LA LIGA STRIKE OVER! CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS! LA LIGA,BARCALY'S PREMIER LEAGUE, AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PREVIEWS!

La Liga

The players' strike in Spain came to a close today when the Liga de Futbol Profesional came to an agreement with the Association of Spanish Footballers. Players across Spain were protesting the lack of guarantees that the League had given regarding players' wages, some of which had gone unpaid for months. The Liga de Futbol Profesional (Spanish FA) had refused to administer a salary guarantee fund for players whose wages had not been paid, beginning the strike. The strike began on August 11th, and finally came to an end on the 25th.

The League is now set to start on August 27th, with Barcelona and Real Madrid going in as favorites to win the championship.

Barclay's Premier League
 
Arsenal, one of the "Big Four" English clubs, has gone through a rather painful summer as they lost not only their star Samir Nasri, but their captain Cesc Fabregas as well. Shortly after leaving, Nasri criticized Arsenal fans for "not being passionate", and stated that Manchester City (the club which Nasri transferred to) is the club of the future.

Sheikh Mansour's Manchester City currently top the table after winning their first two games 4-0 and 3-2 respectively. After winning the FA cup last year in their breakthrough season, Manchester City is seen as a major competitor for not only the Premier League, but the Champions League as well. New signings Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri look set to shine for Manchester City, and possibly win them their first Premier League title.

Manchester United, as always, are favorites for the Premier League. Stars Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes ended their careers last season at ages 40 and 36, respectively, and left holes in Manchester United's squad. To fill the void left by Van der Sar, Sir Alex Ferguson signed Athletico Madrid's young goalkeeper David de Gea. De Gea, who has been starting for Athletico Madrid since the middle of the 2009-2010 campaign, is just 20 years old and hopes to live up to expectations at his new club. In addition to De Gea, English international Ashley Young and 19 year old Phil Jones were signed by Ferguson. Manchester United will be looking to get revenge on F.C. Barcelona, who defeated the Red Devils 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in the Champions League final last season. With Wayne Rooney at top form once again, one can expect much from Manchester United this season.

Champions League Groups



Group A
-Bayern Munich
-Villareal
-Manchester City
-Napoli

Group B
-Internazionale Milan
-CSKA Moscow
-Lille
-Trabzonspor

Group C
-Manchester United
-Benfica
-Basel
-Otelul Galati

Group D
-Real Madrid
-Lyon
-Ajax
-Dinamo Zagreb

Group E
-Chelsea
-Valencia
-Bayern Leverkusen
-Genk

Group F
-Arsenal
-Marseille
-Olympiacos
-Borussia Dortmund

Group G
-Porto
-Shakhtar Donetsk
-Zenit St. Petersburg
-APOEL

Group H
-Barcelona
-Milan
-BATE Borisov
-Viktoria Plzen