Barcelona beat AC Milan in Italy

Barcelona edged AC Milan 1-0 and a crowd of 76,883 at the San Siro on Tuesday night just couldn't believe it. French midfielder Giuly score the goal that makes Barcelona dream of Champions League final.

We must say that AC Milan had the better of the first half, Alberto Gilardino hitting the post with a snapshot from a tight angle and Víctor Valdés denying Andriy Shevchenko with a wonderful block shortly afterwards.

However, there was a play that changed everything. In the 57th minute, Ronaldinho Gaucho lifted through a magnificent pass for Ludovic Giuly, who impressed in controlling the ball and then sweeping it past Dida, Milan's keeper. It was an away goal crafted by the gods.

Frank Rijkaard gave the rival credit: "It was an absolutely important result and I want to congratulate my squad. We were playing at a tough venue against a great squad and it wasn't easy."

Great victory with Champions League smell

Spain has two teams in the semifinals of the Champions League, and they played on Friday. But this time it was a Spanish League match. Despite it, Samuel Eto'o managed to score the winning goal to help Barcelona beat Villarreal 1-0.

As we said, the match could have been a preview to the Champions League final next month. It's a must to say, though, that both teams had key absentees.

Barcelona was without world class player Ronaldinho, who also missed last weekend's draw against Santander with a right thigh injury.

Carles Puyol was able to play, after Barcelona's successful appeal against his suspension on Thursday. We must remember that Barcelona is set to meet AC Milan on Tuesday in a Champions League first-leg semi-final.

In the other hand, Villarreal, enjoying a sparkling Champions League debut season, will play Arsenal in London on Wednesday.

Barcelona Keeps the Lead

Barcelona FC runs closer to their 18th Spanish league title. The "blaugranas" got a 2-2 draw Sunday against Racing Santander.

This draw keeps Barcelona 11 points ahead of Valencia and Real Madrid - who share second place - with just six games left to play.

It's important to say that Frank Rijkaard's squad now have 70 points from 32 games, while Valencia and Real have 59.

All the scoring in Santander came in an eventful first half. Barca took the lead through Henrik Larsson, but Antonito Perez and Oscar Serrano quickly gave the hosts a surprising 2-1 lead.

African star Samuel Etoo levelled for Barca just before the break. The second half was a more relaxed affair, with both teams appearing to settle for a point toward the end.

All Eyes on the Derby

Barcelona is preparing everything to face the classic enemy in the Spanish Derby on Saturday. The will host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.

Frank Rijkaard claims he will not be resting players for Saturday's big game against Real Madrid in order to save them for next week's Champions League quarter-final with Benfica.

"Everyone who is fit will play, I will not rest players," Rijkaard told sports daily Sport on Friday.

The Catalans are without the injured Rafael Marquez and Edmilson in defence, along with livewire Argentine forward Lionel Messi, for Saturday's game.

It's important to say that Silvinho has been left out of the Barcelona squad for precautionary reasons. In the other hand, captain Carles Puyol returned from suspension and will be able to play.

Benfica resist Barcelona and hold a 0-0 draw

Barcelona went to Portugal in order to defeat Benfica and assure a place in the semifinals. But the local team had enough power to hold them to a 0-0 draw. Ronaldinho and Eto'o couldn't break the deadlock.

The Spanish side had a string of opportinities to score, but a mix of poor finishing and stubborn defending kept Benfica in with a chance of springing a surprise in the return leg of this Champions League quarter-final next week.

Local keeper Moretto de Souza performed a double save from Ronaldinho Gaucho, initially parrying his fierce drive before tipping the rebound over the bar. That was an important moment of the game.

Samuel Eto'o, Ronaldinho and Mark Van Bommel shot many times to beat Benfica, but they were not precise enough.

In the second half, Fabrizio Miccoli replaced Laurent Robert. With this decision, Benfica's attack immediately improved.

In the 80th, Sabrosa got behind the Barcelona defense but Valdes rushed out to stop him.

Giorgos Karagounis then managed to hit the Barcelona post with a free kick from 25 meters in the most dangerous move of the last part. The game was esciting indeed, but it wasn't a good result for Barcelona.

Henry supported Eto'o in the tough time

With all the speculations about Thierry Henry going to Barcelona, Samuel Eto'o was asked by the press to give an opinion.

What the press didn't know is that the two strikers are very good friends. After this week's victory over Getafe, Eto'o said in public: "It's ridiculous people are saying I'll be upset if Thierry Henry was to join us.

"They say I'd be upset because he'd take my place. But how can I be angry with my great friend Thierry?!!"

Now we know that when Eto'o suffered racial abuse from Real Zaragoza fans last month, it was the French striker who sent him a series of SMS messages in support of the Cameroon star. A really good gesture.

African smile in victory over Getafe

Samuel Eto'o was looking forward to score in this game. It was a special occasion since he was just one goal away from the 100 goals mark in the Spanish Football. And he did it twice. With these goals, Barcelona got an important victory over Getafe 3-1 and they're closer to a second straight title.

In the very beginning of the match, Nano Macedo had given the visitors a fourth-minute lead today, and Anibal Matellan put the ball into his own net to tie the match.

And the Blaugranas broke clear from the resulting corner and Eto'o put the finishing touch to a stunning passing move to give the Catalans a 2-1 lead.

In fact, Deco gave a good pass to Mark van Bommel on the right, the Dutchman slipped a pass to Eto'o who exchanged a slick one-two with Giuly and then fired home for the 100th league goal of his career. He scored another goal 16 minutes later, and Barcelona assured the victory.

Barcelona, Spain's second-most-successful squad after Real Madrid, has 67 points from 29 of 38 games. Madrid has 14 fewer points and has played one a less match. Valencia and Osasuna are a further point back.