Nine-goal Man City through to final

Manchester City cruised into the Capital One Cup final with a record 9-0 aggregate victory over West Ham United in the semi-finals. With City holding a commanding 6-0 advantage from the first leg, the Hammers had it all to do in the return on Tuesday night and the hosts found themselves outgunned again, succumbing to a 3-0 defeat. Striker Alvaro Negredo, who scored a hat-trick in the first leg, was twice on target at the Boleyn Ground as City racked up a record aggregate winning margin for a League Cup semi-final. "It was a very professional performance" Manuel Pellegrini When Negredo headed in a pinpoint cross from City academy graduate Marcos Lopes after only three minutes it seemed as though another emphatic victory was in store for Manuel Pellegrini's charges, particularly when Sergio Aguero doubled the visitors' tally after 24 minutes. However, the Hammers then came close to a goal themselves through Andy Carroll, who headed over, and half-time substitute Carlton Cole, who was denied by Costel Pantilimon, but they conceded once more, when Negredo - who later sustained a shoulder injury - wriggled through the Hammers' rearguard to beat Jussi Jaaskelainen in the 59th-minute and take City through to their first League Cup final in 38 years. Ominously for City's Barclays Premier League rivals, summer signing Stevan Jovetic made his first substitute appearance since October, while West Ham's defeat was compounded by the loss to injury of Mohamed Diame, who was carried off on a stretcher, and Joe Cole. City will learn who their final opponents on 2 March will be on Wednesday evening when Sunderland travel to Old Trafford to defend a 2-1 first-leg lead against Manchester United. "It was a very professional performance," said Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini. "It was easy to think the game was finished from the 6-0 in the first leg but it was important to reach the final winning all the games. For Sergio Aguero, it was useful match as he played 60 minutes." West Ham manager Sam Allardyce, meanwhile, rued his side's defending for the first goal, which arrived after 154 seconds. "The most disappointing thing was our defensive unit doing what it did in the first few minutes," he said. "Manchester City are a super, super team but it was not a super, super opening goal. "Obviously we were disappointed to lose Joe Cole and Mo Diame to injuries, but we'll have to see how serious they are. Mo's injury might not have been as serious as it first looked."

Ancelotti said :

Carlo Ancelotti appeared in the press room following Real Madrid’s win at the Cornellá-El Prat Stadium: "The team played well, with quality, pace and intensity. It was a good match, it is normal that we suffered a bit at the end after having not scored the second". The Italian coach also spoke about the team that he played and how difficult the tie is: "It is the cup quarter-finals and we have to put out our best team; the tie is still to be decided". The Whites’ coach congratulated Casillas for his record of minutes without conceding: "He's doing very well and deserves the record because of his professionalism. He helps the team a lot. He has played very well in every match. We have a lot of league and cup matches to play and the two goalkeepers are playing more or less the same number of matches. Iker is a starting goalkeeper, as is Diego López". Bale was another player that he mentioned by name: "He had a good match, maybe he didn’t do everything perfectly but he worked hard in attack and in defence. The match was excellent, all of the players did very well. Bale is used to playing on the right because that is where he has played a lot". When asked about the starting line-up, Ancelotti said: "It is the cup quarter-finals and we have to put out our best team; the tie is still to be decided. Espanyol played very well and with a lot of spirit. The tie is still to be decided and we will play with our best team in the second leg". Ancelotti highlighted the hard work done by Real Madrid, whose win was deserved and could have been by a bigger margin: "We only suffered a bit at the end. The team played well, with quality, pace and intensity. We recovered the ball well, had no problems at the back and finished without conceding. It was a good match, it is normal that we suffered a bit at the end after having not scored the second". The Italian coach did not want to reveal anything about his conversation with Aguirre during the match: "It is between us, I don’t like to say. If he wants to, I have no problem. They are things between coaches".

Montenegro missing four key players for World Cup qualifier with England

Montenegro will miss their captain Mirko Vucinic and at least three other players through injury for their 2014 World Cup qualifier in England, but they still feel they can pull off an upset, acording to the defender Miodrag Dzudovic. As well as Vucinic, the Juventus striker, the goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic, the centre back Marko Basa and midfielder Miodrag Pekovic have also been ruled out while the central defender Dzudovic is doubtful with a back injury and hamstring strain. "It seems we always head into decisive matches decimated by injuries and this is just too much bad luck with the most important game of our careers around the corner," Dzudovic said. "But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. There is no doubt our coach Branko Brnovic will find the right strategy to disguise our chinks and maximise our potential at Wembley." England, who are also at home to Poland in their final game on 15 October, head a delicately balanced Group H with 16 points from eight games, one more than Ukraine and Montenegro and three ahead of the Poles. The Montenegrins, from a tiny Adriatic republic in the Balkans with a population of 625,000, have earned three creditable draws in as many competitive meetings with England. They are at home to Moldova in their final game and Dzudovic acknowledged that avoiding defeat at Wembley would put Montenegro in a good position to take at least a playoff berth. "Of course we are poised to go for a win against England if given the opportunity because we can't just roll over and throw away all the good work we have done in the qualifiers so far," he said. "The most important thing will be to keep a clean sheet and I am sure our forwards will find a way through. With the right attitude and enough self-belief, we can finish in the top two and reach the playoffs." The nine group winners qualify automatically for the 32-nation tournament in Brazil while the eight best runners-up enter the two-leg playoffs for Europe's remaining four berths.

Celtic vs FC Barcelona

Last November, Neil Lennon's men sprung a huge shock at Celtic Park when goals from Victor Wanyama and rookie striker Tony Watt secured a famous 2-1 triumph over the four-time European champions. Messi pulled a late goal back for Barca that night but the Argentinian is set for at least two weeks on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring in Saturday's 2-0 victory at Almeria. His absence is a major blow for the Catalans, with Messi having helped himself to a hat-trick as Barca brushed Ajax aside 4-0 in the Group H opener a fortnight ago to move ahead of Mario Gomez and Filippo Inzaghi by becoming the first player to score four trebles in the competition. However, coach Gerardo Martino has more than enough in reserve to ensure that Barca will still be favourites. Spain international Pedro matched his illustrious team-mate's efforts when he took home the match ball as Rayo Vallecano were dispatched 4-0 a week ago. Messi scored again on Saturday as the Catalan giants claimed a seventh win from as many Liga matches this term against Almeria, but was then withdrawn. Meanwhile, Celtic warmed up for the clash in the best possible manner on Saturday when they bounced back from a shock defeat to Morton in the Scottish League Cup with victory at Kilmarnock. The Scottish champions survived a fightback from their hosts before prevailing 5-2 as Georgios Samaras fired in a hat-trick. Barcelona will once again be without left-back Jordi Alba due to a hamstring problem, while fellow defender Carles Puyol and playmaker Isaac Cuenca are recovering from knee surgery. Celtic are missing close-season arrival Steven Mouyokolo, who ruptured his Achilles in training before the Milan clash.

DUO LOSE GROUND IN TITLE RACE

Title hopefuls Rennes and Toulouse stayed locked together in Ligue 1 after sharing a goalless draw.
The defences were largely on top with Toulouse striker Andre-Pierre Gignac the only player who looked likely to break the deadlock.
The stalemate dropped the pair to fifth and sixth, with Rennes ahead on goal difference, four points behind leaders Lyon, who have a game in hand.
Paris St Germain climbed above Rennes and Toulouse as goals from Guillaume Hoarau and Peguy Luyindula in the space of 10 second-half minutes earned the capital club all three points against Caen.
Hoarau opened the scoring after 48 minutes and Luyindula added a second 10 minutes later as the home side made their dominance pay with a 2-0 victory that saw them move up to third.
Monaco brought an end to a five-match winless run by posting a smash-and-grab victory over Grenoble at Stade Louis II.
Alexandre Licata scored the only goal of the game after 67 minutes to lift the principality club to mid-table safety, eight points from the drop zone.
Nantes took a huge leap away from the relegation zone with a convincing 2-0 win at Le Mans.
Yoann Poulard and Frederic Da Rocha both scored in the second half to lift Nantes up to 12th place on 26 points, leapfrogging Le Mans, who slip to 13th.
A goal by Landry Nguemo in the third minute of injury time earned Nancy a 3-2 victory over Le Havre after the home side looked to have earned a draw with a late strike of their own.
Le Havre led early on through Amadou Alassane only for Julien Feret and Jonathan Brison to put the visitors ahead by half-time.
Le Havre were back on level terms a minute into stoppage time through Alassane but Nguemo snatched a dramatic winner.
Valenciennes earned a timely boost in the battle to avoid relegation thanks to Gregory Pujol's second-half goal in a 1-0 win over Nice at an icy Stade Nungessar.
Struggling Auxerre avoided a fifth league defeat in a row as they battled to a goalless draw with mid-table Lorient.
Both teams had chances to claim the victory with home keeper Olivier Sorin producing a brilliant second-half save to deny Kevin Gameiro.

VOLENDAM MAKE THEIR POINT

NAC Breda's European aspirations took a knock as they were surprisingly held to a draw at home to basement side FC Volendam.
After Volendam spurned the chance to go ahead when Bernard Hofstede blasted a first-half penalty over the bar, NAC opened the scoring after 64 minutes through Joonas Kolkka.
Volendam refused to lie down, however, and levelled through Rowin Van Zaanen just six minutes later.
The draw meant NAC missed the chance to climb into fifth place in the Eredivisie standings while Volendam remain four points adrift at the foot of table.
The visitors will reflect on what might have been after missing a great chance to nose ahead after 25 minutes.
Tyrone Loran felled Person Sheotahul in the area after 25 minutes giving Hofstede the chance to break the deadlock from the spot only to blaze over the bar.
NAC's best chance of the half came on the stroke of half-time as Volendam goalkeeper Jeroen Verhoeven failed to intercept Czaber Feher's cross at the near post but none of the home attackers could react to poke the ball into the yawning net.
The hosts made amends just after the hour when Kolkka picked up the ball outside the Volendam box and advanced a few paces before unleashing a shot into the bottom-right corner of Verhoeven's goal.
Volendam hit back quickly, however, and made sure they left with a point when Van Zaanen found himself all alone in front of goal after latching on to a through ball and had the simplest of tasks to steer his effort beyond Jelle ten Rouwelaar.

CAGLIARI DENT JUVE'S TITLE HOPES

Juventus's title challenge was dealt a major blow by a carefree Cagliari, who stunned the Bianconeri at the Stadio Olimpico tonight.
Davide Biondini put Massimiliano Allegri's side ahead in the 16th minute, but the home side recovered to turn the game around before half-time with goals from Mohamed Sissoko, in the 31st minute, and Pavel Nedved, seven minutes later.
Jeda brought Cagliari back on terms in the 54th minute and Alessandro Matri sealed the win with just over 10 minutes remaining to maintain the Sardinians' unlikely charge for a place in Europe next season.
It took Cagliari six games to register their first points this season, but they have not looked back since, moving up to seventh place with this latest win.
Meanwhile, Juve could find themselves nine points behind league leaders Inter Milan and behind AC Milan if results go against them tomorrow.
Juve defender Nicola Legrottaglie was the unlikely source of their first chance in the 12th minute when he volleyed straight at Federico Marchetto from 10 yards after staying up following a corner.
Moments later, Sissoko juggled the ball into the penalty area where he played a neat one-two with Amauri only to hit his shot wide.
Cagliari took the lead with their first attack, stunning Juve when Biondini beat Marco Marchionni at the far post to head past Gianluigi Buffon in the 16th minute.
Juve reacted well and levelled with just over half an hour gone.
Alessandro Del Piero's corner from the left tempted both Legrottaglie and Sissoko and the latter got the telling touch with his head to beat Marchetti from eight yards.
Cagliari then had the chance to restore their lead when Michele Fini volleyed wide after being found by Andrea Cossu.
But it was Juve who went ahead in the 38th minute - Nedved beating Marchetti low into his bottom right corner when Cristian Molinaro's cross was headed back to him 10 yards out by Daniele Conti.
Juve were made to rue missed chances as Cagliari fought back in the second half to turn the game in their favour.
Jeda brought them level nine minutes in, finishing off an excellent break with a cool finish from Cossu's cross.
Another quick break took Cagliari ahead for the second time in the game.
Andrea Lazzari squared the ball for substitute Matri, who picked his spot to the left of Buffon from just outside the penalty area.
Juve finished the game with three strikers when Vincenzo Iaquinta came on, but they rarely looked like equalising as they lost their second consecutive game to lose further ground on the Serie A summit.