When AC Milan trounced Barcelona 4-0 in the 1994 European Cup final it signalled the end of an era for Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team.

Last night a superb Bayern Munich side defeated the current set of Blaugrana superstars- arguably the greatest side of all time- by the same scoreline, and there is a genuine feeling that the Catalan giants’ period of dominance is over.

Of course it would be stupid to write this side off, especially when the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi, was clearly hampered by a hamstring injury, but Barcelona have had this coming for a while now. Messi has bailed them out of numerous games in recent months, which has helped mask the frailties within the squad. Read the rest of this entry →

When Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League semi-final first leg clash on Wednesday at the Bernabeu, an array of world-class, household names will be on display.

From Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Xabi Alonso for the Spainard’s, to Mario Gotze, Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski for the German’s, there are brilliant footballers everwhere you look.

Amid this talent will be a 19-year-old centre-back by the name of Raphael Varane, who looks set to become a footballing phenomenon over the next decade. Read the rest of this entry →