Guardiola is due to stand down when the season concludes and his ten-man FC [...]]]> Guardiola’s last league match as coach of FC Barcelona ended in a draw after Keita scored a last minute equailiser against Betis on Saturday. The Catalans struggled after Dani Alves was expelled in the second half. According to the UEFA website:

Guardiola is due to stand down when the season concludes and his ten-man FC Barcelona side needed an equaliser two minutes into added time to secure a 2-2 draw at Real Betis Balompié. Second-half goals, scored just three minutes apart, from Castro Rubén put Betis ahead after Sergio Busquets’ strike nine minutes into the game had given the early advantage to the Azulgrana.

The result left Barcelona on 91 points, nine behind Real Madrid, who finished on 100. In third palce was Valencia, whose loss left them on 61 points. Guardiola’s final match will be on May 25th in the King’s Cup against Athletic Bilbao.

Read “Betis hold Barcelona, Valencia lose” at UEFA.com

Barcelona had managed to close up the gap with Madrid and stood four points behind going into the weekend. They had strong hopes to beat Madrid on home turf and close that gap to [...]]]> The la liga title was effectively decided on Saturday night when real Madrid beat FC Barcelona 2-1 at the Nou Camp.

Barcelona had managed to close up the gap with Madrid and stood four points behind going into the weekend. They had strong hopes to beat Madrid on home turf and close that gap to just one point.

However, Madrid’s defence didn’t allow Barcelona to get through to the goal despite overwhelming domination of the ball throughout the match. The visitos went a goal up in minute 16, but it wasn’t until the 69th minute that Alexis scored Barcelona’s only goal. Despite hope that the goal marked the turning point in the match, Ronaldo soon scored Madrid’s second goal and while Barcelona went on fighting they didn’t have enough to even make the match a draw.

With few matches left to play this season Madrid has effectively won. However, both teams are way ahead of all others making it almost a different competition entirely.

Red Bull showed that they had put the problems of the earlier races behind them, but the McLarens both suffered from bad luck. [...]]]> The podium at Bahrain on Sunday looked very different from the previous races, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel winning the race and Räikkönen and Grosjean taking the other two spots for Lotus.

Red Bull showed that they had put the problems of the earlier races behind them, but the McLarens both suffered from bad luck. Lewis Hamilton suffered two terrible pit stops when his left rear seemed to delay him by a total of 10 seconds or more over both stops, which left him in eight place rather than fighting for the podium. And Jenson Button was forced to retire after his exhaust blew.

On the other hand Barcelona easily [...]]]> Real Madrid certainly struggled against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, which will put them at a psychological disadvanateg when they visit the Nou Camp on Saturday for “el clasico”. The final score was 2-1 so they will be giving it there all when they play the return leg next week.

On the other hand Barcelona easily outplayed Chelsea and contolled the pace of play throughout the match. However, the Catalans were unable to make the ball do what counts despite some frustrating attempts on the Chelsea goal. All it took was for some good luck to go with the Londoners allowing Didier Drogba to score just before the break.

Despite really going for it in the second half the Catalans were unable even to equalise. However, in the Nou Camp things often go their way and there is a good chance they’ll overcome the goal deficit next Tuesday.

Rosberg got off to a good start [...]]]> The 2012 season is shaping up well for F1, with another thrilling race in China on Sunday. Nico Rosberg had his first ever pole position for Mercedes, with Schumacher second on the grid after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had a five place grid drop thanks to a gearbox change.

Rosberg got off to a good start and had a good margin throughout the race to come in first place. The McLarens of Jenson Button and Hamilton came in second and third place to give them the top two spots in the drivers championship.

Schumacher was running well to start with but his race was ruined by a pit stop in which his front wheel was not fastened and his was forced to retire. Button also looked like he might take Rosberg at one stage, but a slow stop of nearly 10 seconds lost him valuable time and put him into a line of cars that further slowed huim down.

And Kimi Reikkonen, also in second place towards the end of the race ended in 15th after his tyres dramatically lost grip and he struggled to keep the car on the track.

The season is turning out to be very different from the two previous years when Red Bull ran away with the points. Although Vettel finished fifth, he failed to make it through to Q3 on Saturday and team mate Mark Webber looks like he is in a batter place than least year.

And out of three races we have three different winners – and that is far better for the fans.

Although on paper Levante should not be doing well at all, this [...]]]> Real Madrid ensured that Barcelona remained four points behind them after beating Sporting Gijon 3-1 at the Bernabeu. Sporting are close to the bottom of the league and so it was a result that could have been foreseen, unlike Barcelona, who played Levante.

Although on paper Levante should not be doing well at all, this season has seen them produce extraordinary results and they are in contention to qualify for Europe. However, despite scoring the first goal, Barcelona’s relentless attacks and high possession proved too much and the Catalans ended up winning 2-1 thanks to Lionel Messi’s goals.

This week Madrid faces Bayern Munich and Barcelona plays another old foe, Chelsea. And next weekend is the clasico, that could see the Catalans within a point of Madrid; this season looks like it’s still got some time to run…