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Ferrari finished on podium at hungaroring last Sunday, but that wasn’t good enough for them to celebrate their hard earned points,  why..??, because their lead driver Felipe  Massa was in the hospital fighting for breathes, it’s a courage of Ferrari that made them go racing with a single car and finish 2nd, Kimi did it for them and did it in fashion, that wasn’t a fighting approach but a cool headed drive by the ice man, but first question that popped up in everybody’s mind was “Are Ferrari guys gonna race with a single driver in future races till Massa gets recovered to his full strengths?”..or “are Ferrari guys gonna bring in young guns..??”..striking questions and the answer from Ferrari was so simple to guess..they just had to turn around and the legend was standing behind them..Michael Schumacher - 7 times world champion was ready for his come back..!!

A news flashed on AutoSport and hearts of MS fans pounded at a speed of 320kmh, they were and are still exultant to see MS sitting in that fierce scarlet car, they are ready to chant his name, Go Michael Go, but will it be the same MS as we all have witnessed way back in early 2ks, back to back championships, only wins, only podiums, only records after records and red was the color shining all over the world of formula 1, that was a golden era for scarlets, now things have changed, this Ferrari is no longer a championship winning car, it’s lagging behind the Brawns and Red Bulls, no one ever thought about it but it’s a reality and sometimes it sounds cruel to Ferrari fans, that is why they all are looking forward to the grand comeback of MS, they still believe that MS will lift the Ferrari up as he did it when he joined hands with them for the first time - way back in 90s..!!

It’s going to be difficult for MS as well, being not in a racing car for so long needs some sort of revision again,  Ferrari is ready for that and planning to arrange a training session for MS, to make it easier for him to be in a comparatively inferior car, KERS will be a new experience for MS, pressure will be there, whether to perform or to outperform, this time around podium could be difficult for him but with no mistakes he can certainly help Ferrari gaining some points, all a motor world can see is a legend coming back to his own arena..arena where he lived thousands of moments of his life..arena where he became Michael Schumacher..now he is ready once again to race in an F1 car..will he succeed..??..will it be a new chapter in the history of motor sports..??..will this old horse leave the young bloods behind..??..who knows..Valencia certainly has the answers and only time can lead us there..

The start of the English Premiership is still couple of weeks away. But a mad EPL fan which I am, just couldn’t resist him self from writing about it. In these coming weeks we would look at the teams involved in the EPL. We will see how they set up this season. So, Lets begin the journey.

Whenever, you talk about any game most of the times you talk about the best in the business and Manchester United have been simply the best for the past three seasons. But I think their title defense this season would not be easy at all. The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid has left a void which is almost impossible to fill. Also United fans’ beloved Carlos Tevez has now joined arch rivals Manchester City.

One would have expected United to make some major signings after the departures of two of the world’s best players. But strangely they have bought Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic, a player who has never played for a big club and also they have signed a player who has played for many big clubs like Liverpool and Real Madrid but just fails to play even 80 percent of the games of the season .Yes you are right, we are talking about once one of Europe’s most feared strikers, Michael Owen.

I, in fact almost all of us would have no doubts over the abilities of Michael Owen. But over the past five- six years he has lost his sharpness. So how he lives up to the demands of playing for such a big club remains to be seen. Also being an injury prone, very rarely he would last full 90 minutes. So, manager sir Alex Ferguson would have to use him very carefully, if he wants get most out of him.

This season in the absence of Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney will be their key player. Past records have shown whenever Rooney doesn’t play United find it very difficult to win a football match. He along with Dimitar Berbatov would be lead the attack for the Red Devils and United will rely heavily on both of  them for goals .They haven’t lost any other players, so rest of the departments don’t need any change .Especially their defense which for me is the best in Europe if not in the world. Really it is this rare guard which has been their secret of success over the last few seasons.  Though, they still have enough talent up their sleeves to go all the way, it will be very interesting to see how Sir Alex uses his options and how they will shape up this season especially up front.

 Season’s predictions: This might just be the season when United’s winning streak might come to an end. If you ask me where they would finish this season, I would say 2^nd. ( I know United fans will have different opinion, comments are welcome).

A few days back, I read in the newspapers that Rahul Dravid had been thrown a “lifeline” by the Indian selectors regarding his one day career. Lifeline to a legend, how stupid does it sound? However that’s not what this post is about.

Apparently miffed at the lack of spine in the Indian batting lineup when it comes to short pitched bowling, they decided to include Dravid in the list of 30 probable players for the Champions trophy. A classic case of taking one step forward and 2 steps back. Just because the Indian team didn’t make it to the final of the T20 world cup, you bring back a senior player. Guess they still feel that the boys haven’t turned into men. And while one may argue that you need another senior player in the side, what is also to be seen that unlike Tendulkar, who is an automatic selection for a series, Dravid hasn’t had that sort of luck. And God forbid, if Dravid does not land up in the playing eleven, then I can only imagine what must be his thoughts to sit on the bench.

Coming back to the point, as everyone knows, T20 is heavily loaded in the favor of batsmen, who can whack bowlers out of the park at will. However, they will not allow these same batsmen to be tried in the test arena, instead allowing one day and T20 series to be the only place where they can play.

At the other end of the scale is the Indian Test Team, which has all the senior players who have shouldered the burden for ages now. What are the selectors waiting for? To let all these players hang their boots at once and then thrown the younger players into the cauldron without any sort of guidance or support. Of course, one may point out that a couple of players have retired and hence a younger player has been included in the side, the selectors still don’t have enough confidence to allow him to play a full series without keeping the sword of dropping the player after 1 bad innings, let alone a match.

This strategy seriously needs a re-look else the same story of 1 step forward and 2 step backwards will keep continuing.

If cricket is a crazy sport, then tennis should be called a gentleman’s sport, isn’t it ? A crazy fan of Sachin Tendulkar that I am, I equally admire Roger Federer.

With a legendary win at Wimbledon Tennis Championship against Andy Roddick of US, a history is created in this gentleman’s sport, by the elegant and my favorite player Roger Federer.
Roger surpassed Pete Sampras’s record of 14 championship. Sampras acclaimed Roger as the best player, which is no wonder, looking at the records. Federer had previously been at position at No. 1 for record 237 consecutive weeks. He was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, for four consecutive years and holds many such records.

“Andy (Roddick) played an unbelievable tournament. He’s a great guy but there has to be a winner sometimes.
I didn’t hold the trophy last year. But it feels great after such a crazy match which could have gone on for a few more hours. My head is still spinning.

Getting 15 Grand Slam titles is not something you dream about when you are a little boy, but I’ve had a great career.
It’s been quite a month winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back just like Bjorn Borg did.

I don’t play to break records but it’s great to have them.” says the winner.

Even after Federer’s struggle  in matches against Nadal, Roddick and Sampras hailed Federer as the greatest player of all time.
No doubt, along with the Wimbledon title, Federer has won hearts of millions of fans.

I am sure we will see many more titles and records from Roger in coming years. Amen.

The “Galactiocs” era is back at Santiago Barnabeau Stadium. Newly elected president Florentino Perez has carried forward  his policy of signing high profile players during his second stint at the club.During his first stint, Real splashed the money on signing the likes of Ronaldo, Luis Figo ,Zinedine Zidane,David Beckham.

Major Arrivals:

This time around they have already spent over 300 million dollars for the signing of  superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo ,Kaka  and  Karim Benzema.

The signing of  Cristiano Ronaldo  finally  put the fullstop on probably the most dramatic transfer saga in football history. Ronaldo had his eyes set on the move right from the day the offer came. It was the success that he achieved at Manchester United that was stopping him from expressing his desire publicly  to leave Old Trafford. But finally Real made an offer that was hard to resist for United. Though , United lost their most influential player they made very good business. The arrival of  Ronaldo will provide Real the natural width on the right wing ,which was their major area of concern.

The transfer of Kaka from AC Milan on the other hand was not so dramatic.AC Milan off late has not attracting the superstars once it used to,but it has more to do with Italian Serie A. Milan team need the complete squad revamp and the money earned by selling Kaka will only help the cause. Kaka is a terrific addition to that central midfield of Real which lost creativity in the middle of the park after the retirement of Zinedine Zidane.

More to Come?

Though Real have spent so much money , I do expect some more players to arrive in White part of Madrid. Frank Ribery has reiterated his desire to join “Real Revolution” by leaving Bayern Munich. Also with Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy aging, it wont surprise me at all if see the prolific David Villa staring the first game for them. Also Real are linked with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.

What all this means?

The arrivals of all this superstars signals the exit of other players, mainly Dutch the likes of  Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van der Vaart ,Arjene Robben and Klass Jan Huntelaar.

Well if you ask me about the Real Madrid’s chances this season of silverware, I would say if all these “Galacticos” can gel well they would be a major major force on both domestic and European front. But if they fail to do so, you know better than me what can happen.