Real Madrid have won the La Liga title for the season 2011-2012 and on top of that, Barcelona have
won nothing this season except for Copa Del Ray which is another great news. Barcelone beat
Atletico Bilbao in the final so their Copa Del Ray is basically worthless. Essentially Barcelona
have won nothing in [.
Manchester City stands two games from the English Premier League title, but Newcastle United has
aspirations of a Top Three place and UEFA Champions League berth when the sides meet today in
Newcastle.
Papiss Cisse is the hottest player in the Premier League right now and he will look to keep his
incredible goal-scoring rate going against a City side riding high after their win against
Manchester United.
By FRANCO PANIZO
Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar's sucessful run in the Europa League continued on Thursday, as they
defeated Spanish side Valencia in the first leg of their quarterfinals clash.
AZ played to a 2-1 home win over Valencia on goals from Brett Holman and Maarten Martens.
By FRANCO PANIZO
A day after Pep Guardiola said he had no plans of selling him, David Villa was lost to
injury.
Villa will be sidelined for approximately the next six months after fracturing his tibia in
Barcelona's 4-0 Club World Cup win over Al Sadd on Thursday.
FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Soccer: Monterrey - Esperance at 2:30am and Santos - Kashiwa at 5:30am.
Europa League on GolTV: PSG - Atletico Bilbao at 1pm and Fulham - Odense BK at 3pm. All Times
Eastern
By FRANCO PANIZO
If Liverpool is to overcome its less-than-stellar start to the season and get back in contention
for a Champions League spot, it will have to do so without one of its top players.
Lucas Leiva has been ruled out for the remainder of the Premiership campaign after sustaining a
knee injury in Liverpool's 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup on Tuesday.
Europa League on GolTV: Schalke - Steau Bucharest at 1pm and Atletico Bilbao - Slovan Bratislava at
3pm. Apertura semifinals on TeleFutura: Queretaro - Tigres at 8pm. All Times Eastern
Pique celebrates goal against Zaragoza (Photo: REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino)
Barcelona continued their impeccable home form this season, cruising to a comfortable 4-0
victory over bottom feeders Real Zaragoza.
With a critical group stage match against AC Milan looming on the horizon, Guardiola rested
regulars Abidal, Iniesta, Busquets and Villa.
By Chris Wright
With the senior side already hogging both European and World bragging rights, Spain's wee
nippers took the Euro U21 title with a 2-0 win over Switzerland yesterday courtesy of goals from
Atletico Bilbao's Ander Herrera and an oppurtunistic 45-yard free-kick from Barcelona
whippersnapper Thiago Alcantara (who, by all accounts, is the reason why Barca are never going to
really need Cesc Fabregas).
