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 : Manchester United dominates Schalke 2-0 .(Champions League semifinal)

Manchester United moved closer to its fourth UEFA Champions League title by dominating Schalke, 2-0, in the first leg of a semifinal series Tuesday at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Second half goals from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney sealed the victory for the Red Devils, although the score could have been doubled if not for the heroics of Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Neuer, who has opted not to renew his contract with Schalke to explore his options in the summer transfer window , did well to keep the sides level until after the hour mark.
The German keeper was called into action early, and scrambled to tip a deflected shot from Rooney safely over the crossbar. Minutes later, Neuer was forced into a flying save to deny Javier Hernandez when Valencia’s cross found the striker at the far post. Manchester United enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, yet struggled to make the advantage count in the first half. Alex Ferguson’s decision to leave the speedy Portugese winger Nani on the bench in favor of defensive-minded Park Ji Sung reflected the manager’s desire to keep Schalke off the scoreboard. The Manchester defense kept Raul, the top scorer in the history of the Champions League, from taking a single shot.In the second half, the free-flowing attack of Manchester finally won out, and in the 67th minute, Rooney made a well timed no-look pass to Giggs, who fired past Neuer for United’s first goal.Two minutes later it was Rooney who was the recipient, latching onto a Hernandez through ball to make it 2-0. The game seemed set to open up for the visitors, but Schalke kept their composure and denied Manchester United a greater advantage going into the second leg.
The teams meet for the semifinal second leg next Wednesday at Old Trafford.

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.

Football:Liverpool plan massive squad shake-up

Liverpool are planning a radical overhaul of their squad this summer with a source at the club revealing that they are planning "up to 22 deals" in and out of the club.

Director of Football Damien Comolli has been working since his appointment to identify priority targets and will receive support from the club's owners, the Fenway Sports Group (FSG), this summer as the club seek to build a squad capable of getting back into the Champions League. Kenny Dalglish, who is hoping to remain as manager, has spoken of the need to complement the club's emerging talent with investment and it is understood that Comolli and his scouting team located two or three targets for each position they want to strengthen. Most of these are aged between 19 and 24 as the club seeks to invest in players whose talent can be developed and whose value will increase.

 

Rennes winger Sylvain Marveaux is expected to be the first signing when the window opens on June 1, with the club being described as "a long way down the road" to securing the Bosman free transfer of the former France Under 21 international.

Liverpool are looking at further reinforcements in the wide areas, another striker, a left back and cover at centre back. If enough players can be sold, there could be as many as 11 signings. As they showed in January, FSG are prepared to reinvest money received in fees into the squad — most of the cash received for Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel was put into signing Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez for £58 million (Dh351.5 million). Having a high turnover will also allow the club to address the issue of the excessive contracts that were handed out under the previous regime. With the club's commercial department landing some impressive deals — a record £25 million-a-year kit deal with Warrior follows a lucrative contract with Standard Chartered as shorts sponsor — and the club freed of servicing the debts that impeded them under Hicks and Gillett.

Football : Lowly Schalke seek upset against Manchester United

Two weeks after knocking out title holder Inter Milan, an unheralded Schalke are looking to cause another major upset in the Champions League when they play Manchester United in the first leg of the semi-finals Tuesday.

Schalke consider themselves a total underdog against the three-time champions. But the Bundesliga team were also the outsider against Inter and still went through 7-3 on aggregate.

"Manchester United are a household name, just like Inter Milan before," Schalke midfielder Alexander Baumjohann said. "It's a dream of every player to be facing the Reds in a Champions League semi-final.

"Looking at the names, there is hardly any difference between Inter and Man U. The important thing is not to concede at home. Perhaps we can land another upset."

Both teams rested some of their top players over the weekend. United still won, 1-0 over Everton, but Schalke lost 1-0 at home to Kaiserslautern.

While United are closing in on the Premier League title, Schalke have nothing to play for in the Bundesliga, where they are stuck in the middle of the table.

Turbulent weeks

Schalke have managed to reach the semi-finals despite a turbulent few weeks which included the sacking of coach Felix Magath, who was replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

The club were also shaken last week by the decision of goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer not to extend his contract, which still has another season to run. The Germany goalkeeper has not said where he plans to continue his career.