Real Madrid vs Bayern Munchen: match preview Champions League

The first leg semi final between Spanish  Real Madrid and German giant Bayern is going to be held on 17 April at Allianz-Arena, München.

Real defeated  APOEL 8-2 aggregate with 3-0 in first leg at Strovolos and  5-2 in second leg at Madrid whereas Bayern defeated Marsellie 4-0 aggregate with 2-0 at both first and  second leg to reach the semi final of UEFA Champions League.

The two teams last met at a club friendly match in August 13, 2010 in which Real took over with 4-2.

With a history of  9 Champions League including consecutive 5 times Champions League win and current winning form , Real is the strong team, however, Real has not won the one since 2002 and its Champions League record is not going too well. But, the scene can be different in current context, however Bayern is not the weak one. Bayern has won the European cup 4 times with a last win in 2001 just before Real Madrid. Bayern is also in a very good form and this German giant can be a very strong opponent to the Spanish giant.

Real has the strong support from great going Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuin, Kaka whereas Bayern is also uplifted by spirits from Gomez, Muller, Robben, Ribery. The match between two teams will be a great to watch as both will try to march for their Cup win after a long span.

Barca vs Chelsea: match preview Champions League 2012

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
    




 The second leg semi final between Spanish giant Barcelona and Blue English Chelsea is going to be held on 24 April at Camp Nou..

After the disappointing first leg match in the English ground, the Spanish still has the chance to go to the finals. Chelsea defeated Barca 1-0 in the exciting first leg at their home ground with Drogba being the hero of the match who scored the winning goal at 45+2'.
Barcelona faced quite disappointing results lately as they loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the first leg and also had a crucial loss against their arch rivals Real Madrid at their home ground which is likely to cost them the Premier League title while Chelsea has been running in good form and has  lost only once since the last 14 fixtures.

Barca defeated  Milan 3-1 in second leg at Camp Nou after playing a 0-0 draw in first leg at Milan whereas Chelsea defeated Benfica 3-1 aggregate with 1-0 at first leg and 2-1 at second leg to reach the semi final of UEFA Champions League. 


The two teams have met last in Champions League in May-6, 2009 , match ending with a draw with a sensational last minute goal from Iniesta.

Barcelona has advance to semi finals fifth consecutive time and has won the last two trophies while the history of Chelsea at Champions League is quite bitter as they have not made the finals yet while they last faced Barcelona at semi finals in 2008/09 season when Barca had marched to the finals.


However, the situation in current scenario has changed and many believe that Chelsea can beat Barcelona in their two leg match. But, still, they are facing the 4 times champion and current title holder, so it is heavy job for Chelsea.

Pieterson's excellent century switch pressure to SL

Kevin Pieterson excellent one-day style century takes England to a comfortable zone in the third day of  second test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
 Pieterson batted excellently and got 153 of just 165 balls with 16 fours and 6 sixes to suppress the rumurs of poor batting in Asia.
Pieterson, with the support of Cook(94) and Trott(64) lead the score to 460 to get 185 runs lead against the home side.
SL, with  the century from Jayawardene had scored 275 in the first inning. The home side has started their second inning and scored 4/0 and are still 181 runs behind.



                                Brief scorecard:
2nd Test  Day 3  

Sri Lanka                                      England

1st inning - 275                            1st inning - 460
Jayawardene - 105 (313)              Pieterson - 153 (165)
AD Mathews - 57 (213)               A Cook  - 94 (339)
G Swann  - 4/75                         H Herath - 6/133

2nd inning - 4/0

Sri Lanka trail by 181 runs with 10 wickets remaining.

For more details goto http://www.espncricinfo.com/
   

Chennai vs Mumbai live scores IPL

current score:

The final over of the inning....

CSK - 109/9  (19)   SB  Jakati - 4   Bollinger - 2

CSK - 99/6  (16)   Jadeja - 2     S Badrinath -10
The defending champion is looking in trouble....
Out...Its captain gone....he is run out ...jadeja is in

CSK - 95/5  (15)   Dhoni - 4     S Badrinath -8

CSK - 90/5  (14)   Dhoni - 2     S Badrinath -6

CSK - 87/5  (13.1)   Dhoni - 0     S Badrinath -5
Here comes the captain....Dhoni
Morkel Out at  3..This time its Pollard and caught by Ojha

CSK - 84/4  (12.1)   A Morkel - 4     S Badrinath -2

CSK - 81/4  (11.3)   A Morkel - 3     S Badrinath - 0
Out...Its 4th down...Bravo gone Ojha takes another....

the run rate has quite slowed down after loss of Raina.....
CSK - 80/3  (11)   A Morkel - 2     D  Bravo - 19

 CSK - 77/3  (10.2)   A Morkel - 1     D  Bravo - 17
Raina Out.....at 36..excellent catch from Malinga trapped by Ojha.... A Morkel comes in

CSK - 69/2  (9.0)   Raina - 35   D  Bravo - 12


     

Man City falls behind with draw against Sunderland

The title race for Manchester City is becoming more difficult with the losing grip at the finishing matches of English Premier League. The draw played against Sunderland last night left City 2 points behind the leaders Man United. Sunderland took the lead at 31' with goal from Larssson and soon doubled just before second half by Bendtner.
Balotelli gave the returned goal for City at 43' but second goal from Larsson at 55' put City under pressure with 2 goals behind. However Balotelli late score at 85' and quick succession from Kolarov at 86' equalised the goal and match ended at 3-3 with City sharing point.

Iniesta and Messi helped keep the distance to six points

Goals from Iniesta and Messi helped the Catalans to maintain the distance to six points from the League leaders Real Madrid in the La Liga. Real set the distance to 9 points by a comfortable 5-1 win against Osasuna early but the match win against Bilbao in the home ground maintained the distance back to six points for Barca. Iniesta got the breakthrough at 40' which was converted to double by Messi with penalty at 58'.
With very little match left to complete the league the two teams are trying hard for the battle but still it seems quite difficult for the Catalans.