Champions League: Semi-finals 20. - 28.4. 2010

[Mike]

Anyone see Balotelli at the end? He was getting so much stick. He lost the ball cheaply twice in quick succession then got the bird for that wild shot, and he started gesticulating at the crowd. At the end he just stormed off, shouting and gesturing at the Inter fans

Yeah i noticed that, he was bloody quick to get off the pitch.


On another side note, after watching that clip i still dont change my opinion - there was NO contact with Alves, he dived. and as for the pretending to be spat at or whatever, disgraceful

[Mike]

And as for Sneidjer, i was crying out for us to sign him in the summer, if we did we would have been such a better team. A bit of flair when going forward to accomodate torres, links up brilliantly with Eto'o who, imo, has a playing style similar to Torres.

[Shaggy]

So what about tonight?

I quite like Bayern and feel they deserve to reach the final, but my twisted logic has contrived a reason to cheer for Lyon.

I was sick of Mancs having the cheek to try and make out WE had an easy group. And here we are with Lyon in the semis - so I'd love to see Lyon knock United's conquerors out. Come on Lyon.

[dww]

I quite like both teams in general but I hate Robben so I'm plumping for Lyon too.

Realistically though Bayern look the fitest team in the competition and I think they will have too much for Lyon over two legs. Both Ribery and Robben are capable of giving them something a little special and their work rate means that they are always in with a chance.

[Shaggy]

Yep I fancy Bayern to go through.

[Skrtelmania]

Am not sure a lot of the Bayern team didn't impress too much against utd, especially the very dodgy left back, at times they looked like a pub team but still too good for the mancs

I fancy Lyon over the 2 legs unless Robben really works some magic.

[Mike]

I think tonight is going to be a draw, goalless would not surprise me.

[Kenneth]

Am not sure a lot of the Bayern team didn't impress too much against utd, especially the very dodgy left back, at times they looked like a pub team but still too good for the mancs

I fancy Lyon over the 2 legs unless Robben really works some magic.

They ranged from very good to complete ****e. The first half against the mancs they were comically bad.

[Tee]

I fancy Lyon to go through and then lose to Inter.

[the rev leeroy brown]

initially i was wanting to see barca win just so we could finally lay to rest the old"no team has won the CL back to back" pish dragged up every year. but given that i have been dfollowing real madrid for a number of years now as an overseas team to support, and after last nights performance, i'll go with inter just as it something new and lyon are cunts ( less said botu bayern the better)

[Chrono]

Lyon are cunts are Real Madrid are not?

[wiw]

Re Sneijder, apparently he was very reluctant to move in the summer and kept saying he wanted to stay. Inter were the only club who were persistent enough to keep on at him and eventually got their reward. Rafa isn't really the type to hang around think he probably gave up, and I don't blame him really..signing top players that are keen to play for lfc is why Torres, Pepe and Mascher etc are still with us

Anyway, fancy Lyon tonight, not sure why though. Hope Bayern go through though

[Neil Young]

What's all this about Ribery shagging underage prostitutes?

[Kenneth]

No idea. What have you heard?

[Neil Young]

D'oh, you made me look it up.

French sex scandal deepens as two more players are named

• Franck Ribéry 'admits to relationship with prostitute'
• Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa say they are innocent

* Lizzie Davies in Calais
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 April 2010 21.29 BST



Bayern Munich's French midfielder Franck Ribéry is at the centre of a sex scandal. Photograph: Oliver Lang/AFP/Getty Images

France's national football team was further drawn into the sex scandal involving Franck Ribéry yesterday after two more players' names were cited in connection with an investigation into underage prostitution.

Unnamed judicial sources told the French media that Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid forward, and Hatem Ben Arfa, a striker for Marseille, are expected to be questioned in coming days as "witnesses" in the inquiry.

The scandal engulfing Les Bleus, which began when Ribéry was questioned by police in connection with a prostitution ring, also deepened after judicial sources said the 27-year-old had admitted having sex with a 17-year-old prostitute but denied having known she was underage. In France it is illegal to buy sex from someone under 18.

The Bayern Munich forward's lawyer, Sophie Bottai, has insisted that, while the footballer did provide witness testimony to French investigators looking into a ring allegedly run out of a Paris nightclub, he was being heard simply as a witness and not as a suspect.

No charges were filed against him, said Bottai, and he was not held in police custody.

However, the rumours swirling around the team have not ceased since reports surfaced at the weekend that Ribéry and his fellow player Sidney Govou had been questioned by French investigators.

On 12 April police had searched the Zaman Café, a restaurant and nightclub on the Champs Elyseés, and arrested a dozen people, among them prostitutes and a man suspected of being their pimp.

Refusing to say whether or not his client had been questioned by police, Govou's lawyer, Thierry Braillard, said the 30-year-old had "never set foot" in the Zaman.

But the player's name has been cited repeatedly in connection with the investigation being led by the investigating judge André Dando. A judicial source said that, while his married team-mate Ribéry remained a witness in the affair, "it is up to the judge to decided whether to formally investigate him [Ribéry] or not".

In France, prostitution is legal but several activities surrounding it are against the law. If found guilty of paying an underage sex worker, a client could go to prison for three years and be fined up to €45,000 (£39,000).

Yesterday the two other players drawn into the scandal vehemently denied involvement in alleged activities at the Zaman, which has now been shut down. "It's absolutely not me," Ben Arfa told L'Equipe TV. Even if his client were summoned by the police tomorrow, added his lawyer, "that would change nothing".

Benzema's agent, Karim Djaziri, also spoke out in defence of his client. "Karim has not been questioned. He has nothing to do with this affair," he told LePost.fr.

As speculation mounted in Paris, the French football federation (FFF) issued a terse statement saying it was aware of the investigation and certain players' involvement "as mere witnesses". But it said it would "refrain from all comment" until the police had done their job.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...scandal-france