Friday, 12 April 2013

Latest football news


The newly-crowned German champions Bayern Munich will face their fellow four-time European champions Barcelona in the semi-finals of theChampions League.
Bayern, who lost last season's final on their own ground to Chelsea, will bid to make their second consecutive final at Wembley on 25 May, with the first leg of the semi-final to be played in Munich on 23 April.
The Bayern chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is relishing a test against a side he holds in such high regard.
"Barcelona are the benchmark for me in Europe. They have won the Champions League more than any other team in the recent years," Rummenigge told UEFA.com. "They are the best team in Europe at the moment, with fantastic attacking potential. We played them in 2009 and received a real thumping. I remember that game well and I don't really like to think about it, because it was quite painful to watch. However, it's a wonderful opportunity to show that we have improved a lot since then."
The draw means there will not be a repeat of three seasons ago when Barcelona and Real Madrid met in the semi-finals, with Borussia Dortmund drawing José Mourinho's side.
Madrid, who are semi-finalists for a record 24th time and in the final four for the third successive season, will play the second leg of their semi-final against Dortmund at home. They avoided a final-four clash with Barcelona, who are making a record sixth successive semi-final appearance, but instead will face the only team still unbeaten in the competition this season.
Dortmund scored twice in injury time in their quarter-final second leg tie against Málaga to progress to the last four for the first time in 15 years.
Chelsea will face Basel in the semi-finals of the Europa League as they bid to win their second successive European title.
The Premier League side, who beat Bayern Munich to the Champions League crown last season, will first face the Swiss opposition away from home on 25 April before the second leg at Stamford Bridge on 2 May.
Fenerbahce, who beat Lazio 3-1 on aggregate to progress to the final four having lost their two previous European quarter-finals, will playBenfica in the other semi-final match.
Basel, who needed penalties to overcome Tottenham after their quarter-final was tied 4-4 after the two legs, will face a Chelsea side who secured their path to the final four with a 5-4 aggregate win over the Russian side Rubin Kazan.
"I think we would have hoped for Basel, but then Basel have just put out Tottenham," said the Chelsea club secretary, David Barnard. "Credit must go to Rafa [Benítez] because of the way he has handled it and got Chelsea to two semi-finals [in the Europa League and Capital One Cup]."
The Portuguese side Benfica, who defeated Newcastle to leave Chelsea the sole English club left in European competition, have been rewarded with a match against Fenerbahce on the next step to the final in Amsterdam on 15 May.
The draw, held at Uefa's headquarters in Nyon, also decided that the winners of Fenerbahce and Benfica will be classed as the home team in next month's final.

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