L.D.U Wins Final of 2008 Libertadores Cup

Ecuadorian Team beats Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro

Liga Deportiva Universitaria (LDU) from Quito, Ecuador is the new champion of the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious South American club tournament, only equaled in importance by the UEFA Champions League. The final match of the two-way tie was played in the night of July 2 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. LDU´s opponent was Fluminense, one of the city’s most popular clubs and there was a fever pitch atmosphere at the Maracana since the team had never been able to win the Libertadores. Fluminense had to win by a three goal difference to become champions because LDU had won the first match in Quito by 4-2. Before the match the Fluminense players declared to the local press that they would come out and put continuous pressure on LDU from the first minute. However, in front of 80,000 spectators, LDU got off to a great start since Luis Bolaños scored in the fifth minute. The goal was quite lucky since a Fluminense defender turned his back on the shot and allowed the ball to go between his legs. This confused the local goalkeeper that could not stop the ball but just as the local crowd began to get nervous, Thiago Neves set the house on fire by equalizing in the 12 minute with a low long range shot past LDU goalkeeper Jose Ceballos. Eventually both these players would become the villain and hero of the night at the end of the match.
An inspired Thiago Neves would score yet again in the 28th and 56th minute and with the aggregate score tied at 5-5 the match continued with a further 30 minutes of extra time. A legitimate goal scored by Claudio Bieler in the 116th minute could have given LDU and instant victory but it was disallowed since a linesman considered that the Argentine striker was offside. Since at the end of full time the match was with the same scoreline so a penalty shootout had to be carried out. Another Argentine, Dario Conca was the first of three Fluminense players to miss the penalty kick, such as the unfortunate Thiago Neves and Washington, a free kick expert. Campos was the only player that missed for LDU and so for the first time in history, an Ecuadorian team became champions of the Copa Libertadores. Until now, teams from countries on the Atlantic side of the continent have monopolized this tournament that has been played since 1960, the other clubs being Atletico Nacional of Colombia in 1989, Colo Colo (Chile) in 1991 and Once Caldas in 2004.

Manchester United Holds Barcelona to Goalless Draw at Nou Camp

English club near to playing final of UEFA Champions League

Barcelona and Manchester United played the second semifinal of the UEFA Champions league on April 23 at the Nou Camp Stadium in front of 98,700 spectators. The other was played the day before in Liverpool where the home team drew 1-1 with Chelsea. Manchester United had not played at this stadium since 1999 when it won that year’s edition of the UEFA Champions League after defeating Bayern Munich of Germany. This was the English club’s second time to win the European competition, the first being in 1968. Barcelona have also won this trophy twice (1992 and 2006) and the local fans are certainly eager to win it a third time. The match could have begun disastrously for Barcelona if Cristiano Ronaldo had scored the penalty that was awarded to him in the second minute of play. The Portuguese national team player and currently the player with the highest transfer fee in world football headed the ball towards the Barcelona goal but Gabriel Milito blocked it with his hands and referee Massimo Bussaca pointed to the penalty spot. Amazingly, Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot missed the goal completely and also squandered a great opportunity for his team to go ahead in the scoreboard. This missed chance lifted the spirits of the Barcelona players that headed by Argentine star Lionel Messi began to constantly attack the Man.Utd goal. However, Messi and his teammates were unable to finalize the many chances they created for themselves, while Man.Utd were satisfied to stay in its own half and prevent Barcelona from scoring. Apart from Messi, there were two other Argentineans on the field, Carlos Tevez (Man. Utd) and the before mentioned Milito. There were no goals scored in the first half and the only clear chance for Barcelona occurred in the 51st minute when Messi and Samuel Etoo made a good combination of passes that the Cameroon striker was unable to convert from close range. In the 61st minute the Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard realized that Messi had tried all his tricks against Man.Utd and so substituted him with Bojan Krcic. The final twenty minutes continued that usual trend as Manchester United´s disciplined defenders kept the locals at bay and obtained its objective of getting a goalless draw. After this result, Man.Utd has to beat Barcelona by a one-goal difference at Old Trafford in order to advance to the final. In theory that match will be played on May 21 in Moscow but the Russian Football Federation has declared that if two English teams qualify, it will renounce to staging the final of the 2008 UEFA Champions league.

Roma F.C Stuns Real Madrid in UEFA Champions League

Italian Club reaches quarterfinals of European football tournament


Roma F.C achieved its most important result in history after defeating Real Madrid in its own stadium, and progressing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, a tournament it has never won. Will this be the year that Roma finally wins it? Like Real Madrid, its squad is full of South American players such as David Pizarro (Chile) , Doni, Juan, Cicinho and Taddei, all from Brazil. The match was played on March 5 at the mythical Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and as well as the before mentioned players also included two Argentines (Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Gago) and three Brazilians (Robinho, Pepe and Julio Baptista). It was Baptista that became the most dangerous player for Real Madrid as he nearly opened up the score board in the 16th minute with a free kick that was well saved by Doni. Two minutes later Alberto Aquilani replied for Roma as his long-range shot struck the right post of the goal defended by Iker Casillas.
After three minutes of the second half Baptista yet again nearly scored from a free kick but this time the ball hit the right top angle of Doni´s goalpost.
Real Madrid’s coach Berndt Schuster tried to reinforce his team’s attack trying to get the goal that would equalize the aggregate score since Roma had won the first match by 2-1. Schuster replaced Mohammed Diarra with Rayston Drenthe and Michel Salgado with Miguel Torres while Mirko Vucinic replaced Mancini in Roma F.C. Only five minutes later Vucinic would be another player that would send the ball crashing against the crossbar and back onto the pitch to be cleared by a Real madrid defender.
The match became even more difficult for Real since in the 70th minute Pepe was sent off after fouling a Roma player.
Roma began to attack and its reward came only two minutes later as Taddei headed in the ball after a cross from the left wing.
Raul raised the hopes of the Real fans as he equalized in the 74th minute. In the 75th minute Chilean midfielder David Pizarro replaced Simone Perrotta and Roma began to have even more ball possession. The final score would increase in the 92nd minute as Vucinic finishes off a Roma counterattack with a good header.

Starting Lineups:

Real Madrid (1) : Iker Casillas (gk),M.Salgado, G.Heinze, F.Gago, Cannavaro, Pepe, M.Diarra, Guti, J.Baptista, Robinho.

Roma F.C. (2) : Doni (gk), Mexes, M.Tonetto, Juan, De Rossi, Cicinho, Taddei, S.Perrotta, A.Aquilani, Totti, Mancini,

Other results: Chelsea 3 - Olimpiakos 0
Porto 1- Schalke 0 (Schalke advances after penalties)