Sure Bets

It’s now official. Both teams have been announced as Barcelona take on Real Madrid for the fourth time in 18 days – this time it’s in the Champions League semi-final, second-leg at Camp Nou.

Barca have had the upper hand in these fixture so far this season. A 5-0 league win at Camp Nou was followed by a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu. The Copa del Rey final ended 1-0 in favour of Madrid, while last week’s first-leg finished 2-0 to Barca.

And the fierce skirmishes are set to continue tonight as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo lead the charge for their respective teams up front. Pep Guardiola makes just one change to his line-up from the first leg as Andres Iniesta returns from injury and replaces Seydou Keita in midfield. Javier Mascherano keeps his spot at centre-back alongside Gerard Pique, while Carles Puyol is retained at left-back. Eric Abidal is among the substitutues.

For Madrid, Arbeloa starts in place of suspended Sergio Ramos, while Lassana Diarra will partner Xabi Alonso as the double pivot following Pepe’s ban. Gonzalo Higuain is reinstated as the lone-striker, and behind him Kaka gets the nod ahead of Mesut Ozil. The Brazilian will be flanked by Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria.

Confirmed line-ups:

BARCELONA
4-3-3

Valdes
Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Puyol
Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta
Pedro, Messi, Villa

SUBS: Oier, Jeffren, Keita, Afellay, Abidal, Fontas, Thiago
REAL MADRID
4-2-3-1

Casillas
Arbeloa, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo
Lass, Alonso
Di Maria, Kaka, Ronaldo
Higuain

SUBS: Dudek, Benzema, Granero, Garay, Ozil, Adebayor, Nacho

Group B

Al Sadd 2–2 Esteghlal

Al Sadd came from two goals down to salvage a point against Esteghlal at home. Farhad Majidi broke the deadlock as early as the fifth minute and added a second on 37 minutes, but second-half goals from Khalfan Ibrahim and Hassan Khalid saw the points being shared between the two teams.

Group C

Piroozi Athletic 3–2 Al Ittihad

Bunyodkor 3–2 Al Wahda

Piroozi Athletic won 3-2 against Al Ittihad on Tuesday. Hamidreza Ali Asgari opened the scoring after just 14 minutes and three minutes later Shpejtim Arifi doubled the advantage. However, a couple of minutes down the road Mohammed Al Rashed reduced the deficit for the visitors, only for Ali Asgari to restored the home side’s two-goal cushion. Sekou Berthe’s own goal for Al Ittihad in injury time did not affect the final result in any way.

Bunyodkor edged out Al Wahda 3-2 at home on Tuesday. Ismail Matar gave the visitors the lead as early as the second minute, but Milos Trifunovic netted twice in the first-half to put the hosts 2-1 up. But Hugo scored from the penalty to equalise for Al Wahda only for Anvarjon Soliev to find the winner on 85 minutes to wrap up a 3-2 win.

Group D

Emirates 0–1 Zobahan

Al Shabab – Al Rayyan

Zobahan continued their march in the Champions League as they defeated Emirates 1-0 away. Mohammad Ghazi Najafabadi’s goal 10 minutes from full-time proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Group G

Arema Indonesia 0–4 Cerezo Osaka

Shandong Luneng 1–2 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Cerezo Osaka registered a comfortable victory against the Indonesian side on the road. Hiroshi Kiyotake and Rodrigo Pimpao scored for them in the first-half and Takashi Inui netted a brace in the second session.

Dong-Gook Lee put Jeonbuk in the lead a minute after the half-hour mark but Zhou Haibin equalised for Shandong before the half-time interval. However, Lee scored his second goal of the game in the early minutes of the second period that eventually saw his side garner a 2-1 victory.

The results mean that Jeonbuk are at the top of the group with 12 points from five matches, three more than Cerezo. Shandong are third with seven, while Arema have garnered just a solitary point from their five matches.

Group H

Kashima Antlers 2–0 Shanghai Shenhua

Suwon Samsung Bluewings 3–1 Sydney FC

Shinzo Koroki scored both the goals for Kashima as they registered a comfortable victory. The 24-year-old netted his first strike just after the half-hour mark and nine minutes from time scored the second of the match.

In the other game in the group, Suwon defeated their Australian visitors 3-1 at home. Tae-Goon Ha broke the deadlock after 34 minutes and five minutes into the second-half Mato Neretljak doubled the advantage. But seconds later Bruno Cazarine halved the deficit only for Ki-Hun Yeom to restored the home side’s two-goal cushion. It eventually ended 3-1 to the hosts.

The results mean that Suwon and Kashima lead the group with nine points each. Sydney FC are third with five points while Shanghai are at the bottom of the group with just two.

Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes that Arsene Wenger’s failure this season at Arsenal make Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievements even more impressive.

The two sides clash at the Emirates on Sunday and a win for the Red Devils would end the Gunners’ slim title hopes, leaving the London club without a trophy for a sixth year.

But the former Liverpool forward believes Wenger is still one of the best in the business.

“Arsene Wenger is one of the best managers to have ever managed in the Premier League,” Owen told reporters.

“He has turned the club around and done fantastically well over the years.

“It just highlights what our manager has done.

“The success he has had here in such a fiercely competitive business such as this is amazing.”

Owen believes that the tie at the Emirates will be a massive game, and says United will not be taking it easy with Chelsea still in the hunt.

“Arsenal are probably thinking they have to beat us this weekend to keep their chances alive,” said Owen.

“That is what makes it such a good game.

“We must have the attitude of trying to get three points.

“It is not only about Arsenal. Chelsea can also win the league.

“That is why we have to think only about ourselves.”

Porto striker Falcao is delighted to have taken his goal-tally in the Europa League to 15 goals this season but warns that he is “not done yet”.

The 25-year-old scored four times in Porto’s 5-1 victory over Villarreal in the first-leg of their semi-final tie on Thursday evening, equalling Jurgen Klinsmann’s record of 15 goals in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup season.

Falcao is proud to have achieved the feat and told Uefa.com: “I’m aware I’m now level with Klinsmann and that makes me very proud. But I’m not done yet.

“I will never forget tonight [Thursday] – it’s like a dream come true. It was the first ‘poker’ [the Iberian term for a four-goal haul] of my career. But above all, I’m satisfied I’ve helped my team achieve their objective. This was a team effort and every single player gave their all for the collective good.”

However, the Colombian striker warns against any complacency against Villarreal in the second-leg and said: “The tie isn’t over yet. Despite this big win, we have to remain focused and calm because there’s a second game to come and it will be difficult for sure.

“Villarreal are very good at home – as they showed against Twente. We can’t ease up. We have to get past Villarreal and only then can we think about the final.”

The second-leg between Villarreal and Porto takes place in Spain next week.

Villarreal defender Carlos Marchena admits that it was disappointing to lose 5-1 to Porto in the Europa League on Thursday evening but believes that they can still turnaround the tie and progress to the final.

Despite taking the lead on the stroke of half-time in the first-leg of their semi-final tie in Portugal, the Yellow Submarine collapsed in the second-half and conceded no fewer than five goals.

However, midfielder Marchena retains hope of a turnaround in Spain in the second-leg next week and is quoted by Uefa.com as saying: “While there’s life there’s hope. It’s going to be a great match at our place and why shouldn’t we dream of a comeback? Now we have to keep our heads held high because we have also got the league to think about.”

Reflecting on their performance in Porto, the 31-year-old stated: “It is a very disappointing result for us. We did very well in the first-half and managed to edge ahead just before half-time. But at the start of the second period we lost our balance, lost our shape and were very bad thereafter. The second-half was unrecognisable from the first.

“Every time we conceded, we tried to fight back and score immediately but we paid a heavy price for taking risks. Porto ended up with an excellent result to take to Villarreal.”

In the other semi-final, first-leg encounter last night, Benfica won 2-1 against fellow Portuguese side Braga at home.

Brazilian defender Adriano has signed a three-year extension to his current contract with French club Monaco, it has been announced on Friday.

The 29-year-old’s original deal was set to expire in June this year but his new contract will see him remain with the Ligue 1 side until 2014.

Adriano is delighted to extend his stay in Monaco and enthused: “I’ve been negotiating with the club for six weeks. Despite interest from elsewhere I told my agent to try and make sure I stay at Monaco.

“I like it here and my family is settled. I’m very happy to be staying.”

Monaco are currently 15th in the French first division at the moment and are just two points above the relegation zone.

Schalke striker Raul believes that the Bundesliga in Germany is more balanced than Spain’s Primera Division.

The 33-year-old Spanish veteran played for Spanish and European giants Real Madrid first team between 1994 and 2010 and joined the Royal Blues last summer.

Regarded as one of the greatest footballers ever, Raul has had a massive impact on Schalke’s run-in to the semi-finals of the Champions League this season, scoring five goals and providing two assists in 11 appearances.

Raul has also won the Champions League three times and the Liga title in Spain with Madrid six times, but is impressed with his debut campaign in the German first division and believes that it is more competitive than its counterpart in Iberia.

“The huge size of the crowds is new to me,” said Raul in an interview with Bayern Munich’s official website. “Spain isn’t anything like it. And the Bundesliga is so evenly-matched. Every team is capable of beating every other, you see it every weekend. Spain is a bit different. It’s generally between Real Madrid and Barcelona for the title.“

Raul will be hoping to lead Schalke to a victory over Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the Bundesliga on Saturday evening. They have already defeated the defending German champions twice this season, and Raul hopes for another win.

“For us, it comes between the home and away Champions League semi-finals against Manchester United, but this much is clear: as a pro, you always look forward to these matches,” said the Spaniard. “A full stadium, two top teams, and the special edge when Schalke play Bayern – I reckon everyone involved is up for this game.”

Schalke are currently 10th in the Bundesliga at the moment.

The biggest football derby in the world will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening. The two teams come after they won the semifinals at the Champions League double header going in the Tottenham team that Lucescu Romans and Razvan Rat, Shakhtar Donetsk. During the three weeks the two teams will meet 4 times. The first “El Clasico” between the four is scheduled for Saturday, from 23:00, Santiago Bernabeu, and will be sent will be broadcast live online LiveMatches.co.uk

Real Madrid comes after British qualification obtained easily in front of Tottentham Hotspor, winning both sleeves. Coach Jose Mourinho declared himself satisfied after two matches, having played all valid group with great rivals Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed in an interview with Corriere dello Sport that he is “nervous” before the four matches “El Clasico” between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and how important these meetings to Madrid.

Line-up:

Real Madrid: Casillas – Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo – Alonso, Kaka, Di Maria – Ozil, Cristiano Ronaldo

On the other side I come Guardiola’s students after a victory in the Champions League double header, getting in ahead of Shakhtar. The goal marked shift from Ukraine, Leo Messi became the best scorer of Barcelona (47 goals) brazilian Ronaldo beating him other successful 1996-1997 season, 46 goals and winning the Golden Ball as the that season.

Lineup:

Barcelona: Pinto; Adriano, Pique, Milito, Alves; Xavi, Busquets, Pedro; Messi, Villa, Iniesta

TAGS: Real Madrid – Barcelona preview, preview Real Madrid – Barcelona, Real – Barca 2011, Real Madrid – Barcelona 2011

The Argentine national team have finalised their programme of friendly matches for the next three months, with various combinations of local and foreign-based players making their case to be included in the Copa America squad.

The domestic Seleccion, including River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo and prospective Copa inclusion Ivan Pillud of Racing, will have two opportunities to impress Sergio Batista. The squad will host Ecuador in coastal city Mar del Plata on April 20, before facing off against Honduras in Resistencia on May 25.

June meanwhile will see the unveiling of a new Argentina side, one made up of players based in Europe and under the age of 25. The team will take on two African sides, playing Nigeria in Lagos on June 1 before travelling to Switzerland to play Algeria three days later. Details of the squad are yet to be released, but youngsters such as Eduardo Salvio, Cristian Ansaldi and Nicolas Gaitan could get the chance to make a late bid for the squad.

The full squad meanwhile will get one more chance to play together before preparing for a home Copa America. The Albiceleste take on Guatemala in River’s Monumental on June 22, with a squad comprising the 22 that will represent them in July’s competition.

The SuperSport defence is suspect having leaked many goals this season. Gavin Hunt’s men let in four goals in the 4-2 defeat against Golden Arrows on Wednesday, while Stars easily brushed aside Maritzburg United 4-1.

The Bafana Bafana centre back told KickOff.com that he is well aware that Stars will come out with guns blazing but his side will deal with it.

“The truth is that it’s been a tough season for us. Teams which we normally beat, have got the better of us. It’s going to be tough to try and stop the free scoring Stars at home. The fact that they are playing at home means that we have a mountain to climb if we are to go through,” said Gould.

The Nedbank Cup is the only realistic chance for SuperSport to salvage what has been a poor season as they are lingering just outside a top eight spot. However, Gould believes that they could save face if they go all the way to the Final of this tournament.

“We believe that we can go all the way. If we can close the back door and score, why not? This is a Cup competition so it doesn’t have to be pretty, just has to be effective.”

The skipper’s remarks suggest that all that matters to him is a win and it doesn’t matter how it comes.