Monthly Archives: April 2013

Graham Hunter exclusive: Barca believe they can beat AC Milan

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Champions League: Barcelona v AC Milan

The cynics, perhaps let’s dub them the realists, will argue it’s all case of ‘too little too late’  for FC Barcelona with regard to putting AC Milan out of the Champions League.

For precisely the last two months there has been a drop in the intensity of Barça’s play, not just defensively with only a couple of clean sheets in that time, but the way in which they can put the pedal to the floor and tear even the best teams apart.

Last week, without a match, interim coach Jordi Roura mixed a little bit of time off with a double stint on Wednesday and pretty high-intensity work during the other training sessions.

This is the moment of the season when, since the beginning of the Guardiola era, the Blaugrana’s form begins to peak for the second time. There is a high priority put on having the turbo-chargers available in November and December, then again in March and April.

However this season the dip in late January, and particularly February, has seemed more pronounced and perhaps the surge will come too late for this tie – particularly taking into account the current scoreline.

Yet the players believe.

MBSBarcelonavMilan

Around the training ground over the last five or six days there has been no slumped shoulders, plenty of positive words and two meetings when the coach, but particularly the senior players, confronted problems, solutions, tactics and general ideas of how to eliminate Milan.

But can Barça really shift from a low gear to the type of Formula 1 performance which can make Milan “fearful” as their legendary coach Arrigo Sacchi says must be the case if the home side is to have any chance?

At this stage over the last four seasons Barça have beaten Bayer Leverkusen 7-1, Arsenal 3-1, Stuttgart 4-0 and Lyon 5-2. If that level of performance is about to arrive then, added to the fact that they have distinctly the better XI, then the Catalans will progress. Anything less and the weight of history, no side with a two-goal deficit and no away goal has gone through, will bear down on them too heavily.

If Andres Iniesta scores any time in this match, Paddy Power will refund all losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score & Scorecast singles on the match.

  • Betting: Barcelona v AC Milan 
  • Graham Hunter on the Paddy Power Blog


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Graham Hunter exclusive: How PSG’s aerial threat can exploit Barca’s weaknesses

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Graham Hunter

European football expert Graham Hunter previews tonight’s Champions League quarter final between moneybags PSG and runaway La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Champions League | PSG v Barcelona

It should be simple enough to predict Paris St Germain’s most likely avenues to score at home to FC Barcelona tonight.

In Thiago Silva (who scored a headed equaliser for Milan at the Camp Nou last season), Alex and Zlatan, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have three players perfectly able to take advantage of the fact that Barça have perpetually lost goals or goal assists to headers inside the box this season.

More specifically, the Spanish champions-elect consistently allow crosses too easily from their left back position and Dani Alves, who is having an absolutely exceptional season in an attacking sense, continually fails to order his centre halves to take a couple of steps towards the back post.

The Brazilian, instead, will dive into the penalty spot melee (usually to little effect given that he’s … little) and the crossed ball will drop to an opponent hovering or arriving at the back post to create or score a goal.

There has been a lot of delightful, Machiavellian ‘did he, didn’t he’ in the Spanish media this week about whether Jose Mourinho volunteered to supply Ancelotti with Real Madrid’s ‘golden’ scouting manual which over the last few weeks was sufficient to inspire Los Blancos to a 3-1 Camp Nou win and a 2-1 home victory in La Liga.

How to score against Barcelona

Lesson No 1: Punt the ball long from the edge of your own penalty box to a runner in the wide positions (Di Maria or Ronaldo for Madrid) Lavezzi or Lucas for PSG) and then support him more quickly than Barça get back for the perfect breakaway goal.

Lesson No 2:  exploit Barcelona’s aerial vulnerability.

Did the Special One send the document? ‘Oh yes he did … OH NO HE DIDN’T…’ that’s been the enjoyable tone over the last few days.

However even for a project in construction PSG must have scouts capable of doing their own homework and these conclusions won’t have been hard to draw.

Champions League

In reality, the counter attack goal is just a version of what PSG inflicted on Valencia at the Mestalla in the last round. They could have won by five or six (had Lavezzi who is their top scorer in the Champions League not missed a hat-trick of chances) and they looked viciously dangerous. However, at home, PSG flirted with going out and Valencia ruled the night.

As for Barça if you favour them to win away then take into account that their record since 2006 reads –winners-last 16, semi final-winners-semi final-winners-semi final ….

The Hurt Locker

Losing 2-0 at Milan in the opening-leg of the last round hurt them terribly badly and I’d expect a higher tempo, physically more robust display tonight.

Good though PSG are on their day, and while they own players who threaten Barça’s specific weaknesses they don’t often encounter players of the calibre of Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, Messi and Alba. Messi has 50 goals and 15 assists in his last 50 Champions League appearances. I take him to add another of one or other (goal or assist) and Barça to get a 2-2 draw.

Those who follow such things might note that referee Wolfgang Stark has sent off a couple of Barça players (Saviola and Motta back in 2004 against Celtic) but he’s also red-carded three opponents Rab Douglas, Pepe and Alberto Aquilani and awarded Barça a penalty last time out in Milan.

Four of the seven times he’s reffed a Barça game have yielded a total of only 13 bookings total but Stark’s only time out with PSG the game held eight yellow cards. Make of that what you will. There’s a Parisian threat for Barça here, no doubt, but perhaps they know how to take the right result home this time?

  • Betting: PSG v Barcelona 
  • Graham Hunter: Bayern are chokers and here’s why Juventus will get a draw


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Soccer Referees Charged With Sex-for-Fixing Remanded

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Two Lebanese soccer match officials charged in Singapore with accepting sexual favors to fix an Asian Football Confederation Cup match were remanded pending a bail hearing next week.
A third official who had also been charged yesterday has been hospitalized, Singapore subordinate court Judge Kamala Ponnampalam said today at a hearing into the case.
Each of the men was provided with a woman at Singapore’s downtown Amara Hotel on April 3 who gave them free sexual services as an inducement to fix the soccer match which was to be played later that day, according to the charges filed last night. Each of the men faces a maximum jail term of 5 years and a fine of as much as S$100,000 ($80,700) if convicted.

Match fixers and sports gamblers have placed bets at Singapore IBCbet

Assistant referee Ali Eid, 33, had an “episode” in lock- up before today’s hearing and was rushed to a public hospital, Judge Ponnampalam said. No further details on Eid’s condition were available.
Referee Ali Sabbagh, 34, and assistant referee Abdallah Taleb, 37, shouldn’t be allowed bail given the circumstances of the case, the attention it has drawn and possible links to a syndicated operation, prosecutor Asoka Markandu said. The prosecutor asked for the two men to be remanded in separate cells.
Wider Concerns
Taleb had initially refused to be represented by lawyer Gary Low, who was hired by the Lebanese Football Association to act for all three referees. Taleb agreed after speaking with the vice consul of the Lebanon consulate.
The charges come amid wider concerns about match-fixing in soccer. In February, global governing body FIFA suspended people in Italy, South Korea and China for allegedly being involved in rigging games. The three Lebanese officials were replaced before the AFC Cup match between Singapore-based Tampines Rovers and East Bengal, which won 4-2 in a game that included an own goal by its opponent.
“Singapore has always adopted a zero tolerance approach towards corruption and match-fixing of any form is not condoned in Singapore,” the Asian city’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement yesterday.
Europol, Europe’s law enforcement agency, said in February a Singapore-based operation tried to fix more than 380 games, including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, to generate a profit of more than 8 million euros ($10.4 million). An 18-month investigation, Operation VETO, found 425 match officials, club executives, players and others in 15 countries were involved.
‘Excellent Referees’
The Football Association of Singapore previously said Sabbagh, Eid and Taleb were pulled from the match after it was informed they were assisting the anti-graft bureau with investigations.
Lebanese Football Association head Hachem Haydar said in a telephone interview before today’s hearing that he was “shocked and surprised” by events in Singapore.
“Of course I know them,” he said. “They are some of the excellent referees here. They are good referees, they have a good performance and their attitude is very good. We are all surprised that something happened.”
The men officiate in the Lebanese top league, AFC games and have overseen matches between national teams, Haydar said.
“They are the elite,” he added. “All the people here are shocked, we know them they are very good persons. I don’t know what happened with this exactly.”
The criminal cases are Public Prosecutor v Ali Sabbagh, DAC11104/2013, Public Prosecutor v Ali Eid, DAC11106/2013 and Public Prosecutor v Abdallah Taleb, DAC11105/2013, Singapore Subordinate Courts.

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