Saturday, May 7, 2011

Champions League - Five-match ban for Mourinho

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has been given a five-match touchline ban in European competition for his red card and verbal outburst at the Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona.
Mourinho, who won the European Cup with Inter Milan last season, was also fined 50,000 euros (£44,128) for his behaviour by a UEFA disciplinary panel.
European football's governing body said Mourinho's ban included the second leg of the tie, which he has already served, while the final match would be suspended for a probationary three-year period.
That means the Portuguese coach will be banned from the touchline for the first three European matches next season.
Barcelona's reserve goalkeeper Jose Pinto was suspended for three matches after being sent off in a scuffle on the touchline at halftime of the same game.
He will miss the final against Manchester United at Wembley on May 28 as a result.
Both Real Madrid and Barcelona said they were going to appeal the decisions in statements on their websites.


Mourinho was dismissed in the second half of the first leg against Barcelona for his protests over the red card for Real midfielder Pepe for a studs-up challenge on Dani Alves.
After the match, Mourinho belittled the achievements of his counterpart Pep Guardiola, saying he would have been ashamed to have won the 2009 competition the way they did, and suggested there was a conspiracy among referees to favour the Catalan club.
The nine-times European champions lost the match 2-0 at the Bernabeu and were eliminated after a 1-1 draw in this week's return, when Mourinho's place on the touchline was taken by assistant Aitor Karanka.
Pinto also served the first match of his ban in this week's second leg.
Real were fined 20,000 euros (£17,651) for the improper conduct of their supporters. UEFA did not add to the one-match ban for Pepe, which he served in the second leg.
Mourinho has already been in trouble with UEFA this season when he was given a two-match ban over allegations that two of his players engineered deliberate red cards on his orders in a group game against Ajax back in November.
After an appeal, UEFA reduced the ban to one game with a second deferred for a probationary period of three years, and cut his fine to 30,000 euros (£26,410) from 40,000 (£35,213). Real's fine was reduced to 100,000 euros (£88,034) from 120,000 (£105,661).
Afterwards, Mourinho described UEFA's decision as a "medal" and not a punishment and complained there was one rule for him and another for other coaches.
The outspoken Portuguese also had a run-in with UEFA while manager of Chelsea in the 2004-5 Champions League season, after Didier Drogba was controversially sent off in a last-16 first leg against Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
Chelsea and Mourinho made unsubstantiated claims that then-Barca manager Frank Rijkaard had gone to speak to Swedish referee Anders Frisk at halftime of that game.
UEFA gave Mourinho a two-match touchline ban and fined him 75,000 swiss francs (£52,241) and his club Chelsea 75,000 (£52,241).

Record appearances as European finalists

On May 28th, Barça will play in a record 17th European final – more than any other team – and their 6th European Cup final.
Two of the giants of the European game will come together at the end of this month at Wembley, as Barça, finalists three times in the last six seasons and semi finalists five times during that period, face Manchester United who go into their third final in four years. For Barça, the final also represents another record; their 17th in all European competition, more than any other club has managed, having already won 10 of them.
3 Fairs Cup Finals                                                                                                                               
 Barça won on their first ever European Final appearance in the 57/58 season, winning the Fairs Cup –the precursor to the UEFA Cup and Europa League. Coached by Domènech Balmanya, Barça beat a London XI team with goals from the legendary players Evaristo and Vergés. The Club also won the trophy in 1960 and in 1966.
Three wins out of six                                                                                                                                 
In the European Cup, it was third time lucky for Barça in 1992, winning at Wembley after disappointments in Berne and Seville. Paris and Rome then saw Barça wins after the harrowing 1994 defeat in Athens. That means the Club at the moment are even stevens in the finals of Europe’s biggest competition, with three wins and three defeats.
Four Cup Winners titles                                                                                                                           
The Cup Winners Cup was played for the last time in 1999. Barça won four of the six finals they took part in, the last one in Rotterdam in the 1996/97 season, when Ronaldo was the star figure.

Madrid, Milan and Juventus                                                                                                                   
Real Madrid have reached 16 European finals and won 11 of them: 9 European Cups and 2 UEFA Cups. AC Milan and Juventus have both reached 14 European finals.
 

Thursday, May 5, 2011

International press heaps praise on Barça

After Barça qualified for the Champions League final, the international press had nothing but praise for the way they played against Real Madrid.
Barça’s return to Wembley has opened the sports pages all around the world, with some names singled out for special praise (Abidal, Guardiola, Messi and Pedro) in a game that sent the club into its seventh final of Europe’s premier club competition. The French dailies applauded Barça’s football, and Italy’s ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ highlighted how the whole team contributed to getting to London, where the final will be a repeat of Rome 2009 against Man United.
Abidal, protagonist
‘L’Équipe’ opens by saying “the game wins”, with a photo of Messi dribbling the ball past Brazilian Kaká. The paper goes on to say that “there was no miracle” for Real Madrid on a night that Éric Abidal got “the ovation of the night from the Catalan supporters”. In similar fashion, ‘Le Parisien’ mentioned the return of the Frenchman and dedicated the headline in its sports section to its compatriot.
“The perfect storm”
In Britain, Barça’s win on a rain-sodden night was called “the perfect storm” highlighting how the bad weather couldn’t stop the Blaugrana from delighting the 95,701 spectators. The ‘Daily Mirror’ includes a multi-page section titled ‘The Road to Wembley’. ‘The Guardian’ tells of how “Barcelona hold off Real Madrid threat to reach Champions League final” and ‘The Times’ feels that FC Barcelona have made it less likely that José Mourinho will be returning to England.
‘The Sun’ warns Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, who FCB are likely to be facing at Wembley, that “We’re coming to get you Man U”. The English papers already seem certain that the Red Devils will be playing in the final, and know that Barcelona is not just about Messi, but also Villa and Iniesta, who the ‘Daily Mirror’ scored the highest (8) in the game with Real Madrid.
Comparisons with Santos and Pelé
Argentina naturally focuses on Leo Messi. ‘Clarín’ reckons “Messi is going for more”, and sports paper ‘Olé’ mentions that “he didn’t score this time, but came close”, and highlights Guardiola’s comment about comparisons with Santos and Pelé: “Barcelona has Messi”. Pep was praised as far as China, where ‘Xinhua’ hailed his second final in three years.
“Miracles don’t exist”
Russia’s ‘Sport-Express’ spoke of the “impeccable pass” that Iniesta provided to Pedro to put Barça ahead in the 54th minute. Meanwhile, ‘Gazeta.ru’ tells how “miracles don’t exist” and says that although early on Madrid caused a threat to Valdés’ goal “they immediately lost strength”.