Cristiano and Manchester United, together again.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo. Arguably the best footballer in the world, sharing an embrace with Sir Alex Ferguson, arguably the best football manager in the world. 

This was after a 1-1 draw between Cristiano's old club Manchester United and his current club Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Portuguese was a major part of the Red Devils' Champions League title run in 2008, and return to the finals in 2009, his last before making the move to the Spanish capital.

Coming soon is the return leg, and his long-awaited return to Old Trafford.

Celtic FC celebrates 125 in style.

Quite simply, Monumental.

Champions League Preview - Part II

Group E: Chelsea FC, Juventus, Nordsjælland, Shaktar Donetsk

The reigning Champions League winners remade themselves after winning the title under Roberto di Matteo's stewardship, adding a youth infusion in Eden Hazard, Victor Moses and Oscar (all just 21) and 23 year-old Marko Marin, while casting away familiar faces like Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou. The move has reaped rewards for the Blues, who are leading the Premiership by themselves. Even with the new additions, they still have their trusty cast of leaders in Frank Lampard and John Terry, while Fernando Torres hopes to finally become what Roman Abramovich paid him to be.

The Bianconeri had a virtually flawless season in Italy, winning the Scudetto and suffering its only loss in the Coppa Italia Final against Napoli. That form continued in the early stages of this season, sharing the Serie A lead with Napoli and Lazio as each team has won their three respective matches. The core of the Azzurri forms the nucleus of Juve, led by its captain Gigi Buffon and panenka expert Andrea Pirlo.

Danish champions Nordsjælland make their Champions League debut, and is expected to finish at the bottom considering the talent on the other teams that are with them in the group. They will rely on Michael Parkhurst and Jores Okore on their backline to hold the fort and withstand the different attacking fronts out there. Currently third in the Superliga, behind København and AaB, they will rely on the likes of Soren Christensen, Nikolai Stokholm and Andreas Laudrup (yes, he is the son of Michael Laudrup), as well as the scoring prowess of Joshua John to pester the opposition.

Ukranian champions Shakhtar have opened up a six-point lead in the Ukranian Premier League, thanks in part to the goal scoring prowess of their Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He has a dozen goals in nine matches. He had thirteen all season last year. Mircea Lucescu's team also has a heavy Brazillian flavor, employing no less than eight of them, plus Edu who plays for Croatia but came from Rio. His captain in the national team, Darijo Srna shepherds the way in the back line. 

Group F: FC BATE Borisov, FC Bayern München, LOSC Lille, Valencia CF

Perceived to be the weakest team in the group, the Belarussians have their old reliables from last year's Champions League campaign returning to attempt another run. They only made one major addition during the recent transfer window, that being former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Aleksandr Hleb. They maintain a slim lead in league action.

The Bavarians under Josef Heynckes managed to secure a runner-up treble last season, losing out to BVB on the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal, while in the Champions League final at the home Allianz Stadium, they capitulated at the penalty spot in dramatic fashion. Bayern won't have Mario Gomez up front for the early part of the season, but they snapped up Mario Mandžukić and old reliable Claudio Pizarro to make up for his absence. They also splurged on Spanish international Javi Martinez, spending $52.1 million to secure him from Basque side Atheltic Bilbao. Otherwise, the core remains intact for the current Bundesliga co-leaders, led by German captain Bastian Schweinsteiger and French captain Franck Ribery.

The deposed French champions Lille relied on Joe Cole and Eden Hazard last year in the Champions League. Both have since departed, leaving Rudi Garcia with a challenging task ahead. To make up for Eden's loss, they snapped up Salomon Kalou to provide some offense and are relying on Dmitri Payet, Marvin Martin and Rio Mavuba and Túlio de Melo to supply the goals. They have struggled somewhat, as they are mid-table in Ligue 1 with six points to their name.

Like Real Madrid, whom they faced to kick off La Liga, Los Che started off sluggish, with only five points in four matches. Their first match in the group stage will evoke old memories for manager Mauricio Pellegrino. He was on the pitch as a player when they faced Bayern in 2001 for the Champions League final. Valencia would like to improve on last year's European campaign, now bolstered with Aly Cissokho and João Pereira at the back, a primed set of midfielders, led by Andres Guardado, Fernando Gago and Alberto Costa, and up front by Spanish international Roberto Soldado. 

Group G: Celtic FC, FC Barcelona, FC Spartak Moskva, SL Benfica

The Scottish giants haven't run away with the SPL title just yet, considering they have been the huge favorites, now that their perennial rivals Rangers have plummeted all the way down to Scotland's Division Three.  A good omen perhaps the currently 5th place team is that they have made the last 16 each time they are drawn with Benfica in a group. Neil Lennon still has the likes of Gary Hooper, Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras around, but the team has a youthful vibe to it, led by 18 year-old Anthony Watt.

The Catalan giants have seized the oppotunity with the current struggles of Real Madrid, opening an eight-point gap between the two rivals in La Liga. Even with a new regime under Tito Vilanova, the scheme remains the same, with the talismanic powers of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and the comebacking David Villa. Jordi Alba has seamlessly made the adjustment since the move from Valencia to join most of his teammates with the Spanish national team.

For Unai Emery, facing off against the Blaugrana is a familiar task, having to deal with that problem as Valencia's manager previously. Now currently tending to Spartak, Unai will probably rely on similar tactics another Russian team pulled on Barca at the Nou Camp, as Rubin Kazan managed to pull out a win there way back in 2009. The RPL's runners-up from last season are currently tied for sixth as of the moment, with Aiden McGeady, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Kim Källström patrolling the midfield. They will however need their strikeforce to score goals if they have any chance of progressing. That puts the onus on the likes of Welliton, Emmanuel Emenike and Artem Dzyuba to put it into the net.

Benfica will be without its captain Luisao for two months due to a physical altercation with an official, to add to the personnel losses with the transfers of Javi Garcia, Axel Witsel and Javier Saviola. In spite of the departures, they are currently sharing the lead in the Primeira Liga with veterans like Oscar Cardozo and Pablo Aimar teaming up with youngsters Rodrigo Moreno, Ola John and Eduardo Salvio. 

Group H: CFR 1907 Cluj, Galatasaray AŞ, Manchester United FC, SC Braga

The Romanians are currently sixth in Liga I and are looking for means to improve on their history of finishing at the bottom of the group for the past few years. Ioan Andone is heavy on the Portuguese flavor, with around 7 of them with the team, most of them getting heavy playing time. A few of those players have roots with SC Braga, interestingly.

Galatasaray have a bunch of players who have played big time top-flight football, so they won't be undaunted with the task of having to deal with the Red Devils at Old Trafford to kick off their campaign. From goalkeeping (Fernando Muslera) to defense (Emmanuel Eboue) to midfield (Hamit Alintop, Felipe Melo) and up front (Johan Elmander, Milan Baroš) Fatih Terim has some guys who can handle the bright lights and the big stage. The Süper Lig leaders also have a couple of offensive threats in Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz up front.

The Premiership runners-up were embarrased to have missed out on the knockout stage last year, having to go through the Europa campaign last season. Sir Alex Ferguson has reloaded in the offseason with Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa amongst other additions, and with Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic now healthier and available, there is no excuse for them to replicate their disappointment last season.

Unlike the other two Portuguese teams, SC Braga is currently just outside the periphery of European qualification in this early part of the season in the Primeira Liga. José Peseiro's men are looking at the other open slot for qualification in the knockout phase as their goal. They will need to find someone who can score for them, since they lost their main goal-scoring option to a transfer to Benfica (Lima). The pressure is on the likes of Eder, Ruben Amorim and Rúben Micael to provide the offensive oomph that will be necessary to advance to the next round.

Champions League Preview Part I

Group A: GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Porto (POR)

PSG is expected to lord over this group, backed by the financial clout of its Qatari owners, although it has not really expressed itself in league form. They have, however, bounced back with consecutive wins to move them to a tie at fourth place. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been the man for the Parisians, scoring five of their six goals in Ligue 1.

FC Porto are currently sharing the league with rivals Benfica in the Primeira Liga, having to cope with the recent departure of last year's leading scorer, Hulk, to fellow Champions League participants Zenit. They have gotten by with Luis Oscar Gonzalez and Jackson Martinez holding thing down up front, though.

Dynamo Kyiv are tied for second behind Shaktar Donetsk in top-flight Ukrainian football, behind the goal-scoring prowess of Brown Ideye and new signing Niko Kranjčar. They are expected to give a good fight for the other remaining eligible spot for the knockout stage.

Dinamo Zagreb is pretty much expected to finish last in this group, but they would like to improve from last year's performance, where they allowed a record-high 22 goals during the 6 matches in the group stage. They are leading the 1. HNL, scoring a league-high 20 goals and allowing the second-fewest. 

Group B: Arsenal, Montpellier HSC, Olympiakos Piraeus, Schalke 04

The Gunners have bucked from their slow start with a couple of rousing victories, moving them up to fourth in the Premiership. The pressure is on for Oliver Giroud to make an impact, with the Matchday 1 featuring a trip back to the team he helped lift the Ligue 1 title. The other key signings have been of great help so far, with Podolski and Cazorla finally breaking the scoring drought of Wenger's crew. Thanks to Thomas Vermaelen, the drop-off on leadership from Robin van Persie's departure has been minimal, at best.

Meanwhile, if the Gunners have managed to overcome their key loss, Montpellier has struggled out of the gate. They are only one point adrift of the relegation zone, and only secured just one win in their five Ligue 1 matches. They'll need their African combo of John Utaka, Younes Belhanda and Souleymane Camara to assert themselves and get things going.

Olympiakos kicked off their Super League campaign with three straight victories, and the Reds will look to keep things going with Rafik Djebbour maintaining his hot streak. The Algerian has scored four goals in three league matches. They also have former Manchester United keeper Roy Carroll tending their nets.

Schalke is a couple of points behind the leaders in the Bundesliga, bunched up with a couple of teams. The loss of Raul has been adequately filled by the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Their strength lies in midfield with the likes of Jermaine Jones, Ibrahim Afellay and Julian Draxler holding things down, as well as having Kyriakos Papadopoulos holding the fort on the back line. 

Group C: Anderlecht, AC Milan, Málaga CF, FK Zenit St. Petersburg

Belgian champions Anderlecht would like to end their Italian woes by attempting to secure their first victory after 14 unsuccessful tries against Serie A opposition against AC Milan in Matchday 1. The Jupiler League winners are currently tied for second behind Club Brugge, but they are doing this with one of their key offensive threats missing.

AC Milan are the favorites to take this group, but based on their current form, that may not be the case for the Rossoneri. They only have one win in Serie A, and that was thanks to Giampaolo Pazzini hat trick against Bologna. Anything other than a win at the San Siro against Anderlecht would ratchet up panic buttons on Massimiliano Allegri.

Champions League debutants Málaga CF might just get themselves shellshocked with the competition they might just get themselves into, especially since they conducted a massive sell-off of their star players before the start of the season. Last year saw Borussia Dortmund struggle and finish last in their group, and this might be applicable to them. They will rely on their defensive toughness, something reflected in only allowing a league-low two goals in La Liga and solo second behind the Catalan giants FC Barcelona. Manuel Pellegrini will rely on his savvy veterans for stability.

Zenit may only be fourth in the Russian Premier League, but the leaders are only three points ahead of them. They also have cooled down from a sizzling start, with only one win in their last four league fixtures. They did however, infused themselves with additional talent with some acquisitions before the transfer window closed, namely Hulk and Axel Witsel. Having the two youngsters will probably raise the expectations for Luciano Spalletti. They already have a some talent on hand with Alexander Kerzhakov and Viktor Faizulin. 

Group D: Ajax Amsterdam, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City FC, Real Madrid CF

Welcome to the acclaimed "Group of Death," featuring the Dutch, German, English and Spanish champions, respectively.

The Dutch champions would like to get themselves into the knockout stage, something that has not happened for while given the profile of their league. They are already in solo third, trailing Twente and Vitesse in the Ere Divisie, but Frank de Boer has a group of young guys to go to with, from Siem de Jong to Christian Eriksen. To emphasize on their youth (they have a well-known pipeline of academy talent), they only have one guy over 30 years of age.

The German back-to-back champions would like to improve on last year, where they finished at the bottom of their group. They are currently chasing fellow Champions League participants Bayern München and surprise co-leaders Eintracht Frankfurt on top of the Bundesliga, and that's with the departure of Shinji Kagawa to the Premiership. New acquisition Marco Reus has already scored for BVB, with German and Polish internationals providing great chemistry for Jurgen Klopp.

The blue side of Manchester won the Premiership in dramatic fashion last season, but the man who made that happen (Sergio Agüero) is still recovering from an injury and might be doubtful for Matchday 1, leaving either Edin Džeko or a freshly recovering Mario Balotelli to partner up with Carlos Tevez. They still have oodles of talent, from Nasri and Silva in midfield to the Toure brothers and of course, Kompany and Kolarov at the back. 

Los Blancos have stumbled in their defense of the La Liga title, most recently a 1-0 defeat at Sevilla that had José Mourinho publicly criticizing the team's performance and, if you ask Sami Khedira, deservedly so. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín have scored all five league goals for Madrid, a number that should go up in the next few fixtures. Tension is high at the Santiago Bernabeu for this clash of titans.

Interesting tidbit with the Mancini - Mourinho coaching duel is that both men have led Inter Milan to greatness in Italy and Europe. In fact, Mourinho succeeded Mancini at Inter when he left for City in 2008.

Blog Outsourcing - 5/30 edition

Welcome to the special Memorial Day edition to The Victory Formation.

Just to remind everyone, Memorial Day is an American Federal Holiday that they observe yearly at the last Monday of May, in which this year falls on the 30th. This commemorates all those who died while serving in the United States military.

Like most of the people in the United States, I am also getting the day off. To all my Stateside friends, I hope you get to do the right thing and honor the ones who gave their lives to defend your country from threats known or unknown.

It has been a while since I got the weekend off, and I really need it to get some rest, relaxation and time to stay at home. Unfortunately, most of my family got the chance to go out and frolic. At least, I get to do some more editing of photos and finish some blogs that I really need to go and write about, I hope.

How does the U.S. Embassy here honor Memorial Day? Recently, the U.S.S. Carl Vinson docked in our shores for a routine port call and then some. That aircraft carrier is the so-called funeral hearse for Osama Bin Laden. Some of my blogger friends luckily were able to go on-board and check the dock out.

Here is a nice picture of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson in Manila before we give way to the links.




Memorial Day weekend is all about racing. Dan Wheldon lucks into a rookie mistake (c/o Los Angeles Times). Kevin Harvick takes advantage of Dale Earnhardt, jr.'s fuel woes (c/o USA Today). In the principality of Monaco, Sebastian Vettel continues his dominance of the Formula 1 circuit (c/o VivaF1).

Danica Patrick might be coming to 2012 to a redneck neighborhood near you. (c/o Post Chronicle)

The beat goes on. Lost in the midst of Novak and his quest to smash McEnroe's streak is the fact that Roger Federer is now in 28 straight quarterfinals on Grand Slams (c/o The Independent).

The Williams siblings will be back in time for World Team Tennis. (c/o MSNBC)

Maryland vs Virginia for Lacrosse dominance by the men. (c/o Streaking the Lawn) Bad sign? Northwestern beat the kids from College Park to seal ladies' lacrosse. (c/o Wall Street Journal)

Alberto Contador seals the Giro D'Italia. (c/o Vancouver Sun)

Jamaican dominance in sprints. Probably not going to go away anytime soon. (c/o BBC Sport) Meanwhile, Usain Bolt comes out just fine. (c/o Jamaican Observer)

It takes Charlie Davies and DC United to finally be the team to beat the Portland Timbers at their turf. (c/o Potomac Soccer Wire)

Congratulations to FC Barcelona, who made mincemeat of whatever Manchester United threw at them (c/o Zonal Marking). Meanwhile, Berbatov did not take kindly to being omitted. (c/o The Sun)

Congratulations to AS Monaco for playing your 2000th Ligue 1 game. Your reward is relegation to Ligue 2. (c/o Yahoo! Eurosport UK)

Sepp Blatter has escaped once again the clutches of nasty allegations. (c/o New York Times) And he probably will be getting a fresh new mandate (c/o Bloomberg).

The Donald is finally on top. (c/o Herald Scotland)

Charl gets membership. For Life. (c/o ProGolf Talk)

Something Annika Sorenstam or Michelle Wie never could do. (c/o Larry Brown Sports)

Greg Paulus as a future college basketball coach? (c/o The Lantern)

No more Cody Green, pressure now on Brion Carnes. (c/o Husker Extra)

Classic case of "OMG, I just threw my school under the bus, I need to be in good graces with them, you know..." (c/o Waiting for Next Year)

Some of the Rams know that sports provide temporary relief from trauma. (c/o STL Sports Minute)

Transforming a sign of negativity into a sign of hope. (c/o National Football Post)

Good news for the Canucks (c/o The Globe and Mail). He's been handy for them off the ice (c/o Orland Kurtenblog).

Hockey is king, because unlike basketball in Chicago, others had to adjust schedule. (c/o Vancouver Sun)

Defending the need for the Atlanta Thrashers to stay. (c/o Matchsticks and Gasoline)

Cavs want BOTH Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams. (c/o ProBasketball Talk)

The John Kuester era in Detroit has reached a merciful end. (c/o The Detroit Sports Site)

Lebron is humbled by the Jordan praise. (c/o King James Gospel)

This Caron's for you. (c/o CBS Sports)

What lies ahead for Buster. (c/o San Francisco Chronicle)

To part, here is my fave Rage Against the Machine song. And always remember that the Revolution will not be televised.