Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski (C) and his team-mates celebrate after defeating Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg at BVB stadium (Reuters)

By Early Doors (original post from Yahoo Eurosport can be found here)

So electric were the performances of the two German clubs in the Champions League this week, they almost threatened the immutable laws of meteorology. Lightning doesn't strike twice, as the old saying has it, yet here were blindingly brilliant displays from two exuberant Bundesliga teams, both putting four goals past one of European football's pre-eminent clubs.

Only an unfortunate back-pass from Mats Hummels, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to tap home, prevented a carbon copy of Bayern Munich's awesome rout of Barcelona when Borussia Dortmund trounced Real Madrid last night, but the overall sensation was the same: resplendent, thrilling, vivid football that gave Germany an 8-1 aggregate win over Spain across the two legs.

One should always be wary of declaring a decisive shift in continental football's tectonic plates. The complex undercurrents of change run deep, and are unfathomable from any given snapshot in time.

By Early Doors (original post from Yahoo! Eurosport can be found here)

They have one of the most exciting groups of players ever assembled.

They play football the right way, they try to score goals and never fail to entertain.

Their star player might just be the greatest footballer ever to draw breath.

They are owned by the fans, not some oil-rich sugar daddy or profit-obsessed tycoon.

They stand for something, they aren't just another of modern football's faceless machines.

So why does it feel so good when Barcelona get an absolute pasting, as they did so gloriously in the Allianz Arena?

Let's face facts. Football fans and Schadenfreude are best friends - a lot of the time, it's all we've got. But when Barça get tonked it just feels that little bit sweeter.

First of all, there is novelty value whenever a big team lose.

We're bored of Barcelona winning. They have made such an art of making the incredible look routine that... well, it looks routine. Lionel Messi scores in every game.

By World of Sport (original post from Yahoo! Eurosport can be found here)

The world of football was buzzing on Monday after Robin van Persie's wonder-strike helped propel Manchester United to their 814th Premier League title - a fitting tribute to Alex Fergsuon's 1,112th season in charge of the Red Devils.

But the day before, on the other side of Europe, a goal every bit as extraordinary was being scored by a Brazilian star.

Ukrainian top flight side Metalist Kharkiv are in pole position to claim a Champions League spot next season, but with Dynamo Kiev breathing down their necks in the run-in they know that every goal counts.

So when they went 1-0 down against Chornomorets in the 26th minute of their clash on Sunday night, it could easily have been panic stations for the team.

Thanks to the amazing quick-thinking of striker Cleiton Xavier, however, Chornomorets' lead lasted all of about 30 seconds. As the players gathered for kick-off, Xavier spotted the opposing goalkeeper Dmitriy

Luis Suarez against Chelsea (Reuters)

By Alex Chick (original post from Yahoo! Eurosport can be found here)

It's official - what happened on Sunday was officially the joint sixth-worst thing a player has ever done in the history of English football.

The only things to have earned a longer ban:
-Kung-fu kicking a fan (Eric Cantona, nine months)
-Testing positive for cocaine (Mark Bosnich, nine months)
-Missing a drugs test (Rio Ferdinand, eight months)
-Getting sent off then committing violent conduct twice (Joey Barton, 12 matches)
-Pushing the referee over (Paolo Di Canio, 11 games).

Luis Suarez's nibble on Branislav Ivanovic was worse than:
-Punching your opponent and breaking his jaw (Paul Davis, nine games)
-Racially abusing your opponent (Luis Suarez, eight games)
-Elbowing your opponent half to death (Ben Thatcher, eight games)
-Racially abusing your opponent (John Terry, four matches)
-And every leg-breaking tackle ever perpetrated.

Ten games. We await the FA's written reasons, but it seems inconceivable that

When brilliantly named Persiwa defender O.K. John put in a two-footed lunge in the box in the 80th minute, referee Wasit Muhaimin immediately pointed to the spot. Persiwa players fiercely protested the decision on the grounds that he won the ball, perhaps forgetting that a two-footed tackle from behind with both feet in the air is a pretty dangerous thing to do. Regardless, Persiwa's number ten Pieter Rumaropen was so angry with the decision that he laid a left hook on the official.

The game was held up for ten minutes as blood poured down the referee's shirt and Rumaropen was given his marching orders.

The incident wasn't quite as disgraceful as, say, biting an opponent, but a sucker punch from behind a referee's back is pretty cowardly and worthy of a lengthy ban.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day:

Singapore's national freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers in a sparring session at their Jurong home. (Yahoo! Photo)

Tucked away at the back of a remote futsal facility in Jurong, an inconspicuous blue door opens to the headquarters of the Wrestling Federation of Singapore (WFS).

But step inside and you won’t find grossly muscle-bound men in fancy costumes jumping off ropes or slapping and hurling chairs at each other.

Instead, the cramped, stuffy room – once used to store the boxing ring for 2010’s Youth Olympic Games – serves as the training area for Singaporean exponents in the Olympic disciplines of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. The latter differs in its prohibition of moves below the waist.

Here, for over two hours daily, up to 15 national athletes jostle for space to hone their skills on a mat designed for two competitors only.

“We have to accommodate so many people on a mat that is even then cut off and not fully-stretched out,” said WFS secretary and wrestler Aaron Koh. “The training is not as efficient compared to our counterparts overseas, and compared to before.”

The WFS – founded in

(Getty)

Perhaps learning from his previously misdeeds and controversies, Luis Suarez was quick to apologize to Branislav Ivanovic (via Twitter) for biting him during Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Sunday. The chomp, which went unpunished, took place in the second half of the match, after Suarez was booked for a handball that led to Chelsea's second goal and before he scored Liverpool's equalizer in the 96th minute.

Though Liverpool's official website only described the bite as "an altercation" in their match report and manager Brendan Rodgers claimed he hadn't seen the incident, two-time biter Suarez called his behavior "inexcusable."

I'm sad for what happened this afternoon, I apologize Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behaviour. I'm so sorry about it!!

— Luis Suarez (@luis16suarez) April 21, 2013

The FA will likely investigate Suarez's act and could hand down a very stiff punishment. But the Liverpool striker has gained at least one new fan in former boxer Mike Tyson, who famously bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear during a match in 1997. Tyson began following Suarez on Twitter shortly after Suarez's latest nibble.

QPR striker Jay Bothroyd has become the subject of criticism after revealing a bizarre new tattoo.

The former England striker showed off his new ink on Instagram (above) - a gun, a grenade, a flick-knife and a machine gun down the side of his torso.

Together, when looked at from the right angle, they spell out the word love.

The meaning, Bothroyd explained, is that "you have to fight for love.... More than anything it's artistic."

But if Bothroyd was hoping to inspire with his message, he soon found he was the subject of a backlash.

Amongst those to voice their displeasure with the tattoo was Richard Taylor, whose ten-year-old son Damilola was murdered in south London in 2000.

"This tattoo is outrageous and an insult to victims' families," said Taylor, now an anti-violence campaigner.

"Jay Bothroyd is supposed to be a role model to young people but he should be ashamed of his actions. He must immediately apologise for the offence caused."

Bothroyd has since removed the picture from