The Sport Review: “Pep Guardiola leads Barcelona to third straight La Liga crown” plus 4 more

Pep Guardiola leads Barcelona to third straight La Liga crown
Tom Wood wins Premiership player of the season award
Federico Macheda could stay at Sampdoria, says agent
Ben Foster takes break from international football
Rome Masters: Schiavone and Federer steal the limelight

Pep Guardiola leads Barcelona to third straight La Liga crown

Posted: 11 May 2011 04:25 PM PDT

pep guardiola

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola reflected on a hard-earned triumph after his side were crowned La Liga champions for the third season running on Wednesday.

A 1-1 draw at Levante was enough for the Champions League finalists to seal the ninth trophy of Guardiola’s three-year reign at Camp Nou with two games to spare.

Seydou Keita headed Barça in front before on-loan Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo capitalised on a Gerard Piqué mistake to seal a draw

“Winning the league was been extremely tough and we are very pleased,” Guardiola said afterwards. “We have been tremendous for three quarters of the season but in the last quarter we have struggled to score goals.

“If we have experienced a dip in form towards the end of the season, it is because of the inhuman schedule over the last two years. We have barely stopped.”

Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi—who was unable to add to his 31 league goals this term, leaving him trailing Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo by five in the race for the Pichichi top scorer award—echoed the sentiments of his coach.

“I’m very happy because it’s been a very tough title,” said the Argentinian. “It’s taken a lot of hard work to be champions and more so against a great rival like Real Madrid. Now we have to enjoy it.”

And midfielder Xavi Hernández, who becomes only the third Barça player to win six league titles with the club, added: “It’s taken a lot of hard work and this team deserves a lot of credit.

“We need to congratulate everyone associated with Barcelona. The fans deserve it and I imagine that today we will celebrate with them in the streets.”

Barcelona have reached the last four of the Champions League in every season since Guardiola took charge, and the Catalan giants are aiming to secure their fourth European triumph by defeating Manchester United on 28 May in the final at Wembley.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo insists he is not “obsessed” by individual records, saying that he is only driven by the desire to win trophies with his team.

Ronaldo has found the net seven times in Madrid’s last two games, taking his La Liga tally to 36 for the season and leaving him just two away from the top-flight record of 38 set by Athletic Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra in 1950-51.

But the 26-year-old says collective success is more important than reaching individual milestones. “I’m fighting to reach a very important mark [the Primera Division record], but I’m not obsessed about doing it,” he said.

“I’m not thinking a lot about that [the records], I prefer to do my thing to help the team to win and if I beat the records then that would be good, but if I don’t to be honest I don’t care about that. I just want to play to enjoy it and keep well myself.”

La Liga table snapshot

Tom Wood wins Premiership player of the season award

Posted: 11 May 2011 10:04 AM PDT

Northampton Saints and England lock Tom Wood has been crowned the Aviva Premiership player of the season.

Wood beat team-mates Brian Mujati and last year’s winner Chris Ashton as well as Saracens’ Schalk Brits and Leicester’s Thomas Waldrom to land the accolade at England’s elite rugby awards ceremony in London on Tuesday night.

The 24-year-old flanker, who was signed from relegated Worcester last summer, has been a sensation since his debut against Leicester when he was named man-of-the match.

Wood is now sidelined with a hairline fracture to his fibula but his performances have helped the club reach the Heineken Cup final and the Premiership play-offs this season.

He still hopes to face Leinster on 21 May at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff but has been ruled out of Northampton’s Premiership semi-final on Saturday.

“I’ve definitely enjoyed my time at the Saints. It couldn’t have gone much better really," said Wood.

“‘I knew I had a challenge to establish myself as a Saints player, especially with the quality players that we have in the back row, and everything else has been a bonus.

"I certainly had no hesitation in signing a new contract and have no intention of going anywhere else."

Wood’s impressive season, including a first senior cap against Wales and an appearance in every Six Nations game this year, helped England win the championship for the first time in eight years.

Saints coach Jim Mallinder, who picked up QBE director of rugby of the year award ahead of Saracens’ Mark McCall and Rob Baxter of Exeter, has rewarded the flanker with a two-year contract extension at Franklins Gardens.

The club also had five players feature in this season’s ESPN Dream Team as chosen by former England players Austin Healey and Ben Kay.

Meanwhile, the season’s best young player prize—the Land Rover Discovery of the season award—went to Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi who beat Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell.

ESPN Dream Team:

15 M Brown (Harlequins); 14 D Strettle (Saracens), 13 M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), 12 A Allen (Leicester Tigers), 11 C Ashton (Northampton Saints); 10 J Gopperth (Newcastle Falcons), 9 D Care (Harlequins); 1 S Tonga’uiha (Northampton Saints), 2 S Brits (Saracens), 3 B Mujati (Northampton Saints), 4 C Lawes (Northampton Saints), 5 T Hayes (Exeter Chiefs, capt), 6 T Wood (Northampton Saints), 7 J Burger (Saracens), 8 T Waldrom (Leicester Tigers).

Federico Macheda could stay at Sampdoria, says agent

Posted: 11 May 2011 09:46 AM PDT

federico macheda

Manchester United striker Federico Macheda could stay at Sampdoria for another season, according to the player's agent.

The 19-year-old forward has found the net just once in 16 games for the Serie A side since his loan move from Old Trafford in January.

Giovanni Bia, Macheda’s agent, believes the young striker could benefit from another season with Sampdoria, regardless of whether the struggling Italian side, who are 18th in the table with two games left to play, are playing in Serie A or Serie B.

“I will speak to Sir Alex Ferguson to decide what to do next season,” Bia told Tuttomercatoweb.

“Sampdoria could be a useful experience for him, even in the case of Serie B, but it is still early to talk about it.”

He added: “The first games were played well but then maybe Federico was incorporated into this fight for salvation, and if the most experienced players were not able to raise the team, surely a 20-year-old boy can’t do it.”

Ben Foster takes break from international football

Posted: 11 May 2011 09:32 AM PDT

Ben Foster has revealed he is taking an indefinite break from international football to concentrate on his club career at Birmingham City.

The 28-year-old has become the Blues’ first-choice stopper since his £5m transfer from Manchester United last May and has represented England on five occasions.

“Performing at the highest level game in, game out, and particularly when there’s been as many matches as there have been this season, really takes it out of your body,” he told Birmingham’s website.

“It’s no secret that I’ve had a few niggling injuries and that I’ve had to pull out of the past few England squads because of that.

“I’ve spoken to the management team and coaches here at Blues and told them what I want to do but it’s also very important that I say just how much I have loved playing for England and being part of the set-up.

“I’ve enjoyed my time with England and am certainly not closing a door on the international side of things forever but this is the right thing for me to do right now in terms of club football.

“Inevitably every time I’ve had the opportunity to give my body a rest there has been an international fixture and the demands that come with that.

“In Joe [Hart] England have a goalkeeper who is extremely talented and a top guy and he is an excellent custodian for the national side to have. I have no doubt he is going to go on to be one of the greatest.”

He added: “This is the right decision for me as I want to prolong my club career for as long as possible.”

Foster made his England debut in a 1-0 defeat by Spain in February 2007 under Capello. His last appearance for the national side came in a 1-0 loss to Brazil in a friendly in Qatar in November 2009.

Rome Masters: Schiavone and Federer steal the limelight

Posted: 11 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT

francesca schiavone

The first round is complete at the hot and burnished Foro Italica in Rome and just two seeds have fallen – neither of them were a surprise.

Andy Roddick's troubles were set to continue from the moment the draw was made: His first opponent was Gilles Simon.

The Frenchman troubles the best whenever and wherever they play, and No12 seed Roddick was out in the blink of an eye, 6-3 6-3, just as he had been in Madrid last week.

The other seed, No13 Mikhail Youzhny, also went down to a player who can turn on the style at the drop of a hat, and he happened to do so against the Russian: Philipp Kohlschreiber. Youzhny, much like Roddick, is going through the doldrums. This was his fifth defeat in his past six matches, and it was a straight-sets affair.

But those aside, together with the withdrawal of No10 Gael Monfils with illness before the tournament got under way, it's been sunshine all the way.

Andy Murray's progress, in a three-set battle with Xavier Malisse, had the British on their edge of their seats again, but he now has a day's rest before he is asked his next question.

He will almost certainly hit the practice courts to fine-tune his wayward serving which averaged just 51 percent across the match and a dire 41 percent in the lost second set.

Another top seed, No5 Robin Soderling, was also tested by former world No7, Fernando Verdasco, who has slid in the rankings this year to a current No17.

But in a topsy-turvy match, he showed the Swede some of the playing power that took him to such a high level.

Verdasco led 6-2, 5-4 and had a 40-0 lead on his serve before his game collapsed in a flood of unforced errors.

Soderling took the set 7-5 and then ran ahead 3-0 in the third only for Verdasco—although coping with something in his eye—fought back to level at 3-3.

But the grit of the Swede outstayed the fire of the Spaniard and, having faced down three match points, it was Soderling's victory, 6-4 in the third.

So in the brief hiatus ahead of the big guns opening their accounts in Round Two—and the top three all play their first matches on a single action-packed day—the focus turned to the characters. And it was one man and one woman in particular who drew the crowds like bees to a honeypot.

Home heroine, Francesca Schiavone, took to the Centre Court in a torrent of cheers and singing and applause.

Since winning the French Open last year, the petite, passionate Schiavone—higher in the rankings than at any time in her 31 years—was not playing at her best, but no-one cared a jot.

The highest ranked Italian player beat American Christina McHale, 6-3 6-1, in a blur of apricot vest and terracotta muscle as her opponent became progressively overawed by the occasion.

The unique quality of the Italian crowd, however, is an overflowing passion tempered by fairness. Amid roars of approval for the characteristic Schiavone single-handed backhand volley came a chorus of hushes to bottle up their enthusiasm until the end of the point.

The match began, in a strange sense of timing immediately before Schiavone's opening foray, with a presentation ceremony.

It happened last year—on that occasion on the Pietrangeli court—and was again shrouded in mystery for every non-Italian speaking spectator. What was the award and who was making it?

The answer to the latter was the great Italian Nicky Pietrangeli himself. The answer to the former—passed like Chinese whispers from Italian to English speakers—was something along the lines of the fans' "most graceful and elegant player of the year".

On this occasion, they had chosen Schiavone. Last year, it was the only player to compete with her for the fans' attention in the Foro Italico on opening Tuesday: Roger Federer.

His arrival is heralded from afar by the cheers and chants of crowds, by the shouted alerts from fan to fan and by the sight of small children hurtling to the source of the hubbub.

Sure enough, Federer had appeared on the practice court beyond Court 6. Ranks of bodies filled every available viewing spot, including the stone bleachers raked alongside the women's doubles match already under way on Court 6.

For the four women attempting to focus on the job in hand, it became a nightmare. Amid chants of "bellissimo" at Federer's every move there were cheers of approval for a decent practice volley or a slotted down-the-line backhand.

Federer could do little but look slightly embarrassed. He found time to watch a few rallies in his hapless neighbours' match, had his photo taken with a couple of star-struck officials and eventually, after around 30 minutes of chaos, left the court with a quick wave.

Whether he checked which of the pairs had won that second-round doubles match—it was Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova—who knows.

He will know, if he ever doubted it, that his star-appeal is as great this year as when he won that award on Pietrangeli 12 months ago.