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Beitar Jerusalem fans infamous in the Israeli league for their Meir Kahane inspired hyper-nationalism and racism towards Arabs an Muslims had their world turned upside down in the January transfer window when eccentric billionaire Arkadi Gaydamak (the former owner of Portsmouth) brought in not one but two Chechen Muslim players, Zaur Sadaev and Dzabhrail Kadiev. Thus breaking a proud tradition of being the only Israeli club to never to hire the enemy.

The news was met with anger and protesting fans rioted in shopping malls and hurled racist abuse at the two players during their first training session. However, Gaydamak remained unbowed and his intransigence seems to have really gotten under the skin of the nastiest of the lot, the ultras known as La Familia. The club's office and trophy room was torched in an arson attack a week ago, on the same day four Beitar fans were indicted for chanting "Death To Arabs" and "May Your Village Burn" at a match against Bnei Yehuda, a club long associated with Arab players. The club's caretaker Meir Harush in an interview afterwards talked of the loss:

"They burned the symbol of Beitar, the history of the club. People without a heart. It's infuriating and shocking," reported Channel 1.

Seven fans were taken in by the police and more are arrests are on the way.

The mindless act seems to have repulsed Israel political figures, football authorities, and the saner elements in Beitar's fan base. Even Benjamin Netanyahu, never one to shy away from cynically sticking a shiv in any ME peace accord appeared moved enough to issue a boilerplate:

"Such behavior is shameful. We cannot countenance such racism." He added, "The Jewish people, who suffered from boycotts and ostracism, must be a light unto the nations."

Of course, coincidentally enough, this remorseful condemnation came after Beitar's arson attack and not before when from the stands, this exhibition of ugly racism was in full display. According to reports, the majority of fans who appear moderate reject the most extreme elements and authorities are determined to marginalize them further. The evidence was the 79th minute introduction of Sadiyev, the Chechen player into last week's match against Bnei Sakhnin with Beitar trailing. His debut was greeted by both sides with applause creating a rare moment of unity.

There is also increasing anxiety on the part of Gaydamak, who has tried unsuccessfully to sell the club on numerous occasions and one of the factors cited in that failure is the club's unsavoury reputation. His move to recruit the Chechens might be driven by economic considerations more than tempering the behaviour of the ultras. However, this sounds like a temporary icing because the sort of virulent Meir Kahane extremism that drives La Familia is not going away. If they can resort to arson against the club they profess to love, Gaydamak's revisionism, whether pretended or genuine, is just mere inconvenience. There is also a double standard involved when it comes to Israeli racism as they unlike other associations or clubs have never been sanctioned or fined by UEFA or FIFA. Rifaat Turk, one of the best know Arab Israeli players subjected to racial abuse in every match played for Hapoel Tel Aviv during the 70s and 80s, has every reason to feel pessimistic.

It's a relief Barca keeps its best moves on the pitch because Gerard Pique, Shakira's present love interest and his team mates tried matching her booty shaking in a failing effort. Xavi was on stage but the rest of the heavenly triangle Messi and Iniesta were absent. Busquets too having decided being upright for one evening was enough.

It was all part of the ongoing festivities following their double with the Colombian bombshell adopted by the club as its muse.

Mmmmm .... there are perks to be had when you win. Arsenal, when do we get to see Lily Allen?

Sir Alex was gracious in defeat
"They're the best in Europe, no question about that. In my time as a manager, I would say they're the best team we've faced. Everyone acknowledges that and I accept that. It's not easy when you've been well beaten like that to think another way. No one has given us a hiding like that. It's a great moment for them. They deserve it because they play the right way and enjoy their football.
But how long it lasts ... whether they can replace that team at some point ... they certainly have the right philosophy, but it's always difficult to find players like Xavi [Hernández], [Andrés] Iniesta and [Lionel] Messi all the time. But they're enjoying the moment that they have just now. We never controlled Lionel Messi, but many people have had to say that over the years"

szólj hozzá: Barca vs Man UTD

The suspicion that the Premiership was fought amongst a group of 30 lb lightweights and won depending on who blinked first was borne out today.

If this does not convince football at its core is a team sport than nothing ever will. The match was over minutes into the final although Man Utd might point rightly to Rooney's superlative finish as evidence to the contrary. Other than that serendipitous event it was complete domination and the achievement of a 3-1 scoreline suggests a chasm between the best representatives of world football.

Utd not for the first time came across a system. That system believes football is not a hierarchical top down system. It is a parallel distributed model where the executor is a player privy to the best knowledge and therefore primed to set forth the next sequence of action. Nominally it is Xavi. But it could be Iniesta, Alves, Messi, or Busquets in a Medusa like conundrum for any team worth its salt. Which so far none have yet to solve.

The coming out like gangbusters for the first few minutes flattered to deceive as Barca were able to blunt back Man Utd's telegraphed intent of scoring first. Thereafter it was a thoroughly clinical Barca taking over. Like sharks smelling a wounded quarry they circled the Utd goal and under that inexorable pressure it became a matter of time when the citadel would fall. Unlike the walk the ball home stererotype Pedro, Messi, and then Villa showed no hesitation in pulling the trigger from range. In between space evacuated was as rapidly filled up in a series of seamless linkages animating Barca's game. The odd Man Utd possession when they did get the ball back was confined to a fruitless long ball.

The English version's instinctual recoiling of a collective which spurns misty eyed tropes of individual effort, bottle, and legends has run its course. This is an incomparable Barcelona team reaping the benefits of a system put into place three decades before. Everyone wants to aspire to and replicate. Even Sir Alex was forced into acknowledgment.

" No one has given us a hiding like that. It's a great moment for them. They deserve it because they play the right way and enjoy their football."

Barca TV take you through their three Champion's League victories mainly..

and a walk down Manchester United memory lane put together by MUTV

This Taiwanese animation lampoons the Giggs affair and makes the salient point. Be afraid, very afraid of censoring the internets (sic). Because it will blow up in your face. If only Giggs had been more savvy he would have taken heed of the Streisand effect.

Here is Sir Alex caught in the act of trying to ban a reporter who strayed from the reservation by asking a question about Ryan Giggs.

"We'll get him" is distinctly gangster-ish but it also gives you an insight into how the Man Utd manager wants to keep away a media circus salivating at the prospect of a bigger story than the Champions League finals. "Give them an inch, they'll take a yard."

Grimsvotn spews ash

Icelandic volcanic ash changes the Catalonian club's travel plans.

They will be in London this evening two days ahead of schedule. Grimsvotn is the offender this time with meteorologists predicting prevailing winds will carrying its ash to English airspace potentially shutting down busy hubs like Heathrow.

More worryingly for Pep Guardiola is the prospect of their fans not being able to make it if the volcano continues to spew more ash in the next few days.

UEFA takes an exceedingly dim view of Jose Mourinho's "Porque?" screed. A five match ban with one already served and one that goes into effect three years prospectively. Which means Real will be without him in their first three Champions League matches. And Florentino Perez is losing patience. Not a good week for him.

Darron Gibson was Andres Iniesta with his superb pass to Antonio Valencia which got Utd started. Gibson came up with the second goal helped hugely by Manuel Neuer when his lashed shot was muffed by the Schalke goalie.

Jose Manuel Jurado took advantage of a Man Utd pile up at the back to slam the ball past Van Der Sar. Schalke had a pulse for a brief moment.

The game was truly put away by Anderson with a great piece of hustle which saw him fall, bounce back up, and round the ball away from the nonplussed Neuer. Minutes later the Brazilian was left with the simple act of tapping the ball into an open goal after Berbatov's flawless cross found him. Am I saying Neuer had an off day? Yes, he did. And Schalke's defense or lack of defense was exposed through both semi-final legs.

But the biggest talking point was Sir Alex's decision to rest as many as nine starters from the first leg and give his second string a crack at this game. No doubt the Chelsea match this weekend with the Premiership title hanging in balance was uppermost in his mind.

Man Utd move to Champions League finals where the face Barca in a repeat of their 2009 encounter which Barca won easily, 2-0 (apart from a great opening spell with CR7 looking unstoppable).

Wembley is where Man Utd won their first CL title in 1967-68 beating Benfica, 4-1 in extra time with goals scored by Bobby Charlton (2), George Best, and Brian Kidd. Benfica's only goal was scored by Jaime Graça. Sir Alex hopes Wembley will prove luckier against a Barca team that will be considered the favourite.

Franck De Bleekere was spot on with the decision to disallow Gonzalo Higuain's goal. The referee blew the whistle just before the striker put the ball in goal because a tumbling Cristiano Ronaldo took down Mascherano from behind while on his way to intercepting the ball from Higuain.

If you look carefully, as CR7 falls his elbow comes down on Masch's right foot. There is solid contact and the Argentinian goes down and milks it a few times. On this occasion there is no arguing he was impeded. Where Bleekere made a mistake in not awarding a free kick when Pique barged into CR7 kick starting this controversial chain of events.

As is his wont, CR7 was a bit distraught. "It was better not to have come" and "Next time give the cup directly to Barcelona." He had a bit about Mascherano. " In England you could never throw him down, here he was dying everytime you touched him".

He has a point; clearly Mascherano was Barca's candidate for the hall of shame. But Real had their red card candidates in Carvalho, Adebayor and Diarra all who miraculously survived.

Real were far more attacking this leg but never seriously threatened except at the very beginning and another 10 minute spell in the seond half. The goal conceded by Barca was a result of them getting too cute. The Catalans were the superior team by far and they deserve to go to the Champions League finals. Fans can now cleanse themselves of all the fecal matter thrown by both clubs. We'll get to see a real football final without Mourinho's insane clown posse.

On a sidenote it was heartwarming to see the standing ovation given to Eric Abidal who came on in the last minute. He was sidelined following surgery to remove a tumour on his liver.

The CL final is according to the script.Barcelona went ahead of Real Madrid with an aggregate score of 3 -1. Mourinho watched the game from the gloom of his hotel room.Ronaldo had words to say about a disallowed goal.

szólj hozzá: Barça 1-1 RMadrid - Highlights

Jose Mourinho will watch the second leg of the Champions League in a hotel room. Aitor Karanka, his assistant has been delegated on the pitch but it did not stop Mourinho playing his pre-match mind games.

This time it was Franck De Bleekere getting singled out. The Belgian referee is officiating the match and was the target of Mourinho's ire when he sent off Thaigo Motta in last year's semi-finals between Inter and Barca. That decision was part of a long list cited as evidence that UEFA favoured the Catalonians. For his part, the referee stated "this was all about football."

For Real to have any chance they need to attack from the get go. Karim Benzema their hottest striker in the Champions League should partner Cristiano Ronaldo. Ozil and Angel Di Maria form the supply line and will have to do a better job of finding the two strikers than the first leg. On the bench Karanka can turn to Gonzalo Higuain, Kaka, and Adebayor to bolster the attack. One thing is for sure, this is not the time to turn to anti-football.

Its all coming to a boil. An aggrieved Real played footage that shows Sergio Busquets mouthing off to Marcelo words that are lip read as Mono, Mono (Monkey, Monkey in Spanish).

Busquets is no angel. He's in the pantheon of shameless cheats. Imaginary dementors knock him down. But unless there is unvarnished proof in the form of accompanying audio we're assuming he said a racial slur. It could be the more innocuous Bobo (Dumbass in Spanish). Assumption is the mother of all eff ups. We have seen this before. Expert lip readers brought on to interpret Marco Materazzi's instigation of Zidane were proven wrong.

An excellent through ball to Xavi sometime in the first half.
Sergio Ramos couldn't stop one of his dipping weaving runs without getting booked -even though he would have known that that booking would cost him his place in the next game.
..and more...
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Cristiano Ronaldo does not like Jose Mourinho's tactics which are built on rope a dope tactics where one defends till the opponent keels over in exhaustion and then comes the sucker punch.

Except CR7 is exactly the sort of player suited for Mourinho's counterattacking style because he likes to run hard and direct at defenders, employ his stepovers, and unleash his shot in a flash. 0 to 60 in a nanosecond. It brought him success at Man Utd. There is no patience nor guile in for Barca's tiki taka. He would develop a permanent pout realizing he serves as one of the many nodes in Barca's highly developed parallel scheme.

On Wednesday evening he had the perfect opportunity to practice his counterattacking skills. Carles Puyol at makeshift left back and at 33 years, a vintage Studebaker to guard against a sleek purring Bugatti. He could have made Barca play like a man down even with stunted service. And yet, there was hardly a time when CR7 got the better of the veteran. His set pieces were horribly off blasting into the wall or spooning it into the stratosphere.

At the other end Leo Messi went about his destiny with greatness in the usual way.

Mourinho's tactics become a convenient punching bag for an underwhelming performance. But it is all part of a blame game being played out from the manager down.

Real Madrid have released this video to back up their strident claim that Pepe did not make contact with Alves prior to his sending off.

The fall out over Wednesday's El Crassico continues. UEFA has decided to open disciplinary cases into both Real Madrid and Barca. Of the two, the Madrid club gets off much worse.

"The case against Real Madrid is in relation to the throwing of missiles, a pitch invasion, the red card shown to Pepe, the dismissal of coach Jose Mourinho, as well as the inappropriate statement given by Mr Mourinho to the media after the match." (Uefa Disciplinary Regulations, Article 5 - Principles of conduct).

"The case against Barcelona regards the red card administered to Jose Pinto."

I have never seen Jose Mourinho look so down in the mouth. In his post match conference, he practically threw in the towel. And his "sometimes it is disgusting for me to live in this world and have this football world for a living" reminds me of his post Chelsea days when he took a hiatus for a year because he had had enough.

With Barca at its peak, Real might have to consign itself to second fiddle for a considerable period of time. What is Mourinho going to do? Develop a system? Players? He's never done that in his career. As a coach Mourinho plays not to lose - it was the way things were done in Chelsea and Inter. Tough gritty defenses and efficient counterattacks. It made for ugly but effective football.

Yesterday was a good case in point. He had three holding midfielders and four backs with Mesut Oezil, Angel Di Maria, and Ronaldo as his attacking options. Barca had to overcome a defensive cordon stretching from the half line down with Di Maria and Oezil falling back to track. It was clear Mourinho was playing for a draw. By the end of the match a frustrated Ronaldo was about 60 yards away from his normal position trying to retrieve the ball. Adebayor was an improvement at first but clearly after Pepe's ejection service to him was unforthcoming.

Barca maybe the beneficiaries of some questionable dismissals but Madrid were never going to beat them even if they had their full complement of players. Mourinho's tactics have to be questioned when players like Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain, and Karim Benzema sit on the bench who not three days ago had subjected Valencia to a 6-3 humiliation.

Mourinho also borders on the ludicrous when he says "They have gained that power. Others don't have a chance." This is the manager of a club who spent €500m on players with bank loans in a country a step away from declaring insolvency and reeling from record unemployment. Everyone knows Florentino Perez just has to call to get these loans approved because no bank can afford to be looked on as the one to torpedo Madrid's chances. In the public relations department the Madrid media are nothing but shameful water carriers for their team. Tell me who has the power. I have said this before but Mourinho's genius lies in turning himself into a victim. Arsene Wenger tries but he comes across as a whinger.

The spotlight should be on Mourinho's tactics not some pie in the sky UNICEF conspiracy theory. What bets he's pining for a Premiership return? He may not even wait to exercise that clause in his contract which says he is free to look for alternate employment after two years.

Spare a thought for Wolfgang Stark. For about 75 minutes this was the El Crassico as players dived, pulled, slapped, and shoved each other. You've never seen full grown men whinge like this before. And one hopes it never happens again.

Pedro and Busquets were atrocious in their theatrics. Pepe took a dive like he had been poleaxed and Lassana Diarra quietly went around nastily clipping each Barca ankle. How he managed to stay on the field is one of the great mysteries.

Barca unsurprisingly had about 75% of the ball but ran into a Real team that sat back and soaked up the pressure as Mourinho applied the same anti-football tactics while at Inter. It works if you're effective on the counter.

The problem was Real could muster very little threat. Cristiano Ronaldo was the lone ranger with very little supply. The striker had just about one testing shot and a header that flew over and that was it. His set pieces were tragic. He is a supremely physical lad but he has absolutely no guile. Carles Puyol shunted to left back and two paces slower was immense in blunting his endeavour.

The bad feelings spilled over at halftime and there was a fracas in the tunnel which resulted in Barca's third string goalie Jose Pinto given the red card. After the half, Pepe flew in with with his right leg leading and clipped Dani Alves. The severity of the tackle is in dispute but the red was a reputation call. Referees are aware of players past records and Pepe is a known thug. But it set off Mourinho furiously winking at the linesman implying he had been paid off. It was red for the Real Madrid gaffer and he spent his minutes in the stands furiously scribbling instructions on a notepad.

Ibrahim Affelay made an instant impact as he came on for Pedro. Marcelo who had hitherto kept Alves and Pedro under wraps was left scrambling as the Dutch winger blazed past him to send a nice dipping cross which was gobbled up by Messi fronting Ramos. 10 minutes later the little maestro left the Real defense in sixes and sevens to finish off majestically with his right foot. The last 15 minutes were vintage Barca stroking the ball with ease and precision and running Real ragged.

Now it is Camp Nou and Mourinho will be without Pepe and Sergio Ramos. The right back's brainless foul on Messi cost him a place in the second leg. The chance of a Man Utd vs Barca repeat final is looking very good.

Mourinho has a conspiracy theory.Dark and diabolical forces are at work...
If I tell Uefa what I really think and feel, my career would end now," Mourinho said. "Instead I will just ask a question to which I hope one day to get a response: Why? Why? Why Ovrebo? Why Busacca? Why De Bleeckere? Why Stark? Why? Because every semi-final the same things happen. We are talking about an absolutely fantastic football team, so why do they need that? Why? Why does a team as good as they are need something [extra] that is so obvious that everyone sees it?
"Why Ovrebo [two] years ago [when the Norwegian referee did not give Chelsea a series of penalties against Barcelona]? Why couldn't Chelsea go to the final? Last year it was a miracle that Inter got there playing with 10 men for so long. A miracle. Why weren't there four penalties against Chelsea [in 2009]? Why send off [Arsenal's Robin] Van Persie [in the last 16]? Where does their power come from?
The match was marred by a brawl between players of both sides.Jose Manuel Pinto and Mourinho both got sent off.Messi's goals came in the last 14 minutes...

szólj hozzá: RM 0-2 BAR - Highlights

The lead in to Barca vs Real is just as fascinating. The normally composed Pep Guardiola finally lays into Jose Mourinho. The Guardian has an English transcript along with a bit about what sparked this row.

"Mourinho es el puto amo". Sort of dismaying because we now have the spectacle of Guardiola coming down to Mourinho's level. On the other hand, this is the sort of stuff that can fire up both squads in a game of such immeasurable magnitude. It is a sign of Mourinho's genius that a €500m team gets to play victim while all the pressure is on Barca to prove themselves.

....for 66 minutes.The score would have read a lot more than the eventual 2 - 0 by then if it hadn't been for his brilliance between the posts.
It finally took something pretty special to beat Neuer.
Rooney slid in a reverse-pass that was perfectly weighted for Giggs and that's how Schalke's obdurate goalkeeper was beaten at last.Rooney scored the second shortly afterwards..

Footage of Sir Alex acknowledging Neuer's performance ....