Reuters Soccer Blog

from Left field:

And Porto will play…..Europa League draw provides some stardust

There was the usual hushed silence and then sudden intake of breath heard in Nyon on Friday, though not for the Champions League Round of 16 draw but the first two ties of the Europa League Round of 32.

Holders Porto will play mega-rich Manchester City, they were the first two names out of the little plastic balls when UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was finally able to open the second after Davor Suker had tried and failed, and Ajax Amsterdam will take on Manchester United.

So what about the Champions League draw? Well, here it is in full:

Olympique Lyon v APOEL Nicosia

Napoli v Chelsea

AC Milan v Arsenal

Basel v Bayern Munich

from Mark Meadows:

Real’s psychological barrier key to Barca’s 3-1 win

By Drazen Jorgic

Annoyingly for Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, the supposed plot line of  El Clasico on Saturday did not follow the script. The much-anticipated power shift from Catalunya to Madrid did not take place and his team are back to the drawing board as far as playing against Barcelona is concerned.

Mourinho blamed bad luck for the loss, as you would expect, but a lot of the press have zoomed in on Real's psychological barrier when it comes to facing Barca.

These things are always difficult to quantify but the awe-inspiring Real team that crushed everyone so far in 2011 simply crumbled when Barcelona reversed a one goal-deficit and went 2-1 up.

Even Mourinho conceded the third Barca goal was a 'psychological blow', though I would argue it was the second goal that mentally defeated them.

Perhaps the players -- a bit like many of the Madrid fans -- had that feeling of 'here we go again'. The doubts crept in, slowly but surely, and Barca took what is now their customary control of latter parts of El Clasico clashes.

Real Madrid began to play like a team that was facing an opponent who had whipped them in six of the previous seven encounters under their current coach, including a 5-0 drubbing.

Real Madrid’s Alonso maturing like a fine wine

Xabi Alonso’s 30th birthday on Friday has prompted an avalanche of praise for the Real Madrid midfielder and has also served to highlight the former Liverpool man’s importance in coach Jose Mourinho’s plans for Spanish and European domination.

Widely regarded as one of the finest players of his generation, as well as one of the most astute purchases by big-spending Real president Florentino Perez, the quietly-spoken Alonso has gone from strength to strength since joining Real for a fee of 35 million euros ($47 million) at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Spraying passes around the pitch from the centre of midfield with consumate ease and unleashing a crunching tackle when necessary, he is the well-oiled cog at the heart of Mourinho’s Real machine and it would be hard to see them mounting a realistic challenge to great rivals Barcelona without him.

Mourinho has used him more than any other player this season, more even than captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Alonso has spent 1,626 minutes on the pitch, (1,110 in La Liga, 421 in the Champions League and 95 in the Spanish Super Cup, compared with Casillas’s total of 1,592 minutes.

Alonso’s role in the Spain team is no less vital. Alongside Barcelona’s Xavi, the world and European champions surely have two of the best midfielders ever to have played the game, capable of orchestrating long periods of ball possession before unlocking the meanest defence in the blink of an eye.

Among Alonso’s attributes, Spanish media commentators picked out his calm demeanour, leadership qualities on the pitch and the fact that he is able to live his life away from soccer well outside the glare of the media spotlight.

Are Barca and Real killing Spanish football?

In our latest post on Spanish soccer, Mark Elkington in Madrid ponders the opening round of matches in La Liga and what it underlined about the growing domination of the big two.

La Liga had a familiar look to it on Tuesday morning.

Wealthy behemoths Real Madrid and Barcelona top the standings on goal difference after each recorded emphatic wins against opponents who were utterly outclassed.

Villarreal, through to the Champions League group stages after finishing fourth last term, were thrashed 5-0 by Barca at the Nou Camp on Monday night, a day after Real Madrid romped to a 6-0 victory at Real Zaragoza.

Barca’s financial clout was underlined by the fact that coach Pep Guardiola was able to start without Spanish World Cup-winners Xavi and David Villa as new signings Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez scored on their home debuts in the league.

Villarreal president Fernando Roig said the growing financial disparity between Barca and Real and the rest of La Liga was killing Spanish football.

“If they only want to have two matches (Real v Barca), let them have two matches, but this isn’t good for football,” he told local media on Tuesday.

Real fans still in love with controversial Mourinho

Jose Mourinho was given a rapturous reception by the Real Madrid faithful when his side entertained Galatasaray in a friendly on Wednesday.

It was a show of unity likely to leave club president Florentino Perez in no doubt that whatever reservations he might have over his stubbornly controversial coach the majority of Madrid supporters love him.

Mourinho may have shocked even the most loyal of Madrid fans when he calmly jabbed a finger in the eye of Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova during the mass confrontation between the sides at the end of last week’s Spanish Super Cup match.

Bizarrely, Mourinho denied any knowledge of the incident and the war of words was taken up by the local media along the battle lines already drawn up from last season’s increasingly acrimonious run of ‘clasicos’.

One of the many banners on display in the Bernabeu on Wednesday was one reading: “Mou, your finger shows us the way.”

Some commentators have been saying that it is time Florentino Perez reigned in his coach to prevent him damaging the club’s reputation but the silence from the club president has been deafening.

A story started circulating on Tuesday the Portuguese was thinking of quitting.

La Liga’s great divide

The red carpet was out in the VIP lounge at the Bernabeu last week and four immaculately-dressed Emirates air hostesses helped usher in the dignitaries as Real Madrid presented a new sponsorship agreement with the Dubai-based airline.

No financial details were given, but the five-year deal will no doubt further boost the coffers of the world´s richest club by revenue.

The drawing power of Real and Barcelona, who are second in the Deloitte “Rich List” rankings, continues to dwarf that of their La Liga rivals.

The European and Spanish champions, Barca, announced a record five-year shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth 30 million euros a season a few weeks ago.

On the same day of the plush Emirates presentation, promoted Rayo Vallecano, who are based five kilometres down the road from Real, received some good news as well.

The debt-ridden club had applied to go into administration before winning promotion from the second division, and administrators finally lifted the embargo that had been placed on all transfer dealings.

Rayo, who can now start planning properly for the new campaign, are one of five La Liga sides in administration along with Real Betis, Granada, Racing Santander and Real Zaragoza.

Real Madrid great Di Stefano turns 85

Looking back 60 years at grainy footage of his playing days, it is hard for us to get a clear sense of how good a player Alfredo Di Stefano, who turned 85 on Monday, really was.

Those who were privileged to see the Real Madrid great performing in the flesh say he was one of the most complete footballers to have graced the game.

An accomplished defender, a midfield workhorse, a playmaker and a prolific striker rolled into one, he could be seen covering back in defence, charging forward through midfield, laying on goals for the forwards and smashing shots into the net all in the same game.

Known as “La Saeta Rubia” (the blond arrow), Buenos Aires-born Di Stefano remains in robust health, regularly appears at club events in his capacity as honorary president and has a lively newspaper column in Marca sports daily.

His achievements as a player helped turn Real, whom he joined in 1953, into one of the world’s leading sides, transforming them from insignificant underachievers into the kings of the continent when he guided them to five successive European Cups between 1956 and 1960, scoring in each of the finals.

He is frequently bracketed with Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff among the greatest exponents of the game.

“People argue between Pele or Maradona,” Pele was quoted as saying on a visit to Madrid in late 2009. “For me, Di Stefano is the best. He was much more complete.”

Xavi’s Wembley tears turn to triumph

In our latest post on Spanish soccer, Iain Rogers in Madrid muses on the brilliance of the peerless Xavi and Real Madrid’s decision to hand more power to coach Jose Mourinho at the expense of sacked director general Jorge Valdano. 

Xavi’s Wembley tears turn to triumph

Lionel Messi rightly grabbed most of the headlines for his latest European masterclass in Barcelona’s 3-1 Champions League final humbling of Manchester United on Saturday.

However, the Argentine World Player of the Year’s superbly-struck goal, his 53rd of the season in all competitions, and his all-round brilliance distracted attention from the man who has been at the heart of the phenomenal success achieved by Barca and Spain in recent years: Xavi.

Regularly nailing more than 100 passes per game, with a completion rate in excess of 90 percent, the 31-year-old has perfected the playmaker’s art.

United were powerless to prevent him seizing control of the match as he sprayed the ball left and right, twisting and turning his way into space and leaving the English club’s players chasing shadows across the immaculate Wembley turf.

One amazing statistic from this year’s edition of Europe’s elite club competition, courtesy of Opta, is that in 953 minutes of football he did not concede a single foul.

Soccer Break Monday – Manchester united?

A united Manchester after both football sides won major honours on Saturday? No chance. Both City and United will parade the streets in open-top bus parades, just a week apart.

Read here for a roundup of all things European football over the weekend, during which titles were won, tears were shed, and more trophies were dropped.

Yes, Sergio Ramos spilling the King’s Cup in Spain was not a one off, though worryingly Ajax and Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, touted as a possible Man United replacement for compatriot Edwin van der Sar, was the culprit.

Eleswhere Barcelona fans and players have been throwing red peppers after clinching the La Liga title, read here for an explanation. Who look the stronger going into the Champions League final, Barca or United?

Finally, he swore on live television after his side’s FA Cup victory on Saturday, but are people now warming to Mario Balotelli?

Discuss all these topics and other stories in world soccer on the Reuters Soccer Facebook page. And please feel free to send us recommendations for your pick of the day’s stories.

Picture: Manchester City fans celebrate after their team defeated Stoke City in their FA Cup final soccer match at Wembley Stadium, in London May 14, 2011. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Mourinho begins strengthening for next season

In our latest Monday post on Spanish soccer, Iain Rogers in Madrid looks at Real’s first signing for next season and the return of “The Beast” to save Malaga.

Mourinho begins strengthening for next season

Jose Mourinho has acquired the first new weapon in his arsenal for the 2011/12 campaign as his Real Madrid side seek to loosen Barcelona’s stranglehold over the domestic title and dream of a 10th triumph in Europe’s elite club competition.

Nuri Sahin, the 22-year-old Turkish playmaker who helped Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title this season, signed a six-year deal with the Spanish giants on Monday for a fee of around 10 million euros ($14.3 million).

German-born Sahin set the record as the youngest player to appear in the Bundesliga when he debuted for Dortmund in 2005 and went on to become the youngest scorer in Germany’s top league.

A left-footer, he also became the youngest scorer for his country when he netted the second in a 2-1 win over Germany in Istanbul in 2005.

Here’s what Real said about their new signing on their website: “The German-born Turk has a knack for distributing the ball as well as recovering it. With a powerful left foot and an eye for ball placement, he is also a master at free-kicks.”