (July & August 2010) Rubin were 5th biggest spenders in the world, not what you'd expect from an unknown eastern Russian team. Spending £38,970,000 (€43,300,000) Rubin added even more strength to their championship winning team. Big name attacking signings like Obafemi Martins (signed from Wolfsburg for £8million) and Brazillian winger Carlos Eduardo (signed from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for £18million) should replace the goals and creativity lost with the sale of Aleksandr Bukharov (Rubin's top goalscorer last season). Rubin's defence has also ever more steel with the addition of young Italian international Salvatore Brochetti (signed from Genoa for £8.5million).
     In this years Champions League Rubin have been given a relitively easy group, yet again drawn with Barcelona they also have Greek champions Panathinaikos and Danish champions F.C. København for company in Group D. Despite losing 1-0 away in Denmark in their first game, a game in which they dominated, I strongly believe that with their new signings and a favourable group they can progress through to the knockout phase and possibly surprise a few people by progressing further...