UEFA Champions League Semi-Final: Barcelona V/S Inter
 

Keep this thread for news, updates and discussion related to today's game between Inter & Barcelona.

You can watch it on Al-Jazeera sports, 9:45 pm (beirut time).

The players have finally arrived in Milan after a 1,000 kilometre trek by coach and an overnight stay in Cannes.

The two coaches left Barcelona early on Sunday afternoon and finally arrived in Milan at 2 pm on Monday. The players had been booked to fly as usual but the disruption to European air traffic caused by a cloud of volcanic dust caused the plans to be changed at the last moment.

From Cannes to Milan

The coaches covered the 634 kilometres from Barcelona to Cannes on Sunday. They left again at 10 am today to drive the remaining 351 kilometres to Milan.

1,000 km

Not only the team has been affected by flight cancellations. The fans that have tickets for the match will also have to make the 1,000 kilometre journey by road or rail.

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BBarcelona coach Pep Guardiola has heralded Inter tactician Jose Mourinho as the best in the world ahead of their Champions League semi-final clash at San Siro tomorrow evening.

“We face a great team in Inter, whose coach is arguably the best in the world,” Guardiola told a press conference today. “He has won titles in Portugal, England and Italy. It is an honour to face him."

Guardiola also spoke about his team’s 14 hour coach trip to Milan after they were unable to fly following the air travel chaos caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

"The journey has not been easy, but nothing much happened,” he said. “A lot of people in Europe have been unable to travel. I would prefer to go 14 hours by bus to play the Champions League than watch the semi-finals at home [on TV].

“It's not what we wanted but there are many teams in the second and third divisions that have to do it.”

Pep also pointed out he was well aware of Mourinho’s tactical nous, insisting Barca will have to be well prepared.

“We play differently,” he said. “We have three attackers and a playmaker, which you don't see so much. It is very difficult to prepare for the game because this coach is very smart.”

Finally, Guardiola admitted that he didn’t think the tie would be settled tomorrow and that “everything will be decided at the Camp Nou” when the sides meet for the second leg next week.

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Inter coach Jose Mourinho has cautioned Barcelona that they will not find his side to be pushovers in the Champions League semi-finals, with the first leg on Tuesday in Milan.

Barcelona and the Nerazzurri met earlier this season in the competition's group stages, in which they drew 0-0 at the San Siro before Barca secured an easy 2-0 win at Camp Nou.

"Barcelona showed superiority and deservedly won, we did not have the ability to respond to their dominance," he said at a press conference, according to tuttosport.

"It was November. [Now] They are good, just as they were in November, but we are much better than in November."

"I accept that the world of football say they are favoured, but I think there is a 50-50 chance."

Many have suggested that whoever wins this semi-final will win the tournament, but the former Chelsea boss insists that whoever makes it into the final will still come up against extremely competitive opponents.

"I don't like that. This a semi-final and then you must play the actual final, which is in Madrid," he added.

"Lyon and Bayern Munich have the same percentages as Inter and Barcelona to win the cup.

"The road to win the Champions League is long and, for me, it has never been an easy one. It is obviously more difficult to play the second leg away."

Meanwhile, the club's official website, inter.it, have further quotes from the Portuguese tactician.

"Where will [Wesley] Sneijder play? This is a one-million dollar question," he continued.

"For Barcelona will Maxwell or [Eric] Abidal play? [Dani] Alves at left-back or further up like he did against Real Madrid? [Gabi] Milito or [Carles] Puyol? [Seydou] Keita on the right or Keita on the left? I'd really like the answers to these questions, but I don't think [Barcelona coach Pep] Guardiola will address them in his press conference."

Mourinho then commented on how he intends to halt Ballon d'Or holder Lionel Messi, who was a major factor in defeating Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

"Messi? It's my belief football is not about man-marking, for this reason it's not one versus Messi and 10 against 10, but it's obvious he deserves special attention."


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Wesley Sneijder: Inter Are Not Afraid Of Barcelona

Nerazzurri ready to attack Barca…

By Rupert Fryer

Apr 19, 2010 6:25:00 PM



http://u.goal.com/92100/92115_news.jpg

Inter midfielder Wesley Sneijder has warned Barcelona that his side are not afraid of the free-scoring Spaniards ahead of the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final tomorrow evening.

"I'm not afraid of nobody,” the Dutchman told a UEFA press conference.

"We respect Barcelona a lot because they are one of the best teams in Europe at the moment, but we are not afraid."

"They have a very strong team,” Sneijder continued when asked what he thought of Pep Guardiola’s side, insisting the Nerazzurri would take a positive approach to the tie.

“They have a lot of ball possession in every game. But [Jose] Mourinho will always have his tactics. We will go for it tomorrow and we will try to destroy their game, attack them and score.

“I have a good feeling. It's my first semi-final and we have to respect them a lot, but we will go for it and we have to do that. Then next week we go to Barcelona and play the second game, but first we have this match and we want to be the boss in our stadium."

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Btw You can watch the games on aljazeera sport +3,+4 & +5

now THAT'S a great match-up, enno the probablities are against Inter bas Mourinho is unpredictable, he's a smart/3affit mofo :hawhaw: