European Football

[SK]

Valencia 2-2 Barcelona

Barca lead through Leo Messi after 24 mins but it was Valencia who took the lead before the half with a two minute salvo - goals from Maduro and Hernandez. Henry got the equaliser four minutes from time. Real can cut the gap to four points with five games to go when they visit Sevilla tomorrow.

the ref was just awful valencia should have had like 3 penalties, and a red card to puyol, who as the last man fouled (i think) david villa...webb's a decent ref compared to this prick

[-V-]

9 Red cards in La Liga today

[Craig_H]

ITALY
Latest results:

Milan 3-0 Palermo
Bologna 2-0 Genoa
Lazio 0-1 Atalanta
Lecce 2-1 Catania
Napoli 1-0 Inter
Reggina 2-2 Juventus
Sampdoria 3-3 Cagliari
Torino 1-0 Siena
Chievo 1-2 Udinese
Fiorentina 4-1 Roma

Current Table:
33 games played (out of 38)

1ST: 74 - Inter
2ND: 67 - Juventus
3RD: 65 - Milan
4TH: 58 - Genoa
---------------------
5TH: 57 - Fiorentina
6TH: 52 - Roma

________________________________________

SPAIN
Latest results:

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Racing Santander
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Sporting Gijon
Espanyol 2-0 Real Betis
Getafe 1-2 Villarreal
Rectreativo 2-4 Mallorca
Sevilla 2-4 Real Madrid
Real Valladolid 0-0 Osasuna
Almeria 2-1 Numancia
Malaga 1-1 Deportivo
Valencia 2-2 Barcelona

Current Table:
33 games played (out of 38)

1ST: 82 - BARCELONA
2ND: 78 - REAL MADRID
3RD: 57 - SEVILLA
4TH: 56 - VALENCIA
----------------------------------
5TH: 55 - VILLARREAL
6TH: 52 - ATLETICO MADRID
7TH: 51 - MALAGA
8TH: 50 - DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA

________________________________________



GERMANY
Latest results:

Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-1 Armenia Bielefeld
Energie Cottbus 2-0 Wolfsburg
Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Karlsruhe
Bayern Munich 0-1 Schalke 04
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 SV Hamburg
Hannover 96 2-1 FC Koln
VfB Stuttgard 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Werder Bremen 3-2 VfL Bochum
Hoffenheim 0-1 Hertha Berlin

Current Table:
29 games played (out of 34)

1ST: 57 - WOLFSBURG
2ND: 55 - HERTHA BERLIN
3RD: 54 - BAYERN MUNICH
------------------------------
4TH: 54 - VFB STUTTGART
5TH: 54 - SV HAMBURG
6TH: 49 - SCHALKE 04
7TH: 49 - BORUSSIA DORTMUND
8TH: 45 - HOFFENHEIM
9TH: 42 - BAYER LEVERKUSEN

________________________________________

FRANCE
Latest results:

Nancy 2-0 Nantes
Auxerre 2-1 Caen
Le Harve 0-1 Grenoble
Le Mans 0-1 Monaco
Lille 1-2 Marseille
Nice 3-1 St Etienne
Sochaux 1-1 Valenciennes
Toulouse 1-1 Lorient
Lyon 0-0 PSG

Current Table:
33 games played (out of 38)

1ST: 67 - MARSEILLE
2ND: 62 - BORDEAUX
3RD: 61 - LYON
---------------------------
4TH: 60 - PSG
5TH: 57 - TOULOUSE
6TH: 56 - LILLE
7TH: 51 - RENNES

________________________________________

HOLLAND
Latest results:

Ado Den Haag 2-3 Feyenoord
Ajax 1-1 AZ Alkmaar
Groningen 0-0 Willem II
Vitesse Arnhem 6-1 Utrecht
Heerenveen 1-1 Twente Enschede
Heracles 0-2 PSV Eindhoven
NEC 2-3 NAC
Roda 1-1 Volendam
Sparta 0-0 De Graafschap

Current table:
32 games played (out of 34)

1ST: 77 - AZ ALKMAAR (Champions)
2ND: 66 - FC TWENTE
3RD: 65 - AJAX
--------------------------
4TH: 61 - PSV EINDHOVEN
5TH: 59 - HEERENVEEN
6TH: 50 - FC GRONINGEN

[Joe King]

Jurgen Klinsmann sacked!

[Bild]

Jurgen Klinsmann has been sacked as coach of Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. The former Germany boss had been under a lot of pressure following a string of poor results, culminating in Saturday's home loss to Schalke. Former Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes will take over the reigns for the final five games of the season, it has been announced. BILD broke the story as Klinsi sat down with Bayern chiefs shortly before 10am, and was told they no longer required his services - despite him having a contract with the club until 2010. It is understood that Heynckes will not be considered for a long term role with the German champions.

[Joe King]

Bayern Munich replace sacked coach with Jupp Heynckes

By KAI TRAEMANN, JÖRG ALTHOFF and FELIX SEIDEL [Bild]

Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsman has been fired after the latest in a string of poor results.

The club have replaced Klinsi with veteran Jupp Heynckes, who will take charge for the final five games of the season.

Bayern officials met with Klinsmann in Munich shortly before 10am this morning to tell him his services were no longer required - even though his contract runs until 2010.

The 1-0 home defeat to Schalke on Saturday proved to be the last straw in what has been a disappointing season for the Bavarian giants.

Heynckes now has the difficult task of salvaging something for Bayern. He was at the Allianz Arena on Saturday for the game against Schalke and saw for himself the problems facing the club.

The new coach - who led the Bavarians to two championships from 1987 to 1991 - is a close friend of general manager Uli Hoeness (57) and also knows reserve coach Hermann Gerland (54), so he is familiar with how the side works.

It is understood the arrangement will end on the final day of this season - even if Bayern add to their record number of titles, Heynckes will not take over on a long term basis

According to reports, Hoeness, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and chief executive Karl Hopfner knew that Heynckes was the right man for the job.

They waited until today to make the break with Jürgen Klinsman so that they could tell him confidentially and on good terms.

Klinnsman only lasted 11 months and saw his team dumped out of the German Cup with a 4-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen and suffered a humiliating 4-0 mauling at the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League quarter final first leg.

Bayern bosses eventually stepped in after the team slipped to third in the Bundesliga.

They were worried that the team would not even qualify for the Champions League next season – Klinsman had to go. Heynckes will be appointed officially today.


Its like bringing in Graham Taylor to Bayern

[Joe King]

Anyone watching this All German UEFA Cup semi between Bremen and Hamburg? Its a fascinating watch after two really boring Champions League matches.

[Joe King]

FT Trochowski in the first half. European students please watch

[Mattshark]

FT Trochowski in the first half. European students please watch

Great game of football to watch.

[Joe King]

El Classico build up

At last Spain's heavyweights climb into the ring to slug it out. Like two *prizefighters picking off the stiffs until they can avoid each other no more, it has all been *building to this moment.

Real Madrid versus Barcelona is a league game and whatever happens the Catalans will remain top, but it feels like a title fight, a knockout bout. Four points separate the sides with five games left. "The manager told us that if we do not win this match, we can say bye-bye to the league," says the Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder.

It is the season's biggest match, yet the German reveals that the message of the coach, Juande Ramos, has barely changed in months. Madrid have been teetering on the edge of an abyss knowing that a defeat – any defeat – would effectively end their season, but they are yet to tumble in.

"I have won absolutely nothing with Madrid," Ramos admits. He is right, but even standing a chance is a miracle. The most remarkable thing about this title fight is that there is one, that Real Madrid got here at all. The Madrid full-back Marcelo insists: "If I was a Barcelona player, I'd be really scared." Not long ago, they had nothing to fear.

"Faith has taken us this far," says the captain, Raúl. So, too, has Ramos. When these sides last met, Barcelona won 2–0. It was the former Spurs coach's first league game in charge, replacing Bernd Schuster. Madrid finished that night sixth, 12 points adrift and the Camp Nou was chanting: "Madrid, you *******s, bow down before the champion!" Madrid refused. Since then, they have played 18 league matches, drawing one and winning 17.

Ramos's run has seen him overtake Miguel Muñoz, the most successful coach in the club's history. "When I hear that it seems surreal," he says, "Muñoz was a legend." Win tonight, clinch the most improbable of leagues, and Ramos could be too – even if, with presidential elections due in the summer, he is unlikely to continue at the Santiago Bernabéu.

"We have worked really hard on the physical and defensive side of the game," Metzelder says. Ramos has provided simplicity and security. Some have accused Madrid of being too defensive, too dull – there have been five 1–0 victories and they have conceded nine goals in those 18 games, keeping 12 clean sheets. As Metzelder put it after last weekend's 4–2 victory over Sevilla: "We didn't play well, but we fought like savages."

Others have accused them of being lucky – against Getafe, they survived an 88th-minute penalty at 2–2 before going up the other end and scoring the winner in the third minute of stoppage time. Still more accuse Madrid of failing to beat anyone good – there have been no wins in four games against Barcelona, Liverpool and Atlético Madrid.

While the performances have not always been hugely impressive, the numbers are. Criticism has been met with results. "If people think it's all down to luck after 18 games, I resign!" Ramos said, laughing. "And I consider Sevilla, Villarreal and Valencia to be big teams."

Barcelona, though, are the biggest of them all: not just the greatest test, but the most significant. After all the talk, an opportunity to strike; a necessity too.

If Barcelona float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, Madrid have shown a remarkable capacity to roll with the punches before delivering a shuddering knockout blow. Tonight their target is Barça's jaw. The clásico was always going to be top of the bill. It is to the enormous credit of Ramos and his players that there is a title to fight for too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/may/01/real-madrid-barcelona-la-liga

[Joe King]

Real Madrid president Vicente Boluda misjudged the mood of the country when he disputed Pepe's 10-game ban for a shocking attack on an opponent.


When Vicent Boluda called it “savage”, most people would have agreed with him but for one rather important thing: he was not talking about what Pepe did.

Instead, Real Madrid's president was referring to the punishment handed out for what Pepe did: a 10-match ban – the sixth biggest in Spanish football history – and two fines. The centre-back would have to pay £6,460; his club £807. The decision had, Spain's competition committee announced, been reached unanimously. Few could really argue about it. Except Boluda.

It had also been reached surprisingly quickly as the events had taken place just three days earlier, on Tuesday, April 21. It was round 32 of the La Liga season and it all started in the 88th minute of Real Madrid's clash with Getafe at the Santiago Bernabeu. The score was 2-2 in a match that, like every match Madrid had played for the past four months, they had to win to keep their chances of retaining their league title alive. Perhaps the pressure of permanently walking a tightrope finally told.

Javier Casquero was played into the Madrid penalty area. Clean through, he steadied himself for a shot or, some suggested, slowed to invite the challenge. Sprinting up behind him, Pepe pushed him in the back and on to the floor. Referee Delgado Ferreiro had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. There could be no argument.

With Casquero still on the floor, before anyone had even had time to react, Pepe kicked him twice; raking his studs down his back, narrowly missing his head, then treading on his ankle. There was no question that it was deliberate.

As players from both sides came across and tried to pull him away, Pepe punched Juan Albin in the face. Albin was still standing; he did not seek to profit from the attack. The red card came out but Pepe had to be forced from the field by team-mate Iker Casillas. As he departed, the defender turned to the fourth official and shouted: “You're all sons of bitches.”

There were two minutes remaining and Getafe had a penalty that, with leaders Barcelona hammering Sevilla 4-0 the following day, would have left Madrid nine points behind with just 18 still up for grabs. They would have to face the title run-in without their best centre-back too, as everyone immediately knew that there would be a significant ban. After a brave battle, a run of 15 wins and a solitary draw in 16 matches, Madrid's luck had finally run out. It looked all over.

Only it wasn't. Miraculously, five days later, Madrid found themselves just four points behind – they won 4-2 at Sevilla while Barca were held 2-2 by Valencia – with the clasico up next, and with it the chance to close the gap to a solitary point.

What had happened? Casquero, having recovered enough to want to take the penalty himself, decided to despatch it Panenka-style – but weakly clipped it straight into Casillas' arms.

Desperate to make up for the miss, Getafe poured forward – and were caught on the break as Gonzalo Higuain hammered in an utterly improbable winner. The stadium erupted and Madrid's players piled in over the Argentinian striker, forming a wriggling mass of celebrating bodies.

As they did so, a figure dashed over and dived on top. It was Pepe. He should not even have been anywhere near the pitch but there he was wearing a colossal grin.

The grin did not last long as the realisation of what he had done struck the 26-year-old Brazil-born Portugal defender. After the game, he appeared near to tears as he apologised and left the stadium head bowed.

“I would like to say sorry not just to Getafe's players – who I will personally call – but to all football fans,” he said. The following day, he did not show up for voluntary training at Madrid's Valdebebas HQ. Instead he locked himself away at home.

No excuses
To his credit, Pepe made no such excuses. “These are the worst days of my life,” he said two days later. “I have watched it again and I don't recognise myself. I went absolutely mad.

“I have been crying over this. I am devastated about what happened and what I am going through now is the worst punishment anyone could ever have. I am certain that I will never, ever do anything like this again.

“Right now, I am not sure I have the will to return to playing football.”

The attack had, the Madrid media maintained, been completely out of character. The Barcelona press countered that it had been an act of wild savagery. Good guy or bad? It depended entirely on which paper you read. Conclusions were, yet again, drawn not on the basis of what was done but who had done it. The Catalan media were not so much seeking to throw the book at Pepe as an entire library, while in Madrid they pleaded for clemency. Here was the case of a man being condemned, criminalised and crucified in one city, yet forgiven and even fawned over in another.

The Catalan newspaper Sport ran a cartoon of him booting Leo Messi's head off with a huge smile on his face under the slogan: “Will we have to see this before he gets a ban?”
There had not even been a decision yet and already they were railing at some perceived injustice and portraying Pepe as anything but repentant, when his reaction had
been exactly that.

Cautiously calculated ban
Ten games might seem a big ban for what was essentially a (long) moment's madness; the kind of ban that as the season reached its climax could cost his side the title. But it
also represented a small, cautiously calculated one – one that even the openly pro-Madrid newspaper AS considered just. Goalkeeper Casillas confirmed his sensible, honest reputation with the simple response: “You cannot do what Pepe did.” As for Pepe, he accepted his fate in silence.

Pepe had, the committee's president Alfredo Florez explained, been handed the “minimum possible” punishment. Each attack could have earned him as many as 12 matches rather than four but no one had been injured by his actions.

Yet still Boluda, president of a club that has insisted time and again upon its senorio, or gentlemanliness, whined: “The ban is savage.”

Madrid did not fine Pepe, nor did they offer any public apology or condemnation. And when one of their junior teams won a match the next weekend, they dedicated it to the man who had gone from perpetrator to victim in the blink of an eye.

http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/Ahead_of_the_seasondefining_clasico_Real_defender_Pepe_reflects_on_a_moment_of_madness_news_281822.html

[Joe King]

Changing the subject for a second

Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer said Dutchman Frank Rijkaard is a possible candidate as future coach of the German outfit.


Bayern are looking for a successor to Jurgen Klinsmann who was sacked as coach on Monday after only ten months in charge following a string of poor results. Former Munich trainer Jupp Heynckes taking over as caretaker coach for the remaining five league games of the present season.

And the 46-year-old Rijkaard, who is without a club having been sacked by Barcelona at the end of last season, has been touted as a possible candidate.

"One solution would be Rijkaard, he doesn't have a contract at the moment," admitted Beckenbauer on German broadcaster Premiere.

"It is still a little early to talk about this, but, of course, one must think about possibilities.

"We have to look into who would fit at Bayern and then make our decision."

Beckenbauer ruled out both Chelsea caretaker coach Guus Hiddink and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as possibilities.

"I value him over all others, but he will leave Chelsea to concentrate on the Russian team," said Beckenbauer about Hiddink.

"He won't take his place at Bayern."

And Beckenbauer doubted Wenger would want to leave Arsenal, who he has coached since 1996.

"Naturally he is an option, but we will not get him," said Beckenbauer.

"He has developed the side in England and will not want to leave."

http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/beckenbauer_drops_rijkaard_hint_news_281677.html

[Exiled_red]

Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona Higuina

[wiw]

Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona Higuina

****. Cross headed home for RM

[MrsB]

[MrsB]

Henry