Shaktar Donetsk – FC Barcelone
0-1 Messi
Archive for Aprile, 2011
Manchester United v Chelsea 
Channel – Sky Sport
Language – English
Capper – Footballars
Quality – HD
Bitrate – 6000 kbps
Codec – h.264
Resolution – 1280 x 720
HD Goals 720p
1-0 Hernandez
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1-1 Drogba
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2-1 Park
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13
Apr
Guardiola lauds Barca stars
Pep Guardiola paid tribute to his “incredible” Barcelona side as they breezed into the Champions League semi-finals for the third consecutive season.
Lionel Messi scored the only goal as Barca beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in Ukraine to complete a comfortable 6-1 aggregate triumph.
Barca have made the final four in each of Guardiola’s three years in charge and now look set to face arch rivals Real Madrid in the semis, as they prepare to defend a 4-0 lead at Tottenham on Wednesday night.
Messi’s winner was his 48th goal of the season and a landmark one as he passed the previous best tally registered in a single season for the club – that of Brazilian striker Ronaldo who scored 47 goals in the 1996-97 season.
“It is a gift to be in the Champions League [semi-finals] for the third consecutive season,” Guardiola told Spanish paper AS. “These guys are incredible, not only this year but for three straight years.
“At first we struggled a bit but then we started to dominate the game. We knew that it would be difficult, and at first it was tough and we had to endure in the first few minutes.”
Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
Sir Alex Ferguson said the better team had won after Manchester United despatched Chelsea to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. With United holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg at Stamford Bridge, Javier Hernandez crashed home the night’s opening goal just before half-time from Giggs’ cross. When Ramires was dismissed for the Blues in the 70th minute, their hopes seemed all-but over. However, substitute Didier Drogba reduced the deficit in the 77th minute before Ji-Sung Park immediately went up the other end to reclaim United’s two-goal cushion and end the contest as United won 3-1 on aggregate. Ferguson told Sky Sports: “I think we played very, very well against a very, very good team. Chelsea played a big part in that game today. “I thought we were the better team on the night. In a team game. we had some fantastic performances: Park, Chicharito (Hernandez) – all over. No-one let us down.” Ferguson admitted his side were lucky to score so quickly after Chelsea’s leveller on the night. “That was the break we got in the game, to be honest. I thought it was a cheap goal to lose.” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was gracious in defeat. “We had control of the game for the first 25 minutes but were not able to score,” he said. “At the end of the first half when they scored it was more difficult for us, we came back with 10 men but in the end it was not enough. “Our performance was not so bad but I think of the two teams, Manchester United deserved to win.” Ancelotti praised Drogba’s impact from the bench but side-stepped the question of whether he regretted starting with Fernando Torres instead. Asked about the task of lifting his team, the Italian said: “It will be difficult but we have to make the top four for Champions League football next season. “We need to quickly move on from this defeat, this disappointment, and onto the next game.” As for Torres, he added: “We have to believe (in him), we have to wait until he improves.” Ryan Giggs said Park’s goal “knocked the stuffing” out of Carlo Ancelotti’s side. “Chelsea gave us a great game but you’re always pleased to get into the semi-finals,” Giggs said. “We expected them to come at us. They needed to score; we knew we needed to try to score too, to take the pressure of us. I think we deserved it. We played well down there, had a good gameplan and stuck to it and tonight got a couple of great goals. “The second goal came at exactly the right time. They had just scored, so us scoring so quickly after they had knocked the stuffing out of them, really.” Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
Barca cruise into last four
Barcelona secured their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League and a probable showdown with arch rivals Real Madrid after completing a 1-0 win Shakhtar Donetsk.
Leading 5-1 from last week’s quarter-final first leg at the Nou Camp, Barca weathered an early storm at the Donbass Arena before netting what would prove to be the only goal of the night through Lionel Messi just before half-time.
That was the FIFA Ballon d’Or winner’s 48th competitive goal of what has been an incredible season and ensured there would be no slip-up by Pep Guardiola’s side, who will meet Madrid in the last four unless Tottenham can overhaul a 4-0 deficit.
The result was also the ideal preparation for Barca ahead of Saturday’s ‘El Clasico’ against Madrid at the Bernabeu, where the Catalan club defend an eight-point lead at the top of the Primera Division standings.
Shakhtar had history against them coming into the clash with only three clubs ever having previously managed to overturn a four-goal first-leg deficit in UEFA competition, while on Saturday the Ukrainian champions suffered their first home defeat since October 2008 after going down 1-0 to 10-man Obolon Kyiv.
Despite that loss though, Shakhtar still boasted a hugely impressive record at the Donbass Arena, where they had won 32 of 35 matches since moving there in September 2009, and Mircea Lucescu’s side were determined not to give Barca an easy ride.
Knowing how critical an early goal could be, Shakhtar started in determined fashion and they created a great opening in the eighth minute when Jadson’s clever pass put Douglas in, but he could not beat Victor Valdes, who did superbly to block at his near post.
The home side continued to push and Jadsen had two efforts which, fortunately for Barca, were straight at Valdes.
Barca stayed calm though, and soon enough they were causing problems for the Shakhtar defence. Messi and Ibrahim Afellay both saw well-struck efforts saved by Andrei Pyatov, while Adriano had a shot cleared off the line by Yaroslav Rakitskiy.
Messi then spurned a magnificent chance in the 31st minute when faced with just Pyatov to beat. However, although the Shakhtar goalkeeper came out on top on that occasion, he was left grasping at thin air 12 minutes later when Messi put Barca ahead with his ninth goal in this season’s Champions League.
The Argentina international received a return pass from Dani Alves on the edge of the Shakhtar area before making his way into the box and, after riding a challenge, fired a low shot inside Pyatov’s near post.
That goal wiped out Shakhtar’s away strike from the first leg and all but ended any slim hopes they had of creating a huge upset.
However, the home side refused to give up and they almost drew level on the stroke of half-time with a Jadsen free-kick that Valdes did well to tip over. Shakhtar kept up their hunt for an equaliser after the break, but they also left themselves at risk of being hit on the counter-attack and Barca nearly doubled their lead in the 58th minute through Afellay.
A fine run from Messi ripped open the Shakhtar defence and, after he had laid the ball off to Afellay, it needed a fine diving save from Pyatov to deny the Dutchman.
Valdes produced an even better stop in the 73rd minute to keep out Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who had spun well on the edge of the box but saw his rasping drive brilliantly parried over one-handed by the Barca number one.
Shakhtar’s final chance to salvage a draw fell to substitute Marcelo Moreno, but he volleyed wide from six yards out after flinging himself at Vyacheslav Shevchuk’s superb right-wing cross and Barca were able to celebrate the victory.
Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
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