Mourinho turns to science to blind Guardiola as Real sense their chance

Beaming coach quotes Einstein and cites refereeing furore to prompt furious reaction from opposite number at depleted Barcelona

Quoting Albert Einstein, accusing Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola of criticising referees even when they get decisions right, and then calming euphoria among his own supporters by saying he had "no magic potion" to stop Barcelona: Jose Mourinho was on top form yesterday as he prepared for tonight's Champions League semi-final first leg at the Bernabeu.

Guardiola was left to react angrily to Mourinho's mind games and count his available players as injuries left him with just two fully fit defenders and without midfielder Andres Iniesta.

"Einstein wasn't stupid," said Mourinho, beaming with an even greater self-confidence having won his first trophy as Real manager last week. "He said that the one force greater than atomic power was willpower. We have worked tremendously hard to reach this position. I don't have a magic potion to stop Barcelona. I am the same coach who lost 5-0 to them last November, but we have worked extremely hard."

It was Mourinho at his aggressive best, with the former Chelsea coach perhaps sensing his Barcelona counterpart is not too far away from having a "Kevin Keegan moment". Mourinho and Guardiola have engaged in an on-off psychological war all season and after the weekend's league matches there were signs that, much as Sir Alex Ferguson did to Keegan in 1996, Mourinho is beginning to grind his opponent down.

"Mourinho will be happy," said Guardiola at the weekend when asked about plans to hand officiating duties for tonight's game to the Real manager's fellow Portuguese Pedro Proenca. Uefa eventually decided not to go with Proenca and selected Germany's Wolfgang Stark instead. However, Mourinho used the controversy to launch his most direct attack so far on Guardiola, who had earlier criticised the decision to rule out a Barça goal in last week's Copa del Rey final against Real despite replays showing scorer Pedro was indeed offside.

Mourinho said: "We seem to be starting a new era. Until now we have two groups of coaches. One very small group who never talk about referees and one much bigger group, of which I am part, who talk about referees when it feels that a wrong decision has been made. But now we have a third group with only Guardiola in it, of coaches who criticise a referee for getting a decision right.

"I have never seen anything like it. He played against one less in the match with Inter last season and then again in the match against Arsenal [this season]. Now in the Cup final, when the referee has a very difficult decision to make, and he gets it right, he criticises it."

Guardiola responded with controlled rage to Mourinho's open criticism saying: "I have not reacted before but on this occasion he has called me by name. I'm going to call him Jose since he calls me Pep. We will meet on the pitch tomorrow; off the pitch he has already beaten me. I cannot play these games. If Barcelona want someone who can compete with these kind of games then they need another type of manager. I could come up with a list of complaints but we would be here for ever. I don't have secretaries working for me. Here Mourinho is lord of the manor. He is the boss in this press room."

Mourinho has played Barcelona 10 times and on only four occasions has his team reached the end of the game with 11 men. "All I hope is that the match official is a good referee and a lucky one, because he will need a little bit of luck as well," he said.

Asked if he thought Guardiola was more a friend of the referee than himself, Mourinho said he only had one referee who was his friend, Mark Halsey, who fought cancer to return to refereeing last year but who, Mourinho added, "will be retired before I go back to England so it will not be a problem to be friends with him".

Guardiola's failure to steer clear of the Spanish refereeing debate – which is magnified whenever Real and Barça face each other – is an indication that it is now the Catalans who need a distraction, not Real.

For much of the season, Mourinho's referee rants have been seen as a tactic to mask his team's shortcomings. Barcelona's coach now needs a decoy as he plays his third Champions League semi-final in three years and his second against Mourinho, but with a threadbare squad boasting only two fully fit defenders – Gerard Pique and Dani Alves. Carles Puyol has come through his last two training sessions without any reaction to a hamstring injury and could start, but he has not played 90 minutes since January, spending almost three months out with tendinitis.

If he starts it could be at left-back because Guardiola has all three options for that position unavailable. Eric Abidal is still absent, Adriano is out for the season and third-choice Maxwell also misses the game.

If Puyol slots in at left-back, Javier Mascherano will continue in the centre of defence alongside Pique, who admitted this week what a massive influence Puyol is alongside him. "I told him how much I've missed him during the game he came back in," said Pique. "And he started shouting back at me to shut up and concentrate. That is what he is like."

Puyol's authority, and understanding with his Spain team-mate have all been sorely missed, never more so than in the Cup final that Barcelona lost to Cristiano Ronaldo's first goal in open play against them last week.

Ronaldo re-enters his personal duel with Lionel Messi full of confidence while Messi is still looking for his first goal in a Champions League semi-final. He failed to score against Manchester United in 2008, against Chelsea in 2009 and again drew a blank against Internazionale last year.

He has scored 50 goals this season, however, and looks like outscoring 42-goal Ronaldo, although it is the latter who Real fans now believe will be at Wembley for the final in May.

A prickly Guardiola said at the weekend: "They are the favourites now; I keep reading that they are already in the final." But Mourinho did his best yesterday to prevent any of that typical Madrid over-confidence affecting his players. "There are no favourites in semi-finals," he said. "Maybe after the first leg we can talk about one team having a slight advantage but before the first leg, no way."

If Mourinho's record in knockout competitions is any gauge of how this semi-final will go then maybe Real should be slight favourites. He has won 53 of 64 such encounters. He was asked last night if he would leave the club if he won them their 10th European Cup, just as he walked away from Inter and Porto after successful finals. "I have not won it yet," he said, "let's answer that question first."

Source : The Independent 27 April 2011

Mourinho turns up heat on Barça's Guardiola

Real coach accuses rival of criticising referees ahead of Champions League semi-final

Jose Mourinho accused Pep Guardiola of being uniquely critical of referees ahead of tonight's Champions League semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Mourinho directed attention onto his Barcelona counterpart yesterday, saying that he was the only coach who criticises officials for making the correct decisions.

Last Wednesday, Mourinho's side beat Barcelona 1-0 to win the Copa del Rey. A Pedro goal was correctly ruled out for offside, a decision criticised by Guardiola. "We seem to be starting a new era," Mourinho said. "Until now we have two groups of coaches.

One very small group who never talk about referees, and one much bigger group, of which I am part, who talk about referees when it feels that a wrong decision has been made. But now we have a third group with only Guardiola in it, of coaches who criticise a referee for getting a decision right."

Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho turned to mind games to put pressure on Pep Guardiola yesterday

The Real coach then pointed to refereeing decisions that have gone in Barcelona's favour in recent years. "I have never seen anything like it," he continued. "Maybe it is because in his first season he lived through the scandal of Stamford Bridge [when Barcelona knocked out Chelsea after withstanding several strong penalty claims] and perhaps from that time on he is not happy when referees get it right. He played against one less in the match with Inter last season and then again in the match against Arsenal. Now in the Cup final when the referee has a very difficult decision to make, and he gets it right, he criticises it."

Mourinho would not be drawn on predictions. "There are no favourites in semi-finals," he said. "Maybe after the first leg we can talk about one team having a slight advantage."

Source : The Independent 27 April 2011

Neuer's fine audition could turn Ferguson's head

It has been a season of personal auditions for Manuel Neuer. The 25-year-old had been coveting the notion of leaving his beloved Gelsenkirchen for Bayern Munich before the Bavarians arrived at this stadium back in December. The saves which he produced in a 1-0 Schalke win, from the midfielder Toni Kroos in particular, had the Bayern manager Louis van Gaal enraptured and in little doubt about the wisdom of opening his cheque book. "I will discuss the issue with the board," he said before his side left town that night which sounded suspiciously like the threat it might well prove to be.

When Neuer's name came up in Sir Alex Ferguson's pre-match press conference on Monday evening the United manager made a rather ham-fisted attempt to say the words Ich kenne nicht (I know nothing) but the goalkeeper certainly gave him an education into his talents last night. The suspicion that Bayern have all but tied up a deal to take him to the Allianz Arena for next season has seen Neuer recede from the debate about who should succeed Edwin van der Sar when he retires but the evidence that a move for Neuer might be the right choice was there before Ferguson's very eyes.

Positioning, agility, awareness: each was in equal evidence in the most one-sided first-half ever seen at this stage of Europe's elite competition. Neuer saved seven of the 11 shots which rained in on his goal in that period alone.

Those United followers who had wanted to see more of the force they had been told they were up against would perhaps have seen a performance of these proportions on YouTube, where an elementary search calls up the Champions League last-16 tie against Porto in 2008, in which Neuer revealed the talent which has made him his idol Jens Lehmann's natural successor in the international jersey. They still talk about that performance here. After single-handedly forcing the game into penalties, he saved spot-kicks from Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez to help Schalke progress to the quarter-final.

Perhaps last night's performance could not quite match that lustre, though the pummelling his goal came in for was just the same. The semi-final was two and a half minutes old when Wayne Rooney had eased inside Atsuto Uchida and whipped in a fizzing shot. Neuer launched him towards it and touched the ball away.

Awareness saved Schalke's skin when a defence which was as incapable of contending with United's pace as Schalke's closest observers had feared allowed Antonio Valencia to cross for Javier Hernandez. Neuer stood tall and blocked the Mexican's shot. When a sweeping interchange between Patrice Evra, Rooney and Park Ji-sung sent Henandez through again, Neuer threw himself at the striker's feet.

And still only 15 minutes of a night of United dominance had elapsed. The seventh save – from Ryan Giggs, Neuer making himself into a huge barrier and thrusting a large gloved hand to his right with two minutes of the first half to run – was the best. So many opportunities had gone begging by then that you feared United would lose belief that they could actually smash through.

The second half had continued the pattern – Neuer tipping over a Michael Carrick header – when the goal was finally breached. There was something desperately unreasonable about the fact that Giggs managed to slip the ball through Neuer's legs after Rooney's magic had played him in.

Van der Sar probably thought he would have had some part to play on a night in which he appeared in his 13th Champions League semi-final, equalling Ricardo Carvalho's record.

His pre-match television interview offered a tantalising hint of what United fans have wanted to hear for weeks. Asked of his retirement plans, the Dutchman declared he would "make a decision tonight". So had he changed his mind? "Next question," he declared and moved on. His own instinctive save 10 minutes from time provided evidence that his reactions are just as sharp. His mind is made up, though.

And besides, the performance of the German 15 years his junior suggests this is the night we will be remembering for United's old and new goalkeeping guards sharing the same pitch.

Source : The Independent 27 April 2011

Ferguson: I wish Giggs could play on for years

Manager praises veteran winger after goal helps United stroll to 2-0 win over Schalke

Sir Alex Ferguson last night paid tribute to one of his side's best performances in Europe as Manchester United stormed past Schalke to all but secure a third Champions League final place in the space of four years.

In one of the most one-sided Champions League semi-finals of all time, the Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer single-handedly resisted waves of United pressure before two second-half goals in as many minutes sealed the 2-0 win.

Though Ferguson listed this game alongside United's 1999 comeback against Juventus among his greatest, Schalke's defence was pitiful and the midfield was overrun, with 37-year-old Ryan Giggs – whom Wayne Rooney sent in for United's first goal – making another huge contribution.

"I wish I could find a way of keeping Giggs going for another 10 years," the United manager reflected last night. He was also intrigued by the suggestion, in his post-match press conference, that Giggs was better than ever now. "That's a good one that," said Ferguson, who will rest Giggs for Sunday's visit to Arsenal in readiness for next Wednesday's second leg with Schalke at home. "It's a strange thing because his peak seems to have lasted so long now," he said of Giggs. "When you get a player of 37, you think he will be showing signs of waning but I see no evidence of that. We rest him and when we show that freshness it doesn't show any signs of receding at all. He's an incredible man."



giggs is congratulated by Edwin van der Sar



Ferguson was also quick to praise goalkeeper Neuer. Although United accepted months ago that the 25-year-old does not want to leave Germany and won't join them as Edwin van der Sar's replacement. "I think we know [he's going to Bayern]," Ferguson said. The Germany international said: "There was never an offer from Man United." But Ferguson's description of the goalkeeper's "incredible" display, including seven first-half saves, offered a strong hint that he would covet his services.

"I think that in my time at United it's the finest display of goalkeeping against us," Ferguson said. "I'm sure there have been other feats but tonight I saw a good one." Despite seeming to hint before the game that he might be persuaded to stay another season at Old Trafford, Van der Sar confirmed late last night that he will retire in June.

United are the first team to have kept six away clean sheets in the Champions League, and Ferguson reflected, not unreasonably, that United "seem to be better away from home in Europe than anyone else". He began reassembling his side for matches on the Continent, making them less open, after a sequence of disappointing results in the 2000/01 campaign. "I think the concentration issue is important away from home in Europe. Over the past few years they've got a way of playing away from home," he reflected. "Confidence and possession of the ball is important." United have lost only one of 23 away matches in Europe.

Javier Hernandez sent in Antonio Valencia's cross for Rooney to complete a win which will surely be enough to see United progress to a Wembley final against Barcelona or Real Madrid on 28 May.

 

 

Source : The Independent 27 April 2011

Rooney destroys feeble Schalke to put United on verge of the final

Schalke 0 Manchester United 2

The Champions League has thrown up just about every kind of challenge for Sir Alex Ferguson over the last 18 years but never in a semi-final has he come up against a team quite like the dreadful Schalke, who played last night with about as much finesse as a bratwurst in a bun.

Make no mistake, Manchester United were superb in picking off their German opposition with two goals in quick succession just before the 70-minute mark. They swaggered around the Veltins-Arena as if they were the home team. And with the exception of Schalke's indefatigable goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, there were times when it felt like a training exercise.

Giggs's cool finish put United ahead

When Wayne Rooney added the second of United's goals on 69 minutes – after Ryan Giggs had finally broken through – thoughts switched to Sunday's Premier League game against Arsenal. Ferguson's team have found their late-season tempo and it looks ominous for Arsène Wenger's side now.

Rooney netted United's second

That it took United 67 minutes to beat Neuer was a source of some disbelief at both ends of the stadium. The visitors dominated the game and in many respects just two goals feels like a poor return given their grip on the game. The second leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday will be a formality on this evidence: United are on their way to a third Champions League final in four years.

On 28 May it will be at Wembley, where Sir Matt Busby's team triumphed in 1968, and United will face Real Madrid or Barcelona – either of whom will represent a serious step-up in class from last night's opponents. The lingering question over Schalke was: how did a team this poor eliminate Internazionale in the previous round?

For all the poverty of Schalke, this was a great United performance from back to front. Rooney and Javier Hernandez destroyed Schalke's defence with their running. At the back, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic supervised the Schalke attack without the slightest suggestion of unease. United could have scored five more.

Those who hold the German Bundesliga up as a model of perfect governance and great football would do well to keep their counsel for a while. Schalke, themselves in debt to the tune of £200m, were an embarrassment to the traditions of their country's football. They have a wonderful stadium and great fans but that is not much to shout about when the players perform like drains.

There are some halves of football where one team shades it, others when a team rides their luck. But last night there was no debating the length and breadth of United's dominance and no explaining how they failed to go in at least a goal to the good.

This did not have the feel of a Champions League semi-final first leg. Rather it played out more like an FA Cup third-round tie in which Ferguson had sent out his first string against a team from the Blue Square Premier. A Blue Square Premier team, that is, with a Champions League goalkeeper.

Manuel Neuer 0, Manchester United 0 might have been a more fitting scoreline for the Veltins-Arena's giant scoreboard. The Germany goalkeeper, who made his recent announcement that he will leave Schalke on Facebook, was in remarkable form. He had to be – he was the last, and often first, line of defence against a relentless sequence of United attacks.

It should be said that despite their lack of a goal, Ferguson's team were magnificent in the first half. None more so than Rooney and Hernandez who have turned into arguably the most exhilarating strike partnership in European football in the space of a few months. They tore Schalke apart with their movement and all they missed was a goal.

There were 12 scoring opportunities for United in the first half that would merit a serious mention in less eventful games and many more other half-chances. None more so than the one that came just before half-time when Rooney played in Giggs and Neuer, advancing off his line, made a brilliant save.

It was not the first time. The 25-year-old Germany international who is supposedly Bayern Munich-bound, but looked every inch a worthy successor to Edwin van der Sar last night, made six outstanding saves in the first half from Rooney, Hernandez, Giggs and the excellent Park Ji-sung .

Among others, the Schalke keeper tipped one shot from Rooney over the bar in the third minute. He got down to another from Hernandez in the 14th minute, getting enough on the ball to slow it down. A back-post header from Giggs on 27 minutes was also blocked. By the time he went one-on-one with United's 37-year-old just before the break you half expected Neuer to come out on top.

Matching United's 4-4-2 formation, Schalke found themselves overwhelmed in midfield and both full-backs looked exposed to the running of Park and Antonio Valencia. In the middle of defence, Christoph Metzelder, the Germany international, was shredded by the running of Hernandez. His crude foul on Rooney on 34 minutes was worthy of a booking at the very least.

There was just one heart-in-mouth moment from United when, in a rare foray out of their half, Schalke's Alexander Baumjohann was barged over in the United area by Valencia. He got away with that one although it would have been just United's luck if the penalty had been given.

Neuer kept Schalke in it for as long as he could, pushing a Michael Carrick header over the bar two minutes into the new half. For a while around the hour, United seemed to lose their way and the previous momentum of their attacks waned. Then, on 67 minutes, they found their way through. Rooney dinked a ball through the defence for Giggs and this time he put the ball through Neuer's legs.

Two minutes later, Valencia played in Hernandez and his cross was turned in by Rooney. This game, this tie, was over and Ferguson changed to a five-man midfield to shore the game up. Even so, his team might have had more goals but on this evidence, two will be more than enough come Wednesday at Old Trafford.

Man of the match Rooney.

Match rating 6/10.

Referee C V Carballo (Spain).

Attendance 54,000.

Source : The Independent 27 April 2011

TOUCHLINES

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH has set his sights on bringing former manager Jose Mourinho back to Chelsea, according to reports in Spain. Spanish daily Sport claims the Russian billionaire is desperate to bring the Portuguese back to Stamford Bridge, despite their acrimonious split in 2007, and willing to hand him complete control over all footballing matters at the club.

ARSENE WENGER is “very optimistic” Samir Nasri will extend his contract with Arsenal – and sees no reason why all the current squad cannot fulfil their desire for success at Emirates Stadium.

MANCHESTER UNITED have opened talks with Sporting Lisbon for £10m-rated goalkeeper Rui Patricio. Sir Alex Ferguson is in the market for a new No 1 after 40-year-old Edwin van der Sar refused to perform a U-turn on his summer retirement plans.

England playmaker Joe Cole will be dumped by Liverpool after only a season with the Anfield club.

SPANISH club Espanyol are keen to sign Aston Villa defender Carlos Cuellar, who has made only 12 Premier League appearances this season.

LIVERPOOL are reportedly planning a move to sign Arsenal leftback Gael Clichy.

BIRMINGHAM midfielder Sebastian Larsson is a target for local rivals Newcastle and Sunderland.

MANCHESTER UNITED forward Wayne Rooney is the latest footballer to join social networking site twitter. The England star already has nearly 150,00 followers.

MANCHESTER CITY striker Mario Balotelli has notched up nearly £10,000 in parking fines and had his car impounded 27 times since moving to the north west.

Envious Ferguson desperate for United to join Europe's true elite

It is time we matched Real, Milan and Liverpool's achievements, says United manager on eve of Schalke semi-final

Sir Alex Ferguson faces the press yesterday ahead of Manchester United's Champions League semi-final tonight

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted last night that his "envy" of a continental elite who have captured far more European Cups than Manchester United is driving his desire to put a dismal record against German competition behind him and progress towards a fourth final tonight.

Ferguson has always felt an acute sense of the disparity between his own club, who have lifted the European Cup three times, and others, not least Liverpool, who have taken five, and knows that United's relatively modest haul in this tournament is a blemish on their history. He conveyed a sense last night that time to make good that deficit is running out on him as he declared that this current squad had the experience to lift the trophy at Wembley, 33 days from now.

"My expectation has always been high in regards to the European scene, but we do get envious of the records of other clubs in Europe," Ferguson said as he prepared his players to face Schalke, 7-3 victors over Internazionale in the quarter finals. "We look at other teams' records and we are trying to get parity with that. We look at clubs like Real Madrid, Milan, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Liverpool and we really need to progress quickly to get to that level."

Ferguson listed each of the clubs who United trail: Real Madrid, who face Barcelona in the other semi-final tomorrow, have lifted this trophy nine times, Milan seven, Liverpool five, Ajax and Bayern four each. Schalke represent the most beatable opposition he has faced in seven European Cup semi-finals and though Ferguson looked far more relaxed than before other semi-finals, he knows he faces a dreadful weight of history against Ralf Rangnick's 10th-placed Bundesliga side.

Ferguson has lost eight of the nine two-legged European ties he has faced against German opposition across the course of his Aberdeen and United career, with Aberdeen's Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final triumph in 1983 the only win. He has the 1999 triumph over Bayern Munich in Barcelona to reflect on, but the United manager acknowledged the dismal record and attributed it to Germans sharing his own will to win. "They have a self-determination, the German people, and I think it's reflected in how they approach all sports," he said. "There's a similarity with English people, though maybe more Scottish. We have that self-determination in Scotland." Self-determination – a nation's right to exercise its own sovereignty – is perhaps something Ferguson would want Scotland to have.

The sight of Wayne Rooney racing through training in high spirits last night suggested that the memory of his own dismissal at the Veltins Arena during England's 2006 World Cup exit to Portugal is in the past. Ferguson, who was coy when asked about United's tracking of Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, claimed improbably that he had no knowledge of the stadium's significance for Rooney.

"What happened? Was it [here]? Oh, OK. Well, you have to put bad moments behind you. It's normal for any footballer. I didn't know it was in Gelsenkirchen. I didn't actually watch that game." Ferguson reflected on the way Rooney had put personal problems in the past and returned to his best. "I think Wayne, more than anyone, realises that performances are the thing that he will always be judged on because there is an expectation of the boy. You see that he has stepped up to the mark for that – and proved himself entirely."

His midfielder Darron Gibson had more current preoccupations yesterday when he had to delete his new Twitter account after receiving abuse from fans who do not want him at the club.

Schalke, in their first Champions League semi-final, have won all five of their home games in this season's tournament, with the help of five goals from a resurgent Raul. "There is no way Manchester United are going to be led into believing that this is easy," said Ferguson.

"This is a difficult game for us and we are going to treat it that way. Hopefully we can come back with a result to get us through to the final. It's going to be a hard game."

Schalke v United: three key confrontations

Atsuto Uchida v Park Ji-sung

The Japanese international has settled well in his first season in Germany, and is a compact full-back with excellent technique who loves to get forward – he is Japan's youngest ever scorer. Uchida will test Park's famous defensive discipline on United's left flank. But he will have to match the athleticism and intelligence of the South Korean, who has become a big-match specialist at United in recent years, thanks to his diligence and game-changing goals.

Joel Matip v Ryan Giggs

Winning the midfield battle could prove decisive for Manchester United, if they are to reach their third Champions League final in the last four seasons. Ryan Giggs – star of both legs of the quarter-final triumph over Chelsea – will need to be at his best to stop Matip, 18 years his junior. The Cameroon international is the cousin of ex-Middlesbrough striker Joseph Desire Job and Scholes will have a tough night if he can't stop the 19-year-old dynamo.

Raul v Nemanja Vidic

At 33 Raul may be entering the later stages of his career, but with a record of 71 goals in 140 Champions League games, Manchester United and Vidic would be foolish to underestimate the former Real Madrid star. Raul, along with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, is the only player to have taken part in all 10 of Schalke's Champions League fixtures this season. However, he will find it hard against the physicality of Vidic, who has been a colossus again this campaign.

Source : The Independent 26 April 2011