Real Madrid continues its escalation of tension against FC Barcelona, announcing the Catalan club to UEFA to understand that several of our players where involve in misconduct.
According to the website 'El Mundo', the White club president Florentino Perez believes that Alves, Pedro and Busquets tried to deceive the referee by pretending to be victims of offenses. Something they believe to be a deliberate strategy of our coach Pep Guardiola.
The complaint shall be accompanied by images with specific actions, including Dani Alves assault that led to the expulsion of Pepe, and Arbeloa and clashes with Busquets and the Pedro Marcelo incident. We are currently awaiting UEFA decisions tomorrow.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed claims by Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho that Barcelona have received favourable treatment from referees
Mourinho went on the attack on Wednesday night after his side lost 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Barca, with his comments leading to Barcelona on Thursday holding a board meeting to consider taking action following an ill-tempered El Clasico clash at the Bernabeu.
The former Chelsea manager had implied that the Catalan giants receive favourable treatment from referees and UEFA and were yet to win a "clean" European title under Pep Guardiola.
The 'Special One' used the sending off of Arsenal striker Robin van Persie in the Gunners' defeat to Barca earlier in this year's competition as an example.
But Wenger, who received a one-match ban from UEFA for hitting out at Swiss referee Massimo Busacca who sent off Van Persie for kicking the ball away at Camp Nou, says he refuses to believe Mourinho's claims.
"It's difficult for me to comment on that [Mourinho's claims] because we were involved in a situation like that," he said.
"I refuse to believe that because the day I believe that, it is impossible to manage.
"This season, they [Barcelona] certainly had some advantages. I feel that they were accidental."
He added: "When a manager comes out of a big game like that, and you have a disappointment, you have to accept that you can sometimes that you go a bit too far, but I refuse to believe that there is, let's say, a script behind the stage and that Barcelona is advantaged.
"I feel that they over-react, certainly, but they play certainly the best football at the moment in Europe and you have to give them credit for that."ew blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
Newspapers in Catalonia, Spain and the rest of the world have expressed their admiration of FC Barcelona and their two-goal hero at the Bernabéu, Leo Messi.
FC Barcelona have once again won over the world’s press after their 2-0 win in the Champions League first leg. For example, in Argentina, Leo Messi appears on all the front pages. “Look at what’s Real, incredible second goal from Messi against Madrid”, says ‘Olé’, and ‘Clarín’ headlines with: “Madrid fall at his feet”.
Sparks that cross borders
On this side of the Atlantic, Italy’s ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ speaks of a “Divine Messi” and ‘Il Corriere della Sera’ of how: “Barcelona ‘kill’ Real. Super Messi”. In França, both ‘France Football’ and ‘L’Équipe’ were amazed by the Barça number ten. In the UK, ‘The Telegraph’ reflects the tension on the pitch, while Portugal’s ‘A Bola’ tells how “Barcelona beat Real Madrid with two from Messi”.
Nearer to home, ‘La Vanguardia’ hails in its headline: “One step from Wembley”. ‘El Periódico’ says: “They’re the chiefs”. ‘El País’ says “Barça on line for the Champions League final”, and ‘Público’ states “Messi fells Mourinho”.
“Messi is the bloody boss”
As for the Catalan sports press, ‘Mundo Deportivo’ describes “Ecstasy”. “Messi is the bloody boss”, says ‘Sport’, in reference to Guardiola’s pre-match comments. “Do they understand now?”, asks ‘El 9 Esportiu’, with a picture of the Barcelona players celebrating one of the goals.
Barça gave a footballing lesson at the Bernabeu, climaxing in two Leo Messi goals -one of which will surely go down as a classic- that put them in the driving seat for a place in the Wembley final ahead of next week’s second leg at the Nou Camp.
A special occasion like tonight’s, demanded high levels of concentration and bravery and Barça proved to have enough of both. Going into the semi –final without Iniesta, Abidal, Adriano and Bojan, the team lined up with Puyol at left back and Keita playing just in front of him, and stayed true to their style of play, dominating possession, building from the back and showing complete control: this was Guardiola’s commitment and it worked.
74% of the possession and two second half goals from Leo Messi, meant Barça took a giant step towards making next month’s Wembley final. With both Pepe and Pinto seeing red and Ramos a yellow that will mean he misses the next game, the Nou Camp is set to be the scene for the deciding game next week.
82% possession
From the start, this game looked like the first meeting between the two at the Bernabeu, rather than the Cup Final, with Barça composed and in charge - claiming an astonishing 82% of possession in the first quarter of an hour, whilst Madrid failed to get their pressing in midfield underway. Mourinho was clearly happy to give up the ball and hope to hit Barça on the counter.
Pinto red card
Most of the first half was a midfield tussle with only a piece of individual skill from Villa and two efforts from Messi and Xavi creating danger in Casillas’s area. Madrid were defending in numbers and only made hesitant attacks through a series of free kicks from the left, which failed to seriously trouble Valdés, who did however, make a great double stop from Ronaldo and Ozil, in a clear offside position, just before the break. It had been a niggly first half and after a scuffle broke out in the tunnel at half time, Pinto was shown a straight red.
Pepe gets his red
Mourinho fiddled with his tactics after the break, bringing on Adebayor for Ozil to try and hold the ball up in Barça’s half, but the visitors found ever more space in midfield and began to put together their typical passing game. Then on the hour mark, Pepe lunged into Alves and was shown a straight red, as was his manager, who complained in a typical fashion to the officials at his player’s sending off. With half an hour still to go, Madrid’s resistance seemed inevitably about to crack.
Afellay proves decisive
Barça nearly opened the scoring on 67 minutes, when Villa’s shot from the left was parried out by Casillas only as far as Pedro, whose header went agonisingly close. For his troubles, Pedro suffered a nasty knock as Marcelo stamped his leg and Afellay came on to replace him. The young Dutch winger made an almost immediate impact as he out sprinted Marcello in the box and centred at the near post for Messi to turn home and complete Barça’s first objective of an away goal.
Messi magic
Barça were now even more on top and they were looking for a second. It was Leo Messi - who else? - who rounded off the game with a brilliant piece of individual skill, slaloming through the Madrid defence and cleverly shooting to Casillas’s right to double the score and his own personal tally for the evening -a historic, unforgettable and brilliant end to a great night for Barça in Madrid.
Pep Guardiola and his players were not alone in Madrid tonight: more than 3,000 Barça fans were at the game and made their voices heard throughout, as they thrilled to their team’s 0-2 win.
Message in Catalan-UEFA authorised the Madrid loudspeakers to give the pre-match and final announcements to the Barça fans in their native Catalan.The Santiago Bernabéu was packed out for the game, but the more than 3,000 Barça fans certainly made their presence felt and in their second big trip following the Cup Final in Valencia, they never stopped singing and cheering the team on.
The fans were sat high up in the Stadium and from the moment the gates were opened, they showed their support for the team, from the time the players came out onto the pitch before the game until the final whistle.
Celebrations at Canaletes
The result was also celebrated at the Font de Canaletes de Barcelona, where the Barça fans traditionally congregate after a big win, as the Club’s supporters partied into the night to rejoice at the big step the team have made towards another Champions League final.
Once again Madrid sports paper As chosing the "right picture" to influence readers.
Leo Messi’s two goals at the Bernabeu mean that he has overtaken Josep Samitier to become the third highest scorer for the Club, as well as confirming his position as the leading scorer in this year’s Champions League.
Leo Messi continues to build a place for himself amongst the greats of FC Barcelona. His goals against Madrid on Tuesday night took him past the legendary Josep Samitier and with his 179 goals in all competitions, he is now only behind César Rodríguez (235) and Ladislau Kubala (194).
Seven free-scoring seasons
Unlike Barça’s previous main scorers - César, Kubala, Samitier and Alcántara – Leo Messi has notched up his goals in less than 10 years. In just seven seasons with the first team, the Argentinean has bagged 119 La Liga goals, 36 in the Champions League, 17 in the Spanish Cup, 2 in the World Club Cup and 5 in the Spanish Super Cup.
Europe’s leading scorer
This is Messi’s best ever season so far in terms of goals, with the two at the Bernabeu his 51st and 52nd of the campaign and he leads both the Spanish League and Champions League goalscorers table with 31 and 11 goals respectively. In Europe he heads Mario Gómez (Bayern, 8) and Samuel Eto’o (Inter, 8), who are both out of the competition and is heading for a repeat of his feats of the 08/09 and 09/10 seasons when he topped the Champions league scorers table.
Curiously enough the two goals against Madrid were the first time he has scored in a Champions League semi-final.
Messi goals make Spanish football history but his Golden Shoe lead is still tight.....
THE TOP 20
Points are calculated on the strength of a league as rated according to the UEFA coefficient
1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 31 x 2 = 62
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 29 x 2 = 58
3. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio) 26 x 2 = 52
Edinson Cavani (SSC Napoli) 26 x 2 = 52
5. Mario Gomez (Bayern München) 23 x 2 = 46
6. Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) 21 x 2 = 42
Moussa Sow (OSC Lille) 21 x 2 = 42
8. Papiss Cissé (SC Freiburg) 20 x 2 = 40
Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale) 20 x 2 = 40
10. Kenny Miller (Glasgow Rangers/Bursaspor) 26 x 1,5 = 39
11. Marco Di Vaio (AC Bologna) 19 x 2 = 38
Carlos Tévez (Manchester City) 19 x 2 = 38
13. Alessandro Matri (US Cagliari/Juventus) 18 x 2 = 36
David Villa (FC Barcelona) 18 x 2 = 36
Kévin Gameiro (FC Lorient) 18 x 2 = 36
16. Hülk (Givanildo Vieira de Souza) (FC Porto) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
17. Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal CF) 17 x 2 = 34
18. Theofanis Gekas (Eintracht Frankfurt) 16 x 2 = 32
Fernando Llorente (Athletic de Bilbao) 16 x 2 = 32
Youssef El Arabi (SM Caen) 16 x 2 = 32
Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
22. ‘Alex’ de Souza (Fenerbahçe SK) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
23. Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Mads Junker (Roda JC Kerkrade) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 15 x 2 = 30
Darren Bent (Aston Villa/Sunderland) 15 x 2 = 30
João Tomás (Rio Ave) 15 x 2 = 30
** The Golden Shoe is administered, computed and formulated by the European Sports Magazine group whose members comprise: A Bola (Portugal), Don Balon (Spain), World Soccer (England), Tipsbladet (Denmark), Sport Express (Russia), Foot Magazine (Belgium), Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany), Telegraaf/Telesport (Netherlands), Kicker (Germany), ElfVoetbal (Netherlands), Fanatik (Turkey), Guerin Sportivo (Italy). Affiliated members: Kick Off (South Africa), Titan Sport (China), Netease (China), SportalKorea (South-Korea
