Barca wary of Shakhtar slip up ahead of 'clasico'

Madrid - Pep Guardiola today faces a delicate balancing act away to Shakhtar Donetsk, making sure to guard against unpleasant surprises while a double-header against Real Madrid looms on the horizon.

Barca hold a comfortable 5-1 quarter-final, first-leg advantage that has them on the brink of the last four of the Champions League, but their coach is desperate to avoid any sense of relaxation among his players.

The Ukrainians caused Barca plenty of problems in the opening minutes at the Nou Camp last week when the pace of their forwards clearly unsettled the hosts' defence. "Although we are defending a good result it will be tremendously difficult," striker Pedro said.

"There are 90 minutes and anything can happen. They have a great team. We won't change our style. We'll go there to attack and to score goals."

Maintaining their winning momentum will be important because they face a potential La Liga title decider away to Real Madrid on Saturday. Guardiola described this clash as "a unique opportunity to strike a decisive blow," after his side came back to beat lowly Almeria 3-1 at home on Saturday.

They top the standings by eight points with seven games left to play.

Four days after the ‘clasico', they face Real Madrid again in the King's Cup final, and assuming Jose Mourinho's men suffer no slip ups on Wednesday, the Spanish giants are likely to meet again in the Champions League semis.

Source: http://gulfnews.com
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United favourites but Chelsea not out yet

London - Fortress Old Trafford, Chelsea's flat form and a welter of statistics point to Manchester United advancing to the semi-finals of the Champions League today — yet one goal changes the whole tie.

United hold the whip hand following Wayne Rooney's goal in their 1-0 quarter-final first-leg win at Stamford Bridge and in most circumstances in the Champions League and for United, that would be that.

Alex Ferguson's team have lost one of their last 30 matches in the competition at Old Trafford and none in the last six years. They have progressed in all 16 European ties where they won the first leg away from home.

This season they have conceded only two goals in nine Champions League games while in the Premier League they have won 15 and drawn one of their home games. Since the Champions league began only two sides have recovered from a first-leg home defeat to win a knockout tie — Ajax Amsterdam against Panathinaikos in 1996 and Inter Milan against Bayern Munich last month.

Yet the particular nature of this all-English tie means that such statistics are undermined in a game between two teams who know each other so well.

Although Chelsea have won only one of five away games in all-English Champions League ties, they won at Old Trafford in the Premier League a year ago and know that they need only one goal today to swing the advantage their way.

Hanging in there
Only two of the teams' last 12 competitive games have been decided by more than one goal so both sides know the Londoners are still very much in the tie.

"Of course Chelsea can do to us at Old Trafford what we've done there," said Ferguson. "We've only got a one-goal lead and we have to be very careful and give a top performance.

"It will be a tough game. The tie is not done." Ferguson had the luxury of making eight changes from the first leg for Saturday's Premier League game against Fulham and those on duty came through unscathed after a straightforward 2-0 win.

Antonio Valencia was on the scoresheet as he continues his rapid rehabilitation from a broken ankle to offer the manager plenty of attacking options after he decided to start with Nani on the bench at Stamford Bridge.

United looked sharper all over the pitch in that game but Chelsea could still easily have come away with a draw.

Playing on Tuesday

Manchester United v Chelsea

Misses next match if booked: John Obi Mikel, Ramires, Fernando Torres, Yuri Zhirkov (all Chelsea)

Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona

Suspended: Razvan Rat (Shakhtar Donetsk); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

Misses next match if booked: Oleksiy Gai, Luiz Adriano, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Darijo Srna, Yaroslav Rakitskiy (All Shakhtar Donetsk)

Playing on Wednesday

Schalke 04 v Inter Milan

Suspended: Cristian Chivu (Inter Milan); Jefferson Farfan (Schalke 04)

Misses next match if booked: Thiago Motta (Inter Milan); Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Manuel Jurado (Schalke 04)

Tottenham Hotspur v Real Madrid

Suspended: Pepe (Real Madrid); Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur)

Misses next match if booked: Raul Albiol, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho (all Real Madrid)

Source: http://gulfnews.com
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Jazeman Ready For First Round 2011 British F3 International Series In Monza

Sepang - Petronas-backed young Malaysian driver, Jazeman Jaafar is eager to be back on track for the first round of the 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series championship to be held at Monza, Italy next week.

Jazeman concluded his pre-season testing for the new season last week with a final two-day at Snetterton circuit in Norfolk, England.

In his second season in the series, the 19-year-old, who is racing for the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen team, raced comfortably to finish in the top 10 throughout the official test and completed his preparations for the first round of the championship in Italy.

"My goal is always to win races. There will be tough competitions and I don't underestimate how tough it will be, but I have the commitment, passion and determination to succeed.

"As a racing driver my aim is to reach the pinnacle of my sport, which is, of course Formula 1, and if I am to do that I have to prove that I have the skill and the talent needed and British F3 is the right training ground for this," he told Bernama in recent interview.

Jazeman, who is based in UK, was here to watch the 2011 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix last week as a guest of Petronas and Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team.

The Kuala Lumpur lad already had experience standing on the British F3 podium, following a strong rookie season in the junior championship last year.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
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Classyx Pack 1.32

Classyx Pack is a collection of five different portable classic games. Klopodrom is a game in which you eat the very fast food. Driving is unusual car driving game with obstacles. Sponge is a hard to play ball game against the computer. Suma is a collect and avoid game. Flo is a game in which you catch the squares.

Note: Classyx pack is compressed with UPX which causes some antivirus programs to generate a false-positive. If you have any of issues please read Info/FAQ on author´s site.

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Sharapova reaches Miami Masters final

Miami - Maria Sharapova fought back from one set down to reach the women's final at the WTA and ATP Masters hardcourt tournament on Thursday.

Third seed Roger Federer eased into the the men's semifinals thanks to French opponent Gilles Simon's retirement due to a stiff neck.

Sharapova, seeded 16th, overcame her slow start by winning 11 straight games en route to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 semifinal victory over Germany's Andrea Petkovic.

Sharapova will be seeking her first title since May 2010, and her first in Miami, playing against the winner of Thursday night's semifinal between third-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva and 2009 Miami champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in Saturday's final.

Federer won 12 of the 15 points against Simon, who talked with a trainer during a changeover before conceding the match and shaking hands with Federer.

"He told me he woke up this morning with a stiff neck and couldn't move," Federer said. "It's obviously disappointing when it happens in front of an audience. You get booed off the court -- that's rough. It's not the way you want to move on, but look, I'll take those because they happen quite rarely."

Federer next faces either top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal or seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.

Federer beat Nadal for the title here in 2005, the last time they played each other in the United States.

Sharapova, who finished runner-up here in 2005 and 2006, missed the tournament from 2008-2010 because of injuries.

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Kenya's Olympic champion Jelimo makes a comeback

Nairobi - Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo returned to competitive running on Friday but bit the dust as she came out second in the shorter 200m sprint at the second round of the Athletics Kenya track and field competition staged in Narok.

Her attempt to gauge her endurance over the 1,500m race ended prematurely as she was forced out with a lap to spare.

Over 1,500 elite athletes turned up for the event, which AK Public Relations Officer Peter Angwenyi said depicted the rich history and talent the country boost of.

Jelimo's performance in the 200m sprint was a proof she is on return to her former form and that she only need time and more races to get to her peak.

She held on tightly to finish second in 26.7, which is not bad for a two lap racer seeking to test her speed. She was beaten by her Kenya Police teammate Edna Kwamboka in 26.2 while Zipporah Nyasiguta from Kisii was third in 27.1.

In 1,500m women final, Jelimo had to drop out after her normal 800m in a race that was won by Helen Opili from the Armed Forces team.

Opili struck 4:30.1 to win, but had to contend with a late charge from 16 year-old Carolyne Chepkoech, the Africa cross country 6km champion, who was second in 4:35.5 while Nancy Gathure took the third position in 4:36.3.

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Ze Roberto sets Bundesliga foreigner record

Berlin - After helping his team tying 0-0 away against Hoffenheim on Saturday night, Hamburg's Brazil midfielder set a new record in Bundesliga as the most capped foreign player.

Jose Robert da Silva Jr., commonly known as Ze Roberto, has played in 331 Bundesliga matches, renewing the 330-match record set by Bosnia international Sergej Barbarez who retired in 2008.

"Holding this record for me is like winning an Oscar," said Ze Roberto, who won 84 caps for Brazil and scored 6 goals.

The 37-year-old stepped on the stage of Bundesliga in the summer of 1998 and spent four seasons in Bayer Leverkusen before transferring to German giants Bayern Munich in 2002.

Ze Roberto spent six seasons in two spells in Bayern Munich, winning four league titles and four German Cup finals, before signing with his current club Hamburg in 2009.

Ze Roberto's contract in Hamburg will expire at the end of the season but the midfielder has already expressed his will to keep playing until he is 40.

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