VIDEO: Fair Play Miroslav Klose, scores hand goal & reports to referee

Germany international striker Miroslav Klose showed real Fair Play on Wednesday evening in a Serie A match between SSC Napoli and Lazio Roma. Following a Lazio corner Klose touches the ball with his hand before the ball goes into the net with the referee allowing the goal, but after Napoli players protest the referee goes to Klose who honestly says he touched the ball with his hand and the goal is disallowed.

The goal would have been Lazio's 1-0 at Napoli and in the end Lazio lost 0-3, but Klose showed what real Fair Play means and was applauded by the Napoli players on the field and thereafter by fans and the media alike.

The first video shows the goals, the second also the reactions thereafter

VIDEO: Best Goals Compilation 2010/11

A great link that a friend send me a few days ago showed some great goals from last season across the top European leagues - England, Spain, Italy, Germany - besides UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Watch and simply enjoy!

Juventus FC open new stadium on Thursday

Italian giants Juventus Torino will inaugurate their new home, the Juventus Arena on Thursday and hope to enter a new era in the history of the 113 years old club who fittingly are called Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady).

The stadium has cost the club from the Piedmont 122 Million Euros and will have a capacity of 41,000 spectators. The new stadium has been build at Juventus' old home the 'Stadio Delle Alpi' and will get a new sponsor name once marketing partners Sportfive sell the naming rights.

Juventus hope their new stadium will be the home for years to come. Before the 1990 FIFA World Cup Juventus played their home games at the Stadio Comunale, then for the World Cup the 'Stadio Delle Alpi' was build but Juventus and their fans never became happy with the venue, so they worked on plans over the last decade to build a football specific ground and in the construction phase they played at the 'Stadio Olimpico' along with city rivals Torino FC.

For the club the stadium was a necessity to enhance their income and offer better facilities to well-paying fans with the stadium having 4,000 business seats and the club have been able to sell 85% of these, which has positively surprised the club management.

Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero said, "My fourth stadium in black-and-white, that's my strangest record and certainly a tough one to beat. I hope it will absorb all the victorious energy of the delle Alpi."

"This time we're really at home and I hope that will create a feeling between us and the fans who could become our 12th man," del Piero added.

The stadium opens on Thursday with a match against English League One side Notts County FC.

Forlan out of Inter Milan's Champions League squad

2010 UEFA Champions League champions Internationale Milan will have to do without their new Uruguayan signing Diego Forlan in the group stages of their UEFA Champions League campaign as Forlan has already played for his old club Atletico Madrid against Norway's Stromsgodset in the Europa League qualifiers this season and as per UEFA rules if a team progress into the group stages then the played is cup tied until end-December and can only play for his new club in the new year (not season) from January onwards.

This means Diego Forlan could only make his European debut for Inter Milan next year in the pre-quarterfinals if the Italian progress from their group which includes Russians CSKA Moscow, OSC Lille from France and Turkey's Trabzonspor.

Forlan joined Inter Milan on the last day of the transfer window and it seems the Nerazzurri did not know about his ineligibility to play in the Champions League. The striker was brought in as a replacement for Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o, who has moved to Russian side Anzhi Makachkala, with the club surely expecting him to be eligible for continental competitions.

And the European media has already drubbed the whole case as an unwanted transfer blip for the Italians. The Italian 'Gazzetta dello Sport' said that Inter president Massimo Moratti was not amused by such a huge mistake and Inter Milan has made a complete fool of themselves.

It will be interesting to see if the mistake will hamper Inter Milan's progress in the Champions League, then in the end their group isn't too strong compared to other groupings this season and maybe later in the season Forlan will get some goals for them.

Leverkusen's Arturo Vidal signs for Juventus

Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal is leaving Bundesliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen after four seasons in Germany to join Italian Serie A giants Juventus Torino on a five year contract.

The 24 year old Vidal has been in the news across the summer with the player wanting to leave Leverkusen for a bigger club, ideally German rivals FC Bayern Munich but Bayer 04 Leverkusen made it clear that they would only sell Vidal to a club outside of Germany. This saw interest from Italy, Spain and England with Leverkusen saying that the fee would have to be above 10 Million Euros to tempt them to sell the player.

"I'm happy, it's a big and important step for my career at one of the biggest clubs in Europe," said Vidal in Santiago de Chile before leaving for Italy.

"I'm very content about this new opportunity that I'm being given. It's a new team which is being built with the aim of being champions and qualifying for international competitions."

Vidal added, "My experience in Germany will be useful to me in Italy because tactically it's a similar kind of football."

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Director of Sports Rudi Voeller has been in Italy over the last few days to work out the details of the transfer with Juventus. In the end a fee of 10,5 Million Euros was decided which could rise to 12 Million Euros in the case of success. 30% of Vidal's rights still lie with Chilean club Colo Colo, who earn 3,6 Million Euros from the deal.

In Munich the management of Bayern Munich aren't too happy about Vidal's move as they thought they would get Vidal from Leverkusen this summer even though it was proving to be difficult. Their coach Jupp Heynckes, last seasons coach at Leverkusen, was sure to sign Vidal; but now the player seems to have become restless and wanting a move so he signed for Juventus.

VIDEO's: Dejan Stanković's long ranger efforts

Inter Milan's Dejan Stanković scored an incredible long range effort after only 25 seconds against Schalke 04 in a UEFA Champions League first-leg last night, but it wasn't the first such goal for the Serbian midfielder. Here a look at last nights goal and one he scored about 18 months back in the Italian Serie A against FC Genoa 93. Watch & enjoy!

UEFA Champions League - 05/04/2011: Inter Milan 2-5 Schalke 04:





Serie A - 17/10/2009: FC Genoa 93 0-5 Inter Milan

Decisive Saturday in Europe's top leagues

This Saturday, April 2, 2011 could have decided the titles in a number of top European football leagues for the 2010/11 season. And interestingly it all went in favour of the league leaders - Manchester United (England), FC Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany).


English Premier League
English league leaders Manchester United had a tough away game in London against West Ham United and the first half just proved that as United were two goals down at the break with both goals coming of penalties from Mark Noble. West Ham even had chances to make it three, but it remained 2-0 at half time and still left United with a chance to comeback.
And they just did that in style with Wayne Rooney scoring a brilliant hattrick in 14 minutes to allowed Manchester United to turn things around with a late Xavier Hernandez goal ensuring a 4-2 victory. As closest rivals Arsenal (0-0 against Blackburn Rovers) and Chelsea (1-1 at Stoke City) drew, Manchester United now have a seven point advantage over Arsenal and 11 on Chelsea. United are closing in their next Premier League title.


Spanish Primera Division
It was supposed to be the weekend that Spanish clubs are on strike, but a court disallowed such a move so clubs were forced to play. And Real Madrid afterwards would have hoped the strike had been on, then Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at home by Sporting Gijon through a 79th minute goal from Miguel de la Cuevas, while bitter rivals FC Barcelona won 1-0 against FC Villarreal through a 67th minute goal from Piqué. This now leaves Barca eight points clear of Real Madrid in the La Liga title race, while for Mourinho it was the first home loss in over nine years. His last defeat had been while at FC Porto, a 2-3 against Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.


Italian Serie A
AC Milan took a giant step towards regaining the Serie A title after a 3-0 win against city rivals and current holders Internationale Milan. The hero of the day was Brazilian youngster Alexandre Pato who scored in the 1st and 62nd minute, while substitute Antonio Cassano added a third in the 90th minute to seal a memorable victory. It opened up a crucial five point gap for Milan at the top of the Serie A table after Inter had been closing in on them over the last few weeks.


German Bundesliga
League leaders Borussia Dortmund hosted third placed Hannover 96 in a crucial Bundesliga game. Dropping more points would have given a chance to Bayer 04 Leverkusen to close the gap further to the top, but Dortmund won 4-1 to maintain the seven point lead at the top. Dortmund were given a scare by Hannover when Mohammed Abdellaoue scored a shock lead in the 57th minute, but a brilliant solo from teenager Mario Goetze gave Dortmund the equaliser only a couple of minutes later and suddenly their got their game together as Hannover fell apart. Two goals from Lucas Barrios and a fourth from Kevin Großkreutz ensured in the end a clear 4-1 win.

Bundesliga gain extra Champions League spot

The German Bundesliga is back amongst the top three leagues in Europe and that means that they get an additional fourth place in the UEFA Champions League from the 2012/13 season onwards. As per the latest UEFA coefficient ranking England continue to lead ahead of Spain, but Germany have captured the lucrative third spot from Italy.

"Italy are no longer able to take over third spot this season," the DFL said in a statement. "The new ranking gives Bundesliga teams three starting spots in the group stage and a fourth in the playoff games of the competition."

And Italy will not be able to regain that third spot with whatever happens over the remaining European 2010/11 season in the Champions League and Europa League. The loss for Italy means a massive gain to Germany as it ensures seven instead of six teams in European competitions.

And now the Bundesliga will first target to ensure it's third place amongst European leagues and then they will push to close in on Spain and England. But will take a few European seasons.