Page 3 - Monthly Archives: September 2015

Are football ticket prices too high? Lazio fans seem to think so. In a recent report from ESPN FC, it was revealed that Lazio's season ticket sales have hit their lowest point in a decade. After a 10 percent Lazio ticket price increase compared to last year, it seems as if fans are choosing to watch Lazio's football games from home instead of buying up seats at Stadio Olimpico. According to ESPN, it was Lazio's first price hike since 2004, and has therefore resulted in the soccer club's lowest season ticket sales since 2004. That's a pretty clear cause-and-effect relationship.

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The Right Time for a Price Hike?

It does sense that Lazio officials

September 15th was an exciting day for soccer fans in Europe, as the 2015 2016 UEFA Champions League officially got underway. Tuesday saw the first matches in groups A through D, with many heavyweight teams coming out of the woodwork to play. But what did we learn from Champions League 2015 - 2016 Group A day one, and which teams that won big in their first group stage matches will still be hanging around when we reach the late stages of the knockouts?

Ever since the UCL group stage draw at the end of August, soccer analysts have pointed to Group A as one of the most predictable in the competition. They've had a point: Group A, which features Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Malmo FF, and Shakhtar Donetsk, has a clear divide between heavyweight football clubs (Real Madrid, PSG) and also-rans (Malmo FF, Shakhtar). Unsurprisingly, that divide was on display as group stage play began.

Real Madrid vs. Shakhtar Donetsk 

FC Barcelona were just about perfect in the 2014 2015 UEFA Champions League. After winning five of their six group stage matches (they lost one, to Paris Saint Germain), Barca went on to easily edge out each of the football clubs they played in the knockouts. From their round of 16 triumph over Manchester City, to their 5-1 revenge against PSG in the quarters, all the way to their expert takedown of Bayern Munich in the semis, it was clear Barcelona were the frontrunners to win the tournament. By the time Barca were beating Juventus 3-1 to take the trophy, their victory felt like it had been a long-foregone conclusion. Now it is the beginning of the 2015 - 2016 season and Barcelona kick off UCL defense with an away game at AS Roma.

Because of their glorious run in last year's Champions League, Barcelona were the strong favorites to win their first match of this year's tournament. The game, played against AS Roma on Wednesday, September 16^th, was the first step in Barca's

Galatasaray will have to pick things up in September if they are going to defend their 2014 2015 Turkish Super Lig title. After the first month of the 2015 - 2016 Turkish Super Lig campaign, the reigning league champs are in ninth place, with only one win under their belt. Fenerbahce-2014's title winners and last season's number two team-have taken up residence at the top of the standings table instead.

A Close Race

Not that Fenerbahce have been dominant so far. The Yellow Canaries were off to a good season start in the first week of competition, donning the Fenerbahce home shirt 2015 2016 to score a 2-0 win against Eski?ehirspor. But Fenerbahce settled for a lukewarm draw in week two (1-1, with Rizespor), and have since collected a pair of one-point victories against Antalyaspor and Kas?mpa?a, respectively.

That record, of three wins and one draw, earns the Yellow Canaries a point total of 10 in the standings. That's

So far, the most notable talking points surrounding the 2015 2016 English Premier League season have been the implosion of Chelsea FC and the complete, utter dominance of Manchester City. Both of those trends continued to hold true in the Premier League's fifth week of competitive play. Chelsea continued to slip further down the standings table while Manchester City continued to fortify their position at the top. Does the Chelsea poor form mean that their title hopes are already dashed? Are Manchester City shoe-ins for a Premier League triumph? Only time will tell, but after Premier League week five 2015 - 2016, it certainly seems like both of those predictions might prove valid.

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Chelsea's Disastrous Season

A year ago, Chelsea's Blues took an early lead in the EPL, beating Burnley 3-1

It would not be a stretch to say that Juventus FC have so far experienced a disastrous 2015 2016 football season. After winning four Serie A titles in a row, the Zebras have slipped to 16^th place in the Italian top-flight division this fall. And while the season is still in its earliest stages, the fact that Juve lost arguably their two best players over the summer (Carlos Tevez and Arturo Vidal) does not inspire much confidence for the soccer squad's chances. However, this week Juventus score surprise Champions League win, could this be the boost the club needed?

Juventus were not expected by many to win their opening Champions League match. While the Zebras are coming into the UCL this year fresh off a runner-up finish in the prestigious tournament, that is just about all they had going for them heading into game one. Their opponents were Manchester City, who have won all five of their domestic league matches so far, and the match was scheduled to take place

The opening month of the 2015 2016 association football season has brought a long list of talking points for soccer fans throughout Europe. Perhaps the "biggest" stories so far have been the complete and utter collapses of clubs like Chelsea FC and Juventus-clubs that were, as recently as last spring, complete powerhouses. The best rivalry of the new season, though, has undoubtedly been playing out in month one of 2015 - 2016 Bundesliga play, between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

The Rise of Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund experienced their own collapse last season, not unlike what Chelsea and Juventus are going through right now. After finishing second in the 2013 2014 Bundesliga, the Black and Yellows hit a wall in the autumn of 2014. They lost two of their first four matches and had tumbled to 10^th place at the end of month one.

That was just the tip of the iceberg for BVB's disastrous season.

Internazionale left San Siro with the bragging rights on Sunday, September 13^th, beating their local rivals (and fellow stadium tenants) AC Milan 1-0 in a high-profile San Siro derby 2015 match. The two Milan football clubs may not be what they once were nowadays. They finished eighth (Inter) and 10^th (AC) respectively in the 2014 2015 Serie A. That's a far cry from the champion (AC) and runner-up (Inter) slots that they had occupied just four years earlier. Still, even with Milan's soccer teams having hit rough patches at more or less the same time, the derby games between them remain fierce, high-profile rivalry battles. Sunday's match was no exception.

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May the Better Team Win

Last season, it was nearly impossible to tell which Milan squad was the better

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The Match: What Went Down

The Red Devils donned the Manchester United home jersey 2015 2016 and took the pitch at Old Trafford to take on Liverpool. However, it took a little while before their home field advantage really seemed to kick in. Indeed, after the first half of play, the football match was still stalemated at 0-0.

It wasn't until the opening minutes of the second half that Manchester midfielder Daley Blind took an assist from Juan Mata to score the first goal of the match. From there on out, it was like puzzle pieces falling into place for the Red Devils. At the 70-minute mark, Ander Herrara drained a penalty goal to make the score 2-0. And while Christian Benteke-Liverpool's highest profile signing of the summer transfer window-brought Liverpool back within one point at 84 minutes, the comeback surge was decidedly brief.

While Daley Blind was likely the man of the

FC Barcelona may be leading the way in the 2015 2016 La Liga season, after three consecutive wins in the first three weeks of play. However, the soccer club's campaign so far has been a far cry from the high-scoring hijinks of the 2014 2015 season. Indeed, in the first two games of the season, Barca only narrowly edged out their opponents, beating Athletic Club Bilbao 1-0 in week one (thanks to a second half goal from Luis Suarez) and topping Malaga in week two (1-0 again, courtesy of defender Thomas Vandermaelen). And now in week three Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid in their strongest performance so far of the 2015 - 2016 La Liga campaign.

Barcelona's struggles in those early matches were due, in part, to a long list