Team News for Cesc Fabregas starts for Barcelona as Chelsea Select Didier Drogba is Preferred to Torres.

 

The Cesc Fabregas starts for Barcelona in the Catalans Champions League semi-final first leg against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night to the Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo has left his international team-mate Fernando Torres on the bench for the cesc spoke of his desire to win the Champions League in Tuesday's pre-match press conference to a he looks to emulate his Barca team-mates in claimed the trophy last term and also in 2008-09, beating the Blues en route to victory in Pep Guardiola's first season in charge at Camp Nou.

They are tonight's clash, there is no place for Gerard Pique in a four-man Barca defence as Carles Puyol and Javier Mascherano start in the central-defensive slots to the Adriano at left-back in Chelsea, Didier Drogba is preferred to Torres after his impressive display in the FA Cup semi-final to Tottenham on Sunday and the john Obi mikel, Frank Lampard and Raul Meireles get the nod in midfield for the west London outfit and will go head to head with Barca trio Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

Chelsea Squad:

 

Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Mikel, Meireles, Lampard; Ramires, Mata, Drogba

Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Malouda, Bosingwa, Torres, Kalou, Sturridge

Barcelona Squad:

 

Valdes; Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Cesc, Alexis, Messi

Subs: Pinto, Pique, Pedrito, Bartra, Keita, Thiago, Cuenca

We Can Win World Cup Says Barcelona star Lionel Messi

The barcelona star Lionel Messi would love to experience success on the international stage with Argentina and he has believes Argentina are improving under new coach Alejandro Sabella and have what it takes to lift the World Cup to he has won a host of honours with the Catalan giants in the UEFA Champions League and La Liga title to has rarely produced his club form on the international stage and is yet to taste major success for the Albiceleste.

And the Messi is confident the outlook is bright for Argentina with Sabella at the helm and feels a major title is just around the corner to i still have this dream and that is to be a world champion and lift the Copa America with the national side, Messi said in an interview with the Argentina Football Association and i know I'll do it, I am convinced I shall and we would love to win a title with the national team to i am just another one in the group who wants to do the best for Argentine football, nothing more.

A barcelona are the best team in the world result of years of hard work with the same team-mates to it is more difficult with the national side we have been through a lot of chopping and changing of coaches and we are growing and I know we are going to achieve a lot of a argentina to flopped at the Copa America on home soil in July and who are without a major title  to since 1993 are 6/1 with Sky Bet to lift the World Cup in 2014.

Phil Dowd to referee for FA Cup final Match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley

Phil Dowd referee has been chosen to officiate the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley and the 49-year-old has previously taken charge of the 2010 Carling Cup final and this season's Community Shield, and was fourth official at the 2006 FA Cup final to he is delighted to have been awarded the 5th May showpiece and will be fulfilling a dream by officiating the match was honoured and privileged when I found out Dowd told the FA's official website.

And they are would never have thought in my wildest dreams that when I first started refereeing in 1984 that one day I'd be refereeing the FA Cup final watching the final as a boy was something I always loved to do in the david elleray FA Referees Committee Chairman, said: "I would like to congratulate Phil and the team on their appointments for this year's FA Cup final, which is fully deserved.

A huge honour to be selected as a match official for what remains the world's most famous and best-loved cup competition and i am sure Phil and the others will be really looking forward to both the build-up to the final and walking out onto the Wembley pitch on 5 May for the dowd assistants for the final will be Stuart Burt and Andrew Garratt, Michael Jones is the fourth official and Simon Long is the reserve assistant referee and the liverpool booked their spot in the final by beating Merseyside rivals Everton 2-1 on Saturday to the following day Chelsea thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 5-1.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is not worried about Champions League final between Real Madrid Vs Barcelona.

A 61-year-old Spain coach Vicente del Bosque insists that he does not fear the repercussions of a continental final between the two clubs ahead of Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and the two primera division giants met each other in the semi-finals of the competition in 2010-11, with Barca coming out on top 3-1 on aggregate to the both legs of the tie saw emotions boil over to the Del Bosque is not worried that the same thing might happen again, ahead of Euro 2012.

We are must enjoy this moment, because there are five Spanish clubs in the semi-finals of European competitions and the national team has nothing to do with that he told reporters to we want a champions league final between Madrid and Barca to that will not damage the national team, because we know that some will win, and some will lose for the players are prepared for that.

And the world cup in 2010, we experienced the same problem with Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres to that we waited until the end with a certain feeling that they would be fit and we were right of a spain will take on italy, croatia and republic of ireland in the group stage at Euro 2012.

Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo says Losing is not in my vocabulary

He has highlighted the importance of Wednesday's 4-1 victory against atletico madrid at the vicente calderon, believing it was a vital step towards claiming the Primera Division title, and cristiano ronaldo added that 'losing is not in his vocabulary'.

A Portugal international grabbed his seventh hat-trick of the 2011-12 Liga season, before jose callejon helped to make the result even more expressive with a goal of his own for the radamel falcao had earlier drawn Atleti briefly level to the victory allowed real madrid to maintain the four-point gap between to Barcelona at the top of the table, and Ronaldo believes that his side have taken an important step towards winning the league.

And the ronaldo then expressed his happiness to have taken his league tally to 40 goals following Wednesday's hat-trick to i am very happy to have scored and picked up an assist," he noted to we have to continue like this."I am very happy, but without my team-mates I could not have done it was going to be a tough match, but we gave a good account of ourselves against a very strong Atletico side of a cristiano ronaldo has now scored 52 goals in all competitions following Wednesday's hat-trick, and became the 1st player to score 20 goals away from home in a single Liga season.

Barcelona Attacker Lionel Messi First Player in La Liga History

The Argentine forward has been in sublime form in the 2011-12 campaign, and broke yet another record after scoring in the Blaugrana's Primera Division win over Getafe and the barcelona attacker Lionel Messi has entered the record books again after becoming the 1st player in La Liga history to score 28 goals at home in one season following his strike in Tuesday evening 4-0 victory over Getafe at Camp Nou.

And the record was previously held by former Athletic Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra and ex-Atletico Madrid star Baltazar, who both netted 27 goals in home league games in 1950-51 and 1988-89 respectively for the real madrid attacker cristiano ronaldo to set a new Pichichi record last term with 40 goals in one season, managed to score 26 times at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2010-11.

Lionel Messi has scored in all but two of barcelona's primera division games at camp nou this term to argentine was unable to find the net in the scoreless draw against Sevilla, and didn't feature in the 3-1 win over Sporting Gijon in the 24-year-old has netted 39 times in 31 appearances this season in La Liga, and needs only more goal in the remainder of the term to equal cristiano ronaldo's record of 40 goals in a single league campaign.

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli facing nine-match ban

The Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is set to receive a nine-match ban if he is charged by the Football Association for his tackle on Alex Song in Sunday's Premier League clash at Arsenal and he will automatically serve a one-match ban for the red card he was shown after being twice booked for challenges on Bacary Sagna.

And the football association disciplinary rules also state that "players dismissed having previously in the same season been sent off or suspended under the Standard Directions set out in Schedule A in these Regulations for an incident to suspended for one extra match for each such previous sending off or suspension in the addition to the automatic suspension applicable to the dismissal".

They are seen earlier this season, Vincent Kompany received a four-game ban after being dismissed against Manchester United in the FA Cup as it was his second red of the season to the same punishment was handed out to Balotelli too when his standard three-game ban for the stamp on Tottenham's Scott Parker was upped to four due to a previous red to the other bans he has had this term that will equal a total suspension of 14 matches over a 3rd of a season.

Cristiano Ronaldo Could Miss

They are total of seven players from barcelona and real madrid are just one booking away from a ban with just two matches left before the crunch clash at camp nou later this month and the cristiano ronaldo and victor valdes to host of other key players could miss this month's casico if they receive another yellow card before the game on April 21.

The barcelona, Victor Valdes, Seydou Keita, Alexis Sanchez and Thiago Alcantara all have four bookings, and would incur a one-match ban if they receive another yellow card to the real madrid, cristiano ronaldo, xabi alonso and fabio coentrao are also on the threshold of a ban leading up to the decisive game at Camp Nou in 12 days time.

And the league competition committee is likely to be watching closely, after madrid were punished last season in the champions league with  deliberately getting to sent off in a 4-0 win against Ajax, following instructions from coach jose mourinho in order to miss their last group game.

England News Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson Says Won League Title

A 70-year-old believes that his side's ability to score late goals is down to their determination for the he wants a continuation of their current form to secure the championship in Sir Alex Ferguson is looking for his side’s never-say-die attitude to see them grind out the results needed to claim their 20th league title.

In the red devils are currently five points ahead of rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, but they can extend that lead to eight points if they beat QPR on Sunday to Roberto Mancini’s men facing Arsenal later in the day to united were saved by two goals in the final 10 minutes from Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young in their last league outing against Blackburn to claim all three points.

And the Sir Alex told the club's official website: Over the years we have had these moments when we have scored late goals for look back to 1993 and Sheffield Wednesday, two goals in the last nine minutes of injury-time is part of our history to we do not give in we are capable of scoring late goals. It is not an accident is a thread relating to the history of the club that way for many years now.

They are kept their intensity and concentration really well for that was the plus point on Monday in the intensity of our game was brilliant and our concentration was great just seven games left for both Manchester clubs, the title is United’s to lose and the 70-year-old is looking minimal mistakes during the run-in.

Lionel Messi as the Greatest of all time Says for Chelsea Captain John Terry

The chelsea skipper john terry has revealed he regards Lionel Messi as the greatest of all time and that even his children love messi 24, has again had every adjective used to describe his feats this term and has a staggering 58 goals from 50 games so far this term in the Blues will face Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final in just under two weeks at Stamford Bridge.

And the clash will evoke memories of their 2009 game when they met at the same stage to the following that game Messi has gone on to cement his reputation as arguably the greatest player of all time terry's 5 year old twins Georgie and Summer may be too young to recall that clash will have to decide whether to wear their Chelsea or Barca strips for this game such is there love for the player "My kids love him," said Terry.

They are pleasure because when you finish and look back and the guy still going to be going strong have tested yourself against the best for the quite clearly for me, he's the best ever to he is a great individual, a great person as well and a credit to the sport for me, he is a got everything to he is magical.

The 35-year-old former Brazil Legend Ronaldo Champions League Final will be between Real Madrid Vs Barcelona.

The brazil legend ronaldo believes that this season's champions league final will be contested between two of his former clubs, barcelona and real Madrid in the Catalan giants will face chelsea in the semi-finals of european football's elite competition to Real Madrid face a tricky tie against Bayern Munich.

A ronaldo is confident that the two spanish rivals will overcome to the last-four encounters to reach the showpiece event is to be held at Bayern's Allianz Arena on May 19 in the real madrid and Bayern Munich are both at a high level and it will be a hard-fought semi-final to i believe Real will go through to he is quoted as saying by espn brazil.

And the spain is suffering an economic crisis to both teams madrid and barcelona are at a level much higher than the rest in the champions league final will be between the former forward then moved on to speak positively of Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who he believes will stay in the Spanish capital beyond the current campaign.

The ronaldo has scored 47 goals in 49 appearances during a one-year spell at Barcelona for the netting 104 times in 177 games for madrid, enjoying five seasons at the santiago bernabeu.

Pablo Aimar Says Chelsea's Individual Quality Team.

The pablo aimar has voiced his disappointment with Benfica's Champions League elimination as he believes that Chelsea's individual quality made the difference in the quarter-final tie for the portuguese side were beaten 2-1 at Stamford Bridge after losing the 1st leg 1-0 at home and the aimar stressed that Benfica deserved better than two losses.

But, I think that we played our own game, and we did it very well for some things didn't go for us and they had the individuals to see them through to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Aimar said to uefa.com and we are talking about a team chelsea that have lots of great individuals do not get a big window of opportunity against them. In matches like this it's very hard.

Thy are we played a good game and we were coming off a very difficult defeat in the 1st game to think we deserved to win in benfica resume domestic action on April 9 when they travel to Sporting Lisbon.

International career for pablo aimar first represented Argentina at youth levels for along to future senior team stars Esteban Cambiasso and Juan Román Riquelme, he won the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and went on to gain over 50 full caps to his debut in 1999 to he played in the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

Referee Bjorn Kuipers pleased with match officials performance between FC Barcelona vs AC Milan at the Camp Nou stadium.

The Referee Bjorn Kuipers (Left) shows Robinho (Right) of AC Milan a yellow card after he fouled Andres Iniesta (Bottem) of FC Barcelona during the Champions League quarter-final second leg match between FC Barcelona and AC Milan at the Camp Nou stadium on April 3, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

A Dutch referee has received his fair share of criticism for his decision to award the catalans a second penalty after Alessandro Nesta's infringement on Sergio Busquets five minutes before half-time to the kuipers declared that he was pleased with his display and does not feel guilty about any of his decisions.

We have the match officials for a good team performance and the match went as we expected it to go," Kuipers was quoted as saying by ANP and Uefa doesn't allow its match officials to comment on specific situations, but Kuipers hinted that he has no regrets about his controversial calls to the fact that we have a good feeling about the match says it all for my phone has been ringing non-stop and to nothing but compliments.

And the barcelona qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League following Tuesday's victory after drawing 0-0 in the first leg at San Siro.

Barcelona have advanced to the Champions League Semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Milan at the Camp Nou and Lionel Messi scoring twice to set one record and equal another.

The Argentine struck with a pair of spot kicks to send the Blaugrana into the next round and claim the record for most goals in a single Champions League season and the lionel messi moved into 3rd on the list of all-time goalscorers in the competition as Barca set up a last-four place against Benfica or Chelsea and after a goalless draw in the 1st leg of the quarter-final between two of Europe's heavyweights, World Player of the Year Messi, 24, netted an early penalty, making him the youngest player to reach 50 goals in the Champions League.

And the lionel messi stole the headlines once again for the two penalties in the 1st half either side of an Antonio Nocerino strike up to 14 Champions League goals for the season a record for a single campaign to messi himself stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake, beating Abbiati with a low shot into the left corner to score a record 13th Champions League goal of the season and 50th of his career.

The Messi inspired them to beat Manchester United in last year's final at Wembley, and the Argentine's incredible goalscoring form could steer the club to another title this year and the goal crushed Milan's spirit to the match desended into an exhibition as Barca booked their place in the semi-finals for a 5th successive year.

Barcelona Play next face the winner of Chelsea and Benfica's clash on Wednesday, setting up a tantalising replay of previous clashes with the Blues and a possible SuperClasico final against Real Madrid in May.

The Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has Says Sergio Aguero made a mistake in choosing Manchester City over Real Madrid.

The Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has weighed in on the future of son-in-law Sergio Aguero, insisting that the Manchester City striker has to move to Real Madrid in order to fulfil his potential in the former Independiente and Atletico Madrid star has a favourite in Manchester for completing a move prior to the 2011-12 season and in 41 appearances has netted 24 times to he is also known for his close relationship to the Al Wasl coach and is married to Maradona's daughter Giannina.

A former Independiente and Atletico Madrid star has become a favourite in Manchester to completing a move prior to the 2011-12 season and in 41 appearances has netted 24 times is also known for his close relationship with the Al Wasl coach and is married to Maradona's daughter Giannina to speaking press on Tuesday morning, Maradona expressed his belief that the Santiago Bernabeu was the right place for Aguero, although he admitted that completing a deal would not be easy.

They would be the perfect take-off for him to he is flying at city to the best thing for him would have been to sign for Madrid, he made a mistake to outspoken idol stated in quotes published by AS to he is beating all-comers right now is not going to be easy to take him away from City for want to keep hold of him because manager Roberto Mancini sees him as a key player forentino perez has no limits but City have money to burn.

The Wayne Rooney Relishing trying to beat City to title

The Wayne Rooney admits that winning the title this season will mean a bit more because they will have beaten rivals Manchester City to the prize are in pole position to take their 20th league crown, as they have the chance to move five points clear at the top of the table on Monday evening with victory at Blackburn and the city have been top for the majority of the campaign to have stuttered in recent weeks and reigning champions United have taken their chance.

And the rooney admits beating them to the title would add something to the success.Would it mean something extra because City are challenging? Yes, of course," he said to be a first time since I've been here and the first time for many years that United and City have been going head-to-head for the title to win it would be great for the players in fans and the club as a whole be one of the best titles we've ever won, if we can do it.

The many have claimed that United have been far from their best this season, but Rooney insists that winning the title this year has been as difficult as ever to probably more challenging than it has ever been in the Premier League to win the title and he continued to be you have to be at your best in every game. You can't perform at 75 per cent of your capabilities and expect to win and the premier league in general has got stronger over the last few years.