So, it looks increasingly likely that this year's Premiership title race will be a straight duel between Manchester City and Manchester United. City, who have the lead over their city rivals, are rightly being considered the favourites but anyone who has been watching English football over the last 20 years will know that counting out United is a foolish move indeed. Ferguson's teams have a history of coming good in the last third of the season and Mancini will need to keep an eye out for a late surge from across the city over the coming months.

If City do stay strong and take the title back to the City of Manchester stadium it will be their first league victory since 1968. Over those 44 years their rivals from the red half of Manchester have amassed a beguiling 12 Premier League championships and 2 Champions Leagues, so to say City have been waiting a while for this chance is a massive understatement. 

The two sides have played a grand total of 162 professional, competitive matches since 1881 when Newton Heath (the original name for the club who would soon be renamed Manchester United) trashed West Gorton (who would become City) 3-0. Though at the time both of these teams were just two of many Manchester clubs who had sprung up in the wake of the founding of the Football Association in 1863, they would go on to become the two most dominant teams in the city over the next twenty years.

The first top flight league game between the two clubs did not come until 1906 with City reversing the score line from their first ever meeting and hammering their rivals 3-0 at their Hyde Road ground. For most of the next century, however, it would be Manchester United who dominated football in the city, collecting numerous titles throughout the fifties, sixties and nineties while City only managed two league victories in that time.

Though recent seasons have not seen Serie A clubs dominating Europe the way they did in the 1980s and 90s, this year has seen them back with a vengeance and they are the only nation represented by three teams in the final 16 (Internazionale being the third).

With Serie A back on the rise after a fairly miserable decade, characterised by falling attendances and a series of ugly scandals, and the Premier League's supposed grip on the competition loosening, it seems a good time to look at some of the most memorable Anglo-Italian clashes of the Champions League era.

Over three successive seasons, 96/97, 97/98 and 98/99, Manchester United would be drawn to face Italian giants Juventus each year. Both clubs were at highpoints in their history during the period. Juventus, under the legendary stewardship of Marcello Lippi, were European champions in 1996 and would defeat United on their way to the final in the first two seasons, though they would eventually be silver medallists on both occasions. Alex Ferguson's United, boasting the talents of Keane, Giggs, Scholes and Beckham, would have the last laugh in 1999 defeating Juventus in a thrilling semi-final before going on to lift the trophy against Bayern Munich in the final.

Perhaps the most famous meeting between English and Italian clubs in Europe, however, may be the extraordinary final of 2005. Liverpool, who had waited since 1984 for their 5th European title, came back from a 3-0 half time deficit against a heavily fancied AC Milan to tie the game 3-3 and take it to penalties. A string of saves from Jerzy Dudek won the trophy in the shootout, prompting wild celebrations from the Liverpudlians in Istanbul.

Recently things have been a little different. Inter's route to their triumphant final of 2010 saw them sweep aside Chelsea in the second round and this year Manchester City's defeat to Napoli helped push them out the door at the group stage.

Many cities around the world have produced more than one football club. Madrid, for instance, has given birth to both Athletico Madrid and, of course, the hugely successful Real Madrid. Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, has some rather famous teams too and one of the most vicious rivalries in football – between Boca Juniors and River Plate. Another of these two-club cities is Manchester, where Manchester United and Manchester City are derived.

Manchester United is the more famous of the two, having won more domestic Premier League titles than any team in England – a total of 19. Throughout their 134 year history, they have also had a good deal of success abroad, including three UEFA Champions League titles. They have won a variety of other titles worldwide, including what is referred to as a Treble – they won the Premier League, an FA Cup and European Cup (in 1998-1999).

Presently, Manchester United has one of the most effective and star-studded squads in the entire world. Their line-up consists of players such as Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Javier Hernandez, Nemanja Vidic and Phil Jones. Although in recent years their dominance has been diluted by the cash-rich likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, they still continue to dominate the English game.

There are an abundance of young, up-and-coming, and experienced footballers that are being touted as the best player in the world - players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi usually come to mind. Though these are perhaps the archetypal examples talented footballers, one mustn't forget that there are others in this group besides the two luminaries – Wayne Rooney, for example.

Rooney was born on 24 October 1985, in the city of Liverpool. His parents, Thomas Wayne and Jeanette Rooney were Irish, and brought up Rooney and his two younger brothers as Catholic. He played for several youth squads in his home city, and eventually signed to Everton by talent scout Robert Pendleton. After his breakout game for the full Everton team in 2002, he was quickly recognised to be one of the brightest talents in England. In 2004, he was transferred to Manchester United for £25.6 million. He was 18 years old.

His Manchester years have turned out to be quite impressive. His transfer alone was groundbreaking, as it was the most expensive for any player under 20 years old. His first game for Manchester United – on 28 September 2004 in a 6–2 home win over Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Champions league – was an unqualified success for Rooney, as he was scored a hat trick and assisted another goal.

Football, like all sports, is governed by a set of rules. These rules are, in general, not as rigid as some other sports. They do, however, have certain restrictions that can be unclear to someone who is not fully versed in their complexities. The foremost example of this is the offside rule. The majority of casual football fans don’t tend to understand it. Therefore, in the following article, we will go some way to discuss the rule.

As a generalisation, it is correct to say that the offside rule serves as a corrective function against overzealous counterattacks. Now, what exactly does that mouthful of a sentence mean? When a team gets the ball unexpectedly, they will often charge down the field with the intention of scoring an easy goal. However, the offside rule says that, when an attacking player passes the ball to another attacking player, if that second player (the receiver of the ball) is between the last defender and the defending goalkeeper, that player is considered to be offside.

To illustrate the rule, let’s call the two attacking players numbers 9 and 10 and the defensive player number 4. If number 10 has the ball, and number 9 steps behind player number 4 (closer to the goal that he is attacking), before or whilst number 10 passes the ball to number 9, then number 9 is considered offside.

If you’ve seen a football game, then you may have noticed that there are two extra referees with flags on the sides of the field. They are known as linesmen or assistant referees. One of their jobs is to keep track of whether players are offside. That’s also why they carry flags: to signal infringements to the referee.

The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world, being even more popular than the Olympics. The location of each World Cup is determined several years in advance by FIFA. South Africa was chosen to host the 2010 World Cup. This was a first for Africa as a continent, marking it as a special occasion. The opportunity was not wasted, and many organisations took advantage of this to promote their causes, including human rights and poverty charities.

The first round of the World Cup kicked off on 11 June, 2010, with a match between the hosts and Mexico. This game, which ended as a draw, began the group stage of the tournament. After two weeks of the group stage, the tournament progressed to the knockouts. Ten days later and the contenders were whittled down to only two teams that would compete for the championship in the final: the Netherlands and Spain.

The final game of the tournament was played – rather naturally – in Johannesburg. The fixture took place on 11 July, a month after the beginning of the primary phase of the competition. The game progressed into a full-fledged battle, with each side delivering stellar performances at either end of the pitch.

The crowd had to wait until near the end of the second-half for the game's deciding point, when Andres Iniesta took advantage of a small mistake by a Dutch defender and scored a goal. The Spanish team were naturally jubilant and, though the Dutch tried relentlessly to equalise, their efforts were ultimately futile. Spain finished the match victorious, and won their first World Cup title in history.

Manchester is arguably the footballing centre of the universe at the moment, with two of the world's biggest forces based there. First and foremost is the more famous of the two, Manchester United. They have one of the best records in Europe. The second, who up until recently have been kept in their counterpart's shadow, is Manchester City. Manchester City play at the City of Manchester stadium, whilst Manchester United stage their home games at the Old Trafford stadium.

Manchester United F. C. was founded in 1878, under the initial name of Newton Health LYR Football Club. After a few years of playing, the club accrued some rather severe debts, and consequently was served a winding up order. Through the donations of some locals, the club was able to continue though, and they eventually won First Division in 1908.

In 1945, the managerial duties of the club were transferred over to Matt Busby. With his tactical know-how, the team was able to greatly improve, and went on to win several titles. In 1958, tragedy struck in the form of an airplane accident in Munich after facing Red Star Belgrade. 23 people, eight of whom were players, lost their lives, and Busby was badly injured. Though the team was set back by the loss of these players, Busby was able to build back the squad and finish victorious in several tournaments.

Surfing is an experience which encompasses freedom, excitement, whilst overcoming your fears. Surfers ride and perform miraculous feats on one of man’s most powerful and unstoppable natural forces, the ocean’s waves. It can be incredible, but you need to find the right spots. To make the most of your surfing skills, the waves must be big, whilst the water should be clear and safe.

Some of the best beaches in the world are found in Australia, with the Gold Coast being held in particularly high regard. This area features 70 kilometres of beach, a huge stretch where great waves are a constant feature. The four break points are the hub of the surfing community’s attention, with hundreds of thousands of individuals making trips there every year to catch the incredible surf.

Mexico is another country that has some great surfing spots, especially the beaches at the south of the country. Two of the best surfing areas are Puerto Escondido and Salinas Cruz, although there are thousands of hotspots along the coast that are virtually undiscovered goldmines for surfers.

To the south of Mexico lies the country of Costa Rica, considered to be one of the most beautiful in South America, if not the world. Surfers can enjoy the incredible scenery, whilst unearthing some of the world’s best surfing destinations. All along the coast, rich and powerful waves lie where surfers can really go wild, as well as bask in the beautiful surroundings.

The 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, was relatively free of any serious altercations for the majority of the tournament. There were no serious fights, nor referee cock-ups, and the Cup seemed to be going swimmingly. Then, Portugal and Holland took to the field, and the result was perhaps one of the bloodiest football matches ever to be played.

Everything was, about what you would expect, between two squads as aggressive as Portugal and the Netherlands. In the 23rd minute of the first half, Maniche scored a goal from inside the area. The game seemed to be progressing fairly normally, given the extremely strong squad that Portugal had brought to bear that year. Then, for no apparent reason, both teams seemingly completely lost their minds.

The first two instances of yellow cards came before the goal was actually scored. Mark von Bommel and Khalid Boulahrouz, both Dutchmen, had been booked (the former for a foul that sent star Cristiano Ronaldo off the field due to injury). Almost immediately after the goal, Portuguese midfielder Constinha tackled Cocu rather harshly and was awarded a yellow card for his trouble. He was later sent off, with a red card being awarded for a handball. Both Figo and van Bronkhorst, two of the senior players on their respective teams, subsequently received yellow cards. After that, the game progressed into what seemed to be a competition to see who could make the most egregious foul.

The Barclays Premier League is in full swing already, and everyone knows what that means: the impassioned debates on who will emerge victorious are beginning with a vengeance. The fans don't usually tend to make their judgement based on anything but fervour for their team, which is perfectly understandable. But there is something to be said for careful analysis of the competing teams.

On the top of the stats right now is Manchester City. With their crushing defeat of Aston Villa on the October 15th, Man City has catapulted themselves to first place. With strong performances from Milner and Balotelli, they were able to triumph over Villa with relative ease. However, it remains to be seen whether they will make it to hold out against a stronger line-up.

In second place are the ever-popular bookies favourite team: Manchester United. Though replete with such stars as Wayne Rooney and Chicharito Hernandez, Manchester United had a spot of defensive trouble in their 15th October game against Liverpool, especially defending against Stephen Gerrard's free kick. If their defence can hold, United can certainly give any other team in the league a run for their money.

At third, we have the powerhouse that is Chelsea. The team has been one of the primary contenders for both the Barclays and the UEFA leagues in recent years, due to the efforts of stars like Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres and Cole. With a strong squad and solid tactics, Chelsea will almost certainly give a good account of themselves.