Gobble, Gobble, Goal!

It's Thanksgiving, obviously, and the aroma of food drifts through the house, accompanied by the noise of family and friends. I'm giving myself a few moments away from the chaos, with my brother's stout drink in hand, to give my thoughts on what I have observed in the past few days in the world of football. Europe has provided a wondrous stage upon which clubs from every corner could display the talents that it produces. The viewing public were the true winners as European football dazzled us with a plethora of stunning goals and surprise defeats.



Because I can, we will start with the unsurprising result in Moscow, where FC Barcelona waltzed into the knockout round with a compelling 3-0 win over FC Spartak Moscow. Alves began the evening with a wonderful strike, giving Barcelona the early lead. Not long after, the little argentine, Leo Messi, made his classic mark on the contest with two goals, sealing the victory. Barcelona showed Europe that they are still a power to be reckoned with as they resoundingly beat out their opposition, sealing themselves in the knockout stages. This game was also an important moment for the Barcelona defense with the return of Gerard Pique, who helped the Blaugrana keep a clean sheet and give the missed stability the defense needed. Pedro was among the notable performances on the night, who peppered the goal with 4 shots. Always wonderful to see Barca improve as Madrid slowly, but surely, slip from the conscious mind, out of a Champions League final contending spot. I guess while were on the topic of Real Madrid, then I should dive into the atrocity that was the Manchester City and Real Madrid game. First of all, Manchester City continue to show the world why they are awful, with their lack of attacking creativity, with no clear leader, and a coach that does nothing more than pout on the sidelines as his team embarrases themselves in front of the unenthusiastic fans in the Eastlands. Should I even start with Real Madrid, how can a team like Madrid do so poorly against the team that I just mentioned in the previous sentence? The answer, Madrid is on the exact same level of failure that Manchester City is, giving me yet another argument for the many issues present with buying a team versus building a team.

Moving away from the boring and towards the exciting, Europe has provided us with better games to look at than what occurred in Manchester. Now, I would love to say that Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht were able to overcome AC Milan, but that would be foolish, especially when Philippe Mexes bemused the Belgian fans with a fantastic bicycle kick. With additions of, the young and brilliant Stephan El Shaarawy' goal and a goal from the slowly fattening Alexandre Pato, AC Milan gained entry into the knockout stages with a 3-1 win.

The next game worth mentioning is the 4-1 thumping put on by Borussia Dortmund against Dutch side Ajax. The expected rout began in the 8th minute when Marko Rues placed the ball cleanly through the legs of the Ajax keeper, Vermeer. As if life could not get any worse for the Ajax fans, Mario Gotze danced his way through the Ajax defenders and slotted the ball near post, giving the away team a 2-0 lead. The pressure did not let up as Robert Lewandowski added another goal for Dortmund just before half time. Lewandowski sealed the victory with a fabulous second half goal as Dortmund are able to gain a place past the group stage. Highlights & Goals.

As much as I would love to keep going on the goals and games of the day, I will end with two surprise loses. Although for me, someone who thinks English football is a joke, the results were no surprise as Chelsea fell 3-0 to Juventus and Manchester United losing 1-0 to Galatasaray. This opens yet another chapter in what I like to call: The Misperception and Failings of the Inadequate English. Both English teams were outplayed by their opponents this week, this can been seen in the double number of shots that both teams had over their English opposition, dare I even mention the possession or lack thereof for the English as well? The bottom line is, Bravo (clap clap) to the English for showing why they have the best teams, most investment, and greatest competition, it clearly amounts to good results. As a final note, upon losing, Chelsea billionaire owner, Roman Abromovich, fired Chelsea's head coach Roberto Di Matteo, Why? Don't worry no one really knows besides the craziness that is a rich Russian.

Oh and I think we all benefit from this: