Barcelona meet Real Madrid and Manchester United face Schalke in Champions League semi-finals As expected, there's an all-Spanish Clasico and a meeting of two northern teams from Germany and England as Europe's premier competition draws to a close.

The Champions League final four has been decided. Real Madrid's aggregate win over Tottenham Hotspur sets it up for a semifinal date with eternal rivals Barcelona, the vanquishers of Shakhtar Donetsk. In the other fixture Manchester United's reward for ousting Chelsea is a meeting with the side that eliminated reigning champions Inter, Schalke 04.

The German and English clubs meet on Tuesday, 26 April and Wednesday, 4 May. The two Spanish outfits clash on Wednesday, 27 April and Tuesday, 3 May. All four matches kick off at 20:45 CET (19:45 BST, 2:45pm EDT.)

London's Wembley Stadium is the venue for the grand final, which will be contested by the two semifinal victors on Saturday, May 28 2011 at 20:45 CET.


Барселона задоволення "Реал" і "Манчестер Юнайтед"обличчя "Шальке" в Лізі чемпіонів півфінал Як і очікувалося, є все-іспанська Класік і зустріч двох команд з північної Німеччини і Англії як прем'єра конкуренції Європі добігає кінця.


Ліга Чемпіонів Фінал чотирьох було вирішено. сукупний виграш "Реала" за "Тоттенхем встановлює його для півфіналу дати з вічним суперникам Барселоні, vanquishers донецького" ​​Шахтаря ". В іншій арматурі нагороду "Манчестер Юнайтед" для витіснення "Челсі" є зустріч з тієї сторони, яка усунена діючих чемпіонів "Інтер", "Шальке 04 ".

Німецькі та англійські клуби зустрітися у вівторок, 26 КВІТНЯ І У СЕРЕДУ 4 травня. Зіткнення двох іспанських наряди на середу, 27 квітня і у вівторок, 3 травня. Всі чотири матчі розпочнеться о 20:45 CET (19:45 BST, 2:45 вечора EDT).

Лондонський стадіон Уемблі є місцем для Grand Final, який буде оскаржена два півфінали переможці на суботу, 28 Травня 2011 в 20:45 CET.


Real Madrid Barcelona dignum et faciem Manchester United Champions League Schalke in ultima sicut semi-spe illic 'an all-Spanish Clasico et concursus duorum teams septentrionalis Angliae Germanicus Premier Europae competition vergit ad finem.


The Champions League quaternario finis sermo. Real Madrid's aggregate EFFRENUS Tottenham trahat ponetque illud in eterna date semifinal Barcelona aemuli et in Shakhtar Donetsk triumphatores. Alio's fixture Manchester United Chelsea ousting pretium est colloquium tolli parte regnantem Inter auctores, IV Schalke.

Germani Anglis obviam fustibus on Tuesday, April XXVI et Mercurii, IV Maii. Hispaniis concurrere outfits on Wednesday, April XXVII et Martis May III. Matches per quattuor 20:45 at kick off CET (GMT 19:45, 2:45 PM.)

London Wembley Stadium's venue est egregia ultima, quae erat primus ex duabus victores semifinal Saturday, May 20:45 XXVIII CET MMXI at.

MAN UNITED, BARCELONA ADVANCE TO CHAMPION SEMIS

MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United moved into the Champions League semifinals by beating English rival Chelsea 2-1 on Tuesday night, and Lionel Messi scored his team-record 48th goal of the season to advance Barcelona with a 1-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Javier Hernandez scored in the 43rd minute for United off Ryan Giggs' cross. After Didier Drogba tied the score in the 77th, Park Ji-sung scored off the restart, with Giggs again getting the assist, giving United a 3-1 aggregate win. Chelsea finished a man short after Ramires was ejected in the 70th for his second yellow card — both for fouls on Nani.

"It was a tough game tonight," the 37-year-old Giggs said. "We scored a couple of great goals. My job in the center was made easier with Michael Carrick next to me, who had a fantastic two games. It's easier as you get older because you pick your moments."

Weekly Travel Q&A: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid Clásico Fever

I live for FC Barcelona and have Clásico fever. Barça and archrival Real Madrid are set to play a record seven times in 2011 and quite possibly four times between April 16 and May 3. This is without precedent in the history of the legendary clubs and the perfect opportunity for me to pull up stakes and fly to Spain to catch my beloved team in action for the first time. Whatever the cost, whatever the obstacles, I will do what it takes to snag tickets to all four contests. All I need is a little assistance in the hotel department. Help this Barça fan live his dream!

Keith U., Milwaukee



Fans pack Camp Nou, Barcelona – Photo credit

What a tasty time to be a Barça fan or, indeed, fan of European club football. You hit it on the nail Keith – 2011 is a special year for avid observers of El Clásico. Arguably the best (certainly most glamourous) non-derby rivalry in Europe, the intermittent clashes between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid lure global television audiences in excess of the Super Bowl. This year is set up beautifully, all because of the Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League and La Liga fixture schedules. With talent like David Villa, Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta for Barcelona and Sergio Ramos, Emmanuel Adebayor, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká for Madrid, even passive football fans will tune in. And who ever tires of the quote machine a.ka. Real manager José Mourinho?

Though Barça and Real still technically have to dispense of Shakhtar Donetsk and Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions quarters, it looks about done. With that, the Clásico schedule looks like this:

Saturday, April 16
La Liga Fixture
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Wednesday, April 20
Copa del Rey Final
Estadio Mestalla, Valencia

Wednesday, April 27
UEFA Champions League Semi-Final
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Tuesday, May 3
UEFA Champions League Semi-Final
Camp Nou, Barcelona

This is your dream football schedule Keith. Four Clásico match-ups in 18 days. You basically need a list of Madrid hotels, some for Valencia and hotels in Barcelona as well.

Madrid

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu is central-ish and about 5 km from the Prado up Paseo de la Castellana. As a result, you can select from a wide pool of convenient hotels. My picks include the Holiday Inn Madrid, which is a mere 1.5 km walk to the stadium. No need to arrange transport to and from, just stroll on out. Clean, spacious and affordable.

Another solid bet in Madrid is the Espahotel Plaza Basilica Aparthotel. Within the same vicinity of the Bernabéu as the Holiday Inn, the hotel is more like a home away from home. If you plan to stay in Madrid between the fixture and Champions semi match, this could be your top option.

Valencia

Home to the annual Falles festival and the spectacular modernist Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia is a wonderful city. But your mission is to take in the Copa del Rey final at noisy Estadio Mestalla. Which is why I recommend The Westin Valencia. A luxury property but well worth the splurge.

Barcelona

The Champions semi on May 3 promises to be epic, with a surefire electric atmosphere at mythical Camp Nou. You could bunk near the stadium but take my advice and check out the Tryp Condal Mar Hotel Barcelona. Though 9 plus km from the stadium, the hotel is a good bang for your buck. To get to Camp Nou from the hotel, simply take the Metro from El Maresme | Fòrum Metro to Cornellà Centre. Fifty minutes tops.

If you absolutely want to stay as close to Camp Nou as possible, the Princesa Sofia Gran Hotel Barcelona is definitely the way to go. A comfortable, affordable five-star mere minutes from the stadium.

Good luck and enjoy your football pilgrimage.

Arsenal Look To Sign Another Barcelona Starlet

FotBall Gossip

Arsenal will start the summer transfer showdown with Barcelona by attempting to lure defender Xavi Quintilla from the Nou Camp.
The 15-year-old has been watched several times by Gunners scouts and Barcelona, aware of the interest, are trying to tie him to a new contract.
Arsenal have already secured Jon Miquel Toral Harper, 16, from the Catalonia club which caused outrage from president Sandro Rossell.
He was angry that Arsenal were stealing all their top talent on the cheap as they did with Cesc Fabregas and Fran Merida.
Arsenal insist they have done nothing wrong and point to the fact the La Liga club took Lionel Messi to Spain at a very early age.
The signing of Quintilla is set to spark a summer of transfer speculation between the club, and with relations already strained, it could get ugly.
Barcelona are set to renew their efforts to bring Fabregas back to his hometown club.
The 23-year-old was keen to move last summer but the Barcelona board would not meet Arsenal’s £50million valuation.

Has the shadow of Barcelona finally taken the shine off The Special One?

whATS sHaDOW??

Jose Mourinho’s has lasted nine years, laying waste to swathes of European football with its unique brand of narcissistic aggression.

Other managers, many of them august and principled men, have been swept aside and ridiculed as the Special One blew their ­reputations to smithereens.

But yesterday when he climbed back up on to the stage at Real Madrid’s training ground, ­Mourinho spoke like a missile that had lost the knack of how to seek heat.


He looked more careworn and thinner than we remember him at Chelsea or even in his firestorm days at Inter Milan. There was no fight in him.

He kept a sneer on his face for much of the time, bristling at some of the questions from the Spanish media with whom he has a ­fractious relationship. But mostly, he seemed dispirited and listless.

It is rare to be able to tell that he is under pressure but yesterday, as his Real team prepared to face Spurs in the first leg of their ­Champions League quarter final, it was easy.

There was melancholy in his words and his eyes were never still, darting restlessly all over the room even when he was listening to the answers of his striker, Gonzalo Higuain, who was sitting next to him.

Some of it stems from the fact that on Saturday, Real lost to Sporting Gijon at the Bernabeu, ending Mourinho’s remarkable nine-year record of not losing a home league game.

But there is a wider issue for Mourinho in Spain, too. It is ­beginning to dawn on him that even his customary habit of throwing money as well as attitude at the situation might not be enough to get close to a team like Barcelona.

Real Madrid may be second to the Catalan giants but they are eight points behind them and a world away in terms of the football they play.

That means Mourinho’s season and his future at Real, already a topic of fierce debate, hinges on the quarter-final tie with Spurs, not necessarily good news for Harry Redknapp’s team.

But look at his probable side tonight and it does not strike fear into an opponent the way ­Barcelona’s does. Sure men like Ronaldo, Di Maria, Adebayor, Higuain and Ozil are fine players but they’re not Xavi, David Villa, Iniesta and Messi.

Mourinho is not used to being made to look second-rate and so the coping mechanism he adopted yesterday was to suggest that the Champions League was really the only trophy he cared about anyway.

Convenient, that, especially given that he is one of only a select few managers to have won the competition twice and now to have guided Madrid to the last eight for the first time in seven years.

“This is the kind of match that Real has not played in for some years,” Mourinho reminded everyone, “and that the Santiago Bernabeu has not seen for some years.

“The Champions League is the most important club competition in the world. This match with Spurs is the only match we have been thinking about.

“It is too beautiful a match to be thinking about other things.”

At that point, Mourinho turned to Higuain. “How many times have you played in the quarter-finals of the Champions League?” he asked him.

“None,” Higuain said.

“None,” Mourinho repeated for emphasis.

“He is a top player, too. Do you think he was worrying about Sporting Gijon? No, of course not.”

So that was La Liga neatly and briefly dismissed. Just in case anyone thought he might have cared.

As for the rest of his ­performance, Mourinho dwelled as long as he could on the injury problems that have beset his side and then lavished praise on Spurs’ Rafael Van der Vaart for choosing to leave Madrid in the summer.

Listen to this because it almost sounded as though Mourinho was sending out a rather crude coded message to his employers.

“Rafael made a good choice,” he said. “I always like players to be happy and I feel he is very happy now. I feel he is a very happy boy now.

“I am very happy he is doing so well and I am very happy he is happy. So, again, he made a very good choice.”

Mourinho was happy for Gareth Bale, too, although he said Madrid probably wouldn’t buy him because they already had ­Cristiano Ronaldo to play in his position on the left.

And, finally, Mourinho was happy for Redknapp.

“Harry is my friend,” Mourinho said, “and friends are always nice to each other. I say nice things about him and he says nice things about me. That’s life.

“He is a good manager for any team, including a national team. I think there is no limits for him. Give him a team, a national team and he is ready for anything.

“I’m very happy for him. I hope, and I say this from my heart, that if I don’t reach the final, then I hope he does it.”

What he didn’t say was that if Redknapp reaches the final, that means Tottenham will have beaten Real. And if that happens, the torpedo of truth will zero in on Mourinho.



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Champions-League-Real-Madrid-v-Tottenham-Has-the-shadow-of-Barcelona-finally-taken-the-shine-off-Jose-Mourinho-s-status-as-The-Special-One-Oliver-Holt-Opinion-article720106.html#ixzz1If74bTzX
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