Real will set out to score against Bayern, says Ancelotti

The 54-year-old says mental strength will be more significant than tactics as they take a 1-0 first-leg lead to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday

Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid will set out to score in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.

Los Blancos take a 1-0 lead to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday despite Bayern having dominated the first leg in the Spanish capital.

Ancelotti insists his team won't set out to scrape a goalless draw from the return leg and has called on his players to show the mental fortitude required to reach their first final in more than a decade.

"It is possible to advance even if we don't score, but our intention is to do so," he told reporters. "We have scored a lot in the Champions League and in La Liga and my intention is that we do so again in this one.

"We can play different styles of football, but in the majority of games we try to attack. We look to take advantage of our physical and technical strengths.

"We know tomorrow's game is going to be very difficult. We are playing against a great team with a small advantage, so we are not that stupid as to think we have already qualified.

"It is true that we have athletes of the highest calibre; we are physically very strong. I don't think tactically the game is going to change a lot tomorrow. Bayern have their footballing philosophy, but I don't think tactics will be all-important. I actually think the mental side of things will be more important."

Ancelotti was not impressed with the way his side began the clash at Santiago Bernabeu last week and has urged his players to take the game to Bayern from kick-off.

"We started too timidly in the first leg; if we do the same tomorrow it will be very dangerous. We need to start stronger, and must make a big effort. We will need maximum effort from everyone in order to reach the final. Our system is not all-important, the work aspect will be.

"Playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 won't change the overall outcome much. We will see two teams with different philosophies because of the players available to them. That's what makes football so beautiful. Personally, I prefer football that is quick during the build-up."

'Chelsea parked two buses, not one' - Mourinho leads defensive rebirth

 

Three of the UCL semi-finalists turned in defensive showings last week, while Chelsea repeated the trick in their win versus Liverpool. Does this signal a new dawn of pragmatism?

By Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent
When Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona clinched a second Champions League win in three seasons with an exhibition of passing football against Manchester United in 2011, fans and pundits far and wide took the opportunity to speculate whether the Blaugrana were the greatest club team of all time.

Wind forward three years and Chelsea are aiming to emulate the feat. Except, the Blues are hoping to do so with a brand of functional, pragmatic football that relies heavily on defence. It is not the type of play that will have people rushing to proclaim Jose Mourinho’s side to be the best team ever.

In truth, they are not the only club to be relying on such a style right now. Chelsea’s semi-final first leg fixture against Atletico Madrid was notable for both sides’ ambivalence to possession. Two teams intent on winning with counter-attacking football ended up cancelling each other out completely.

We should all have expected as much, though. Atletico have reached the top of La Liga at this late stage of the season thanks largely to an excellent counter-attacking game. Captain Gabi even joked to reporters before the first leg that “If Chelsea give us the ball, we’ll instantly give it back to them.”
When Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 24 hours later, they did so despite having ‘enjoyed’ only 28 per cent of possession. Guardiola’s attempts to turn Bayern into his old Barca, with sparkling football their modus operandi, had met a defensive obstacle they just could not negotiate.

If Chelsea give us the ball, we'll instantly give it back to them - Atletico Madrid captain Gabi

Bayern’s players later spoke as though they had won 5-0. Philipp Lahm proclaimed: “I don’t remember a Bayern side coming here and dominating like that.” Arjen Robben added: “I have to give a big compliment to the team. We played at the Bernabeu and we were so in control.”
Yet it was Madrid who had the three best chances of the game, and took one of them. It is Madrid who are within 90 goalless minutes of the Champions League final. And it is Madrid who proved to be excellent proponents of the new fine art.

Chelsea drew great consternation once more on Sunday. Their 2-0 victory at Liverpool moved them right back into the Premier League title race, but the way in which it was achieved was again used as a stick with which to beat them.

	TALE OF THE TAPE Liverpool v Chelsea
73.04%	Possession	26.96%
624	Total passes	226
536	Successful passes	153
430	Passes in opposition half	153
353	Successful passes in opposition half	98
*stats from Opta

While Mourinho revelled in what he called a “beautiful victory”, opposite number Brendan Rodgers made the assessment that Chelsea had “parked two buses, rather than one.” He added: “From the first minute they had 10 men behind the ball. We were the team trying to win but we just couldn’t make the breakthrough.”
It seemed an unusual reaction to claim that Liverpool were the only team trying to win a game when Chelsea had picked up the three points. The Blues had had their smallest share of possession in any Premier League game all season, but with that 27% they carried out their game plan to perfection.
Liverpool had executed 353 successful passes in Chelsea’s half, whereas their visitors had only attempted 226 in total during the whole game. But what did that matter? Mourinho’s plan had not been to win more of the ball, rather to win the game.

He knew that the league leaders had scored a large number of goals through transition plays this term, and sought to narrow their opportunities to do so again. He realised that Liverpool’s aerial presence in open play is negligible and forced them into delivering from wider positions. What coach wouldn’t want to neuter an opponent’s threat?

And with three-quarters of the Champions League semi-finalists set to back themselves to deliver further such structured and opportunistic tactics this week, football across Europe is currently going through one of its most pragmatic phases in decades.

In 2011, attacking football was king. But it 2014, defences are on top.

Guardiola wants to see Ribery's 'angry' side

 The Spaniard has called on the Frenchman to deliver a match-winning performance as his side bid to reach the Champions League final

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has called on Franck Ribery to deliver an "angry" performance against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

The European champions enter the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie a goal behind thanks to Karim Benzema's strike in the first encounter last week.

Ribery, who has gone through a difficult run of form of late, scored in the weekend's 5-2 victory over Werder Bremen and the Spaniard wants the French winger to deliver a match-winning performance against the Spaniards.

"Franck Ribéry is very important and necessary for us," he said at a press conference.

"He has been at Bayern longer than me. I am happy of course if he plays well, with energy and motivation. He sometimes needs an angriness and I am sure he will play very well tomorrow.

"He has this fighting spirit. He always wants to fight, that’s why the people love him. He is one of the most fantastic players in the history of Bayern."

Guardiola admitted that his side were disappointed not to come away from the Santiago Bernabeu with an away goal to their name.

"We wanted to score an away goal. Now, even more so, we have to attack and we have no other chance. We have to take care of their counterattacks.

"Being in the semis, you are closer to the final. In Madrid they saw that they are very close to the final. We can't make it by ourselves tomorrow.

"We need the fans who have been outstanding before. I am sure our fans will be there for us tomorrow. We can make it to the final. The team want it, I want it, the fans want it. Together we can achieve this.

"Real are very fast, they run a lot. If you lose the ball, you need to close the spaces and a good set up in defence. I have to prepare for different scenarios.

"Most of the time they dominate games, they can play more offensively or more defensively – we have to be prepared for everything.

"They will try to defend the advantage they have for 90 minutes. With which tactics, we will see. It does not matter who Real pick. I can't judged this. [Carlo] Ancelotti will decide.

"Their 11 players will attack and defend together. We have to concentrate on the whole team."

Mayor of eastern Ukraine city shot in the back

 KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city was shot in the back Monday and pro-Russia insurgents seized yet another government building as tensions rose in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions.

Armed insurgents tacitly backed by Moscow are seeking more autonomy in the region. Ukraine's acting government and the West have accused Russia of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear Moscow could use as a pretext for an invasion. Last month, Russia annexed Crimea weeks after seizing control of the Black Sea peninsula.

In a bid to ratchet up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama has promised to levy new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies in retaliation for Moscow's alleged provocations in eastern Ukraine.

Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot in the back Monday morning, his office said. Kernes was said to be undergoing surgery and "doctors are fighting for his life," according to the city hall.

Kharkiv city hall spokesman Yuri Sydorenko told the Interfax news agency that Kernes was shot while on the outskirts of the city. Officials have not commented on who could be behind the attack.
Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February and was widely viewed as the organizer of activists sent to Kiev from eastern Ukraine to harass those demonstrators.

But he has since softened his stance toward the new Kiev government. At a meeting of eastern Ukrainian leaders and acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier this month, Kernes insisted he does not support the pro-Russia insurgents and backed a united Ukraine.

Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia gunmen have seized government buildings and police stations, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia. But unlike the neighboring Donetsk region, Kharkiv has been largely unaffected by the insurgency. Its regional administration building was briefly seized earlier this month but promptly cleared of pro-Russian protesters.

A pro-Russian activist walks in front of Ukrainian riot police during a pro-Ukrainian rally

On Monday, masked militants with automatic weapons seized another city hall building and a police station, this time in Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Russian border. The city is 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Slovyansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that has been in insurgents' hands for more than three weeks now.
After the seizure, about 15 armed men guarded the city hall building. Some posed for pictures with residents while others distributed St. George's ribbons, the symbol of the pro-Russia movement.
On visit to the Philippines earlier Monday, Obama said the targets of the latest U.S. sanctions will include high-technology exports to Russia's defense industry. The full list, which is also expected to include wealthy allies of Putin, will be announced by officials in Washington later Monday.

The European Union is also planning more sanctions against Russia, with ambassadors from the bloc's 28 members meeting Monday in Brussels to add to the list of Russian officials who have been hit by asset freezes and travel bans.

Russia announced new military exercises along its border with Ukraine last week, unnerving Ukraine and the West about a possible invasion of eastern areas. NATO has said Russia has up to 40,000 troops stationed in regions along the border.

On Monday, Moscow turned down Kiev's request to visit the military exercises. Russia's foreign ministry said the Geneva accord that Ukraine and Russia signed earlier this month do not contain any restrictions of what the Russian army can do on its own territory.

Meanwhile, the increasingly ruthless pro-Russia insurgency is turning to an ominous new tactic: kidnapping. About 40 people are being held hostage in makeshift jails in Slovyansk — including journalists, pro-Ukraine activists and seven military observers from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ukraine's Security Service said Monday.

The German government on Monday decried the seizure of the European military observers and called for their immediate release. Eight observers, including three German officers, were detained Friday on allegations they were spying for NATO. One Swedish officer among them was released Sunday.

Pro-Russia militants in camouflage and black balaclavas paraded some of the captive military observers before the media on Sunday. They also showed three Ukrainian security guards bloodied, blindfolded, stripped of their trousers and shoes, their arms bound with packing tape.

German captive Col. Axel Schneider spoke at Sunday's news conference — under armed guard — saying they were on an OSCE diplomatic mission and were not spies.

Source: yahoo

N10bn jet scandal: Diezani sues House of Representatives

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

 The Minister of  Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,  has   halted the investigation by the House of Representatives into the N10bn she allegedly spent on a chartered private jet, Challenger 850, in the last two years for her trips.

 The House Committee on Public Accounts investigating the expenditure was set to conduct a public hearing on Monday, but it was stalled by an Abuja  Federal High Court order.

 Alison- Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation   listed the National Assembly  and the House   of Representatives as the defendants in the suit with reference number  FHC/ABJ/CS/295/2014 and dated April 11, 2014.

 The PUNCH had reported exclusively on Monday that the hearing might  not take place, as the minister had already flouted a deadline the committee gave to her to make submissions before April 28.

It was gathered  that a “surprised” Tambuwal was served the restraining order on Monday morning.

 “This has never happened before in this country that a serving minister is asking a court to stop the parliament from doing its work,” a committee source told The PUNCH on Monday.

 “These are indeed, no ordinary times. I am seriously disturbed about the way we want to run this country”, he added.

 The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed the development to journalists.

 “The court processes were served on us today (Monday); the speaker has been served.

 “Simply put, it is to notify us that, this matter which you want to investigate, we have gone to court”, Mohammed stated.

 Mohammed described Alison-Madueke’s  action as a “temporary setback”? for the House, but assured the public that the legislature would fight to the finish.

 According to him, being a “law-abiding House”, the first reaction was to put the hearing on hold until legal opinions were sought.

 He spoke further, “We expected the minister to be here today(Monday) for the hearing.

 “Instead, we have been served with court processes. As law-abiding citizens, we have decided to wait. We will tarry awhile, take some legal opinions and move on  from there.

 “What has happened   tells you the kind of frustration that the House is facing. A matter of public importance is under investigation and a minister is telling us that she has gone to court.

 “However, our job is to expose corruption. We will study the court papers and take it up from there.”

 The  PAC Chairman, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, expressed shock over the minister’s decision to “rush to court.”

 He asked, “Is this to say there is something to hide? What was she afraid of that she went to court?

 “The restraining order was served on the Office of the Speaker, stopping us from going ahead with the investigation.

“As a committee, we have not seen a copy, but since the speaker was served, we cannot pretend not to be aware.”

The PUNCH gathered that, while the original mandate of the committee was to investigate the alleged N10bn expenditure on the Challenger 850, the committee stumbled on additional information indicating that Alison-Madueke chartered two other jets.

One of them, a Global Express XRS, was said to have cost €600,000 in a return charter trip to London.

Olamilekan claimed that all was set for the probe on Monday (yesterday) only for members to be confronted with the news on the court order.

He stated that two aviation firms, Visa Jets and Jet Hanger, had already made submissions to the committee.

On the part of the NNPC, Olamilekan said the committee received a letter from the corporation asking for an extension of the deadline.

However, he admitted that, with the minister’s decision to go to court, the committee had been compelled to await the outcome of the court processes.

But, findings by The PUNCH showed that the committee members were in a dilemma long before  the court order  reached the House on Monday.

Alison-Madueke had twice failed to respond to letters the committee wrote, asking her to state her side of the allegation preparatory to the public hearing.

A further directive to make the submissions before April 28, was again ignored.

When contacted on Monday, an official at the Petroleum ministry, who pleaded not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the subject, said, “I can confirm to you that there has been some leads as to why the minister   decided to stop answering the House.

“In fact, the court order is one of such leads and it has restrained the House from probing her.”

Another official said the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, and the  minister decided not to honour the House panel’s  request “because they’ve been very busy lately.

“The minister is a very busy woman, so also is the GMD. They can’t be answering to every call at the detriment of their duties at the ministry and the NNPC and we hope that with this court order, these things will be adequately addressed.”

The FHC will on Tuesday (Tuesday) begin hearing in the   suit by the minister and the NNPC.

In the suit, they  asked the  FHC   for an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents “whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing” their  appearance “before any committee, particularly the PAC  set up by the House of Representatives”  to conduct the investigation.

They also want  the court to stop the committee from asking  any official of the ministry or the NNPC to produce any papers, notes or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House   dated March 26, 2014, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

In the same vein, they   asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the  defendants  from issuing a warrant to compel   the  minister’s  attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or the NNPC, with regard to the investigation.

In the alternative, the plaintiffs want the court to make an order of status quo, directing the parties to maintain the current position with regard to the investigation, as of  the date of filing of the suit.

The  court order   which was made available to our correspondent, indicated that after hearing an ex parte motion moved by Alison-Madueke’s counsel, Etigwe Uwa (SAN), Justice Ahmed Mohammed   made an order directing the defendants  to appear before the court to show cause why the interim orders sought by the plaintiffs should not be made by the court.

Source PUNCH.

Lena Headey buys smaller home at nearly half the price after tough divorce, money problems

 Actress Lena Headey, who plays the evil queen on HBO's hit TV show "Game of Thrones," just bought a dated home in the Valley that's almost half the price and about two-thirds the square footage and acreage of her former home.

She sold that previous home, in the Hollywood Hills, at a loss of about $340,000 during a difficult 2012 divorce. How difficult? Last year, her bank account contained "less than $5," she claimed in widely reported court documents. She and her ex, Peter Loughran, have a son who just turned 4.

Although her Hollywood Hills home wasn't especially extravagant by L.A. standards -- she sold it for $1,349,000 -- her new purchase is downright humble for a TV star. She paid $790,000, a bit over the asking price, for a 3-bedroom, 3-bath midcentury house in Sherman Oaks, a community in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. It has 1,800 square feet and sits on 6,700 square feet of land.

By contrast, the home she sold in 2012 was 2,500 square feet on a 10,000-square-foot lot. It too was a midcentury modern with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. She'd paid $1,685,000 for it in 2008.

For a midcentury aficionado, the new home has plenty of potential. The same family had owned it for more than 60 years, since its 1950 construction; Headey snapped it up in its first time ever on the market.

Conte takes swipe at Garcia after Juventus close in on title

The Bianconeri boss says the Frenchman "took a step backwards" with his recent comments and claims the Giallorossi's form this season has been overhyped

Antonio Conte hit out at Roma boss Rudi Garcia after Juventus moved to the brink of clinching the Serie A title with a 3-1 win at Sassuolo.

In pouring rain at the Citta del Tricolore on Monday, Conte watched on as his side fell behind to Simone Zaza's ninth-minute opener.

Carlos Tevez levelled the match 10 minutes prior to the interval, before second-half goals from Claudio Marchisio and Fernando Llorente sealed the victory.

The result leaves Juve eight points clear of Roma with three matches remaining, and Juve will clinch the title with a win at home to Atalanta next Monday, or if Roma fail to win at Catania on Sunday.

Conte, who slid on his knees in celebration when Llorente scored 14 minutes from the end, feels his side have not been given enough credit for their achievements this season and claimed Roma's form has been greatly overhyped.

"I hear people say Roma are doing something stratospheric," he told Sky Sport Italia.

"I say we are eight points ahead of Roma and playing in the Europa League semi-final. If Roma are stratospheric then I cannot find an adjective to describe Juventus.

"Anything Juventus do becomes almost expected. If we win the Europa League, it'll be considered a worthless trophy. If we lose, then people will say Juve aren't ready for Europe. When we achieve something, people act as if it's normal.

"I think those behind us are irritable, not us. They should be careful with what they say, as Roma and Garcia took a step backwards by feeding into the culture of suspicion with talk of 'help' and opponents not giving their all.

"If this is football culture, then it's a step backwards."

When quizzed about his exuberant celebration in the second half, Conte explained it was an action born out of passion.

"What was going through my mind was that we were making a very important step towards a historic Scudetto, as it'd be the third in a row," he said.

"I always had a certain attitude, right from when I was at Arezzo. I was always passionate and enthusiastic as a player and continue that way as a coach.

"I live my profession with great enthusiasm and participation, which I think the players appreciate, as I am there fighting with them on the field, in good times and bad."

Garcia suggested earlier on Monday that Conte was feeling the strain of his side's title push as a was of words between the two coaches continues to build.

Boko Haram: Politicians stoking insurgency, says Okonjo-Iweala

Nigeria's Finance Minister, Okonjo Iweala
| credits: File copy

FINANCE minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the insurgency by the violent Islamic sect, BokoHaram, is being stoked by politicians, who “will use anything to win election.”

“We tend to notice when the electoral cycle comes in, all these things heat up. What we are going through now is democracy in raw form, because people are fighting for power and they will use anything to get there … and to win the election,” the minister said in an interview reported by Reuters on Monday.

 While assuring that “Nigeriaas a nation will overcome this,” Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped thepoliticians would heed President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeal at a meeting lastweek for all to be united to curb insurgency.

Jonathan Thursday last week met with the 36 state governors, security chiefs and top cabinet members in Abuja to discuss the way forward in combating the menace of the insurgents in the North-East.

The insurgents have killed hundreds in the past two years as they attack worship houses, schools, and military and police facilities.

They  currently  have  in  their custody about 100female pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, whom they kidnapped from their school two weeks ago.

Okonjo-Iweala said the Federal Government was capable of handling the Boko Haram insurgents though she admitted that the sect had shown that it had the capability to strike “further south.”

 But she said Nigeria had halted insurgencies before, citing the government’s achievement in halting attacks against oil facilities by Niger Delta militants.

She added that Boko Haram had not pose the same threat as the Biafran War that split the country from 1967-1970.

The minister said Nigeria was not in a war situation.

“There is no war; there is an insurgency. We are not in a Columbia situation,” she told Reuters in the interview said to have been conducted on Sunday in her car in Abuja as she headed to the airport to fly to New York.

Columbia is a Latin American energy producer, which has battled for decades with a major left-wing insurgency that often affected large swathes of its national territory.

The minister said the government was preparing a special development plan for the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe to counter the Boko Haram violence though she did not outline the details of the plan.

“We recognise that this is an inclusion problem … the fact that the human development indicators in that part of the country are among the lowest,” she said, adding that the government was working to obtain backing from donors for the programme.

 Okonjo-Iweala said Boko Haram was receiving” cross-border” backing from supporters in neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

“We need to look at the source of this financing,” she said, adding that Jonathan had been working to obtain regional cooperation to remove Boko Haram’s support from jihadi groups in the Sahel.

The minister denied that the insurgency in the country had been turning away investors.

She said that investors looking more closely at Nigeria since a GDP rebasing last month made it the continent’s largest  economy, ahead of South Africa, did not appear to be turned off by the security challenges.

“Nobody who is making an investment has so far said they will not make one that we know of,” she said.

Source PUNCH.

Jamie Foxx’s Daughter Goes Mini-Electro at the 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' Premiere

Jamie Foxx and daughter Annalise Bishop at 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' red carpet

Leave it to an aspiring kid supervillain to steal the show from Spider-Man himself. At Thursday's New York premiere of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," Jamie Foxx's 4-year-old daughter, Annalise, did just that when she arrived sporting a full face of blue Electro makeup. The premiere scene-stealer, dressed in all black with pigtails and the baddie's signature electric-blue face, arrived in support of her movie-star dad.

According to Foxx, Annalise has been a Spidey super-fan long before she learned her dad was going to be a part of the Marvel movie. For her third birthday, Annalise requested a Spider-Man-themed affair, complete with an inflatable Spidey bouncing castle. As it happened, Foxx received the phone call that he'd landed the Electro role during the party, but waited to give his daughter the news at a later time, in a more exciting way.

"So I take her out [on set] where they do all the makeup," Foxx told News Corp Australia. "She's like, 'It's Spider-Man!' And I said, 'Daddy's going to be in "Spider-Man,"' and she says, 'No, Daddy, there’s already a Spider-Man. What are you going to do?'"

Later, after Annalise had time to wrap her head around her dad's gig, she was ready to see him square off against the web-slinger.

"My daughter is like, 'Spider-Man is going to whoop your butt, right? Spider-Man gets to kick your butt?'" Foxx told the U.K.'s Sun newspaper. "And I am like, 'Yeah, he gets to kick my butt a little bit.'"

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" opens nationwide May 2. Come back to Yahoo Movies on Tuesday, April 29 at 5p.m. PST/ 8p.m. EST for a Hans Zimmer performance with special guests Pharrell and Alicia Keys.

Debate: Is Guardiola’s tiki-taka beautiful or boring?

Despite being on course for the treble, the Bayern boss' style of play has been criticised recently for it's so-called sterility. Two Goal writers debate the issue

DEBATEBy Ben Hayward and Carlo Garganese

For most of the 2013-14 season, Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich have been breaking record after record.

The Bavarians clinched the Bundesliga title before the end of March and, having reached the final of the DFB-Pokal and semi-finals of the Champions League, are on course to complete the double-treble.

However for the past six weeks or so, Guardiola has been facing growing criticism as results and performances have taken a nosedive. One of the main complaints has been over the style of football that Bayern have been playing.

The Spaniard's tiki-taka brand, which he transported from Barcelona, has been labelled by some as sterile and lifeless. Others argue, though, that Guardiola's passing philosophy is the purest way of playing the game - and provides a beautiful spectacle.

So is Guardiola's tiki-taka beautiful or boring? Two of Goal's writers go head to head over the issue ...

"IT'S NOT PEP'S FAULT THAT RIVALS PARK THE BUS"

By Ben Hayward

There is no right or wrong way of playing football, but the philosophy utilised by Pep Guardiola's brilliant Barcelona side was perhaps the purest in terms of style that the game has seen in recent years.

Guardiola's class of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi revolutionised football, no doubt about that, and the Catalan coach is now employing a similar style at the Allianz Arena with Bayern Munich.

It has already worked spectacularly with goals galore in the Bundesliga, and the title was wrapped up in record time this season. However, a dip in form over the last few weeks has also seen the Munich side lose some of their shine, while Guardiola's constant experiments have irked some observers.

They shouldn't. Because behind those seemingly strange tactical tweaks is Pep's pursuit of perfection and while it hasn't always worked, it must be applauded. Guardiola wants his side to evolve and the results of his tactical tests will all be stored in his magnificent mind for future use.

The biggest problem he has - and it's nothing new - is that opponents sit back against his teams, defending deeply and squeezing spaces. In other words: they park the bus.

All sides struggle against such systems and Pep's Bayern are no exception. At Barcelona it was the same and the two Champions League semi-finals lost by that team were against ultra-defensive Inter and Chelsea outfits who frustrated the Catalans with men behind the ball, tight marking and reduced spaces in the final third.

Guardiola is still seeking solutions to break down disciplined defences, but his tiki-taka philosophy remains the best bet and the purest form of football around. In full flow, it's breathtakingly beautiful and when it's not, that's usually because the other side won't come out and play - and that's hardly Guardiola's fault. On the contrary, in fact: it's the ultimate compliment.


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"TIKI-TAKA 2.0 IS BORING & REPETITIVE"

By Carlo Garganese

Let’s make one thing very clear right from the start: Pep Guardiola is good for the game.

We live in an era where athletes are taking over the sport. Technicians and artists are slowly disappearing and being replaced by runners and robots. The Spaniard demands that his sides always play football, even if there is no doubt that total pressing also forms an important part of his philosophy.

Yet, in an attacking sense, Guardiola has taken the tiki-taka brand too far. His first version was a joy to watch – Barcelona winning two Champions Leagues by playing some of the best football the game has ever seen. The 2009 champions may have dominated possession and territory, just as Bayern do today, yet they were dynamic, expansive and unpredictable also – the frontline of Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o devastating opponents.

But this was just the beginning of Guardiola’s creation and his obsession with passing teams into submission grew unhealthy. To such an extent that in his final unsuccessful campaign at Camp Nou, his side had become painfully predictable. “Sterile”, as Arsene Wenger labelled them. The Blaugrana would try to walk the ball into the net – there were no long shots, no crosses, no forwards. There was no variety.

At Bayern, we have witnessed a similar pattern. During the first half of the season, with the influence of Jupp Heynckes still visible, Bayern were comparable to the Barca of 2009. Since the turn of the year, the Bavarians have evolved aesthetically into the Barca of 2012.

“We'll be unwatchable like Barca. They'll be passing it backwards on the goal-line,” complained Bayern legend Franz Beckenbauer last month.

The lowest moment was the Champions League quarter-final versus David Moyes' Manchester United. Bayern tinkered with disaster despite enjoying almost 70 per cent of possession in both legs. Their play was slow and repetitive – short, blunt passes from side to side on the edge of the box. There was no penetration and no penalty box threat at Old Trafford until substitute Mario Mandzukic’s telling introduction.

Bayern may still win the Champions League this season, but just as Guardiola helped fans fall in love with tiki-taka he is now doing his best to destroy its popularity. It is time for him to sack tiki-taka 2.0.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Wife Sara Kapfer Files For Divorce After 20 Years of Marriage

 

Cuba Gooding Jr. better get ready to show his wife Sara Kapfer the money. After 20 years of marriage and three children together, Kapfer filed for divorce from Gooding on Tuesday, April 22.

The actor's now-estranged wife, a school teacher, cited irreconcilable differences in the filing papers, according to documents obtained by TMZ. She asked for joint custody for the couple's three children Spencer, 19, Mason, 17, and Piper, 8. 

The Jerry Maguire actor, 46, met Kapfer as a teenager when they were high school sweethearts. Gooding and Kapfer were married in 1994. 

The Oscar winner, who appears in the upcoming films Carry Me Home and Gridlocked, has been vocal about his love and admiration for Kapfer in the past. He appeared on The View in August 2013 and spoke highly of his wife and family, saying, " "I got a wonderful lady that knows how to run the household even when I'm not there. [And] we're just blessed with wonderful kids."

Boy Uses PlayStation Money to Teach Neighbors About Fire Safety

 

(L-R) Hector Montoya, Peyton Harder, and Ashton Harder (Photo: Courtesy of Ashton Harder) 

When you’re a kid, having enough money to buy your favorite toy is a big deal. So it’s pretty amazing that a 9-year-old boy dropped his plan to buy himself a PlayStation 4 in order to purchase 100 smoke detectors for his neighbors.

Hector Montoya of Grand Prairie, Texas, has spent the past few years saving his allowance and birthday money. After accumulating  $305, he decided he would purchase the $400 game console when he had socked away enough cash. However, in late January, while watching the news, he learned about a mother and son who had died in a house fire. “Hector couldn’t understand why the family didn’t have smoke detectors,” Tanah Montoya, Hector’s mother, tells Yahoo Shine. “He said, ‘But mom, we have one in our home.’”

A few days later, Hector approached his mother with an idea. “He wanted to use his savings to buy 300 smoke detectors for people who didn’t own them and asked me to drive him to the store to buy them.”

The money Hector had was enough to purchase 100 smoke detectors, which he and his mother planned to distribute around their neighborhood. However, Hector’s grandmother, who works across the street from the Grand Prairie fire station, decided to contact the department for help. “On Friday, the fireman teamed up with Hector and took him to each house to install the detectors,” says Montoya. “He got to use a power tool, which he was excited about.” She added that many of the homes they visited didn’t have the two working smoke detectors required by law, including some homes occupied by elderly people.


Dallas-Fort Worth news affiliate NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth covered the story of Hector and the fire department’s mission and, later that night, the Montoyas received a phone call from the news station. “They informed us that two teenagers, a brother and sister, had seen the news story and wanted to purchase the PlayStation 4 for Hector,” says Montoya.

The young  good Samaritans were Ashton Harder, 20, and his sister, 14-year-old Peyton, of nearby Allen, Texas. “We were so amazed that a 9-year-old would be so selfless that we decided to reward him,” Ashton tells Yahoo Shine. “We wanted to donate the console anonymously, but the news station invited us to the Montoya home.” So, on Sunday, the siblings showed up on Hector’s doorstep with their gift, along with $150 extra to purchase additional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to give out.

“Hector was so happy and surprised because he had planned to start saving all over again in order to purchase his PlayStation,” says Montoya. On Tuesday, Hector and Ashton launched a GoFundMe page called Hector's Detectors where people can donate money so that the pair can purchase more detectors for members of their communities. They even plan to visit elderly people to teach them about the importance of fire safety.

“It’s really cool, and I can’t wait to play racing and Lego games on my PlayStation,” Hector tells Yahoo Shine. "And I'm going to continue saving my money for smoke detectors."

James Buchanan: Why is he considered America’s worst president?

James Buchanan the fifteenth president of the United States. Today, most people know Buchanan for three things: He was single for his entire presidency; he’s the only president from Pennsylvania; and he was the president before Abraham Lincoln. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

April 23 marks the birthday of James Buchanan, the man regarded by many historians as one of the worst—if not the worst—presidents of all time. So what did Buchanan do to earn the disrespect of so many people?

Today, most people know Buchanan for three things: He was single for his entire presidency; he’s the only president from Pennsylvania; and he was the president before Abraham Lincoln.

It’s that final point that has been the lasting part of the Buchanan presidency, with his apparent indifference to the onset of the Civil War, that has riled up so many academics.

Of course, Lincoln was a hard act to precede or follow: Lincoln’s successor Andrew Johnson is usually cast as Buchanan’s biggest rival for the title of worst president (along with the scandal-plagued Warren Harding from the early 1920s).

Buchanan came to the presidency under somewhat traditional but trying circumstances.
He was a five-time member of the House of Representatives, the secretary of state under President James Polk, and the U.S. minister to Great Britain.

At the Democratic convention in Cincinnati in 1856, Buchanan took the lead from the incumbent president, Franklin Pierce, on the first ballot and then battled Senator Stephen Douglas from Illinois for the presidential nomination.

Buchanan won on the 17th ballot and defeated John C. Fremont, of the newly formed Republican Party, in the 1856 presidential election.

Buchanan became severely ill and almost died from an illness that was spread throughout his hotel in Washington, where he traveled for meetings as president-elect.

In his inaugural address, Buchanan called the territorial issue of slavery “happily, a matter of but little practical importance.” He had been tipped off about the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, which came shortly after the inauguration. Buchanan supported the theory that states and territories have a right to determine if they would allow slavery. (There were also reports Buchanan may have influenced the court’s ruling.) The Dred Scott decision angered and solidified Buchanan’s Republican opponents, and it drove a wedge into the Democratic Party. The country also went into an economic recession as the Civil War approached.

By 1860, it was apparent that Buchanan wasn’t going to be a candidate for re-election. At the Democratic convention, he managed to derail Douglas’ campaign to be the sole nominee who would take on Abraham Lincoln. (Douglas defeated Lincoln in the 1858 senate election in Illinois.)

The Democrats were left with two presidential nominees (Douglas and John Breckinridge), which almost ensured Lincoln’s election.

Within three months after the election, seven states had left the Union as Buchanan remained as a lame-duck president until Lincoln could take office in March 1861.

In his State of the Union message to Congress, Buchanan said he believed the South’s secession wasn’t legal, but the federal government didn’t have the power to stop it.

“All for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible and have no more fight to interfere than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan also explained why he wasn’t actively involved in the secession battle as president.

“It is beyond the power of any president, no matter what may be his own political proclivities, to restore peace and harmony among the states. Wisely limited and restrained as is his power under our Constitution and laws, he alone can accomplish but little for good or for evil on such a momentous question.”

Buchanan did little else during the crisis. Part of his Cabinet resigned. And although he wouldn’t give up Fort Sumter, his inaction gave the new Confederacy time to organize.

He rode to Lincoln’s inauguration with the new president, and reportedly told Lincoln, “If you are as happy entering the presidency as I am leaving it, then you are a very happy man.”

Buchanan had other issues during his presidency, including an obsession with Cuba and a controversy involving a war with Mormon settlers in the Utah territory.

The New York Times’ Nate Silver said earlier this year that based on composite rankings from four recent surveys, Buchanan was the lowest-ranked president among those polled.

In fact, Buchanan has been ranked among the three worst presidents in every poll and survey conducted since 1948 and in the past decade, and replaced Harding as the usual last-place finisher in these studies.

Buchanan retired to his estate in central Pennsylvania and lived to see the end of the Civil War. Just before his death in 1868, he said, “History will vindicate my memory from every unjust aspersion.”

Working on Wall Street is 'a dystopian nightmare': Kevin Roose

Characters like Jordan Belfort (the DiCaprio-depiction) and Gordon Gekko fill the big screen and young minds with dreams of Wall Street grandeur and luxury. And maybe once-upon-a-time working for a big bank was full of such excess, but today, says Kevin Roose, it’s less about a spoil of riches and more about long hours and thankless work.

Roose followed eight young Wall Street hopefuls over the course of three years for his book "Young Money." What he found was that the job wasn’t quite what they expected it to be. “It wasn’t anything like The Wolf of Wall Street,” he says.

“It was like a dystopian nightmare. They got there and were immediately thrust into these jobs where they were working sometimes 100 to 110 hours a week. There’s a thing called the bankers 9-to-5…where you show up for work at 9am and you don’t leave until the next day at 5am.”  

The young bankers also found that a certain shame came with holding their job titles in a post-Occupy world. “When you add that to the stigma with working in the financial industry after the crash and the fact that they weren’t getting paid as much as they used to, it made for a very unhappy experience,”  says Roose.

That’s not to say those starting their careers in finance aren’t making a very good salary. “These people are still making between $90,000 and $130,000 a year for their first year out of college which is a tremendous amount,” says Roose. “But I think what I didn’t realize is that the money didn’t cheer them up. It wasn’t making their lives any better.”

Structural changes on Wall Street aren't as vast as some want them to be, but the culture has changed tremendously since 2008, says Roose. “These young bankers are often embarrassed to say they work on Wall Street."

One of the bankers Roose followed would tell people that he worked as a consultant instead. “That would never have happened in 2007 or earlier. I think what you’re seeing is the industry has lost its shine and that rubs off on the people who work there.”

Wall Street is similar to a religion says Roose, and learning to think like a banker often changed the way the young people he followed thought about life.

“They [the banks] want to reshape your worldview and so these people came in as college students…two years later they come out and they’re bankers, they’ve been turned into professionals. And that effects everything in their lives from the way they view dating to the way they view their own finances to the way they view global politics and the economy,” he says. "It creates a transactionalized worldview that can be very destructive."

The tale of one woman's radically simplified 'built-it-myself' life

 Ask for a tour of Dee Williams's house, and it won't take long. The 84-square-foot space is no bigger than a parking spot.

There's no running water, no Wi-Fi, the fridge is a cooler, and the toilet is compostable. Williams knows how extreme this sounds. Before she downsized, she used to worry about the mortgage on her three-bedroom home, how to outfit her kitchen with matching appliances, and the endless string of home repairs.

But in 2003, after suffering congestive heart failure in her early 40s, Williams decided to simplify. She shed most of her belongings and sold her home in Portland, Oregon.

Now 51, she moved into the miniature house in Olympia, Washington, 10 years ago. Williams describes the self-built home on wheels in her memoir -- "The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir," being released today to coincide with Earth Day -- as "a mobile gingerbread house, or a cuckoo clock on wheels." She spends her workdays teaching others how to build their own tiny houses through her company, Portland Alternative Dwellings, and also works at the Washington State Department of Ecology in Olympia.

While hard numbers are difficult to come by, Williams estimates that there are hundreds of tiny houses around the country. She notes that since she built hers in 2004, "interest in building tiny houses, particularly from the DIY market, seems to have redoubled every year." She adds that workshops that once drew a couple of people are now routinely sold out.

By the way: They don't have to forgo running water, Wi-Fi, and flush toilets. "But I don't regret my own choices," Williams told Yahoo Homes.

The gingerbread house on wheels sits in the backyard of her neighbor (who is very generous with her shower, as are other friends; more on that below). There's a kitchen with a sink, pots and pans, a water jug, and a one-burner stove. Most of the space is taken up by what Williams calls the great room, a living area that's about the "size of an elevator" but feels bigger due to 11.5-feet-high ceilings and plenty of light.

Then there's Oly, her 30-pound Australian shepherd: The pooch gets a lift up the 7-foot ladder to Williams's lofted full-size bed at night. A skylight provides a view of the clouds, the moon, and, often, the rain. (It is Olympia, Washington, after all.) Being more connected to the outdoors was an unexpected perk, Williams noted.

"If you're living in a house with a roof that's 5 feet, 4 feet over your head, you're going to hear it when the rain comes in," said Williams. "Nature is in your face a little bit differently. I didn't realize what I was missing before I moved into the smaller space."

After an initial home-building investment of about $10,000, Williams these days keeps warm using a propane heater for about $8 a month. It's her only home bill. Her power comes from solar panels. The frugality and low maintenance are a huge benefit of living small.

She does miss having her own shower, though.

"It feels inconvenient. It never felt horrible," she said. She has plenty of bathing options thanks to generous friends and neighbors, who all gave her the keys to their houses. "My possessions have grown exponentially small. Except for my keychain. I have this massive keychain."

When nature calls, there's the compost toilet that works without water. After use, the waste is covered with sawdust. Williams admits to taking advantage of shower facilities at her Department of Ecology office, too.

In fact, Williams has found that the smaller the house, the more she depends on the people around her, and neighborhood necessities like the local market and the public library. "I thought I would be so contained in this little house with no running water," she said. "The big surprise, of course, is the smaller you go, the more you absolutely have to lean into your community. It gets smaller and bigger. It gets to be this big, tiny thing, you know?"

Here she is talking about her choices:

Lagos stadium, arena of prostitutes – Osaile

Swimming pool section of the National Stadium... now closed
| credits: File copy

Boxing promoter, Martins Osaile, has lamented the state of the National Stadium, Lagos, saying it has turned to a home for prostitutes.

The multi-purpose stadium, built in 1972, was once the pride of the country, hosting high-profile games including the final of the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, which the Green Eagles won.

But the stadium has gradually degenerated, due to lack of maintenance.

Osaile said government officials were only interested in hiring the place to people, to the detriment of the state of the sports arena.

He said, “The National Stadium, Lagos has been turned to a brothel. Someone there built rooms all around the place and it is prostitutes patronising the place.

“They (officials) know about what is going on but they don’t care because they hire the place to people. All the under of the steps (of the main bowl) have been converted to small rooms, where they practice prostitution.”

Osaile said the situation was the same across most stadiums in the country, except for the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.

“I have never seen where facilities have been so abandoned. The Liberty Stadium (Ibadan) is dead. They said Enugu stadium is under concession but where are the concession papers? Only the Ahmadu Bello Stadium is a bit neat and this is because of the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who loves sports and comes from the state,” Osaile added.

“Government is not monitoring facilities; they should look at them and put them in good use.”

Source PUNCH.

B’Haram: President, govs set for stormy meeeting today

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to meet the 36 state governors and security chiefs on Wednesday (today) in continuation of his administration’s efforts at ending the security challenges in parts of the country.

The enlarged meeting of the National Security Council is a follow-up to an earlier one the President had with the Peoples Democratic Party governors on Thursday.

The All Progressives Congress governors had stayed away from the first meeting because their party leadership informed them that an official of the Presidency called one of them to announce the postponement of the Thursday meeting.

However, to ensure that its governors attended the rescheduled meeting, the APC shifted its state congresses earlier fixed for Wednesday (today) to Saturday.

But there were concerns in the Presidency that the meeting could turn out to be a stormy session if Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, decided to confront the President with the allegations he made in a memo he addressed to his colleagues in the Northern Governors’ Forum.

Nyako, in the memo, had accused the President of carrying out genocide against the North in the Federal Government’s fight against insurgency.

He had also accused the present administration of allegedly being the most corrupt and greedy administration in the history of the country.

The content of the memo has already been slated for discussion by the Northern state governors on Thursday alongside the outcome of the President’s meeting with the governors.

“There is no way Nyako will make such inflammatory remarks against the government and the issue will not come up during the meeting. Either he attends personally or he sends his deputy, the issues raised in the memo will definitely come up for discussion,” he said.

The APC is known to be highly displeased with Jonathan’s campaign against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.

Only on Monday, its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government’s war against insurgency was unconvincing.

Mohammed had argued that recent statements credited to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party and the alleged actions of Jonathan were enough to convince members of the APC and other Nigerians that the PDP was not telling all it knew about the insurgency.

He added, “The statement credited to the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio, to the effect that President Jonathan should sack the three governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states is worrisome because it will give the PDP an advantage in 2015.

“That again gives us concern that probably the manner the government has been handling the Boko Haram insurgency has been with a view to 2015 elections.”

A Presidency source however told our correspondent on Tuesday that the enlarged meeting would review latest incidents in the country, especially as they concern security.

Some of the latest incidents are the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State and the bomb explosion in Nyanya bus station in Abuja.

The source added that the meeting might take a position on the emergency rule declared in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States which expires in May.

There have been divergent opinions on the desirability or otherwise of extending the emergency rule in the affected states with some Northern leaders opposing the move.

The governors of the affected states – Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe) and Governor Kashim Shettima (Borno) – are also of the view that the one-year emergency rule be lifted.

Another    Presidency source told our correspondent that President Goodluck Jonathan had not taken any decision on the matter yet.

“The President is committed to listening to the views of all stakeholders before a decision that will be acceptable to all will be taken and that was one of the reasons he insisted at the Thursday meeting with the  PDP governors that their APC counterparts must be given the opportunity to be part of the meeting,”  he  added.

The meeting, according to another source, would listen to the security chiefs and deliberate on their new approach to tackle the insurgency in the country.

The President had hinted while receiving a delegation of Abuja residents who were in the Presidential Villa, Abuja to rejoice with him on Easter Monday that there would be a change in the government’s anti-terrorism tactics.

“Boko Haram will come and go. We are working very hard, we are changing our approaches, God’s willing we will end Boko Haram,” he had said.

  Source PUNCH.

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea: Resolute Blues hang on despite Cech & Terry blows

The goalkeeper and defender were forced off through injury, and are now doubts for Sunday's clash with Liverpool, as the visitors stifled the Liga leaders at Vicente Calderon



Chelsea earned a credible 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg, with Petr Cech and John Terry forced off through injury.

The goalkeeper and captain were both withdrawn, while midfield duo Frank Lampard and John Obi Mikel will miss the return encounter through suspension, along with Atletico skipper Gabi, after picking up yellow cards on Tuesday.

Chelsea's two injury setbacks - Cech has suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder - are also a huge blow for Jose Mourinho ahead of Sunday's crucial Premier League title clash with leaders Liverpool as the London club continue to chase silverware on two fronts.

Goalmouth action was scarce in a tight affair at Vicente Calderon, with Chelsea seemingly content to drop deep and escape the Spanish capital with a clean sheet.

Much of Atletico's success under Diego Simeone has been built on lethal counter-attacking play, but Chelsea's game plan forced the Liga leaders to take the initiative and the hosts were unable to break down a stubborn visiting backline well marshalled by Terry, who left the field in the 73rd minute after twisting his left ankle.

Cech had already gone off in the first half, while Lampard, Mikel and Gabi were all booked in quick succession as tempers frayed slightly.

Mourinho gamble leaves Chelsea chances on a knife edge

Chelsea went to the Vicente Calderon and defended well to earn a clean sheet but they have gained no advantage in the tie

By Peter Staunton

They came, they saw, they defended. This was a performance of so little ambition by Chelsea that it would be a surprise to find one person who enjoyed it other than Jose Mourinho and his staff. The Portuguese planned for this one without key attackers Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto'o and so there was never going to be an all-out siege on the Atletico Madrid goal. In that respect, a diligent display from the Chelsea number was rewarded with a clean sheet.

Above all else, parity remains in the tie.

But it's not that simple. The limited scope of Chelsea's intentions at the Vicente Calderon represents a huge gamble for Mourinho and his team. It is one thing defending stoutly at home in the first leg of a Champions League tie before attempting to nick the second, it is another thing altogether to attempt the pattern in reverse.

Mourinho has won the Champions League twice - with Porto and Inter - and on those occasions he played every first-leg knockout tie at home. He knows how to win the tournament but he has never done it in this order.

Chelsea have taken heart from their 0-0 draw but Atletico, despite failing to erode those English foundations, will be more pleased with the outcome.

A home clean sheet is the most important element in any Champions League knockout tie. In the quarter-finals, three of the four teams who went through avoided conceding in their own back yard. That zero beside Chelsea's name rather than the one next to Atletico's counts for more.

Atletico, themselves, are not an electrifying team. This was not a just case of Chelsea stifling them and disrupting the rhythm of their game. In honesty, they lacked the guile and intuition to break down what was in front of them. It showcased their attacking limitations when faced with a puzzle like Mourinho set.

They will, however, be far more comfortable in the atmosphere of the second leg when the onus, however more slightly, will be on Chelsea to come out and play. Diego Simeone's chief strengths are not those passes at the edge of the area, probing for that one golden chance like Bayern Munich or Barcelona.

They enjoy being on the other end of that, soaking up pressure in their well-drilled back four before hitting with the promptness and accuracy of their midfield work. Their results against Real Madrid and Barcelona this season will testify to that.

Of course, we could very well receive more of the same from Mourinho at Stamford Bridge. He will be without Frank Lampard and Jon Obi Mikel, suspended, and Petr Cech, who suffered a dislocated shoulder. John Terry, too, will be doubtful, while there are no guarantees of Hazard or Eto'o's participation.

Penalties at the end of another gruelling 0-0 draw and extra time could well be looming. His Chelsea teams have scored only one goal in all their five of their Champions League semi-final matches now.

Atletico are a team who have specialised on agitating esteemed opponents this season. One meaningful swing of Diego Costa's boot at the Bridge could render all Chelsea's efforts in Spain worthless.

Fans will tolerate dour football so long as trophies are forthcoming. But if Chelsea fail to shut out Atletico again? Well, even a worm will turn.

Macklemore Debuts New, Personalized Air Jordans, And They're Panned By Fans

As if two Grammys and a platinum record weren't proof enough that Macklemore is here to stay, the 30-year-old rapper recently received a present that most artists would never dream of.
Before performing at the Jordan Brand Classic at Barclays Center, Macklemore debuted some new shoes that are the result of his collaboration with Nike's Jordan Brand.
Check them out:
I'm proud to announce the unveiling of my "Northwest King Salmon" Melo's. Courtesy of @jumpman23 and myself. Never dreamed I'd have an opportunity like this. Huge shout out to @pdxreg and the whole fam. #sharkfacegangFollow
The idea is awesome but the execution is, well, lacking. It didn't take long before the Twittersphere reacted to Macklemore's design. And most of the reviews were negative:

Macklemore designed a pair of Jordans and i've never seen an uglier pair of shoes in my life
— Darragh Spelman (@DarraghSpelman) April 21, 2014

I like Macklemore, but he isn't doing himself any favors with those Jordans
— traVon. (@GrimeyHundreds) April 21, 2014

Macklemore's Jordans are salmon colored, why
— BANE (@Timmaaay_) April 22, 2014

Those new Macklemore Jordans... Look like Easter leftovers... Pass
— XXX (@KingRedRose) April 22, 2014

the new macklemore jordans look like uncooked fish
— daniel (@lankdan) April 22, 2014

if i catch any of my friends wearing the new Macklemore Jordans i will proceed to slap you out of them.
— dookie (@dookietrance) April 22, 2014

These Macklemore Jordans look like someone put a pair of 9's and Sketchers in a Nutribullet.
— Prim Reaper (@kraaawse) April 22, 2014

Why Netflix is raising your monthly bill as much as 20% — eventually

In an extensive post, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings called for “strong net neutrality,” as opposed to the “weak net neutrality” that currently exists, and which allows ISPs to theoretically, if not actually, bully Internet businesses into paying fees in order for consumers to be able to enjoy their services at better speeds. Hastings said "The essence of net neutrality is that ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast don’t restrict, influence or otherwise meddle with the choices consumers make. The traditional form of net neutrality which was recently overturned by a Verizon lawsuit is important, but insufficient."

Netflix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings learned the hard way that announcing a big price increase can blow up into a huge controversy. So for his latest effort to charge more, he’s moving slowly – very slowly.

Along with Monday’s quarterly earnings release for Wall Street, Hastings said the cost of Netflix would go up $1 to $2 a month for new customers, depending on the country. Current customers will be “generously grandfathered” for at least a year, maybe two. Hastings had foreshadowed the increase on January’s earnings call as well, confirming that Netflix was testing different price points.

But at the current popular price of $7.99 a month, Netflix is growing like mad and expanding worldwide. It gained almost 12 million paying members over the past year and revenue was up 24%. So why the need for a price increase?

Further, there's obviously some risk for Hastings with this tactic. Back in 2011, his plan to spin off DVD operations into a new unit called Qwikster and raise prices 60% had immediate consequences, as Netflix lost one million subscribers and its stock plunged almost 80% in a few months.