Barcelona have won the Spanish Super Cup for the tenth time after a brilliant Lionel Messi scored two goals in a 3-2 home win against Real Madrid, earning the European champions a 5-4 aggregate victory. The game was marred by two red cards to Real Madrid players as the bad blood between the two sides carried over from last season.

The midfields of both Real Madrid and Barcelona are beginning to resemble Japanese trains at rush hour. If Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola continue to pack more and more players in, it is likely they will struggle to keep each one happy and in form. Something has to give. So who will survive the cull, and who will earn starting midfield berths in 2011-12?

By Chris Wright

After a couple of week's worth of wrangling, gangly midfielder Sergio Busquets has signed a new contract at Barcelona which will bind him to the Catalan club until 2015.

So said the man himself:

"I'm very happy with the renewal of my contract.

The final of the Champions League at Wembley Stadium is almost upon us. The iconic twin towers of the old Wembley may be gone but the arch of the latest, rejuvenated and reinvigorated Wembley Stadium is all set to become just as famous.

Saturday 28th May 2011 will the biggest day in the new stadiums life to date.

We should've seen this coming, but couldn't get past this initial rendezvous' surface.

Welp, that was a big mistake.

HUGE.

While the now-defunct NOTW was first to report details about Daniela Semaan (36-year-old divorcee who shares two kids, ages 11 and 9, with her property tycoon ex-hubby, Elie Taktouk) and her hook-up with Cesc Fabregas, Noticias 24 is now coughing up the details about how these two allegedly first came in contact.

dreamy...

Now for today's serious news. Not content with the youthful talents of Busquets, Bojan and Messi, Barcelona have brought in some really quality....
Bieber shows his talents

El Real Madrid-Barcelona de la Liga de Campeones sigue dando mucho de qué hablar. La última polémica se ha producido por un vídeo que ha salido a la luz de un encontronazo entre Sergio Busquets y Marcelo que pudo acabar con un insulto racista del canterano azulgrana, según permiten intuir las imágenes.

By Neil W. Blackmon "Mas Que Un Club" Club Motto of FC Barcelona This article was originally going to run Sunday or Saturday evening, before the announcement by FIFA that Barcelona midfielder and Spanish international Sergio Busquets was cleared of wrongdoing for alleged racist statements made to Real Madrid's Marcelo in the second leg [.

F C BARCELONA: Valdés; Alves, Puyol o Mascherano, Piqué, Abidal o Puyol; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Messi y Villa.MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Park; y Rooney.ÁRBITRO: Víktor Kassai (HUN).ESTADIO: Wembley (Inglaterra).

We're pretty sure the whole of Catalonia has just erupted into a flurry of Piquera frenzy after the Colombian singer did a special performance (as part of her Spain tour) at the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuic last night. And yes, she actually waited for the arrival of the Barca players before officially starting the concert.

Guardiola awkwardly watches Sergio Busquets and Mourinho
nuzzle noses in a memorable moment of the match
After my makeshift preview of El Clasico, things turned out exactly as I didn't think they would. While I was expecting an exciting battle between two sides wanting to crush each other, it turned out to be a fairly tiring affair to watch, especially the first half.

27.04.2011 - A los duelos catalán - madridista, Messi - Cristiano, Barcelona - Real Madrid, se suman en primera plana Guardiola - Mourinho.
Pep Guardiola se refirió a los arbitrajes (vídeo), Mourinho salió a la yugular (vídeo) y Pep volvió a contestarle (vídeo).

Barcelona's 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at the Camp Nou tonight sealed a 3-1 aggregate win and secured a place in the Champions League Final on 28 May final at Wembley.

This game was the most open, and riveting of the four recent El Clasico's with both sides committed to playing football and not diving all open the pitch.

The UEFA Champions League Final that pits Manchester United and Barcelona should prove to be a tactical chess match between these two storied clubs.
For those who are enthusiasts of team tactics, here are the key points to watch for:
* Pressing: United came out strong in the 2009 final, and almost scored early when Park came close to finishing off a Ronaldo free kick.

The two best teams in Europe locked horns in Spain tonight as Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 2-2 in an entertaining first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. I watched a lot of Premier League games this weekend and these two Spanish giants are several steps above even Manchester United.

Real Madrid had an impressive preseason and Jose Mourinho threw a couple of wrinkles into his team selection playing Ángel Di María on the right flank and leaving summer signing Fábio Coentrão on the bench.

On the 10th June 2008, a 19 year old Mexican by the name of Giovanni Dos Santos joined Tottenham FC from European Giants Barcelona for the minimal fee of £4.7m. Having progressed through the youth ranks at Barcelona with the likes of Bojan and Sergio Busquets, 'Giovanni' quickly gained a reputation as an expert dribbler with instinctive creative attributes, with many dubbing him the new Ronaldinho.

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Wojo, Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Cesc, Nasri, Theo, van PersieStarters: Bench: Almunia, Gibbs, Squillaci, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendnter, Arshavin

Barcelona: Starters: Valdes; Daniel Alves, Pique, Abidal, Maxwell; Busquets; Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Villa, Messi
Bench:

Nothing overly surprising for us.

Arsene Wenger has finally managed to register his first victory against FC Barcelona with a splendid 2-1 come back from behind victory. David Villa gave Barca the lead in the first half but Arsenal came back spectacularly in the second half to take the game away from us. We have now everything left to do and to make matters worse we will be without the service of Pique for the return leg.

But what would happen if the teams played each other? Both probably produced their greatest displays in beating Real Madrid 5-0, Barcelona earlier this season; AC Milan in the European Cup semifinal in 1989 (both, oddly, also drew 1-1 in the Bernabeu the same season). So let's take the lineups from those two games and pit them against each other.

El Comité de Competición de la UEFA tenía que decidir este lunes si sancionaba o dejaba sin castigo al centrocampista del Fútbol Club Barcelona por unos supuestos insultos racistas al madridista Marcelo.
Finalmente, este organismo ha desestimado una sanción a Sergio Busquets y podrá estar a las órdenes de su entrenador en la final de la Liga de Campeones que disputarán contra el Manchester United el próximo sábado 28 de mayo.

El terremoto causado por el caso Busquets tiene antecedentes en la historia reciente de los Real Madrid - Barça. El jugador culé ha sido denunciado ante la UEFA por supuesto racismo al haber llamado, según el club merengue "mono" a Marcelo. Algo muy similar ocurrió en la temporada 98-99 cuando Luis Enrique también gritó "mono" a Roberto Carlos después de que el brasileño fuera expulsado en un Clásico jugado en el Camp Nou.

Recuperado de su afección pulmonar, César Luis Menotti abandonó el cigarrillo y volvió a hablar públicamente. Elogia el fútbol del Barcelona, reconoce a Pep Guardiola y califica a José Mourinho como "el número uno de la vulgaridad".
Fragmento de la entrevista de Eduardo Verona publicada en Diario Popular, el 13 de mayo de 2011.

MVP(Messi, Villa Pedro) Goals secure Barca the Title

FC Barcelona won their 4th Champions League Title of their history with a classy 3-1 victory over English Champions, Manchester United. With this victory we have won three Champions League title in last six years. In a picture perfect night goals from Pedro, Messi and Villa all scored to give Barca the victory and continue their love affair with the Wembley stadium.

I was always a staunch supporter of women playin with each other you know? Get in there and get physical, that's how the game should be.

- Andy Gray, on the Women's World Cup

...................................

- Response from the rest of the world

I have so far caught.

Barcelona and Real Madrid renew their rivalry in the two-game Spanish Supercup series this weekend in what should be an early indicator of each teams' form ahead of the new season.

The teams met five times last season and this preseason series between league winner and domestic cup champion provides two more clashes, starting with Sunday's first-leg at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium followed by the return at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

I will keep this short and sweet in the interest of time. FIRST and foremost, Xavi's hair will look like an iguana. No, I don't refer to that pet iguana you had in grade school that eventually died because you forgot to plug in the hot rock. No, I refer to some sort of wickedly cool animated iguana who wears a Hawaiian t-shirt, travels by skateboard, constantly gives the thumbs up, and endorses a variety of delicious fruit-tasting snacks which contain little to no fruit.

Barcelona have won the Spanish Super Cup for the tenth time after a brilliant Lionel Messi scored two goals in a 3-2 home win against Real Madrid, earning the European champions a 5-4 aggregate victory. The game was marred by two red cards to Real Madrid players as the bad blood between the two sides carried over from last season.

FC Barcelona Beat Real betis 5-0 in Copa Del Rey Quarter Final first Leg

The newly crowned FIFA-Balon D'Or World Player of Year, Lionel Messi celebrated his scuccess in grand style scoring a hat-trick in the first leg of Copa Del Rey quarter final clash against Real Betis. The scoreline would give us an impression of a very easy outing, but it wasn't that easy.

[caption id="attachment_1461" align="aligncenter" width="610" caption="Goalscorer Silva seems to agree with me in his lack of excitement..."][/caption]

I think I would have preferred if we lost this match.

Not only because it would have been fairer on our opponents, but because a win conceals the fact that we had a pretty crap match against an inferior rival.

It has been revealed that Barcelona and Pep Guardiola have reached an agreement to renew his contract with the club until June 30th, 2012.

Guardiola is developing into a club legend after an illustrious career as a player, guiding the reserve team to promotion as a coach and then taking over as the head coach of Barcelona and bringing trophy after trophy to Nou Camp.

FC Barcelona vs Arsenal Promise to be yet another classic

FC Barcelona and Arsenalbuild up into the most important match of this season so far in contrasting fashion. Played your opponent out of the park, is an under-statement when it comes to describing Arsenal's performance against Wolves.

15:15, London
Describing something abstract as palpable tends to irritate me, but I genuinely can feel the excitement. In a little over four hours, Arsenal will kick off against Barcelona - arguably the best club side in the world.
All over the pitch there are exciting battles - Theo v Maxwell, Van Persie v Milito, Fabregas v Busquets, and, most mouth-wateringly of all, Eboue v Messi.

Many who don't follow the beautiful game intensely would still have made time to catch a game of this magnitude with two teams as highly rated and with such cherished histories as Real Madrid and Barcelona. This game should have been a spectacle not only for the hard core fans of both sides but also for the lovers of football around the world and even for the casual observers.

The third installment of this season's 'El Clasico' match-up between Real Madrid and Barcelona could have been renamed 'El Fiasco'. Depending on your outlook, it may have been surprising to see Jose Mourinho's Madrid squad setup with such bullying tactics. Both coaches had strong words for one another in the press conference so I was not surprised that the atmosphere was tense.

El Real Madrid ha echado un órdago a la UEFA y al Barcelona, tras pedir una sanción para seis futbolistas del equipo azulgrana, y a su entrenador, Pep Guardiola, por incitarles al mal comportamiento deportivo.
Según informa Catalunya Radio, la entidad madridista considería a Guardiola como el inductor de esta maniobra por parte del club azulgrana.

By FRANCO PANIZO

It looks like Real Madrid could enter the second leg of the Champions League semifinals against Barcelona in worse shape than it is already in.

UEFA rejected Real Madrid's new complaints on Barcelona on Monday, and has instead opted to examine six combined charges on the two teams later this week, five of which are against Real Madrid.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This week we congratulate Barcelona and AC Milan for winning the Spanish and Italian leagues respectively, while we also feature some bad and ugly stories from Spain and Scotland.

Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has been cleared of racial abuse by UEFA and will be able to play in the Champions League final against Manchester United.

Uefa has dismissed claims from Barca's Spanish rivals Real Madrid that Busquets racially insulted Brazilian full-back Marcelo in their semi-final.

El terremoto causado por el caso Busquets tiene antecedentes en la historia reciente de los Real Madrid - Barça. El jugador culé ha sido denunciado ante la UEFA por supuesto racismo al haber llamado, según el club merengue "mono" a Marcelo. Algo muy similar ocurrió en la temporada 98-99 cuando Luis Enrique también gritó "mono" a Roberto Carlos después de que el brasileño fuera expulsado en un Clásico jugado en el Camp Nou.

Meet the Press: A United Rio Ferdinand and Sir Alex Ferguson speak at a news conference today ahead of Saturday's UEFA Champions League finale (AP Photos).

Let's hope I'm not jinxing the occasion or over-hyping it, but all the signs are pointing to a game for the ages when this one kicks off at about 11:30 a.