Special One won over Italian Press

Capital gains: Madrid papers Marca and AS celebrate Barca's demise

Corriere dello Sport hail 'Heroic Inter'

Wall of glory: Gazzetta dello Sport

One more post, because he is so special! :)

Italy's media hailed Inter Milan's heroics after they eliminated holders Barcelona to reach the Champions League final.

The Nerazzurri lost 1-0 at the Nou Camp yesterday but progressed to the final of Europe's most prestigious club competition for the first time in 38 years, with a 3-2 aggregate triumph over the defending champions.

Milan-based Gazzetta dello Sport highlighted 10-man Inter's impressive defending as Barca dominated possession after Thiago Motta was sent off in the first half.

'Inter wall of glory: resists being down to 10 for 63 minutes,' read its headline.

Pep Guardiola's Barca enjoyed 75 per cent of possession while Inter were forced to play in their own half for most of the encounter.

And the press praised a masterclass in defending.

'There was only one goal,' Gazzetta admitted. 'But Inter's tactics were to cover every possible hole.'

Rome-based daily Corriere dello Sport lauded Inter's fighting spirit as the Nerazzurri made it to next month's final, which will be played at the Bernabeu in Madrid.

'Heroic Inter,' was Corriere's headline. 'They go down to 10, resist without trembling to eliminate a great Barcelona.'

Meanwhile, Turin daily Tuttosport posted a photo of Inter coach Jose Mourinho celebrating with a headline: 'Inter heroic, it's a final.

National newspaper La Repubblica's front page includes a photograph of Mourinho running across the Nou Camp turf with his arms up in the air after the final whistle and its headline: 'Inter destiny, with 10 in the final.'

The newspaper's sports editorial showers the 'Special One' with praise, proclaiming: 'The hero is Jose. Never before was he so special. A phenomenon for (Inter president Massimo) Moratti.'

Too late: Barcelona paper El Mundo Deportivo carry a picture of Gerard Pique's goal

Mourinho, who guided Inter to the scudetto in his first season at the club last summer, is the reason, according to La Repubblica, why Inter remain alive in all competitions.

It read: 'The man who has changed Inter.

'Mourinho gives the club a Champions final after 38 years, with one of the most exceptional defensive displays ever seen at that level.'

In Spain, the press reaction differed between the sports newspapers based in Barcelona and Madrid.

In Barcelona, the tone was much more sympathetic, with Sport's front cover announcing: 'The champions fall like a champion. Barca gave everything, dominated the whole of the game and only lacked one goal.

'We are proud of this team. For the way it plays, its style and its attitude, Barca continue being the reference for good football.'

Inside, the newspaper went on to talk about the 'anti-football' of Inter, saying: 'They passed through those who did not want to play football. The anti-football won. Barca fell into the trap of the ultra-defensive Inter.'

El Mundo Deportivo, another Barcelona-based daily, was slightly more critical, claiming Pep Guardiola's side 'lacked spark'.

It added: 'Only Pique gave a dose of mystique to a cold game, but his goal came very late. The Inter players gave a lesson in defending to put themselves into the final.'

Truely Special! Inter eliminated Barca

• Inter Milan win semi-final 3-2 on aggregate
  

There were times here when both teams could have used a couple of bodyguards. In defence for Inter Milan. Around Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets when he resorted to histrionics to get an opponent sent off.

Alongside Jose Mourinho when he ran towards the Italian fans in celebration only to be accosted by Victor Valdes, the incensed Barcelona goalkeeper.

But after seeing his side survive the onslaught that followed the most unjust dismissal of Thiago Motta after only 26 minutes of this utterly absorbing Champions League semi-final, Mourinho must have felt there was no need for such security.

That he, and indeed his Inter Milan players, were nigh on indestructible.

Nani and Evra fighting on

Manchester United's Patrice Evra vomits during the match against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford

The Old Trafford pitch was liberally decorated with the vomit of Patrice Evra and Nani during Saturday's game against Spurs. "Maybe the heat brought it on a little bit," Alex Ferguson said of Evra, who had to come off in the second half. "It was a warm day. I don't know what's happened, whether it's something he ate or is something going around the place."

MU 3 Spurs 1 - Pray for Chelsea to slip now...

Fabulous victory at home over Spurs!

Giggs' double penalties and Nani's brilliant second goal setup a dramatic finish for the 2009/2010 season title race!

[click to enlarge]

so, according to the chart, the best starting eleven should be:

Joe Hart

G.Neville, John Terry, M Dawson, L.Baines

T.Walcott, Lampard, Barry, Joe Cole

Rooney, Defoe

Can England win the World Cup? I guess not. We have Spain, Brazil, then Argentina and Germany, and then Holland...

Now this is Special!

Jose Mourinho last night proved why he is the ‘Special One’ by masterminding a remarkable victory over Barcelona and taking Inter Milan a step closer to the Champions League final.

The former Chelsea boss managed to accomplish what Arsenal failed to do and stop Lionel Messi in a 3-1 semi-final, first leg rout at the San Siro. The Argentina forward was swarmed out of the game by the no-nonsense Italians.

Jose for United? It better be... :)

Shell Helix Ultra Transparent Car

The Facts about Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes! He scores goals!

Francis Lee, an extrovert who never stinted on the good things in life, paid one of the more extraordinary tributes to Scholes in the wake of defeat for his beloved City. Nor did he deliver it through gritted teeth. He said simply that, as far as he was concerned, you could keep Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, there was no doubt in his mind that Scholes had been the outstanding servant for United since the Holy Trinity of Law, Best and Charlton.

When Scholes was a mere 32, Charlton declared: "Watching Alex Ferguson build so many great teams has given us the chance to see so many great players like Roy Keane and Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs, but I have to admit my favourite has always been Paul Scholes.

"I love his football intelligence and his conviction that he will always find a way to win. The more I have watched him the more I have felt, 'This boy is Manchester United through and through'. He's always on the ball, always turning on goal, always trying to bring other people into the action and if he ever loses the ball you have to suspect he is ill.

"I'm always disappointed when I don't see his name on the team sheet. His absence makes me feel despondent. I wonder who is going to do all that clever stuff that cuts up a defence."

You wonder, also, who will fight so hard to keep football at the centre of his life, who will most doggedly resist the temptations of the fast lane and the lure of mere celebrity over rock-hard achievement, and who, at an age when most leading players are consigned to the margins of the big league, will raise his fist to the heavens and say that maybe he has one great performance left.

There is one obvious candidate, of course. His name is Wayne Rooney and he can only benefit from seeing, up so close, what might turn out to be the most glorious of Last Hurrahs.

Scholes stuns City!!!

It was all headed to the nil-nil score in the 92nd minutes... and then Paul Scholes did this!

Bloody dramatic! :)

I'll have one please, thank you! [Mini E]

With a 0-62mph time of 8.5 seconds, 201bhp and peak torque of 162lb.ft. As the chinking of bottles from the milkman's float in the morning highlights, with electric motors the peak torque is delivered to the wheels immediately. Press the accelerator on the MINI E and the response is lightning fast, the acceleration instantaneous. There are no gears, just pop the 'gear' sector into drive, prod the accelerator and you're off. Quickly. It's hugely addictive and makes the MINI E feel more rapid than even its supercharged petrol relatives.

It's pretty silent too. There's a rush of wind noise and some whirring from the motors but other than that you're just pinned back in your seat as the MINI rockets down the road. That's doubly impressive when you consider that the MINI E weighs 1,465kg, or around 265kg more than its petrol equivalent. You feel that slightly in the firm ride and leaden steering, but otherwise it's all pure MINI.

MINI claims around 150 miles is possible on a charge, which - depending on the outlet rating - takes as long as ten hours.

The only way to print from iPad...

Read this. I think it is innovative...

An Expensive Mistake

[click to see big poster]

Summer Clean Up! Blackburn 0 - 0 MU

We should be happy we went this far. In the beginning of the season, everybody was written down on United's chances after the departure of Ronaldo and Tevez.

Rooney suddenly found his footing this season and carries us through this far, then he broke down, and so too is United's season.

We need to rebuild.

Out:

Berbatov, Carrick, G.Neville, Scholes, Owen, Foster

In:

New goalkeeper, a right back, a creative midfielder and a top striker.

New shirt, new hope?

Decline of United

[click for big Xavi Fact page]

This sums things up nicely...

The past month or so has been about English football's collective failure. We have all gloried in our domination of the Champions League. Now it is time to accept that standards have slipped. Ferguson is not a manager who pays too much attention to statistics.

He manages more on instinct. Who else could hand Darron Gibson a place in his team and see him score in the third minute?

The United boss should, however, digest the following: United made 337 passes at a completion rate of 71 per cent. Their opponents' figures were 520 passes at 82 per cent while, the previous night, Barcelona ended their victory parade with 687 passes at 88 per cent.

This has nothing to do with cheating. It's just better football.

Out of Europe!

Nani did well with 2 goals and superb performance. Rooney surprised everyone by playing, but Robben has the last laugh. 4-4 on aggregate but out on away goal rule.

Brilliant, yet not enough.

MESSI IS THE BEST

... Messi can lead them to glory. He is that good. Better. Much better, in fact. Brilliant. A genius. It seems impossible to even find the intensity of superlatives required to heap praise on a player who is attracting such universal acclaim, and rightly so.

Why Chelsea is better...

A touch of genius...

...and the hand ball goal.

Doomed United - Title's gone, and probably out of Europe.

Performed poorly at home with little penetration and drive. Soundly beaten by Chelsea, who should now have the title in the pocket.

End of the season for me.

Let the World Cup begins!