Football : Attacking football came out on top, says Guardiola

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola praised his team for reaching the Champions League final and believes it is a victory for their style of attacking football against bitter rivals Real Madrid. The Catalan side came through with a 3-1 aggregate victory after two stormy matches.

It was always going to be an extremely difficult task for Real to turn around their 2-0 defeat at home but they started with the intention to attack. It was in the second half when they looked most dangerous, though, that Barca went ahead through Pedro Rodriguez. Real kept going and equalised through Marcelo but it was only a consolation.

"Football is coming home and I would like to congratulate my players for reaching the final," said Guardiola, who was a player in the 1992 side which won Barca's first ever European Cup at the legendary Wembley stadium.

"Of course it is the new Wembley and so it is not going to be as special going back there. It is a chance for us to show our way of football, to keep hold of the ball and move it around as quickly as possible."

Barca could now play Manchester United who hold a 2-0 lead over Schalke going into their return leg and it would be a repeat of the 2009 final. "We will be watching the game tomorrow (Wednesday) but it looks like it will be Manchester who go through.

"Manchester continue to be in the final stages of the competitions and reach the final. But we have the same desire, we will look to find their weak point and then attack," explained Guardiola.

The Barca trainer refused to comment on the contentious decision by the referee to rule out a goal for Real's Gonzalo Higuain due to a supposed foul by Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Everyone is free to think what they want and analyse it. You cannot say one person is right or another. We feel like we have eliminated an excellent side and one of the keys to our success is our humility. The players keep going and working hard," he added.

Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka remained adamant that the contest was decided in the first leg by the dismissal of Pepe.

Football : Barcelona to a 2-0 win over bitter rivals Real Madrid With Messi magic.

Lionel Messi's sublime double lifted Barcelona to a 2-0 win over bitter rivals Real Madrid and lit up an acrimonious Champions League semi-final first leg in which the hosts finished with 10 men and had coach Jose Mourinho sent off.

The Argentine World Player of the Year's clinical finish from close range in the 76th minute and brilliant individual strike three minutes from time gave Barca the spoils at a rowdy Bernabeu on Wednesday in an attritional contest which was short on entertaining football but rich in controversy.

Bad blood had flowed between the sides in the lead-up to the match, their third meeting in just over a week, and it spilt on to the pitch as the players trooped off at the break.

Barca reserve goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto was shown a red card following a fracas next to the tunnel, while Real defender Pepe was dismissed for a lunging tackle on Daniel Alves with just over half an hour left.

Mourinho, who unleashed a sustained rant at his press conference in which he accused UEFA of favouring Barca, was sent to the stands for protesting the decision.

Messi's goals, his 10th and 11th in 11 games in this edition of Europe's elite club competition, gave Barca a huge advantage to take back to the Nou Camp next week.

The 23-year-old sped into the penalty area to meet Ibrahim Afellay's low cross from the right and steer the ball past Iker Casillas from close range to break the deadlock.

He followed that up with a wonderful second when he weaved his way through the Real defence and slotted past Casillas to give the Catalan side a two-goal cushion to take into Tuesday's return leg in the Catalan capital.

Guardiola, who refused to respond to Mourinho's remarks about UEFA, warned his players that they still had a good deal of work to do in the second leg and said you could never write off the nine-times winners.

"We played a very, very good match," he told a news conference.

"We controlled the speed of their counterattacks and their aerial game which is very powerful," he added. "We got a good result and I congratulate the team."

The Real fans turned the giant arena into a sea of white flags before kickoff, while several thousand Barca faithful waving Catalan banners high up in the stands tried to make themselves heard above the din.

Real tore into Barca and stopped them playing in the first half of last week's King's Cup final, which the Madrid club won 1-0, but it was a different story on Wednesday as Barca controlled without showing too much ambition in attack.

David Villa cut in from the right wing in the 11th minute and sent a low drive whistling past the post and Messi sent Xavi clear in the 25th but his effort was straight at Casillas.

The home side's best effort of the first half came moments before the break when Cristiano Ronaldo tested Victor Valdes with a swerving effort the Barca keeper just managed to block.

The second half was short on the kind of entertaining football Real and Barca typically produce as the visitors again dominated possession without ever really threatening the home goal until Messi took matters into his own hands.

Mourinho said his team had no chance of reaching the final and suggested that even if they managed to score a goal at the Nou Camp the referee would somehow prevent them going through.

"We will go there with all the pride and respect for our world of football," the Portuguese added.

"We might score a goal and that would open up the game but they (UEFA) will kill us again."

In Tuesday's first semi-final, English Premier League leaders Manchester United won 2-0 at Bundesliga side Schalke 04. The final is at London's Wembley stadium on May 28.

Football : Record-setting Nadal captures sixth Barcelona title

World number one Rafael Nadal created more history on Sunday when he became the only man to win two tournaments more than six times after defeating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 in the Barcelona Open final.

The Spanish top seed, with 34 consecutive victories on clay, repeated his victory a week ago when he beat Ferrer for a seventh Monte Carlo trophy.

Nadal improved to a phenomenal 31-2 in claycourt finals with his only two losses coming to Roger Federer at Hamburg in 2007 and Madrid two years ago.

"I feel at home here. It's a very special tournament," said the champion who celebrated with a traditional post-victory dip in the nearby club pool. "It always has been as I grew up watching this tournament. It's a historical tournament with a great tradition and great champions. It's more than a dream to win here six times."

The Spanish powerhouse will now allow himself a few well-deserved days off but will quickly have to get back into winning mode with the Madrid Masters starting next Sunday and another title defence on the line for the world number one.

Nadal's runaway victory in one hour and 49 minutes put him into third place on the all-time claycourt trophy list.

Only Guillermo Vilas, with 45 titles, and Thomas Muster, who won 40, are above his own 31. Nadal's comprehensive victory was his 13th in 17 matches played against Ferrer.

"It's always sad to lose, but it's been a very good week," said Ferrer, who has gone down in three Barcalona finals to Nadal.

"This tournament is very special to me. If someone told me I would reach the final in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, I would sign for sure." Nadal's return to the event after missing 2010 because of a knee injury was a joy and relief.

"I'm very happy to come back and win here after not playing last year. That was a difficult decision, it's a always a special dream to play in this tournament."

Spain continued to dominate in Barcelona, with at least one Spaniard playing the final for the ninth straight year. The last non-Spaniard to win was Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in 2002.