As Barcelona fans celebrated their second successive Spanish championship on Wednesday, they were giving much of the credit for getting this title to their Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho.
Even more than the goal scoring machine Samuel Eto'o, who found the net 25 times after Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo, or their inspirational captain Carles Puyol, it has been Ronaldinho who has returned Barcelona to heights the club scaled in the early 1990s.
A bewilderingly skilful player with the ball at his feet, whom many have compared to George Best, he was the driving force behind Barca's 14-game winning streak in the middle of the season which was instrumental in them winning the "Primera Liga" again.
PHOTO: EPA
Barcelona celebrated their 18th Spanish league title by showing their class and beating Celta Vigo 1-0 on Wednesday, with a goal from Eto'o and despite the result being irrelevant.
The Catalan club had earlier in the night been confirmed as champions for the second successive year when their nearest rivals Valencia went down 2-1 at Real Mallorca.
"We've now got one of our two objectives of the season. Our supporters and the team deserve this title," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said in his usual understated fashion.
PHOTO: AP
The Champions League finalists, who play Arsenal on May 17 in Paris, have an unbeatable 11 point lead in the Spanish first division as Valencia have only two games remaining.
The news that they had become champions reached the Barcelona players as they left the field in Vigo after a tepid first half, with the score 0-0 after the game kicked off later than the rest of the matches.
There were immediate celebrations and with the champagne still on ice in the dressing room, Barca players started dousing each other with sports drinks and water.
However, Rijkaard clearly gave his men one of his inspirational half time talks, which have changed the direction of so many games this season, and told them to show some of the style that has made them one of Europe's most entertaining and successful teams this season.
With the title decided, the race is now on for second place and automatic qualification for next season's lucrative Champions League group stages.
Scottish Premier League
Hearts caretaker coach Valdas Ivanauskas paid tribute to his predecessors George Burley and Graham Rix after the Tynecastle club clinched second place in the Scottish Premier League and their first ever spot in the Champions League.
A 1-0 win at home to Aberdeen on Wednesday evening, courtesy of a second-half penalty from Paul Hartley, meant the Edinburgh side cannot be caught by Rangers, despite the two sides meeting in the final game of the season at Ibrox on Sunday.
And crucially this ensures it will be Hearts who will take their place in the Champions League qualifiers next season instead of the Ibrox club who will now have to contend with playing in the UEFA Cup.
This success comes at the end of a topsy turvy season for the Tynecastle club under the ownership of owner Vladimir Romanov.
The Lithuanian sacked Burley, despite the fact he led Hearts to the top of the league by going 10 games unbeaten, and then also axed his successor Rix who made way for Ivanauskas.
However, the current head coach took time out to praise the contributions made by the two men and everyone who works behind the scenes at the club.
"It is a big relief to have finished second as it has been a very difficult season and an interesting nine months," Ivanauskas said.
"We must remember the contribution of George Burley and Graham Rix and it is a victory for everybody. Starting with George's team right through to our kitman and medical staff," he said.
Hearts' qualification for next season's Champions League means for the first time a Scottish team from outside Glasgow will compete in Europe's premier club competition.
And Ivanauskas realised the size of the achievement he and his players had realised.
"It is a big, big day for me and also the players and the supporters. It's unbelievable," he said. "The city of Edinburgh wants the Champions League and the supporters want it but it has been difficult. I'm very happy with Champions League qualification and it is a big day for the club."
Hearts' success also sparked celebrations in the tiny Scottish borders town of Gretna as it meant the Second Division champions qualify for the UEFA Cup as finalists in the Scottish Cup, where they will play the Tynecastle club on May 13 at Hampden.
No less than four men have been handed the reigns of the first-team squad during the current campaign, with Burley, caretaker coach John McGlynn, Rix and finally Ivanauskas all filling the role.
Shortly after Burley's sacking Hearts chief executive Phil Anderson was also fired and chairman George Foulkes resigned in protest.
Throughout the season rumors have suggested Romanov has interfered in team selections and he was even alleged to have picked the team for one match when Rix was still in charge.
English Premier League
Putative England national team manager rivals Steve McClaren and Sam Allardyce saw their respective sides Middlesbrough and Bolton fight out a mediocre 1-1 Premiership draw.
Goals from Adam Johnson, his first of the season for what was effectively a second string Middlesbrough side as they look towards next week's UEFA Cup, and then a leveller by Ricardo Vaz Te saw the teams perhaps finish level on terms.
However it is all but certain that McClaren was to be named ahead of Allardyce as the successor to England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson yesterday.
Allardyce, the 50-year-old former non-nonsense center-half, admitted defeat in the run to be England manager afterwards, McClaren did not come out for interviews.
"I'm going to be disappointed," Allardyce said.
He was typically blunt when reporters asked him who would succeed Eriksson.
"Steve McClaren," he said.
"I've had nothing [from the FA] but you get the sense and the feeling. The media have been going that way day-by-day and in the end you think that that is going to be the case," Allardyce said.
"It isn't official yet but I'd expect that will probably be the selection tomorrow [Thursday]," Allardyce said.
He added that losing out would be a horrible blow.
"Without any question of a doubt it will be one of the biggest disappointments of my life," he said.
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS