So after a World Cup of buzzing in our ears, Uefa has decided to ban the vuvuzela from all their games in the Champions League and Europa League.
The move was made after a mixed reception from fans and players. A statement from Uefa said, “The World Cup was characterised by the vuvuzela’s widespread and permanent use in the stands.
“In the specific context of South Africa, the vuvuzela adds a touch of local flavour and folklore, but Uefa feels that the instrument’s widespread use would not be appropriate in Europe, where a continuous loud background noise would be emphasised.
“Uefa is of the view that the vuvuzelas would completely change the atmosphere, drowning supporter emotions and detracting from the experience of the game.
“To avoid the risk of these negative effects in the stadiums where Uefa competitions are played and to protect the culture and tradition of football in Europe . . . Uefa has decided with immediate effect that vuvuzelas will not be allowed in the stadiums where Uefa competitions matches are played.”
While we appreciate a nations right to add flair and tradition to a tournament held in their country, we feel that the vuvuzela are particular to South Africa. And I for one can be happy that they will stay there!

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GROUP A -Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur, FC Twente.

GROUP B – Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

GROUP C -Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor.

GROUP D -Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan.

GROUP E – Bayern Munich, Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj.

GROUP F – Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina.

GROUP G – AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre.

GROUP H -Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, FK Partizan.

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It made extra eyes available to the referee and took some pressure away from the two assistants. . . . Something, even without technology, England might have enjoyed against Germany during the World Cup (Frank Lampard goal).

They are there to help with decisions that will need to be made in the penalty area. While this is still in a trial period, it was successful in the Europa League and now the trial is extended to probably the biggest club competition in the world.

The Champions League trial will start this season, and will last for two years.

It’s a positive move, and something that, with all the money in football, probably should have happened years ago. We are excited and hope that this is a massive success.

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Coming into Camp Nou, Barcelona are down 3-1 against Serie A’s Inter Milan.

“It will be an incredible game,” Ronaldo told Cadena Cope. “It’s very difficult to know who I want to win, although I would prefer Barca to lose and be eliminated.

“I am from Real Madrid and I like my club and if Barcelona crash out of Europe it would be something that could affect them in the league and which we could take advantage of.”

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“We have no desire to focus on Mourinho. What interests us is only the final,” said Valdes, according to Il Corriere dello Sport.

“We aren’t trying to close anyone’s mouth. It will not be easy to qualify, but we believe that we can create another magical European night at the Camp Nou.”

Barcelona and Inter Milan will go head-to-head in the second-leg on Wednesday, April 28.

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Mourinho then came down on Barca and accused the team of crowding around the official following the match due to a Dani Alves penalty appeal.

“Obviously beating Barcelona is not easy, neither is scoring or defending against them. We won and deserved it. Clearly it’s a result beforehand we would’ve been happy with,” he said to TV station RAI. “However, we are far away from the final. There’s another game to go against a side of the top quality who are extraordinary on home turf.

“After the match I saw some things in the players’ tunnel that show me what it is I must expect next week.

“I saw the Barcelona players trying to put pressure on the referee. My only comment was that their players have short memories, but ‘my’ Chelsea players last season were complaining after an historically bad refereeing performance by Ovrebo.

“Why can Barcelona not act like champions and accept they lost on the night to a team that played better? We played very, very well. I am truly sorry we conceded that goal, as we studied Barcelona so carefully and knew what we shouldn’t do. The one time we did that, losing the ball in our final third, and were punished for it.”

Mourinho then praised Inter for their ability to come back and hailed their ”extraordinary campaign”.

“The team did brilliantly to give their all and fight back. Whatever happens, we could even lose 10-0 in Spain, but Inter have won six consecutive Champions League games and if this squad doesn’t win it this year, it will the next or the one after.

“Inter have gone from being a small Champions League club to one that can deservedly beat Barcelona and challenge to go all the way. The Inter players deserve all the praise in the world. Whatever happens, the fans will never forget the journey we have made and the effort everyone put in.

“We are a united squad and share a dream, the idea is to chase that dream, and we will go all the way. Now we can either go to the final in Madrid or home with our heads held high, as it has been an extraordinary campaign for Inter.”

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It was just in the 19th minute that Barca’s Pedro slipped one past Julio Cesar to go up 1-0.  Only 11 minutes later, Inter’s Wesley Sneijder scored first for Inter.  Three minutes into the second half, it was Maicon who found the back of the net to put Inter up on top of the favored Barcelona.  Then, with a half hour remaining in the match, Diego Milito would score the match’s final goal giving Inter Milan a 3-1 win.

Inter will head to Spain to battle Barca in Camp Nou next week.

As intense of a match of this proved to be, it wasn’t until after the final whistle that things truly got heated.

Barca forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic said that he saw what happened in the Inter tunnel after Mario Balotelli threw off his jersey and flipped off Inter fans.

“I saw that Materazzi was attacking him in the players’ tunnel and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ibrahimovic told RAI. “If I were him, I’d have left Mario alone, but Materazzi was attacking him and I was stunned. If Materazzi had attacked me like that, I would’ve decked him in a second!

“Materazzi was causing all sorts of trouble and in the Barcelona locker room we were amazed, all talking about it. A player should be proud after a win, not chase down a 20-year-old to berate him.”

Apparently, Super Mario wasn’t a fan of how fans reacted after being subbed into the match late in the second half.  After volleying a shot wide in the final moments of the game, another round of taunting this Serie A bad boy began.  Despite crowd reaction, players and officials have made it known that this was no excuse to respond the way he did this afternoon.

Captain Javier Zanetti said: ”(I am) disappointed that a celebration was ruined with something like this. If the fans whistle at him he’s got to understand that it could depend on a lot of different things. We’ve always stood by him.”

The Daily Telegraph quoted Stankovic as saying: “He’s like a child. I’m a father of three kids and we can’t take him by the collar, too. He’s suffered, but I’ve suffered too with the fans. He’s reacted poorly, but he’s still got time.”

Manager Jose Mourinho also had a few words concerning Balotelli.

“I have been at Inter since July 2008,” he said. “If I try to remember all the times I’ve tried to educate a great talent, there are thousands and thousands. This is a Champions League semi-final, the second most important tie in club football, and something ugly happened.”

Inter CEO Ernesto Paolillo says that Inter will be taking action against Balotelli due to his continued antics that followed the match.

“Balotelli’s gesture was terrible. Just terrible,” he said. “It is something we are going to have to discuss. Will he be punished? Absolutely, yes.”

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“They were a bit lucky, because having one player sent off was the problem for us, it made the team a bit down. That was the difference,” Nani told MUTV.

Nani later went on to say, “We’re feeling bad because we did so well in the first half – we scored three goals and I think it was one of our best performances – so we are disappointed.”

Bayern Munich will take on Lyon in the semi-final round of the Champions League.

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