In the 18th edition of Break London Radio’s Round-Up Show, me and Ben Curtis present a special mid-season review show with guest appearances from BBC Sport’s Reshmin Chowdhury and Kristan Heneage.

In this special show, Ben and I examine how each team in the Premier League has performed so far this term. Reshmin Chowdhury and freelance journalist Kristan Heneage add to the discussion by giving their thoughts on Tottenham Hotspur’s and Newcastle United’s seasons respectively.

To listen to the show, click here.

Vaishali

Benoit Cheyrou netted a last-gasp winner for Marseille

Welcome to this week’s European Round-Up with me Vaishali Bhardwaj…

We start in France where all seven of the Saturday games in Ligue 1 kicked off at the time of 7pm and here are the results from those matches:

Montpellier and Toulouse drew 1-1, Saint-Etienne beat Dijon 2-1 while Marseille grabbed a 95^th-minute winner to register a win over Lorient by the same scoreline, Nancy beat Caen 2-1, Brest claimed a 1-0 victory at home to Auxerre while Nice beat Valenciennes 2-0 and Lyon clinched a 2-1 home win over Evian.

Two games were played on Sunday afternoon and here are the results from those fixtures: Ajaccio 1-0 Rennes and Bordeaux 1-0 Sochaux.

Finally, Paris Saint-Germain and Lille drew 0-0 on Sunday night.

Real Madrid finish the year top of the league

Over in Spain, Real Madrid thrashed Sevilla 6-2 to return to the summit of La Liga – three points clear of second-placed Barcelona.

The rest of the Saturday games saw Getafe claim a 2-1 win away to Real Mallorca, Espanyol defeat Sporting Gijon 2-1 and Athletic Bilbao clinch a win by the same scoreline at home to Real Zaragoza.

Real Betis claimed a 2-0 win away to Atletico Madrid in the early kick-off on Sunday while it ended 2-1 between Granada and Levante and 2-1 between Osasuna and Villarreal.

The two Sunday evening games saw Racing Santander and Real Sociedad play out a goalless draw before Valencia beat Malaga 2-0 at the Mestalla.

Finally, Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup after defeating Santos 4-0 in Japan.

AC-Milan claimed a 2-0 win over Siena

In Italy, three games were played on Saturday and here are the results from those games: Chievo beat Cagliari 2-0, Fiorentina and Atalanta drew 2-2 and AC Milan defeated Siena 2-0.

Five matches were contested on Sunday in Serie A and here are the results from those fixtures: Catania 2-0 Palermo, Cesena 0-1 Inter Milan, Genoa 2-1 Bologna, Juventus 2-0 Novara and Parma 3-3 Lecce.

Finally, Lazio and Udinese drew 2-2 while Roma got a 3-1 win away to Napoli on Sunday evening.

That is this week’s European Round-Up and there’ll be more from me when the show returns in 2012.

In the 17th edition of Break London Radio’s Round-Up Show, me and Ben Curtis discuss all the latest news and views from this week’s Premier League action – including Manchester City’s win over Arsenal.

Ben next presents his Football League segment before I round-up the latest results from France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A competitions in my weekly European Round-Up section.

We then discuss the UEFA Champions League and Europa League draws before ending the show by previewing the upcoming Premier League games.

To listen to the show, click here.

Vaishali

The website is one of the best English sites on the Spanish game and during my interview, I talked with Elisa and Ravi about a number of aspects including:

1. How is La Liga viewed in UK overall?
2. How is the current La Liga season perceived over there?
3. TV coverage of La Liga in UK
4. How Popular is La Liga in England?
5. La Liga season – the biggest surprises
6. Best upcoming and outstanding players of this season
7. The failed move of Kevin Gameiro to Valencia ”
8. Predictions for La Liga, Copa and UCL – pre & post clasico if they have changed
9. Benzema vis-a-vis Les Bleus
10. The exodus of talented Spanish players to the EPL – Torres, Mata, Silva, Romeu and more.
11. What is the biggest challenge for Spanish players in England? Why some of them fail like Reyes, Tevez

12.Spanish striker-crisis.

To listen to the show, click here.

Vaishali

In the 16th edition of Break London Radio’s Round-Up Show, me and the team discuss all the latest news and views from this week’s Premier League action.

Ben Curtis next presents his Football League segment before I round-up the latest results from France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and the UEFA Champions League competitions in my weekly European Round-Up section.

I then introduce my La Liga interview with Ravi Ramineni, who is an editor and podcaster for Forza Futbol and Villarreal USA. Me and Ravi talk about Villarreal’s torrid start to the season, if Valencia can break into the top two this term, whether Real Madrid can win the league over Barcelona as well as looking at the ambitious Málaga project.

Me and the boys then end the show by discussing the big talking points in football – including Wayne Rooney’s England ban being reduced to two games.

To listen to this week’s show, click here.

Vaishali

In the latest edition of Prime Time Football, the team discuss all the biggest issues in the Premier League and La Liga. My newscasts can be found from about 12, 26 and 50 minutes onwards.

To listen to the show, click here.

Vaishali

Eden Hazard celebrates scoring against Dijon with his Lille teammates

Welcome to this week’s European Round-Up with me Vaishali Bhardwaj…

There have been some interesting results in France this weekend so let’s take a look at the results from Saturday’s games in Ligue 1:

League leaders Montpellier suffered a 1-0 loss away to Valenciennes which meant that Paris Saint-Germain returned to the top of the table thanks to their 1-0 win in Sochaux.

Rennes and Brest drew 1-1, Toulouse beat Evian 2-1, Saint-Etienne got a 2-0 victory at home to Caen, Nancy and Ajaccio drew 2-2 while the big match between Marseille and Bordeaux ended in a goalless draw.

There were two games played on Sunday afternoon and here are the results from those fixtures: Lille 2-0 Dijon and Auxerre 2-1 Nice.

Finally, Lyon claimed a 1-0 win away to Lorient on Sunday night.

Barcelona claimed a 3-1 win against rivals Real Madrid

Over in Spain, the big derby game between Real Madrid and Barcelona ended with a 3-1 win for Pep Guardiola’s men at the Santiago Bernabeu.

A goalkeeping error from Victor Valdes gifted Madrid with a chance to score within the opening minute of the clash and Karim Benzema did not miss.

However goals from Alexis Sanchez, a Marcelo own goal and a header from Cesc Fabregas were enough for Barcelona to claim all three points and go level on points with Real at the top of the table, having played a game more.

The full-time results from the rest of the Saturday games were: Levante-Sevilla 1-0, Real Betis-Valencia 2-1 and Rayo Vallecano-Sporting Gijon 1-3.

There were four games played on Sunday afternoon and here are the results from those fixtures: Getafe 1-0 Granada and Villarreal 1-1 Real Sociedad, Real Zaragoza 0-1 Real Mallorca and Malaga 1-1 Osasuna.

Finally, Athletic Bilbao and Racing Santander drew 1-1 at San Mames on Sunday evening before Espanyol claimed a 4-2 victory against Atletico Madrid.

Roma could only manage a draw against Juventus

Four matches were played in Italy on Saturday and here are the results from those fixtures: Lecce 2-3 Lazio, Siena 0-2 Genoa, Inter Milan 2-0 Fiorentina and Palermo 0-1 Cesena.

Sunday afternoon saw four games played out and here are the results from those matches: Atalanta 1-1 Catania, Bologna 2-2 AC Milan, Cagliari 0-0 Parma and Udinese 2-1 Chievo.

And finally, Sunday night saw Novara and Napoli draw 1-1 while Monday night saw the game between Roma and Juventus also end 1-1 .

We now move to Europe to look at the results from the UEFA Champions League…

In Group A, Manchester City beat Bayern Munich 2-0 but missed out on qualification as Napoli clinched a 2-0 victory in Villarreal meaning that the Italian side join Bayern in the last 16.

Group B saw CSKA Moscow beat Inter Milan 2-1 meaning they qualify along with Inter as Lille and Trabzonspor played out a goalless draw.

Benfica ended Group C top as they claimed a 1-0 win at home to Otelul Galati while there was shock for Manchester United as the English side were beaten 2-1 in Basel. Therefore Basel finish in second spot and qualify.

The surprise of the competition came in Group D though as Lyon secured their passage into the knockout stages of the Champions League after thrashing Dinamo Zagreb 7-1. With Ajax losing 3-0 at home to Real Madrid, Les Gones join Madrid in the last 16.

Group E saw Chelsea beat Valencia 3-0 and finish top of their group while Bayer Leverkusen and Genk drew 1-1.

Arsenal lost 3-1 to Olympiacos but still end Group F top while Marseille sealed qualification by coming from two goals down to claim a last-gasp 3-2 victory against Borussia Dortmund.

In Group G, Apoel Nicosia lost 2-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk but still finish top while Zenit joined them in the last 16 with their goalless draw against Porto.

Lastly in Group H, Barcelona claimed a 4-0 victory against Bate Borisov while AC Milan and Viktoria Plzen drew 2-2. Barca and Milan go through to the next round.

That is this week’s European Round-Up and there’ll be more from me next week.

Vaishali

In the latest edition of Prime Time Football, the team discuss all the biggest issues in the Premier League. My newscasts can be found from about 15 and 28 minutes onwards.

To listen to the show, click here.

Vaishali

When I first started tweeting about the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), I received some interesting responses to my comments via Twitter and Facebook.

Some of my followers enjoyed my light-hearted comments about the latest goings-on in the WWE’s two main shows, Raw and SmackDown. Others, however, didn’t get it - it being my appreciation for wrestling.

I remember receiving messages along the lines of: “Why do you like WWE? It’s fake” and “Wrestling isn’t a real sport”. I even recall reading Villarreal and Italy international Giuseppe Rossi’s views on the subject in August.

Rossi had just tweeted me, and after reading my message, I noticed he had made a comment about the WWE. His words shed light on a wider debate that exists about the sport.

Rossi wrote on Twitter: “My roommate is going crazy over wrestling lol. I think he’s too old for that but it’s hilarious how he’s cheering. It’s fake man.”

One of the 24-year-old’s followers decided to challenge Rossi’s outlook on the subject and replied: “I always take offence when someone calls wrestling fake. Yes, it’s entertainment so the storylines are made up but the moves & injuries are VERY REAL! These guys & gals deserve the same respect as any other athlete!”

Rossi then responded with: “Not arguing about the injury part because it’s a sport but it’s not real fighting… it’s entertainment, just like you said…”

Both have a point.

I often find myself justifying why I like the WWE, much in the same way that Rossi’s follower decided to do. But the key word that both mentioned in their tweets was: entertainment.

Because that is exactly what the WWE is about.

Most of my childhood friends, who were huge fans of WWE and to a lesser extent World Championship Wrestling (WCW), became disillusioned with the wrestling world as they grew up.

They realised that although what they saw in the ring was based on real moves, the extent to which those manoeuvres were delivered, the results, the characters and storylines were fake.

But the WWE isn’t branded as wrestling as such anymore – it is advertised as entertainment. The people that wrestle are not even called wrestlers – they are now Superstars and Divas. They are performers in every sense of the word.

The reason why I enjoy the WWE is because I accept that and appreciate the shows for its entertainment value.

The Miz and R-Truth taunt the crowd

Indeed, I went to watch WWE SmackDown live in London in April, and more recently, the WWE Raw World Tour in London in November. The former show was televised but the latter wasn’t. However, both shows gave me an evening of pure entertainment.

The Raw World Tour, for example, may not have been aired live but it featured some truly hilarious moments, including when The Miz and R-Truth rapped, toyed with the crowd and then told the viewers to be quiet while they said their catchphrases. The Miz dancing and bopping sarcastically to competitor Kofi Kingston’s song in the corner certainly made me, and a few others, chuckle.

Another performer who adds hilarity and fun to the shows is Alberto Del Rio and his ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez. There was one moment when Del Rio began cursing the crowd and another when his contestant, CM Punk, decided to pull down Rodriguez’ trousers to reveal Superman shorts. That got the crowd at the sold-out O2 arena laughing hysterically.

Those are just a few examples of why people enjoy watching the WWE. It is the reason why celebrities and journalists alike, including Jeff Brazier and Capital FM’s Johnny Vaughan, had decided to come along to the show with their families. (Vaughan, incidentally, persuaded me to buy CM Punk’s t-shirt.)

But it is not just the fact that the WWE makes its fans and viewers laugh which is why it is entertaining. It is also the wrestling aspect of it.

The manoeuvres that the Superstars and Divas perform are based on real moves but are not, however, always executed to achieve their full impact. (When the moves are executed properly, it often results in wrestlers being ruled out of action for lengthy periods of time.)

A lot of fans seem to accept that what they see in the ring is not ‘real’ but they still appreciate the effort that goes into producing the stunts. I, for example, was more than impressed when I saw John Morrison performing his acrobatic stunts live, including moonsaults, because I appreciated how hard it is to do them.

This is what I try to explain to people who ask me why I like wrestling. When I read Rossi’s tweets on the subject, I understood his viewpoint but I also identified with his teammate who had been cheering at the action.

The WWE is, as indicated in the name, about entertainment as well as wrestling. The storylines, characters and moves are created for the amusement of viewers but it is those very aspects of the WWE that make it fun to watch, fun to cheer along with, and for me, fun to tweet about too.

As long as that can be accepted, then the WWE will continue to have something to offer its fans.

Vaishali