Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Tuesday

Short and sweet today with little news on Monday and plenty of action to look forward to this week.

Manchester United will look to stretch their Premier League lead against Newcastle United on Tuesday, though will their Wembley antics distract them? ‘A hole lot of trouble for United’ read one headline.

The week’s big game, big being an understatement, is Real Madrid v Barcelona in the Spanish King’s Cup final. Jose Mourinho, silent before last Saturday’s ‘clasico’ which prompted a walkout by media in protest, has a tactical dilemma. Play with caution and risk the wrath of former club great Alfredo Di Stefano or attack and risk a hammering from Barcelona’s slick forwards.

What would you suggest the Portuguese coach does?

A recap of the past few days looks at Villarreal’s push for Champions League football next season in La Liga after Monday’s 1-0 win over Real Zaragoza, and the usually dogged Stoke City’s five, yes five, goal FA Cup semi-final win on Sunday against Bolton Wanderers who are enjoying a great season in the Premier League.

To round off the best of Tuesday’s reads, Toronto is being hailed as the new ‘epicentre’ of Canadian soccer and click here for a debate on developing youth talent.

Finally, which is your favourite stadium? Browse this site for venue reviews and post your thoughts on grounds you have visited. The Nou Camp in Barcelona does pretty well.

Guardiola restores Barcelona’s sense and sensibility

When you consider the importance Barcelona attaches to its Catalan identity, and the number of great local players the club has produced, it seems strange that Catalan coaches, or at least first team coaches, have had so little influence.

There have been a few, from Roma Forns back in 1927 through Josep Samitier, the great former player, and more recently the likes of Llorenc Serra Ferrer (actually Mallorquin) and Charly Rexach.

But when you think back tn coaches who stamped their personalities on the club, who marked an era, you think of outsiders like Helenio Herrera, Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal, perhaps, and Frank Rijkaard.

That’s what makes this season’s triumphs under Pep Guardiola so important to the club.

In less than a season in charge, Guardiola, who is about as Catalan as you can get, has reacquainted the team with the values he grew up with as a trainee at La Masia and the club have reaped the rewards with the Spanish league and cup already secured and a place in the Champions League final against Manchester United to look forward to.

Barcelona may very well lose that final against United and, who knows, with a resurgent Real Madrid under Florentino Perez things may not go this well for them for a long time.

But I get the feeling that whatever happens, Guardiola is set for a long spell in charge, whether as first team coach or perhaps in the future as some kind of sporting director.

United teach Inter and Barca how to avoid the jitter bug

Nerves are totally understandable at the end of the season with so much at stake.

Even seasoned campaigners get afflicted by the jitter bug, with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan losing the lead twice in a 2-2 draw at Chievo on Sunday with a fourth straight scudetto almost theirs.

Inter let a 12-point lead slip last term and tumbled over the line on the final day while fans will always remember their incredible collapse in 2002, which included a 2-2 draw with Chievo…

Spanish leaders Barcelona were even worse on Sunday, seeing their title party ruined by Villarreal’s two late goals in a 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp.

Of course, they will both still win their respective championships but a quick glance over to England will show how to avoid nerves.

Manchester United beat city rivals Manchester City 2-0 to move within a whisker of retaining their title and there wasn’t a jitter in sight.

The danger of goal celebrations…

Anyone remember Arsenal’s Steve Morrow being dropped by Tony Adams in the 1993 English League Cup final? Well this guy in Spain got injured all by himself….

This is from our main website.

Real Betis striker Sergio Garcia will be out for a month after injuring his knee while celebrating scoring the opening goal in the 3-3 home draw against Numancia.

The Spain international slid to his knees after netting in the ninth minute on Saturday, and had to be substituted soon after.

The side’s top scorer with nine goals twisted the lateral ligament in his left knee, the club said on their website.

Real’s Ramos unlikely to stay despite successful spell

Quite a few sceptical eyebrows were raised when Real Madrid gave Bernd Schuster the boot back in December and brought in Juande Ramos.

After an impressive spell at Sevilla, Ramos had faltered badly at Tottenham and it seemed the Real board were taking a big gamble in bringing him back to Spain with a contract until the end of the season.

When the affable La Manchan took charge, 100 days ago today, the champions had lost two on the trot and were down in fifth place, nine points behind leaders Barcelona.

Although his first league match ended in a 2-0 defeat at the Nou Camp, Real subsequently went on a 10-match winning run that ended on March 7 with the 1-1 home draw to city rivals Atletico.

Barca’s recent wobble has seen their lead cut from 12 points to six and Real fans are not giving up hope of a third consecutive Primera Liga title.

So has Ramos done enough to convince the men in suits that he should stay on next season?

Barca put the boot in over Bojan’s beautiful goal

Barcelona were so proud of the slick passing move that led to Bojan Krkic’s second goal during the 2-0 win at Almeria on Sunday that they have published all the statistics surrounding the strike.

In the 53rd minute, Xavi won the ball and gave it to Lionel Messi which was the first step in an uninterrupted 37 pass move that lasted one minute 49 seconds, the league leaders said on their website.

Every Barca player on the pitch, except goalkeeper Victor Valdes and defender Rafael Marquez, touched the ball at least once. The only shame was that Bojan’s finish took a deflection that helped it past a wrong-footed Diego Alves.

Almeria, coached by former Mexico striker Hugo Sanchez, may not be a major club but they are a tough nut to crack at home. It was their first defeat in seven matches at the Juegos Mediterraneos stadium.

Of course, there is more to Barca’s triumphant reaction than just hailing a great goal.

Barca’s arch-rivals Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 5-2 away in a controversial and bruising match on Saturday which has led to a storm of criticism over the referee.

Did Spain’s Euro 2008 win jinx the clubs?

Spain overcame 44 years of underachievement on the international stage when they were crowned European champions at Euro 2008. Not only did they win the tournament, but their players, their style and their attacking ambition were hailed around the world.

However, that success appears to have had a detrimental effect on their domestic teams, who have traditionally been some of the strongest performers in Europe’s club competitions.

Last week’s Champions League and UEFA Cup results are some of the worst in recent seasons.

Nine-times European Cup winners Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at home by Liverpool in their last 16 first leg, while both Villarreal and Atletico Madrid were held to score draws at home by Panathinaikos and Porto respectively.

Only Barcelona achieved what could be considered a positive result, coming from behind to draw 1-1 away to Olympique Lyon and it was hardly an impressive performance.

In the UEFA Cup they fared even worse.

The 2004 winners Valencia drew at home to Dynamo Kiev to go out on the away goals rule 3-3 on aggregate, while Deportivo Coruna were humbled 6-1 on aggregate by AaB Aalborg. The 2006 and 2007 winners Sevilla failed to make it out of the group stages along with Racing Santander.

Round one to Liverpool, but don’t believe Benitez rumours

Rafa Benitez celebrated a famous victory over his hometown club when Liverpool beat Real Madrid 1-0 in their Champions League last 16, first leg on Wednesday.He outfoxed his counterpart Juande Ramos with an astute tactical display, but anyone linking the Spaniard with a move to the Bernabeu in the near future would be mistaken.

Real Madrid are in limbo. Former president Ramon Calderon sacked Bernd Schuster in December and installed Ramos on a contract to the end of the campaign, and then was forced to resign in disgrace after a vote-rigging scandal at a club general assembly was exposed.

The current president Vicente Boluda, like Ramos, is only in the post temporarily until a new presidential election is held, which is likely to be in June or July.

Until then, decisions over the coach and the buying and selling of players are on hold. Sports director Predrag Mijatovic, a close ally of Calderon’s, is widely considered a lame duck and likely to be dropped quickly when a new president arrives.

Once the date for the election is officially announced, candidates will throw their hats into the ring, and promise to land players and coaches who will appeal to Real Madrid’s demanding ‘socios’ – the 85,000 or so club members.

The candidate with the most appealing package, and mastery of the local media, will win. Benitez could align himself with a candidate, but it is a lottery.

The man touted as the most likely to win at present is former president Florentino Perez, who has yet to declare any interest. He has been linked with Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger in the local media.

Real Madrid v Liverpool — what a difference two months make

Back in December, when the draw for the first knock-out round of the Champions League was made, Liverpool could be forgiven for feeling pretty pleased with the prospect of renewing their acquaintance with Real Madrid. How different things look now.

Back then, Liverpool were top of the Premier League, six points ahead of a Manchester United side facing a fixture pile-up and struggling for form. Real Madrid, in apparent disarray after sacking coach Bernd Schuster, were 12 points behind Barcelona, having just lost 2-0 to their arch-rivals.

Now, Liverpool have all but conceded the title to United, while Real Madrid, inspired by Juande Ramos, have won nine league games in a row to give Barcelona plenty to think about. True, Real remain seven points behind Barca, exactly the same margin by which Liverpool trail United, but Ramos’s side will go into the tie bristling with confidence, while their opponents fight just to keep their season alive.

There are at least a couple of other uncomfortable facts for Liverpool to consider as they prepare for a first European Cup meeting with Real since the final in Paris in 1981.

Firstly, coach Rafa Benitez will know that Fernando Torres has a terrible record against Real Madrid. As an Atletico player, Torres could be relied upon to score against Barcelona and to come up short against Real. There was no real explanation for it. That’s just the way it was.

Secondly, it will not have escaped Liverpool’s notice that Raul has gradually played his way back into the sort of form that convinced Sir Alex Ferguson that he was the world’s best player.