Real Madrid clinches 32nd spanish title

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Football season's near the end in most european leagues. FC Porto and Ajax assured national titles in Portugal and Netherlands, but at the moment the strongest european league is the Spanish, where Real Madrid has just conquered its record-extending 32nd Spanish soccer league title with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi settled with a European goal-scoring record.

Gonzalo Higuain, Mesut Ozil and Cristiano Ronaldo scored - as the "merengues" pushed their single-season Spanish scoring record to 115 goals - to give Real its first La Liga title since 2008 and end Barcelona’s three-year reign as champion. New champion has 94 points, seven more than its arch rival with two matches left. “The league is even harder when you fight for it with a team like Barcelona,” Ronaldo, who missed a penalty kick, said in comments on Real’s website. “We were better than them.”

The victory gives Real manager Jose Mourinho (seven) championships in four different countries, following titles with Porto, in his native Portugal, Chelsea, in England, and Inter Milan. 




“I won the league title in Portugal, Italy and England, but this one has been the toughest,” Mourinho told RealmadridTV. “I’ve won seven league titles overall and I know what it feels like.”

Ronaldo lifted his league tally to 44 goals, two fewer than Messi, who scored three times last night in a 4-1 win over Malaga to break the record for goals in a European season.





Hilarious political boycott on Euro'2012

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Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands announced this week they would not send government ministers to the Euro 2012 soccer tournament because of the way that co-host nation Ukraine has treated imprisoned former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. 

It is a laughable statement considering they have not been selected to play. However, meant as political signal to Kiev this move has been the only media decision they could think of in order to get some sort of reaction. As it was in the past, governments are still using sport as a political instrument to do their job. 









This statements are even more silly considering that none of the European soccer federations involved in the tournament have boycotted the event and UEFA chief Michel Platini said in an interview last week that the European Championships would continue on as planned.

Calls for the snub first came from two German ministers and EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding at the weekend. In recent days Austria, Belgium and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said they will not go. The Netherlands has also threatened to stay away.

The President of Poland - which is co-hosting Euro2012 with Ukraine - has accused EU politicians planning to boycott Ukrainian matches of ulterior motives. Bronislaw Komorowski said the crackdown on opposition in Ukraine is not comparable to events which prompted previous Western boycotts - of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008. "These were the effects of war which Russia launched against Afghanistan or the bloody repression of Tibetans' aspirations for freedom, where blood was spilt, where there were mass arrests, jailings and so on. But the situation in Ukraine is not like that. We all understand this perfectly. So it is possible to speculate there are some other calculations being made."

Komorowski's remark on "other calculations" is an allusion to concerns that some EU countries are using human rights as a pretext for harming EU-Ukraine integration.The countries on the boycott list have in the past opposed moves to give Ukraine a promise of future EU accession.

The man made his point.

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Zenit high above takes Russian title

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A hard-fought 2-1 win over Dynamo Moscow gave Zenit an unassailable 15-point lead with three games remaining, a victory they achieved despite playing most of the second half with ten men. It is Zenit's second-straight title and third since 2007.

Russia’s second largest city was celebrating the victory on Saturday night. After the game, thousands of fans came to the city centre with team flags, chanting and greeting each other. The Palace Square and the Nevsky Prospekt were most crowded, and many fans say they would stay there until morning.

Luciano Spalletti’s team, backed by Russian energy giant Gazprom, only needed a draw in the top-of-the-table clash the title. Zenit midfielder Roman Shirokov fired the home side in front on the half-hour and fellow Russia international Alexander Kerzhakov doubled the lead from the spot six minutes later.

Moldova defender Alexandru Epureanu pulled one back for the visitors just before the break but Zenit held on for a deserved win to stretch their lead over Dynamo to 15 points. Zenit had to play with 10 men for most of the second half after their Russia midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov was sent off after picking up a second booking.

“We had a good team when we won our first title (in 2010) but we were even better this season,” said the Italian coach Spaletti. “I can only congratulate my players for a job well done.”



Shocking missile to secure London 2012

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UK authorities might place surface-to-air missiles on a water tower in a densely populated London neighbourhood as part of security for the Olympic Games this summer, a ministry official said this Sunday.

Residents in an east London community have received leaflets warning them of the possibility. Site evaluations and exercises have taken place.

A former water tower within the Bow Quarter gated private estate would be the location for the proposed missiles. Bow Quarter is a former match factory containing a number of large buildings, converted into hundreds of residential flats and houses.
"Ground-based air defence systems could be deployed as part of a multi-layered air security plan for the Olympics, including fast jets and helicopters, which will protect the skies over London during the Games," said an official, asking not to be named in line with British government practise.

Some of the receivers of leaflets about the possible missile system have shown their disapproval. "This is a highly built-up area. I can't imagine any situation in which you could safely use a high-velocity missile over Tower Hamlets," as the neighbourhood is called. There is "obviously the security issue around the Olympics", but missiles would be an overreaction. "This is meant to be reassuring, but it creates a lot of anxiety", they say.

London is hosting the 2012 Olympics from July 27 to August 12 and the Paralympics from August 29 to September 9.

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BORUSSIA DORTMUND CROWNED AGAIN

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German side Borussia Dortmund were crowned German league champions for the second consecutive season after a win at home to Moenchengladbach which leaves them eight points clear with two games to go. Jurgen Klopp's team suffered the last of their three league defeats back September and have now extended their record for the longest unbeaten run in a single German league season to 26. Having amassed 75 points, they can still beat the record of 79 for the most league points won in a season which Bayern achieved twice in the early 1970s.

This is the first time for 16 years Bayern have been denied the German title for two seasons running when Dortmund last earned back-to-back titles in 1994/95 and 1995/96 before winning the 1997 Champions League title. Bayern still have the chance for revenge when the teams meet for a third time this season in the German Cup final on May 12 at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

With Bayern on the verge of the Champions League final after their 2-1 first-leg semifinal win over Real Madrid last week, Dortmund's group stage exit proved to be a helping factor in Klopp's team defending their title.

Dortmund failed to make it past the group stages of Europe's top club competition this season, but have won 23 of 32 matches in the German league and will face Bayern in the final of the German Cup on May 12. Croatia midfielder Ivan Perisic opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a header from Marcel Schmelzer's free-kick, while Japan international Shinji Kagawa settled any nerves of the 80,720 sellout home crowd at Signal Iduna Park with the second goal on the hour mark to seal the club's eighth title since forming in 1909.

PLAYERS STRIP FOR GENOA FURIOUS FANS
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Spotlight for the Italian football for the wrong reasons once more. This Sunday, in Genoa, there were trouble in historical city of Genoa, as home football hooligan fans fire smoke bombs into the pitch and forced the referee to halt the match against Siena side. A large group of Genoa fans accumulated around the tunnel area at Luigi Ferraris Stadium and threatened to invade the pitch early with their side was 4-0 behind. After a break of 20 minutes, the match officials and the Siena team left the field with the furious fans applauding them, but not letting the Genoa players approach.

Home captain Marco Rossi spoke with the group, who demanded the Genoa players took off their shirts before leaving the field. The club's ultras wanted the players to hand their jerseys over on the grounds that they were not "worthy" of the colours.

All of the Genoa players incredibly co-operated, except loan striker Giuseppe Sculli, with tears in his eyes, confronted the supporters, making it clear that he would not cave in to their demands, while wing-back Giandomenico Mesto also broke down in tears.

After several more minutes, Rossi went round and collected his team mates' shirts, but Giuseppe Sculli refused to take his off and, with tears in his eyes, confronted the supporters, making it clear that he would not cave in to their demands.

In the meantime, referee Paolo Tagliavento managed to enter the dressing room, while club president Enrico Preziosi also made his way to the pitch and gathered the players in a huddle.

Sculli then appeared to try to negotiate with his shirt still on, along with Sebastien Frey, who tried to pull his back and was quoted in the Italian media as saying: "This is my shirt, we are all for Genoa."

Frey seemingly played the role of peacemaker between the ultras and players, as he then pleaded Siena to come back out onto the pitch and complete the game, which still had 37 minutes remaining.

Play finally resumed after a 40-minute delay, with the Bianconeri eventually winning 4-1. The home side’s only goal was scored by a Siena player, Grosso, on his own goal. His team mates Brienza (2), Destro and Giorgi score the goals that enraged ultrafans. Many tiffosi abandoned the stadium when Siena reach the fourth goal.

SPORTS

F1: CHINA IN GOOD HANDS

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26-year-old Nico Erik Rosberg took the chequered flag for the first time in his Formula One career. It happened this Sunday in the Chinese Grand Prix. The extraordinary achievement acquires more relevance once it gave Mercedes their first victory since the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955.

Former World Champion, Keke Rosberg's son has been the youngest man driving a F1 car, he was only 17. In his first race, in 2006, he finish 7th and made the fastest lap but his performances would not evolve as expected until now.

Running his 111th Grand Prix (let the number fanatics step forward), Rosberg started in pole-position and made no mistakes and let Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton discuss who would get the second degree in the podium.

There's a long way to go until the end of the season, but this race raised up the interest of the F1 competition, still dominated by McLaren drivers Hamilton and Button. Alonso, Webber, Vettel and... Rosberg promise to be strong opponents.

PIERMARIO MOROSINI'S COLLAPSE

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Italian footballer Piermario Morosini has died after collapsing during a Serie B match at Pescara this Saturday.

The 25-year-old has suffered a heart attack during the first half of the match between Pescara and Livorno in Italian football's second division, was treated on the pitch before being rushed by ambulance to Pescara's Civile Santo Spirito hospital but was later pronounced dead. Morosini, who reach Italy under-21 international, was on loan at Livorno from Serie A side Udinese. All football fixtures this weekend have been canceled in Italy.

This tragedy happens only a month after English Premier League player Fabrice Mumba suffer a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on March 17. But this player has made a fantastic recovery.

It's second death on the field in 2012 after Venkatesh, from Bangalore Mars early this year. In recent years, players Daniel Jarque, Antonio Puerta and Miklos Feher have been the fatal cases with more mediatic attention.