Three years ago Real Madrid, feted as the most exciting and glamorous side in the world, imploded following a morale-sapping defeat against Zaragoza in the final of the Kings Cup. They were then dumped out of the Champions League and squandered a handsome lead in the league as Valencia won the title.

Barcelonas humiliating Cup defeat by Bernd Schusters Getafe has raised the spectre of a Galactico-style meltdown at the Catalan club.

How did it come to this? How did it become, in the words of Lluvia blaugrana, one of the most humiliating seasons in the club’s history?

The target at the start of the campaign was to win six trophies: the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup, the Club World Cup, the Champions League, the Kings Cup and the Spanish title. They beat Espanyol to win the first but got trounced by Sevilla in the second. They were then out-thought by Internacional in Japan, out-fought by Liverpool in Europe and humiliated at home by Getafe in the Cup.

That just leaves the league, and a Real Madrid side just two points behind them are gleefully talking of Barca cracking under the strain.

When Real self-destructed a cocktail of complacency, egotism and an obsession with marketing was blamed for their demise. Have Barcelona, after two consecutive league titles and a European Cup, fallen into the same trap? Certainly there were people who wondered whether the recent publicity tour to Egypt was a case of getting their priorities wrong.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be over-hasty. Lionel Messi, Samuel Etoo and Ronaldinho make up a compelling argument for not writing Barcelona off just yet.

Let us know what you think. Is this really the end of an era? Or can they pull themselves together to complete a hat-trick of league titles? 

Simon Baskett is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Madrid

The Libertadores Cup, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, is generally looked upon as a poor relation to its European counterpart. Stadiums are often rustic, the threat of crowd and player violence hangs in the air and the tournament has long suffered from an unfortunate reputation for dirty tricks and general nastiness.

But watching both competitions of late, you can certainly make a case for the Libertadores being, if nothing else, the more entertaining and open of the two.

Over the last two weeks, the eighth-finals have produced superb goals and endless drama played, mostly, in a passionate atmosphere. There were Renato’s two long-range goals for Flamengo against Defensor Sporting, Ze Roberto’s backheeled effort for Santos against Caracas FC and Juan Roman Riquelme hitting the crossbar twice in four minutes for Boca Juniors against Velez Sarsfield, to name but a few.

The all-Argentine tie between Boca and Velez, won 4-3 on aggregate by the former, featured two teams prepared to attack and playing with typical Argentine flair. It is hard to imagine a more refreshing contrast to the all-English bore served up by Liverpool and Chelsea in their Champions League semi-final.

In all, the 16 ties played over the last two weeks produced 49 goals with not a single goaless draw among them.

The quarter-finals will feature teams from six of the region’s 11 countries — Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Only one of them, Paraguay’s Libertad, reached the same stage last year. Defensor Sporting (Uruguay) and Cucuta (Colombia) have reached this stage for the first time.

Of course, nobody can deny there is a difference in class between the two tournaments. But the fact the annual meeting of the Libertadores and Champions League winners in Japan has been won by the South Americans for the two years suggests that even the gap in quality is not as great as many believe.

Brian Homewood is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro

To fans in Spain, the story is a familiar one. A player goes on loan to a smaller club and when the two sides meet he turns in the performance of his career to embarrass his erstwhile employers.

Manchester United have been cleared of any wrongdoing after their former goalkeeper Tim Howard missed Everton’s recent game against them. The Premier League is satisfied there was no deal between the clubs to stop him playing.

If Howard had still been on loan at Everton (the deal became permanent in February) Premier League rules would have prevented him from playing. That’s not the case in La Liga, where notably Real Madrid have often been left red-faced by such situations.

Samuel Etoo was the bane of Real lives when he played against them while on loan at Real Mallorca. Fernando Morientes memorably cost them a place in the Champions League semi-finals when he returned to the Bernabeu in Monaco colours in 2004. It seemed, in fact, that every time a former player of theirs returned to the Bernabeu they played out of their skins.

It will be no surprise to learn that Real have now inserted clauses into their loan deals preventing this from happening. But are clubs right to incorporate these ‘exclusion clauses’ into their contracts? Aren’t these scenarios the ones that make football so enjoyable to watch? If football feels at times like a soap opera, are we taking out the spiciest drama?

Simon Baskett is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Madrid

The only way Manchester United were going to take the title away from Jose Mourinho and his consistently resolute and formidable Chelsea side was by playing brilliant football game after game, week after week, month after month from August to May.

And that, apart from the occasional blip here and the odd stumble there, is exactly what they have done to win their ninth championship title under manager Alex Ferguson, the greatest one of the lot.

This success truly is a special one because United, who were last champions in 2003, had to discover their own self-belief all over again and keep the psychological pressure on Chelsea while winning matches week in and week out.

They started the season brilliantly with a 5-1 home win over Fulham, won their first four games with a goal tally of 11-2 and apart from two weeks in September, were top all season long.

Their counter-attacking football was glorious to watch. Ryan Giggs, winning an all-time record ninth championship medal, was gloriously re-born, as was the fit-again Paul Scholes. Cristiano Ronaldo was a revelation, Wayne Rooney consistent.

Ferguson, who says he cannot believe he is 65 years old, has steered United to heroic triumphs before, not least when they overhauled Newcastle’s 12-point advantage in 1997 and beat Arsenal by a point in their treble-winning year of 1999.

This title is the greatest of all, because it simply wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did.

On Wednesday the Special One will see his team run out at Stamford Bridge. As champions. Jose Mourinho will be among those applauding Ferguson’s latest triumph.

Mike Collett is Reuters soccer editor

Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice, and footballing miracles of the kind Liverpool enjoyed two years ago in Istanbul, when they came from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties, are just as rare.

If Liverpool are to survive without another miracle this time, it’s obvious they are going to have to find a way of limiting the influence of Kaka.

To do that, Rafa Benitez must consider setting someone to man-mark the Brazilian – a player to dog the Brazilian’s every step, to snap at his heels, to obstruct and distract him. Someone fast. Man-marking is not pretty, but sometimes, as Italy showed when they set Claudio Gentile on Maradona at the 1982 World Cup, it works.

Benitez is a pragmatist, which is just as well, because Alex Ferguson’s romantic approach to the second leg at the San Siro was exposed when Kaka burst into Manchester United’s area barely a minute after kickoff.

Kaka has 10 goals in the Champions League this season, but take him out of the equation and what firepower do Milan have left? A midfielder, Clarence Seedorf, is probably their next-most likely scorer. Of their forwards, Filippo Inzaghi – great finisher that he was — is getting old, and Alberto Gilardino has rarely proved decisive this season.

Bayern Munich gave the job to fellow Brazilian Lucio in their game at the Allianz Arena last month. The tactic worked up to a point, but the Germans still ended up losing 2-0. Liverpool do not have a player who knows Kaka inside out like Lucio does. So who should Benitez choose for what could be the final’s decisive contest?

James Eve reports on sport for Reuters from Rome

If AC Milan beat Liverpool in the Champions League final in Athens on May 23, will UEFA officials be smiling through gritted teeth when they hand over the trophy? Or has Milan’s sparkling form over the course of the competition been enough to grant them redemption?

UEFA made it absolutely clear last August they did not want Milan to play even in the 
qualifiers — let alone get all the way to the final.

Milan’s original 44-point penalty, handed out by an Italian sports tribunal in July 2006 following a match-fixing trial involving several Serie A clubs, cast them hopelessly adrift of
the qualifying positions for Europe. On appeal, the deduction was reduced to eight points and Milan looked set for the qualifiers. However, UEFA were very unhappy about the prospect of a club tainted with scandal taking part in their most prestigious competition.
 
To their dismay, UEFA realised they lacked the legal basis to refuse Milan entry. To say they admitted Carlo Ancelotti’s men reluctantly is an understatement.

The six-time champions were in, but their entry was “far from being given with the utmost conviction”, it said, adding that Milan had taken “advantage of the fact that UEFA lacks legal grounds to refuse the club’s admission.” The Emergency Panel was “deeply concerned that AC Milan has created the impression of being involved in the improper influencing of the regular course of matches in the Italian football championship”. More stinging comments followed.

However, they have not stopped Milan from reaching the final, and playing some fantastic football along the way, notably in their Kaka-inspired semi-final triumph over Manchester United.

Who do you think UEFA will be supporting in the final?

Trevor Huggins is a Reuters sports reporter based in London

Japan striker Kazuki Ganaha was suspended by his J-League club last week for taking an intravenous supplement to cure a bout of flu. Fair enough you might think. Until you learn the IV drip was merely a garlic infusion.

The 26-year-old was suspended for violating the J-League’s anti-doping rules, which closely follow those of soccer’s world governing body FIFA, and he is still waiting to learn how long the ban will last.

Garlic? Doping? Whatever next? Korean athletes have had their spicy national dish, kimchi confiscated at airports en route to major sports tournaments in the past, but how long before we see over-zealous customs officials stopping the likes of Wayne Rooney and ordering them to give up any cans of baked beans they may have about them? Admittedly, you would be hard pushed to administer baked beans intravenously but still…

Here at the blog it got us thinking about other players who’ve found themselves in doping trouble over unlikely substances. It’s not quite the same thing, but there was a TSV 1860 Munich player who blamed a hair tonic for a positive test not so long ago. Can you think of any others?

Alastair Himmer is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Tokyo

For the second time in three seasons, Liverpool’s passionate fans were worth a place in the Champions League final at Chelsea’s expense.

Coach Rafa Benitez, who described the Anfield crowd as Liverpool’s “12th man” and 40,000 “special ones” in a barbed reference to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, was quick to pay tribute to the ‘wall of noise’, as the supporters were described over at Red Cauldron today.

Led by the massed ranks of the Kop choir, the supporters had cheered and sung the whole night, though their biggest contribution came when it counted most — in the penalty shootout.

Boudewijn Zenden’s opening strike was greeted by the kind of celebratory roar usually reserved for a 25-metre screamer from Steven Gerrard into the top corner.

Within seconds, the sound effects switched to ear-splitting whistles and boos as Chelsea’s Arjen Robben stepped up for a spot-kick which keeper Jose Reina was able to save.

Xabi Alonso converted for Liverpool, as did Frank Lampard for Chelsea despite the boo-boys’ best efforts, and the Kop still hadn’t finished singing “Steve Gerrard, Gerrard” to the tune of “Que Sera, Sera” when the Liverpool skipper swept his penalty past Petr Cech.

Geremi, who Mourinho said afterwards converted a lot of spot-kicks in training, lost his touch at Anfield as he too failed to beat a brilliant Reina, setting up Dutchman Dirk Kuyt to score the winner for 4-1.

The moral of the story is that teams need to finish Liverpool off when they are away from their lion’s den. Or maybe UEFA should just give all visiting teams a one-goal start when they go to Liverpool.

Trevor Huggins is a Reuters sports reporter based in London

Long before the end of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Liverpool it was clear the London club were not just out of ideas on how to break down such an obdurate defence. Physically, they were out of gas.

It was a second heartbreaking result in four days for Chelsea, and it begged the question: “Is the ‘quadruple’ a sustainable ambition for any club?”

This time last week Jose Mourinho’s team were chasing trophies on three separate fronts, having already won the League Cup in February. But Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Bolton Wanderers gave rivals Manchester United a five-point lead in the Premier League title race and Tuesday’s penalty shootout defeat cost them a place in the final. Now they have only the FA Cup final against United at the new Wembley to look forward to at the end of a gruelling season.

In the last round, Chelsea’s better physical preparation clearly helped them get through a test of stamina against Valencia. Three weeks and six matches on, they enjoyed no such advantage over Liverpool.

The London club’s second Champions League semi-final defeat in three seasons by Liverpool seems inexplicable considering Chelsea are 59 points better off than their rivals from Merseyside over the last three league campaigns.

But gunning for trophies on four separate fronts over the slog of a 10-month season, played on the back of the 2006 World Cup to boot, was always going to stretch Mourinho’s squad to the very limits of their endurance.

The tired-looking performances from Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba on Tuesday suggested this key pair, and others, had nothing left in the tank.

Tony Jimenez is a chief sub-editor on the Reuters sports desk in London 

Forget Kaka, or Inzaghi, or even Maldini. If there is one AC Milan player who will be driven to excel against Manchester United on Wednesday it will be the teams under-fire goalkeeper Dida.

The Italian press laid into the Brazilian international after the first leg at Old Trafford, accusing him of flapping Cristiano Ronaldos header into his own net for the opening goal and then leaving his near post exposed for Wayne Rooney to score Uniteds stoppage-time winner.

The only non-Italian ever to win the prize for Serie A goalie of the year, Dida also has the misfortune to play in a position that Italians have always made their own, so when the going gets tough there is no end of critics queuing up to take pot-shots at him (or even sell him on the internet).

His demeanour quiet, serious, unsmiling, the very antithesis of the happy-go-lucky Brazilian footballer has also rarely won him friends in the media.

Of course, he has given the critics plenty of ammunition. He famously dropped the ball into his own net in 1-0 Champions League defeat to Leeds United back in September 2000 just six days after hed made his debut for Milan.

But there have also been inspired performances, most notably when he saved three times in the penalty shoot-out that gave Milan victory over Juventus in the Champions League final in 2003.

So which Dida will turn up for Wednesday’s game? The answer could decide whether it’s going to be an all-English final or not.

James Eve reports on Italian sport for Reuters from Rome