Spoiler

Benfica stand between Chelsea and the right to lose to Barcelona

APOEL's chances of Champions League glory also suffer a blow

While you’ve been screaming at horses on television, over in Switzerland, that loveable bald bloke has been perfecting the art of time wasting.

In between those eagerly-anticipated video montages, he did manage to oversee the Champions League draw, and miraculously, kept Real Madrid and Barcelona apart. Not just in the quarter-final, but in the semis [...]

Champions League possibilities and Cheltenham Festival free bets

Five for Messi, four for Gomez, three for Torres?

Another dramatic night in the Champions League saw Mario Gomez come within a goal of firing five in a home knockout game and presumably prompting the press to laud him as the best player in the history of football.

Elsewhere, Inter won but lost the pitiful drunken fistfight between surely the two most out-of-form sides [...]

AVB out, RDM in, Chelsea to hire a two-initialled manager in June

Is Spalletti the man to restore two-name normality at Chelsea?

Just hours passed between Chelsea firing up the Bunsen burner for the zany scientific experiment of putting cone distributor Roberto Di Matteo in charge until the summer and the previous promoters of such a strategy, Wolves, being thumped 5-0 round the corner.

Luckily for RDM, as he will surely be labelled within a week – [...]

Is Villas-Boas so fed up that he actually wants Chelsea to get rid?

AVB kindly points out that this is usually sacking season at Chelsea

It’s tough to know how to feel about Andre Villas-Boas. He’s not the most endearing boss – though Mick McCarthy’s demise pushes him up that table – yet there has to be some sympathy as he tries to assert authority over the squad who think that they can manage themselves.

Saturday’s 3-0 stroll past a [...]

The return of the Champions League is less than a week away!

Forget the flowers, spend February 14 with Graeme Souness and co

February 14. An expensive seat at a posh venue, painstakingly but thoughtfully prepared montages and a bit of spine-chilling orchestra music to accompany the dulcet tweet of Howard Webb’s whistle. It can only mean one thing: the return of the Champions League.

That’s right, the scrap for that cup with the Gary Lineker-esque ears resumes [...]

Mario Balotelli follows up curry with tidy goal against Chelsea

Remember, remember...

The Spoiler’s forced hiatus over the past few months has been extremely difficult for everyone at Spoiler Towers.

The tea boy has been inconsolable without the cheery whistle of the kettle to keep his spirits up, the cleaner has been bereft of cheesestring wrappers to toss gaily into a bin, while the work experience kid [...]

Video: Yossi Benayoun’s moment of pre-season magic

Playmaker seizes chance to impress Andre Villas-Boas in friendly

As much as The Spoiler agrees that the grandeur of the occasion features prominently in whatever clever formula determines how [...]

How hard will Michael Essien’s absence hit Chelsea’s title bid?

A chart showing Chelsea’s Premier League points per game average with and without Michael Essien in each of his six seasons there…

First-hand experience of cruciate ligament injuries ensures that Spoiler sympathies [...]