All right, so coming up with someone to feature in Midweek Muscles shouldn’t be difficult, am I right? I mean, this is soccer. And the options available for us to chose from are more than plentiful. This is true, of course, but doesn’t make my job any easier!

Thankfully, this week I didn’t have to think too hard about this. Because one of the greatest examples of Midweek Muscles is one we haven’t featured yet! *Gasp!*

Ladies (and gents), I don’t think introductions are needed, but check out Yoann Gourcuff!

This 26-year-old gorgeous Frenchman is an attacking midfielder for Lyon in Ligue 1. And …. who cares about stats. I’ll just leave you with all the fabulous pictures. Yoann is definitely one of those players who isn’t afraid to shed his jersey … or his entire kit. Warning, some of these aren’t going to be safe for work, guys. Enjoy!

Sooooo… yeah. Wow, huh? We were thinking the same thing.

Check back with Aerys Soccer every week for news, Midweek Muscles posts and more! 

Good afternoon football fans! It’s the beginning of a new week and the start of new European seasons which means the news is piling in! Today’s DKA features a plague of knee and head injuries and some official transfer news! So sit back, grab a drink and dive in to today’s top headlines!

Ligue 1

Looks like Lyon’s Yoann Gourcuff is to be sidelined for three months after suffering from a knee injury during Saturday’s match against Troyes. This morning he underwent an MRI saying he sprained his right knee at the medial collateral ligament. Ouch!

English Premier League

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero also suffered a knee injury during last nights match against Southampton. At this point, there’s no word on how serious the injury is but Mancini is hoping it’s not too serious:

“We hope it’s not serious, but at this stage I don’t know. I’m worried, yes. Usually the knee is always dangerous, but this injury was so strange. If it is a serious injury, we will probably change our transfer plans.”

Chamakh isn’t leaving Arsenal just yet. Tottenham has dismissed the rumors of the club making a bid for the Arsenal striker. Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted the club was looking for a striker:

“We have touched on different players in that position, but we have not been able to conclude a deal. Our focus and attention is towards that position, which we will try to sort out next week.”

La Liga

After colliding with teammate Iker Casillas last night, Real Madrid defender Pepe was finally sent home from the hospital after having test done and an overnight observation. All test results came out negative but the Portuguese international will likely miss the clash against Barcelona Thursday at the Camp Nou for the Spanish Supercup.

Alex Song is officially a Blaugrana. The former Arsenal midfielder signed a 5-year contract with the club this morning after passing his medicals. This is the second player Barca has taken from the Gunners in the past two seasons.

Photo courtesy of thefa.com

After the Spain v Italy match Sunday, France v England was one of the most anticipated Euro 2012 matches (of the group stage). On paper, France had the much  better team, but as we all know, being better on paper doesn’t mean a thing in soccer.

After all, look at what happened in Saturday’s group B game — Denmark beat Netherlands, who had the better team. So, while France had a really good chance of winning, England could pull off an upset. I like both teams, but was rooting for France NT, as they have some Manchester City, Lyon and Real Madrid players. Of course, it was a little hard rooting against one of my favorite keepers, Joe Hart.

Before this game, France had been unbeaten in their last 21 games. England hadn’t been doing as well. One thing England had to look forward to was  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first start in a competitive game.

The game started off  pretty slow for both teams. After 10 minutes, Samir Nasri would be the first player with a good chance to score. His attempt, though, was just wide. It would be England who would score first, in 31st minute when  Joleon Lescott scored off Steven Gerrard’s free kick and gave England the lead. This was Lescott’s first international goal.

However, their lead didn’t last long. Lescott’s  City teammate, Nasri, would equalize for the French side less than 10 minutes before half time. When the ref blew the whistle ending the first 45, it was 1-1. The 2nd half started off the same; neither side seemed to be in a hurry to score. However, the French side was soon attacking and kept trying to score the winning goal, but Hart made save after save. While France’s attack was pretty strong, their defense still needed some work. In the last 20 minutes of the game, Nasri and Karim Benzema both had real chances to put France ahead, but yet again, Hart was there to stop them. The game ended 1-1.

France will be disappointed to walk away with only one point. After all, they had been the better team and had more shots on goal. But England had their secret weapon, Hart, who made six saves in this game alone. This point was huge for England. And the next two matches, against Sweden and Ukraine, shouldn’t be as tough for them, especially when they get Rooney back for their third match.

Today is Hump Day and full of news for you footie fans out there trying to labor through the rest of the week.  The biggest story of the day concerns the Arsenal v AC Milan Champions League match.  The Gunners almost pulled off an unimaginable victory over their Italian rivals and if you missed the match, you can read my match review below.  Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is also in the news, as are Chelsea, but this time it is for a win rather than an embarrassing defeat.  Get today’s Champions League fixtures and your daily football news to help get you over the mid-week hump in Wednesday’s Daily Kick Around.

Yesterday’s Champions League Results

Last night, Arsenal came up short to AC Milan in what would have been the come-back of the season.  After AC Milan crushed the North London side 4 – 0 in the first leg tie-breaker at San Siro, the Gunners needed to score five goals and concede none last night to advance to the quarterfinals.  After a valiant effort, the final score ended up at 3 – 0 (Agg 3 – 4).  Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have redeemed themselves.  Read more about last night’s match in my recap.

Benfica beat Zenit St. Petersburg 2 – 0.  Find a match review here as well as some video footage.  Benfica will advance to the CL quarterfinals along with AC Milan.

Today’s Champions League Fixtures 

Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen at 2:30 ET on Fox Soccer

Apoel Nicosia v Lyon

FA Cup Results

Roberto Di Matteo, acting manager who recently replaced Andre Villas-Boas, led Chelsea to a 2 – 0 victory over Birmingham and will advance to the FA Cup quarterfinals. Read a full recap here.

English Premier League

Current Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is Mr. Popular these days.  He has been linked with a move to take over the England National team and today, there are rumors he might be next in line to manage Chelsea.  Redknapp admitted it would be a “dream job” for anyone but not the job for him. Can anyone blame him when knowing you’d have Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich breathing down your neck all season? That job is not for the faint of heart.

Speaking of Tottenham, it is rumored that midfielder Luca Modric will be offered a £3.5million loyalty bonus if he signs a new £100,000-a-week contract for Spurs.  If you remember, towards the end of last summer, Modric was sending a loud and clear message that he wanted to be traded to a team that could qualify for Champions League.  Harry Redknapp refused to sell him, which was wise because Modric is a key element in the center for Spurs.  Currently Tottenham are third in the league standings, very likely to end up in a top four finish, so this is a win-win for Modric and Spurs.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope your Tuesday has been spent with loved ones, or at least doing something you love. Now that the day is almost over, here’s a recap of the best stories you may have missed today while you were partaking in V-Day fun! Your late-edition Daily Kick Around includes more sexy Alex Morgan shots, the potential USMNT away jersey for 2012, results of the UEFA Champions League matches and much more!

US Women’s National Team

Alex Morgan is the soccer player that just keeps on giving. First, she scores lots of goals for the USWNT in their path to the 2012 Olympics in London, then she does this. Can she be any sexier? I don’t think so. Thank you Alex and Sports Illustrated, sincerely.

US Men’s National Team

I don’t remember exactly when it was, but near the end of last year, an image of what is supposedly the USMNT home kit for 2012 leaked onto the Internet. I’m not a huge fan, but I don’t hate it. It’s certainly not the worst jersey I’ve ever seen. However, the leaked 2012 away kit just might be. Have a look for yourself here. Who in their right mind would want to sport this? I would imagine the number is very slim.

Scottish Premier League

Yesterday, the Glasgow Rangers filed papers declaring their intention to go into administration. They had 10 days to officially announce it, and they didn’t waste any time doing so. The Rangers appointed Duff and Phelps as administrators today, and have been docked 10 points in the league standings. Yikes! Not good news for Rangers fans, and especially bad for the three Americans–Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya–that are a part of the squad. What happens next for them? Find out more here.

 UEFA Champions League

A lot of footy fans spent their Valentine’s Day watching the UEFA Champions League games, and I can’t think of a better way to spend the day! In case you weren’t able to catch them, Barcelona beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 ( full recap here ) and Lyon defeated APOEL 1-0 ( full recap here ).

It’s a new week filled with lots to talk about, footy fans, so I’m going to jump right into it! The biggest news today comes out of Scotland, where the Glasgow Rangers are in hot water. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention how excited we are for tomorrow, and no, it’s definitely not for Valentine’s Day…the Champions League action is back! Plus, will Carlos Tevez actually return to Manchester City after all the drama surrounding him? That, and much more in today’s Daily Kick Around!

Scottish Premier League

Bad news for Glasgow Rangers and their fans: the Scottish club has lodged legal papers stating their intention to file for administration – the UK’s version of bankruptcy. Their financial woes are the result of a tax bill that the club would be unable to pay. The club has 10 days to declare that administrators have taken over operations. They will also have 10 points deducted from the league standings, but at this point, I think that is the least of their concerns.

UEFA Champions League

Rejoice! The UCL is back in action tomorrow after two months off. The round of 16 is set to kick off Tuesday, with Barcelona facing Leverkusen and Lyon taking on Apoel. For a full list of all the UCL matches, go here!

 English Premier League

After spending three months in Argentina — unauthorized — is Carlos Tevez finally returning to Manchester City? Now that the January transfer window has ended, Tevez has run out of options and seems to be set to come crawling back to City and right his wrongs with manager Roberto Mancini. It appears that Mancini will welcome him back with open arms (if Tevez apologizes) but I’m not sure I would. Is he really worth the drama? Plus, how long until he is at match fitness? If I were Mancini, I would think long and hard before giving him another shot.

After their embarrassing 5-1 loss to West Brom at home this weekend, the Wolverhampton Wolves have fired manager Mick McCarthy today. McCarthy has been with the team since 2006, and helped them win promotion to the Premier League in 2009, but has been a disaster this season. With only one win in the last 13 games, the Wolves have slipped into the bottom three of the table.

Unfortunately, we haven’t stopped talking about the drama before, during and after the Manchester United – Liverpool match from Saturday. Despite the poor character displayed from players on both clubs, they managed to avoid any sanctions from the FA. Each club is likely to receive a stern letter reminding them of their responsibilities, but that’s it. Really, FA?

Major League Soccer

The off season hasn’t exactly been a good one for the New England Revolution and their fans. The MLS club said goodbye to three of their top forwards, leaving them desperate for players with attacking prowess. Today, a glimmer of hope, as the Revs signed Saer Sene of the Bayern Munich reserves, a forward who has scored 19 goals in 55 appearances.

Africa Cup of Nations

In a shocking result, Zambia defeated the Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations, winning their first ever continental crown. The incredibly unlikely winners have some wild stats that were stacked against them, including being given a 1.9 percent chance of winning the title at the start of the tournament. Here’s a more in depth look at the statistics behind Zambia’s historic win.

Finally, I leave you with a silly and fun video of the LA Galaxy’s David Beckham goofing around between sets at a photo shoot … and pulling off one of the coolest foosball trick shots ever! He makes it look so easy…but I’m sure if I tried it, I would be hunting down a lot of errant shots!

It was a hell of a day yesterday in the Champions League, soccer fans. The footie ladies of Aerys are gathering our bearings; and Kayla Knapp and I are picking ourselves off the floor (We’re die-hard United fans). We hope you caught some of the great action yesterday, if not, here are your Thursday headlines!

Champions League

As stated previously, it was a mess yesterday, folks. From both Manchester teams getting knocked out to Lyon rousing an astonishing 7 goals, the CL turned Europe upside down yesterday. I have a recap of the Man. United game here and Tamara Rinehart has your match-day recap here.

Major League Soccer

Vancouver Whitecaps finally unveiled what many saw coming yesterday; the team announced the signing of Young-Pyo Lee. The former South Korea international said he chose MLS because he wanted “lifestyle over money.”

MLS recently invited four UCLA players to the pre-draft player combine to be held in Florida. A number of other players from California schools and UNC were also on the list announced Wednesday. The combine will be Jan. 6-10, with the SuperDraft set for Jan. 12 and the supplemental draft for Jan. 17.

Seattle has a replacement for the legend Kasey Keller; the club announced recently the signing of Austrian Michael Gspurning.

English Premier League

As the L.A. Galaxy wrapped up their Asia Pacific tour last week, David Beckham told media that a return to the EPL isn’t likely in his future. Rumors are milling that if Becks leaves L.A., it will be for Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is in hot water with the FA over a gesture he allegedly made toward Fulham fans during the two clubs last clash. This is the second charge Suarez has received this year after he was accused of making racial slurs toward Manchester United defender Patrica Evra.

La Liga

Can you feel it getting closer? El Clasico is in three days and the hype is building. With all the talk milling about, Barcelona midfielder Xavi would like to point out that IF Real Madrid beat Barca Saturday, it wouldn’t end the Catalans’ chances at the La Liga crown.

Serie A

It seems that Roma’s “Spanish experiment” is going astray. With players fighting and games being lost, Roma fans must be wondering what boss Luis Enrique is actually doing for the club.

Talks of Tevez making a move to Italy are still heated; former Serie A player Roberto Baggio thinks the Argentinian striker should go with AC Milan, who Baggio was a striker for.

Olympic Qualifying

Well the U.S. came away with quite an easy draw Tuesday as it was announced they would face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador in their group for Olympic qualifying. The Olympics are reserved mostly for the U-23 team, and qualifying matches will begin in March in the United States.

Real Madrid's two strikers Karim Benzema & Gonzalo Higuain celebrate after Benzema scores his second goal of the night assisted by Higauin

Real Madrid faced their Matchday 1 pair, Dinamo Zagreb, at the prestigious and very wet, Santiago Bernabeu winning 6-2.

Sending a strong message to all their future opponents, Los Galacticos broke the match wide open with a goal from Karim Benzema. The goal came 83 seconds after the kickoff, making it the fastest goal scored in ALL of Real Madrid’s Champions League history. With Benzema’s goal, Real Madrid is the first club to reach 200 goals at home in Champions League.

But it didn’t stop there. In the 6th minute, Jose Callejon scored his first goal in the CL as well as receiving his first start in a Champions League match.

It took only 8 minutes for Real Madrid to be up 3-nil when Gonzalo Higuain, or Pipita, scored a beautiful goal that landed in the top right of the net.

With 3 goals scored in 8 minutes, a fourth goal was stemmed from Mesut Ozil after a brilliant pass from Pipita in the 20th minute, making it them the first club to score 4 goals in the first 20 minutes of Champions League history.

It was around the the halfway point, where Dinamo Zagreb looked to give up. Too be honest, I was starting to feel for the Zagreb supporters that traveled all the way to Madrid to see their club get defeated so badly.

Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid manager, made three subs in the beginning of the second half. Due to rotations, we would get the opportunity to see our bench get some play time. Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Mesut Ozil were subbed out for Hamit Altintop, Raul Albiol and El Pirata, Esteban Granero (who I was super excited to see!)

With the last 45′ left to be played, Dinamo started to show up by standing their ground on the defense. But it wasn’t enough for Karim Benzema who took a pass from Gonzalo Higuain, putting the Madridistas up 5-nil. This is the first match of the 2011-2012 season that Jose Mourinho started both his strikers. Maybe it was to shut up the critics? Sorry, but it’s nearly impossible to pick one over the other. But after this match, it is possible to start both strikers and still get that classic Real Madrid result.

Jose Callejon also gave Madrid a brace scoring his side’s 6th and final goal of the match. The last two Real Madrid players to score a brace for the club in Champions League was Raul and Ruud five years ago.

Dinamo showed up late in the match when Beqiraj scored in the 81st minute only to be accompanied with yet another goal for Dinamo in the 90th minute by Tomecak giving Zagreb final score of 2 goals.

With the two goals by Dinamo, Real Madrid kissed their hopes of a clean sheet record goodbye. However, they still are undefeated in Champions League with the maximum points possible, qualifying as group leaders. Hello Knockout Stage!

Fun Fact: With this 6-2 win, Jose Mourinho and his club surpass rivals Pep Guardiola and Barcelona with a 12 match winning streak.

Men of the Match:

Jose Callejon and Karim Benzema

Tuesday’s Champions League Scores:

Manchester United 2-2  Benfica

Ajax  0-0  Lyon

Bayern Munich  3-1  Villarreal

Napoli  2-1  Manchester City

Otelul  2-3  Basel

Inter Milan  1-1  Trabzonspor

CSKA Moskva  0-2  Lille

Be sure to stay with Aerys Soccer for all your Champions League coverage!

Photos courtesy of @RMadridinfo & Real Madrid C.F.

La Liga

Granada are awaiting their RFEF (Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol) verdict after their match against Mallorca was cancelled when  linesman Aguilar Rodriguez was struck by an umbrella thrown from the crowd, cutting his cheek. Granada had just scored a goal giving them the lead, making the match 2-1. It’s likely Granada could be fined, giving Mallorca the win.

English Premier League

It was a case of “Monday Night Football” when the Tottenham Hotspurs faced Aston Villa. Former Real Madrid player Emmanuel Adebayor scored the only goals of the match, giving the Spurs a 2-nil victory.

So where exactly has Carlos Tevez been? Well, he was winning golf tournaments in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tevez, claimed as the Man City Rebel, has been MIA after being charged with misconduct in September when he refused to warm up during a Champions League match against Bayern Munich. Manager Robert Manchini offered Tevez an option to come back to the club if he apologized to the club and the players. Tevez refused and left for his homeland. When will this Tevez Saga end? Only time will tell.

“The Future of Arsenal” Jack Wilshere made a heavy bet with his twitter fans earlier today. The wager? If Arsenal-rivals Tottenham finish the season above the Gunners, Wilshere will donate £3,000 to a charity. Part of me wants Jack to donate to the charity of his choice, but the Gooner inside refuses to take part in this bet.

Serie A

Juventus striker Amauri is likely heading to England in January’s transfer window. Rumor has it that both Tottenham and Fulham are interested.

Major League Soccer

With the expansion draft coming up to kick off the entrance of the Montreal Impact into MLS, teams released the dreaded protected lists yesterday. According to MLS Expansion Draft rules, each of the 18 teams currently in MLS could protect “11 players between their On-budget and their Off-budget Roster.”

Bundesliga

The DFB (German Football Federation) stated that referee Babak Rafati was released from the hospital after his failed suicide attempt on Saturday. Rafati was found in his hotel room covered in blood hours before Saturday’s match between Cologne and Mainz. May all the wishes in the football community be sent to Rafati and his family. Stay strong!

UEFA Champions League

Matchday 5 starts today. Some key matches to look out for:

Real Madrid vs. Dinamo Zagreb

Bayern Munich vs. Villarreal

Lyon vs. Ajax

Manchester United vs. Benfica

Fox Soccer is offering FREE access to all Champions League matches this week by providing their Facebook fans a promo code for their online TV service. You can also catch the CL action on normal TV as well, starting with Manchester United vs Benfica at 2 p.m. ET!