Doping and match fixing in soccer...

[MJH]

Juventus-Celtic and the 2nd Bayern Munich and Arsenal match. I won't deny that BM is the better squad (nor can I deny that I'm a Gooner), but the referees clearly were told that BM must go through to the next round-- there were so many non-fouls called on Arsenal and so many fouls not called on BM.

That Javi Martinez challenge prob should have resulted in a red.... Would've been nice to see Arsenal go through, just a really tough draw facing Munich.

[MJH]

Spain vs Finland 1-1, haha wtf. Looking forward to tonight vs. Costa Rica, I'm gonna say 2-1 USA.

United players have done well the last two days... RVP, Rooney, Chicharito, Young on the scoring sheet while Valencia notched 3 assists. Valencia has been really out of sorts this season, hopefully after the break he can pick up some form.

[Doc Green]

...FFP will make European soccer MLB, not NFL. You need hard wage and squad size caps to actually improve things.

Good point, but it'll be better. I'll take MLB over Fantasy Football for now--baby steps. At least the Middle East and Russian billionaires won't be able to pump so much personal cash into the franchises, like they do now. The teams will actually need to be run like a business, not like funding a hobby.

[DutchBird]

I agree with zirc about current FFP rules being ineffective. But even then there is a boatload of rules to circumvent that NOBODY with the power to change things has any interest in in changing. I mean, in effect Real Madrid and Barcelona are completely untouchable in every respect (including judicial inquiries).

And as far as Champions League goes... this Barcelona and PSG game shows just about everything that is good and absolutely wrong with soccer. Half the Barcelona squad should have been sent off for diving (including the penalty), whining and harassing the officiating crew... They are acting like utterly spoiled brats. Worse than a mixture of Justin Bieber, the Kardashians, Linsey Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie combined.

[zirc]

I agree with zirc about current FFP rules being ineffective. But even then there is a boatload of rules to circumvent that NOBODY with the power to change things has any interest in in changing. I mean, in effect Real Madrid and Barcelona are completely untouchable in every respect (including judicial inquiries).

And as far as Champions League goes... this Barcelona and PSG game shows just about everything that is good and absolutely wrong with soccer. Half the Barcelona squad should have been sent off for diving (including the penalty), whining and harassing the officiating crew... They are acting like utterly spoiled brats. Worse than a mixture of Justin Bieber, the Kardashians, Linsey Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie combined.

They are like that everytime they're not completely bossing a game. I refuse to watch El Clasico anymore, it's the worst. Juve were pretty awful last night as well with the diving.

Platini has his nose well up the Spanish clubs' nether regions though, so we're not likely to see anything change anytime soon. Really it will take some action on the part of a European court to fix anything. I've seriously had it with the way Spanish football is run, they ask for support from the EU and at the same time these football clubs are not made to pay their taxes, spend irresponsibly and take on unsustainable debt to do so, and get repeatedly bailed out by local governments. And now you have teams like Malaga in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. It's a joke for the other countries who try to run their leagues honestly and without driving their clubs into bankruptcy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...football-clubs