Bilbao vs Sevilla

Sevilla came on the right side of the 4-3 match between Athletic Bilbao earlier in the season, and they will be looking to do that once again when they visit San Mamés, where Bilbao has been excellent this season.

It has just two losses in the last six matches and this, along with the fact that Sevilla are desperately poor away from home, means that the result will be most likely in favor of the home team. Sevilla was just one away victory over Real Sociedad in the last few months, and this makes the trip to Bilbao extremely difficult for Gregorio Manzano's men.

Joaquín Caparrós, meanwhile, has been speaking about revenge for the thrilling match that took place earlier in the season. Sevilla, though, does have history on its side with regard to this fixture, having won more times than any other Spanish team in the last seven years.

Both teams will be locking heads together, knowing that the winner will be getting a sizeable advantage for qualifying for the Europa League. They are locked together on the same points in the table, but it is definitely athletic Bilbao who holds the advantage going into the match.

Racing Santander vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid thrashed Racing Santander earlier in the season, causing Santander to focus more on getting the revenge over José Mourinho's side. It was a victory inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Portuguese star will be missing the match after an injury suffered during the match against Malaga.

Even though the injury was expected to be only a slight knock, it has turned out to be much worse than that. Real Madrid's misery will be Racing Santander's joy, given that most of the goals that Madrid scores come from Ronaldo.

The next biggest threat within the Real Madrid ranks is that Gonzalo Higuain is also injured, adding to José Mourinho's misery. The injury list compounds the fact that Santander have been excellent at home this season.

They have not lost for nine league games in their home, although most of them are draws. The huge injury list for Real Madrid includes the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo and Higuain. It is an injury list that any team in the world would struggle with, and Real Madrid seems to be no exception to this fact. However, it's expected to be dealing with Santander in the way that José Mourinho's side always does.

Joe - livescoredaily.com - live scores

After the draw of the Champions League playoff came out, most people predicted that Sevilla would have no problem getting rid of Braga (a relatively unknown Portuguese team) and advancing to the group stage of the Champions League.

Even after Braga beat Sevilla 1-0 at home, many thought that Sevilla would easily turn things around at home.

Well, the truth is that Braga showed that beating Celtic was no fluke and they sent Sevilla packing in spectacular fashion.

Braga outplayed and, more importantly, outsmarted Sevilla, for the whole 180 minutes of the tie. In the end, the fact that Sevilla's budget is eight times bigger than Braga's and the fact that Sevilla have stars like Luis Fabiano, Kanouté, or Jesus Navas proved to be meaningless.

Braga, a team without any stars, relied on intelligence and teamwork to defy the odds. Teamwork is, in fact, Braga's main quality. The team is incredibly cohesive and doesn't give the opposition much space to play their football. In the first leg, Sevilla had only one big opportunity and, today, they virtually didn't have an opportunity until they scored their first goal.

Perfect on defense and deadly on the counterattack, Braga silenced the Sanchez Pijuan at the 31st minute when Matheus (who had already scored in the first leg) put Braga in front.

In need of scoring at least three goals, Sevilla pushed forward, but all their efforts were denied by Braga's perfectly organized defense. Braga kept troubling Sevilla's defense with ferocious counterattacks and, in the 58th minute, Lima , who had just come into the match, scored and put Braga ahead 3-0 on aggregate.

It seemed like it was over, but two minutes later Sevilla, in their first real chance, got one back thanks to a mistake from Braga's goalkeeper Felipe. After Sevilla scored, Braga showed their first (and only) signs of weaknesses. The team seemed to be feeling the pressure of being so close to fulfill their dream of participating in the Champions League, and Sevilla began creating many chances.

In the 84th minute, Jesus Navas scored. With six minutes left (plus added time) and Braga's team a little disoriented, it seemed like things could get difficult. However, immediately after Navas's goal, Braga took advantage of a lack of concentration from Sevilla defence and Lima scored again.

It was all over.  Lima completed a dream night by scoring a hat trick. Kanouté scored in the final minute. Final score: 4-3 (5-3 on aggregate).

As a Portuguese football fan and someone who has been following this team and their great coach Domingos Paciência's work, I predicted that Sevilla would have a very tough time against Braga.

But even I couldn't predict such an amazing performance by Braga. They beat Sevilla, one of the best teams in Spain, and won in a stadium where many giants of European football have fallen over the years. And they did so by playing excellent football.

Braga were the better team and fully deserved to qualify. Sevilla paid for the arrogance they showed before and even during the tie and now they have to settle for playing in the Europa League.

After this performance, I'm sure no team will take Braga lightly any more. My prediction is that, even though Braga are not favorites, they will cause a lot of problems to the European giants they will face in the group stage.

Today's match showed that no team can underestimate Braga or they will be in for a surprise. Even though players like Moisés, Rodriguez, Alan, Lima, and Matheus (among others) are quite decent, it's Braga's ability to work as a team that makes them a team to watch out for.

A lot of the credit has to given to their coach, Domingos Paciência, who led Braga to the second place in the Portuguese League, breaking the status quo (usually, it's the Big Three of Portugese football—Sporting, Porto, and Benfica—challenging for the title and then the rest of the teams fight for fourth place), and whose work has been nothing short of brilliant.

Many people in Portugal even believe that Braga should have won the league, since Benfica was heavily favored by referees.

All I can say is: Congratulations to Domingos Paciência and his Braga team and good luck in the Champions League. You deserve it!

FC Barcelona has completed the signing of Adriano Correia from Sevilla for 9.5 Million Euros. There is an additional 4 Million Euros that has to be paid to Sevillas depending on a variety of objectives. Adriano signed the deal which will keep him at the club for four year today and will be presented as a Barca player on Monday. This is the second signing done by Barca this season and looks like a very wise choice. This guy can play as both left back and right back and also if needed as a winger in midfield. The buyout clause for Adriano is set at 90 Million Euros.

Atletico de Madrid and Sevilla will play the Spanish Cup final on Wednesday, in a match that will mean trophy number two of the season for Atletico, or turning an average year into a positive one for Sevilla.

Several things will come into play tomorrow. On Sevilla's side, Alvarez's men will try to turn a season where they did not clinch the last Champions League spot until the 93rd minute of the last match into a year where there will be something major to celebrate.

Luis Fabiano, still injured, will not play. The Brazilian forward tried to motivate his team nevertheless, releasing a public letter to the press where he asked for the team to "win it for Antonio Puerta", the Sevilla player who died two years ago after a series of cardiac arrests in the middle of a match.

On the other hand, Sevilla will count on Alvaro Negredo, after the Spanish Federation agreed to forgive the one game ban from his red card in the last match of La Liga. A Cup final without Negredo and Fabiano would have been potentially catastrophic for Sevilla.

All odds seem to point at Kanoute starting tomorrow in place of Luis Fabiano. Even though the African player has not been in his top form this season, he has the experience needed in this type of game. Curiously enough, he scored in Sevilla's last Spanish Cup final in 2007.

Atletico, on the other hand, will be at full strength. Diego Forlan, the recent hero of the Europa League final against Fulham, and who amazingly enough has never scored against Sevilla, will look to lead the attack tandem with Sergio Aguero.

It seems as if Atletico has the upper hand in tomorrow's final; the Colchoneros have already fed the hunger for a trophy with the Europa League title. They will show up in the Camp Nou with no pressure whatsoever.

Atletico is maturing. Forlan and Aguero always seem to find the way to make an impact in important games. Reyes once again resembles the form he was in back in Sevilla times, and goalkeeper De Gea has gone from invisible for Quique Sanchez Flores to a continental champion and a very threatening challenger to Victor Valdes as a third goalkeeper in South Africa.

Sevilla might want the title a bit more than Atletico. After a year of changing coaches, frustrating losses, and an amazing end of the season that could have turned out tragic, a cup win would be the icing on the cake. No matter what happens, tomorrow's game promises to be an amazing fight. All-in for the Copa del Rey.

Barca beat Sevilla in a nervy encounter.

It may not be arrogance to say that we have one hand firmly placed on the La Liga title following our 3-2 victory against Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

At the end of penultimate week of La Liga, Barca stands one point clear of their bitter rival Real Madrid. Coming to the last four matches of the league, we had two risky away encounters against both Villareal and Sevilla.

Now with those test passed, only Real Valladoid stands between FC Barcelona and the La Liga title. In the preview of this match—Barca vs Sevilla Preview —I have written about the necessity of our players being at the best.

And indeed they were at their best for the first 65 minutes notching up three goals and starving Sevilla off any meaningful chance. Then in the spate of three minutes, we decided to make the encounter more interesting—conceding two goals in three minutes and almost conceding the equaliser in the end moments.

But in the end the team prevailed the momentary lapse of concentration and emerged deserving winners. As expected Bojan started the match instead of Ibrahimovic. He formed the attacking trio along with Pedro and Messi. The midfield consisted of Keita, Busquets and Xavi. The defense had the expected look with Alves, Pique, Puyol, and Maxwell.

FC Barcelona Dominates from the start

FC Barcelona started the match with great intensity. In the third minute Alves tested Palop with a weak shot after reaching onto a Messi pass. In the fifth minute Messi gave Barca the early lead which they were looking for.

Maxwell chips the ball to Messi inside the box, who chests the ball to round off the defender and then send in a great shot beating Palop at his left post. In the 23rd minute Pedro gets past defender with the ball but Palop was quick to come off his line and clear; but the clearance went to Alves who drove the ball back to the centre to Pedro who unfortunately couldn't control his header.

In the 28th minute Barca increased the lead via Bojan Krkic. Xavi sent Bojan through after the ball deflected to him and Bojan stood firm and finished well. God! believe me we have one hell of a striker in this kid for the future.

In the 38th minute Messi missed a great opportunity to make it 3-0 when he hit a fierce cross from Alves over the bar. In the 41st minute Valdes had to pull out a one handed save to deny Kanoute from a long ball. The defense was at fault not closing him down and it was evident from Valdez reaction.

FC Barcelona started the second half with the same intensity. In the 56th minute Konko saw his second yellow card and Sevilla was reduced to ten men. In the 57th minute Messi had another shot wide off the post from an excellent Maxwell cross. In the next minute Messi missed another open chance.

The move started with Messi sending Maxwell on the left, he squared the ball back to Messi in front of the goal,  who somehow missed. The in the 59th minute Bojan saw his shot being blocked by Palop. In the 62nd minute we finally managed to make the tally 3-0 with a ferocious shot from Pedro from outside the box. Then in the 68th minute Bojan missed a sitter after a fantastic run by Messi.

Then came the nonsense three minutes of play. Puyol was guilty of the first goal when he failed to cut the ball to Kanoute and the second goal saw every one of our defenders sleeping when a quickly taken free kick put Fabiano through. That made everyone nervous and to add to that we learned that Real Madrid took the lead against Bilbao. Sevilla had another header hit the cross bar but apart from that Barca held on to the lead.

Even though we played much better than Sevilla that three minutes could have cost us dearly. We now have to win against Valladoid at Camp Nou next Sunday to retain our La Liga title. It is not going to be easy as we have both Maxwell and Xavi suspended.

Add to this, Valladoid will be fighting hard to stay in the league and will give everything against us at Camp Nou. Bojan once again repaid the faith in him by getting another goal even though he could have added at least two more. Same with Messi.

In the end we have to say that we weren't clinical enough with finishing. But still overall this was a great performance and we need a repeat of the same next week to round up the La Liga Title.

Barca Went down early against run off play

Barca took control of the game early on. Guadiola adopted the same tactics which he employed against Malaga. He had Messi playing in a pocket behind Ibrahmovic and Iniesta playing in the wing. I was not in favour of this tactic as I believed any team who can put pressure on our midfield can capitalise with this tactic's weakness. Malaga wasn't ready for that but Almeria at least tried. If we try this against Stuttgart, then forget Champions Legue. Pep convinces me again that he is a no-hope tactician. The first ten minutes gave an impression that Almeria was going to have a tough night. In the 12th minute Cisma put Almeria ahead against the run of play. He beat Puyol to head home a corner. Toure was the one marking Cisma and allowed him to get off easily. All of Barca's attack was coming via Lionel Messi. Xavi and Messi forced splendid save from Almeira custodian Diego Lopez. In the 24th minute Ibrahmovic had a great chance to equalise, but he headed wide from a Iniesta cross. In the 27th minute Guardiola saw himself being send off to the stands for complaining about a possible penalty. In the 4nd minute Barca were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Messi cleverly chipped the ball over the wall and into the near corner to take the scoreline 1-1.

Barca Players fail to take control in Second Half

Barca players failed to take control of the game from the start of second half. We were made to pay for being complacent when Puyol slide directed a cross from Guilherme on the left to his own goal past a on rushing Valdes. To make matters worse Ibrahmovic managed to get himself sent off at the other end for swinging his leg on Cisma. That sent off did revitalize us a bit and we equalised in the 66th minute. Iniesta played the ball to Pedro on the left, the defender failed to clear Pedro's cross , actually he played it into the centre where Messi stabbed it home. But eventually the fact that we were a player down prevented us from winning the game. Messi had some chance to complete his hat-trick, but failed to take those. Almeria had a couple of chances also, but luckily for us failed to take any of those.

In the end of the game, we paid dearly for our complacency. The players looks far from interested in the proceedings in the pitch. Going for Ibrahmovic in the summer is still proving to be a disaster. The pace has dropped from barca's game and it is hurting us a lot. Ibrahmovic is sure to miss Valencia's visit to Camp Nou. Bojan could get a rare start and he should take it with his hands down. Pep Guardiola is showing again that he is no tactician. Stop experimenting with the formation like this. By doing so he is cutting the pace from the wings especially the right. Puyol was at fault of second goal and Toure was at fault for the first. With Real Madrid in such revived form it is time for Barca to take their destiny to their own hand.

Xavi and Iniesta Key For Barca Midfield

Barca won against Almeria when they visited Camp Nou earlier this season. That match saw Xavi being man marked all the time. The recent interview by Almeria players reveals that they will go for the same tactic. So it become essential for Guardiola to have Iniesta partner Xavi in the midfield. The defense most probably would see Alves, Milito, Puyol and Maxwell infront of Valdes. It is to be seen how Milito and Puyol is going to perform together. I always have a feeling they don't compliment each other well (they are both of the same style). The midfield should see Toure partnering the midfield maestroes Xavi and Iniesta. Henry, Ibrahmovic and Messi should form the attacking trio. This could be a difficult challenge for Barca. But Barca has to raise their bar a few nothc from now on. I predict another 2-0 victory for Barca.

There is no way to gloss things over. Last week’s effort proved a total washout and it hurts to be a little out of pocket. Fortunately we’ve still got enough to persevere and turn things round, and as we all know, its only a bit of fun anyways.

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Needing to get some money in the bank, we start with a pair of matches in League One on Saturday in which we are betting against two teams who have started the season on major downers.

Gillingham opened the season with with a 5-nil mauling of Swindon, but have since gone on to lose three consecutive league matches to leave them in lowly 20th place. The Gills head this weekend to Walsall, a club also coming off the back of two defeats in the league, however both losses were to the two front-runners in the division, Charlton and Leeds.

Wycombe have also struggled to find any momentum so far this year, Peter Talyor’s team opening with three losses and a draw from their opening four fixtures. This weekend the Blues have home advantage, but their visitors are high-flying Bristol Rovers who have won their last three including two away victories.

Backing Walsall (11/10) and Bristol Rovers (6/4) to both win, our £1 stake can turn into a £5.25 return.

Next, the hope we can pair up two goalscorers both playing on Saturday. Spurs have surprised many by their fantastic start to the new season and this weekend the Lilywhites have, what appears on paper, to be a straightforward match with newbies Birmingham. While Jermain Defoe have been grabbing the attention, Robbie Keane will know that he has scored six goals in his last seven starts against the Midlanders.

Over in Italy the headline-stopping match of week two in Serie A sees Inter face-off with AC in the Milan derby. Samuel Eto’o, one of the deadliest strikers playing in Europe, opened his account against Bari in week one, and the Cameroonian will again spearhead the Special One’s attack against the Rossoneri.

Sensing that both Robbie Keane (EVS) and Samuel Eto’o (5/4) will be on target this weekend, the aim is to make a £4.50 return on a £1 bet.

Sunday in France provides yet another mouth-watering proposition as Marseille take on Ligue 1 leaders Bordeaux at the Stade Veladrome. Should Laurent Blanc’s charges, who are three from three this season, manage to scalp OM on their home turf then Les Girondins will lay down an early marker that they are the lead to beat this season.

With tasty odds of 11/5 on the away win for Bordeaux we are staking £2 with the hope of getting £6.40 in return.

Lastly, this weekend sees the Spanish La liga kick into gear once more and the opening weekend has a series of interesting match-ups including Valencia’s fixture at home to Sevilla. It seems almost incredible to believe that David Villa, arguably the sharpest marksmen in world football, is still at Los Che despite their terminal financial troubles. But having retained Villa, it’s almost unforgivable to not back the forward to score in week one.

Putting £1 on both David Villa to score (6/5) and Valencia to win (6/5), a winning ticket will produce a £4.84 return.

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With chief executive Gary Cooke announcing on Friday that City have ended their pursuit of Samuel Eto’o it is unsurprising that today’s red tops have linked the Citizens with a swoop for Sevilla’s Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano.

Fabiano’s career took off whilst at Sao Paulo for whom he scored an amazing 62 goals in 84 games. Such a strike rate was not going to go unnoticed and in 2004 Porto stumped up a reported €10 million to bring the striker to Portugal.

Theoretically if a Brazilian is going to acclimatise successfully to a country in Europe it should be Portugal, where the language is the same and the culture similar. However, the striker found it difficult to gel with his new team-mates and in his solitary season at the club he scored a paltry three goals in 22 games.

Juande Ramos did not forget his goalscoring form in Brazil and ended the striker’s nightmare by bringing him to Sevilla. In La Liga he re-acquired his midas touch. Since his arrival at the club he has bagged an impressive 47 goals in 105 games.

The striker is excellent at spearheading an attack. He does not possess great speed but he is strong which enables him to hold the ball up and bring others into play. His lack of pace means that outside the 18-yard box he is not a threat but once he nears goal he is a clinical finisher. Furthermore, Fabiano—who stands at 6 ft—has an excellent leap which makes him a threat at set pieces.

One criticism of the player which fans and players share alike is that he is sometimes selfish and looks like he is playing for himself rather than the team.

His international career has reflected that of his club form, and whilst he was first selected for the national in 2003 it is only whilst at Sevilla that he has become a regular. He has scored an impressive 22 goals in 31 games.

One drawback is his combustible temperament. He has been known as the bad boy of Brazilian football. In 2003, Sao Paulo met River Plate in the South American Cup. The tie went to penalties, but Fabiano was not around to take one. A fight between the players broke out just before the final whistle culminating in the striker karate kicking a River player below the neck. While being escorted off the field, Fabiano said that “he would rather attack an Argentine than take a penalty.” (Watch the incident here.)

Earlier this month AC Milan made an €18 million offer for the striker which is €2 million short of Sevilla’s valuation and negotiations have been ongoing. City are reportedly willing to spend the €25 million they had set aside for Samuel Eto’o.

Fabiano’s agent has already stated that the player’s first choice destination is at the Milanese club and fans should expect him to go there even if City come in with a massive bid. If the clubs can not agree on a transfer fee then maybe City will finally get the top class striker which they have been searching for.

Video evidence of Luis Fabiano can be seen here.

Burnley 3 - Tottenham 2 (Agg. 4-6) (AET) (League Cup, January 21, 2009)

Burnley, trailing 4-1 from the first leg, managed to take the game to extra time with an incredible performance in the 90 minutes. Robbie Blake’s 35-yard free kick beat a Ben Alnwick at his near post for the opener in the first half. Robbie Blake then teed up Chris McCann to tap in from five yards out. And Turf Moor went wild after Jay Rodriguez hit the third after the Spurs defence failed to defend a set play. (All three Burnley goals can be seen here.) With the game looking destined to end without further goals, Spurs managed to score two late strikes deep into extra time. Roman Pavlyuchenko finally got Spurs on the scoresheet tucking away Assou-Ekotto’s cut-back and Jermain Defoe made sure that the Lilywhites will return to Wembley with a curling effort in the final minute. (Pavlyuchenko & Defoe’s goals can be seen here.)

***

Valencia 3 - Sevilla 2 (Copa del Rey, January 21, 2009)

Hot shot David Villa continued his superb recent goalscoring exploits by bagging the opener in Valencia’s Copa del Rey tie with Sevilla, scoring from an acute angle after cutting out a shocking backpass from Correia. Diego Capel crossed for Luis Fabiano to nod home the equaliser. Sevilla retook the lead in controversial circumstances, Correia, several yards offside, made it 2-1. Ruben Baraja equalised in the 84th minute with a low shot and Mata grabbed a valuable lead for the home side before the return leg next week.

***

Inter Milan 2 - Roma 1 (Coppa Italia, January 21, 2009)

A horrendous error at the back for Roma that saw two defenders clatter into each other presented the ball the Adriano and the Brazilian made no mistake with a low left-footed drive. Taddei brought Roma level on the hour mark with a rocket from inside the box, only for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to restore Inter’s lead a minute later, scoring a rebound with acrobatic fashion.

Udinese 1 - Sampdoria 1* (Pens. 1-4) (Coppa Italia, January 21, 2009)

Samp took a 55th-minute lead at Udinese through Giampaolo Pazzini’s deflected shot. But the lead was short-lived as Antonio di Natale levelled from the spot six minutes later. Udinese then had the came to close out the match when they won a last-minute spot kick, only for Di Natale to see he second attempt saved, forcing the game into extra time. With no extra goals, it was a penalty shootout, and Luca Castellazzi was the hero saving two penalties for Samp.

***

NAC Breda* 2 - Groningen 2 (Pens. 5-4) (KNVB Beker, January 21, 2009)

Evgeni Levchenko sent the game into overtime when he cancelled out Nourdin Boukhari’s acrobatic overhead volley for NAC. Fouad Idabdelhay restored NAC’s lead seven minutes into extra-time before Patrick Zwaanswijk saw red for the home side. Andreas Granqvist forced the game to penalties, equalising five minutes from time. NAC kept their nerve in the shoot-out to go through 5-4.

***

OFI Crete 0 - Olympiakos 2 (Greek Cup, January 21, 2009)

Fernando Belluschi gave Olympiakos with a header before Galletti sealed the win from the spot with five minutes remaining.

Panserraikos 1 - Larissa 0 (Greek Cup, January 21, 2009)

***

Anorthosis 2 - Apollon 1 (Cypriot Cup, January 21, 2009)

Sosin (16) and Savio (81) gave Anorthosis a 2-nil lead before Sangoy netted a consolation penalty late on.

***

Hannover 2 - AC Milan 3 (Friendly, January 21, 2009)

Szabolcs Huszti scored for Hannover in the first half after his initial spot kick had been saved by Dida. Kaka came on at the break, and he began the move that led to Milan’s equaliser, passing the ball to Inzaghi who in turn set up Shevchenko. Milan then moved ahead when Antonini’s cross found Inzaghi open to score. Hanke restored parity for the Germans, but Inzaghi had the final word to claim the win for the Rossoneri.

***

China 6 - Vietnam 1 (Asian Cup 2011 qualifier, January 21, 2009)

Gao Lin put China ahead after only one minute in Zhejiang, only for Nguyen Vu Phong to level for Vietnam nine minutes later. China then went into overdrive, with Gao adding a second on 21 minutes followed by goals from Du Wei (29) Jiang Ning (37), and Hao Junmin (47). Gao netted his third seven minutes from time.

Malaysia 0 - UAE 5 (Asian Cup 2011 qualifier, January 21, 2009)

Omar and Matar both bagged a brace, Khalil scoring the fifth.

Hong Kong 1 - Bahrain 3 (Asian Cup 2011 qualifier, January 21, 2009)

***

Mali 0 - Ghana 2 (African U20 Championships, January 21, 2009)

The Ghanaians opened the scoring on 17 minutes when Dominic Adiyiah sent in an inch-perfect cross for Awako to head home. The Black Stars double their lead after the break when Osei gambled on a mistake by from keeper Oumar to put the game beyond doubt.

Rwanda 1 - Cameroon 1 (African U20 Championships, January 21, 2009)

Brice Owona drove home Cameroon’s opener after a goal-mouth scramble on 35 minutes. Yusuf Ndayishimiye equalised with a powerful header on the stroke of halftime.