Much is made of Borussia Dortmund's attacking verve, but their success - particularly in the final third - is as much a result of hard work as flair.

Juergen Klopp's free-flowing youngsters are easy on the eye and on the league table, and their ability to overwhelm the best defences has got them to the Champions League final, where they face domestic rivals Bayern Munich.

But they are as much a product of Klopp's system, which demands an intensity unrivalled in European football and insists on the so-called flair players to quite literally put in the hard yards.

Defensive forwards -

Real Madrid is a complicated club at the best of times.

Much like Bayern Munich, a long-standing culture exists where the players - particularly those from the local area - are little princes and even kings, a culture that can be seen to develop beyond their careers on the pitch and into the fabric of the club.

Sporting directors, special advisors, members of the technical staff... ex-players form the structure of the club, its history.

As a result coaches, no matter how impressive their CVs and reputations, come and go, rarely lasting more than two or three seasons and often barely completing

parkergerrard

There are three kind of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. But these bunch of stats from our friends at Opta certainly make for interesting reading.

Suppose every shot that hit the woodwork this season had counted as a goal, the Premier League table would have taken on a very different look.

Tottenham Hotspur fans would have been partying hard thinking of the Champions League next term and the riches it bring rather than the slightly impoverished Europa League.

Andre Villas-Boas's side would have finished third in the Premier League table with 76 points netting 83 goals if not for those

Atletico Madrid winger Arda Turan decided to shave his head after his side's 2-1 win over local rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.

Turkey international Turan had promised to shave his head before the match if his side could overcome the odds to upset Jose Mourinho's men.

Joao Miranda thumped home an extra-time winner as Atletico Madrid secured a 2-1 win over Real Madrid to claim Copa Del Rey glory in a fiery final that saw both Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo sent off.

The Brazilian defender headed in a 99th-minute cross to clinch a first victory over Los Blancos since 1999 and

Events in the French capital last week during Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 title celebrations were a serious blow to the prestige of the club's Qatari owners and brought the issue of football-related violence back to the top of the agenda in the country.

Pictures of the destruction caused by troublemakers and of their clashes with riot police were seen all across the world last Monday night, completely removing the focus away from PSG's on-field success.

What the bemused PSG players and staff must have thought as they were ushered away from the stage set up for them at Trocadéro, across the

Caja Rural's Fabricio Ferrari was pushed off his bike during the final stage of the Tour of Norway by an unnamed rider from a rival team.

The incident was captured on camera 12.5km short of the finish to the stage when the Uruguayan was sent crashing to the ground by a clear push.

Ferrari manages to escape from the group of riders, but is then pushed from his bike after pedalling next to the Topsport Vlaanderen rider, who continues to look back as Ferrari attempts to scramble back on his bike.

Roberto Ferrari was blamed for a similar incident 12 months ago when Mark Cavendish and others were

A football fan has bought 700 West Bromwich Albion programmes marking Sir Alex Ferguson's final match as Manchester United manager.

West Brom published a 144-page programme to mark the occasion - the biggest produced for fixture in England.

The match programme contains a 40-page tribute to the legendary Scot with 5,000 sold online on Friday before Sunday's match.

One fan bought 700 copies for £2,800 at a cost of £4 each. Another shelled out £1,200 for three copies. 20,000 copies were printed for the momentous match.

The game ended in an astonishing 5-5 draw at the Hawthorns.

The weather got worse, Bradley and Ryder called it a day, Cavendish became a centurion and Nibali strengthened his grip on the maglia rosa. Our blogger Blazin' Saddles looks back at the second phase of the Giro d'Italia and makes some predictions for the final week.

The big story of the last six days in Italy was the persistent adverse weather conditions which brought about the withdrawal not only of the defending champion but also the peloton's most decorated rider. With Sir Bradley Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal throwing in their snotty towels, the grip of maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali on the