Villarreal vs Barcelona 1-4 Result Score Goals 01/05/2010 La Liga

Barcelona bounced back in style from their heartbreaking Champions League exit with a 4-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday which put them four points clear at the top of La Liga.

Villarreal striker Nilmar Honorato missed a couple of excellent chances before Barcelona, dumped out of the Champions League semi-finals by Inter Milan in midweek, asserted themselves.

A deflected Lionel Messi shot put the Catalans in the lead and then a Xavi Hernandez free-kick doubled the advantage.

Bojan Krkic, playing instead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, rounded his marker before beating the keeper for Barça’s third, still before half-time.

Joseba Llorente pulled a goal back but Messi wrapped up the scoring with three minutes to go.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini believes there is still a long way to go in the championship race.

“The team which is leading obviously has more chances of winning the league but from now on all the games are going to be difficult as teams are fighting for European places or against relegation,” he said.

“The key now is to keep playing at a high level in the games left.”

A brace from substitute Nicola Zigic saw Valencia beat Espanyol 2-0 and consolidate third place.

Espanyol suffered their first defeat at home since last December having appeared in control of the game until Zigic struck.

After just three minutes Moises Hurtado grazed a post and then early in the second half Jose Callejon missed the target with just the keeper to beat.

Valencia coach Unai Emery replaced David Villa with Zigic on the hour mark and it had almost immediate reward with the beanpole striker slotting home a Vicente Rodriguez cross.

After having another goal wrongly called off-side, Zigic was on target again to ensure the victory.

Meanwhile, Getafe’s Europa League hopes suffered a blow after they were held 0-0 away to relegation threatened Valladolid.

The home side have discovered a new steel under coach Javier Clemente and stretched their unbeaten run in the league to five games.

Valladolid could have won the match with a second-half strike from Pele which came back off the post.

Tenerife beat Racing Santander 2-1 but remain in the bottom three on goal difference after Malaga drew 1-1 with Sporting Gijon.

A fine header from Roman Martinez put Tenerife in front and Ayoze Garcia added to the lead from the penalty spot before Xisco Jimenez pulled a goal back.

Meanwhile, a strike from Salvador Caicedo earned Malaga a point after an own-goal from Antonio Apono had earlier put Sporting in front.

A late injury time header from Mario Bermejo saw bottom side Xerez beat Almeria 2-1 but they are still five points from safety.

Emiliano Armenteros put Xerez ahead with Fernando Soriano equalising before Bermejo’s late show.

Deportivo la Coruna’s dismal run continued as they were beaten 1-0 at home with Adrian Colunga scoring the only goal of the game.

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Barcelona vs Inter Milan 1-0 Result Score Goals 28/04/2010 Barca Out Champions League final

FC Barcelona – Inter Milan 1-0 aggregate by 3-2 Wednesday April 28th, Estadio Camp Nou Barcelona , Inter Milan has reached the final of the UEFA Champions League Wednesday, losing 1-0 to Barcelona in Camp Nou, but winning on aggregate by 3-2.

Too little too late could be the summary describing Barcelona´s efforts against an extremely defensive Internazionale. As expected Barcelona had possession of the ball virtually all game, but it created too few chances against the defensive wall Inter coach Mourinho had erected in front of goalkeeper Julio Cesar. In the first half only Messi came close to scoring for Barcelona, but the Argentinean missed, confirming he no longer is in the top form he was in during the greater part of the season. Inter reached halftime with 0-0, but saw Thiago Motta sent off after a foul on Busquets, giving Barcelona some hope of a spectacular ´remontada´.

But it wasn’t until the latter part of the second half that the sparks started flying in Camp Nou. Barcelona coach Guardiola again sent striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the showers early, as the Swede could not untie himself of his two and sometimes three defenders. Betting on the fast and technical home-grown attackers Bojan and Jeffren, Guardiola hoped to unsettle the ´Milan wall´, but it wasn’t until the 84th minute that Piqué scored for a by now fervently attacking Barca, leading to a hectic finish of the game. The last few minutes saw a goal by Bojan disallowed and Messi miss another big chance.

Where the referee was Barcelona´s black sheep a week ago in Milan, the Catalans could not complain about Belgian De Bleeckere, who missed Piqué being offside when scoring the 1-0 and sent off  Motta, leaving Inter a man down for most of the game. A few strange corner decisions in Inter´s favor did not compensate for those two moments.

Inter will play the final of the Champions League against Bayern Munich on May 22nd in Real Madrid´s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The game will pitch Bayern´s Louis van Gaal against his former interpreter and team assistant at Barcelona, José Mourinho. Both coaches have won the Champions League once before, van Gaal in 1995 with Ajax and Mourinho in 2004 with FC Porto. The winning manager will enter a select trio of trainers who have won Europe’s biggest club trophy with two different teams, now consisting of Austrian Ernst Happel and German coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. It will be Inter´s first European Cup final since 1972. The Italians won the trophy in 1964 and 1965. Bayern won the ´Cup with the Big Ears´ a total of four times, the last time in 2001.

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Europa League Quarter Finals previews Atletico Madrid – Valencia, Benfica – Liverpool, Fulham – VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV- Standard Liege

Europa League Quarter Finals Thursday April 1st, 2010 Kick-off time 21.05 h – The Quarter Finals of this years edition of the Europa League seem to prove the competition is a legitimate addition to the Big Ballroom Dance of the Champions League. Games as Benfica-Liverpool, Atletico Madrid-Valencia and Hamburger SV-Standard Liege all see either former European heavyweights pitched against each other, or teams with an attraction factor high enough to want to turn your TV on.

The big game of the night is no doubt Benfica (two times European Champions and many times losing finalist) versus Rafael Benitez´ Liverpool (four times European Champions, twice winner of the UEFA-Cup). In Spain all eyes will be set on the national confrontation between the current number three of he Liga, Valencia, and Atletico Madrid, having a disappointing season but with formidable players like Forlan, Agüero and Simao in their squad. Valencia edged past what was seen as one of the most dangerous squads in the competition, Werder Bremen in the round of sixteen. After a 1-1 draw in Mestalla, all hell broke loose in Bremen in a game that ultimately ended in 4-4, but saw Valencia take a 3-1 lead, Werder equalizing in the 62nd minute, but Valencia ultimately ´victorious´ on away goals.

HSV-Standard is another attractive line-up between the former European Champions and Cup Winners Cup Champions from Hamburg (1983 and 1977 respectively) and Standard Liege, runners-up in the Cup winners Cup in 1982, losing a final played in and against Barcelona. Both teams are exponents of countries that have been improving their results in Europe the last few years, after a decade of falling ever further behind teams from either Big Money or Dirty Money Countries. Hamburg will be especially keen on reaching the final, as it will be played on their hometurf.

Wolfsburg, the surprise German Champions last season, will have to tackle Fulham, that routed Italian powerhouse Juventus 4-1 at home after losing 3-1 in Turin and falling 1-0 behind in the return game.

In order to reach the coveted final the winner of HSV-Standard will have to knock out the winner of the VfL Wolfsburg – Fulham encounter. Liverpool/Benfica takes on Valencia/Atletico Madrid, making the latter look the slightly stronger bracket.

Here under some of the highlights of this years Europa League and historic matches played by the participants.

Europa League Quarter Finals previews Atletico Madrid – Valencia, Benfica – Liverpool, Fulham – VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV- Standard Liege

Europa League Quarter Finals Thursday April 1st, 2010 Kick-off time 21.05 h – The Quarter Finals of this years edition of the Europa League seem to prove the competition is a legitimate addition to the Big Ballroom Dance of the Champions League. Games as Benfica-Liverpool, Atletico Madrid-Valencia and Hamburger SV-Standard Liege all see either former European heavyweights pitched against each other, or teams with an attraction factor high enough to want to turn your TV on.

The big game of the night is no doubt Benfica (two times European Champions and many times losing finalist) versus Rafael Benitez´ Liverpool (four times European Champions, twice winner of the UEFA-Cup). In Spain all eyes will be set on the national confrontation between the current number three of he Liga, Valencia, and Atletico Madrid, having a disappointing season but with formidable players like Forlan, Agüero and Simao in their squad. Valencia edged past what was seen as one of the most dangerous squads in the competition, Werder Bremen in the round of sixteen. After a 1-1 draw in Mestalla, all hell broke loose in Bremen in a game that ultimately ended in 4-4, but saw Valencia take a 3-1 lead, Werder equalizing in the 62nd minute, but Valencia ultimately ´victorious´ on away goals.

HSV-Standard is another attractive line-up between the former European Champions and Cup Winners Cup Champions from Hamburg (1983 and 1977 respectively) and Standard Liege, runners-up in the Cup winners Cup in 1982, losing a final played in and against Barcelona. Both teams are exponents of countries that have been improving their results in Europe the last few years, after a decade of falling ever further behind teams from either Big Money or Dirty Money Countries. Hamburg will be especially keen on reaching the final, as it will be played on their hometurf.

Wolfsburg, the surprise German Champions last season, will have to tackle Fulham, that routed Italian powerhouse Juventus 4-1 at home after losing 3-1 in Turin and falling 1-0 behind in the return game.

In order to reach the coveted final the winner of HSV-Standard will have to knock out the winner of the VfL Wolfsburg – Fulham encounter. Liverpool/Benfica takes on Valencia/Atletico Madrid, making the latter look the slightly stronger bracket.

Here under some of the highlights of this years Europa League and historic matches played by the participants.

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Concerns over the approach that Arsenal and Barcelona might adopt in their Champions League tie to lean towards safety might have been assuaged by the teams’ coaches before the match. Barcelona will not change their style in order to win because their present methods have already proven effective. Guardiola is confident that regardless of who plays in the team, the Spanish giants will have the means of stopping the Gunners.

Even though Iniesta will be their biggest casualty for the first game at the Emirates Stadium, Guardiola has many ready-made replacements. His only problem now would be who to pick from a fine selection of capable substitutes to fill the gap.

Arsene Wenger will never demand that his Arsenal players adopt pragmatism over a sense of adventure. Instead, the Frenchman seeks a perfect football style and wants his players to play to win. That would allow his players to show what they can do with the ball in an attacking sense with quality such as Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Bendtner, Eduardo and Arshavin. There is a doubt over the availability of Fabregas for the match. Wenger will be hoping the Catalonian midfielder can take his place in Arsenal and help his team face Barcelona. There are inextricable links between Arsenal and Barcelona but professional duty will be adhered to.

There will be two aging legends on both sides in the Gunners vs Barcelona live tv telecast match that will provide a poignant reminder of past glories between them. Thierry Henry will be receiving the most attention for being one of the greatest Arsenal players ever to have turned out for them. Henry is now plying his trade with Barcelona as he should finish his European career there. Then there is Sol Campbell who returned to the Gunners and now faces an ironic rematch against Barcelona whom he scored against in the 2006 Champions League final involving the clubs. Both players will go through an emotional moment during the match, but will have no illusions about their obligation to their teams.

Manchester United is confident the absence of the injured Wayne Rooney won’t ruin its chances of beating second place Chelsea on Saturday and taking another big step toward winning the English Premier League title for an unprecedented fourth time in a row.

Although Rooney, who has scored 34 goals this season, is sidelined with the ankle injury he picked up in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League quarterfinal loss to Bayern Munich, manager Alex Ferguson said Friday he was able to revert to the strikeforce that beat Bolton 4-0 without Rooney a week ago.

Dimitar Berbatov scored twice in that game and is expected to lead the attack when Chelsea goes to Old Trafford hoping to take over from United at the top of the standings.

“It’s a good week for Chelsea in that they know Wayne’s picked up an injury and they haven’t played (in midweek). But I only need to make one change,” Ferguson said Friday. “I may make two or even three changes depending how I see this particular game.”

Even though Michael Owen is also out, Ferguson, whose team leads Chelsea by one point with six games to go, also has 18-year-old Italian striker Federico Macheda as another option in attack.

“He’s one of the most exceptional young strikers I’ve seen in my time at United,” Ferguson said of Macheda, who had a sensational debut last season when he scored a late winner against Aston Villa. “He has every chance of taking part in big matches. His ability around the box for a young player is outstanding.”

Ferguson said Chelsea, which was knocked out of the Champions League by Inter Milan in the previous round, might think it has a slight advantage of a longer break since its last game — a 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa.

“We’re used to playing Saturday/Wednesday, Saturday/Wednesday, so it’s not an issue for us. We’ve been used to that for years,” the United manager said.

“I think Chelsea will feel they have an advantage by having the week off. Sometimes you’re better off playing all the time, the continuity and consistency of performance you get from playing all the time. But on this occasion we have four days, so we’ll be fine.”

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, whose team has scored 12 goals in its last two matches, said Rooney’s absence would not prompt him to make any major changes to his lineup or tactics.

“Manchester won’t change its shape, its kind of play and we don’t want to change our kind of play,” he said.

Ancelotti said his own leading scorer, Didier Drogba, had been playing well despite having a hernia problem which may eventually need surgery.

“Drogba has been living with this problem for three or four months but it is not a big problem,” the Chelsea manager said of the Ivory Coast striker who has scored 30 league and cup goals this season. “Sometimes he has problems after the game but during the week he doesn’t have any difficulty.”

Third place Arsenal slipped to four points behind United after being held 1-1 by Birmingham last week and has run into more injury problems.

Team captain Cesc Fabregas was ruled out for the rest of the season after cracking a bone in his lower leg in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Barcelona in the Champions League. Fabregas hobbled around the field after scoring Arsenal’s late equalizer from the penalty spot.

Defender William Gallas and forward Andrei Arshavin also went off with calf muscle injuries and are unlikely to face Wolves at home on Saturday.

Saturday’s other games are: Bolton vs. Aston Villa, Burnley vs. Manchester City, Portsmouth vs. Blackburn, Stoke vs. Hull, Sunderland vs. Tottenham. On Sunday, it’s: Birmingham vs. Liverpool, Everton vs. West Ham, Fulham vs. Wigan.