Results from the semifinals of the German Cup (home team listed first).
Tuesdays Game
Bayer Leverkusen 4, Mainz 1, extra time
Wednesdays Game
Hamburger SV vs. Werder Bremen
An Italian league sports judge ordered Monday that Juventus play a match with no fans present because of racist insults hurled by its fans at Inter striker Mario Balotelli during a Serie A match.
League Judge Gianpaolo Tosel issued the ruling two days after Saturdays match at Turins Olympic stadium, the ANSA news agency reported.
Balotelli, who scored Inters goal in the 1-1 draw with Juventus, was the subject of repeated racial slurs and chants during the match.
Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti said he would have pulled the Italian league leaders off the field had he been at the stadium.
What I find terrible is that these chants were sung by at least four-fifths of the stadium, Moratti was quoted as saying Monday in Corriere della Sera.
Had I been at the stadium, at a certain point I would have left my seat in the stands, I would have gone down on the field and pulled out the team, he said. There must be a limit.
Balotelli was born in Palermo, the son of Ghanian immigrants. At 18, he is considered one of the games most promising talents.
Moratti lamented that the media had not given enough prominence to the racial incident, saying that there is a risk of getting used to racism.
Juventus has apologized, condemning the racial chants also on on behalf of the overwhelming majority of our fans.
Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said that there can be no alibi or justification.
The team risks a fine or other sanctions from the Italian football authorities.
With the seasons finals getting closer and the intensity increasing in the Premier League title races, managers are doing more than playing games on the field.
They are playing mind games as well.
Manchester Uniteds Alex Ferguson, Liverpools Rafa Benitez, Chelseas Guus Hiddink and Arsenals Arsene Wenger are all chasing various titles. Evertons David Moyes is also caught up in the battle of wits as his team heads for the FA Cup final.
Ferguson has won 24 titles in 23 seasons with the Red Devils, and already has this seasons FIFA Club World Cup and the domestic League Cup. His club leads Liverpool by one point at the top of the Premier League and faces Arsenal in the semifinals of the Champions League.
Chelsea is third in the Premier League, faces Everton in the FA Cup final and Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals.
That means only a slight change of fortune can have a big influence at this stage of the season, and the rival managers are out to do their bit even though they cant kick the ball or make a save.
Like playing out a soap opera, the coaches often use their pregame media interviews to send messages - and they are hardly along the lines of good luck.
Last week, Ferguson accused Benitez of arrogance and contempt in an effort to get under the skin of the manager whose team is a point behind in the league title race. That came weeks after the Liverpool manager, in a clearly rehearsed speech, said his Man United rival unfairly influenced referees and still managed to escape disciplinary punishment.
Ahead of Evertons FA Cup semifinal against Man United, Moyes said hed heard in the media that the match referee, Mike Riley, was a United fan. Whether or not that was true, Ferguson was furious that Riley disallowed what looked like a penalty and Everton went on to knock United out in a shootout after a 0-0 draw.
Asked whether Riley had been influenced by Moyes comments, Ferguson responded: It might have. Im not saying that for certain but it could have had.
All that nonsense about him being a United fan was really ridiculous, Ferguson said. Somebody filled David Moyes head full of nonsense about it and it was used in the press conference. It can play on a referees mind.
Hiddink, who is in charge of Chelsea until the end of the season before he returns to his full-time role as Russias national team coach, has carefully avoided the mind games.
Wengers exchanges with Ferguson over more than a decade have often overflowed into angry confrontations between their players on the field. He says too much is made of the mind games involving managers.
You want respect in the game, and we managers are responsible for it, the Arsenal manager said Monday. I do not want to interfere in that more because I do not know what happened (between Ferguson and Benitez).
I believe it (mind games) was always something which was overrated a bit. But it is part of our environment and part of the media. You never know how much impact it has because it is impossible to measure. I believe that it can sometimes have a negative impact rather than a positive impact.
With all five clubs playing over the next two days, the mind games could take a few more twists and turns before the weekend.
Liverpool hosts Arsenal on Tuesday and Chelsea welcomes Everton on Wednesday, the same day Manchester United faces Portsmouth.
When the final whistles blow Wednesday evening, the title race could well have changed again and Ferguson and his rivals will be sharpening their tongues once more.
A leading anti-doping expert said Monday that soccer players should be exempt from doping controls during summer vacations.
The issue has caused a rift between FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency after soccers governing body opposed parts of the new testing code which calls for elite athletes in all sports to be available for testing every day.
Martial Saugy, who is an adviser to both sides, said players could go untested in the offseason for at least two weeks without being able to dope untraced.
Four weeks is maybe too long; two weeks is certainly acceptable, said Saugy, director of the WADA-accredited Swiss doping laboratory in Lausanne.
He said the fight against doping should not treat athletes like prisoners.
The extreme solution is detrimental to the goal we have, Saugy told The Associated Press at a meeting of Switzerlands anti-doping agency. One size fits all is not exactly the right thing in anti-doping. We must have a system that is fitting for purpose.
WADA argues that surprise out-of-competition tests are essential for a credible anti-doping program. It published its new code after lengthy consultation with sports federations.
The code came into effect Jan. 1 and requires athletes to give drug-testers three months notice of their training and competition location - or whereabouts - for one hour each day of the year.
But within weeks FIFA led a group of team sports, including basketball, ice hockey and volleyball, in calling for an exemption because teams train and play at predictable locations and can be found easily by testers.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a member of WADAs governing board, said players also had the right to privacy during their holidays.
Saugy - whose Lausanne lab has pioneered cyclings biological passport scheme for WADA and works with FIFA on medical research projects - urged the two sides to find a compromise that was reasonable from a social, scientific and legal point of view.
Negotiations began two weeks ago when WADA director general David Howman met with senior FIFA medical advisers at the soccer bodys Zurich headquarters.
They agreed to FIFAs proposal for a pilot project this summer to target at risk players for testing - those who are injured and could be tempted to dope or had previously failed controls.
The issue is likely to be discussed when WADAs executive committee and governing board meet May 9-10 in Montreal.
Results from the 25th round of the Portuguese first-division football league (home teams listed first).
Fridays Games
Amadora 0, Pacos Ferreira 2
Saturdays Games
Nacional 1, Braga 1
Guimaraes 1, Sporting 2
Sundays Games
Rio Ave vs. Trofense
Maritimo vs. Belenenses
Academica vs. FC Porto
Setubal vs. Benfica
Mondays Games
Naval vs. Leixoes
Results in the Serie A, the Italian first-division football league (home teams listed first).
Saturdays games
Genoa 0, Lazio 1
Juventus 1, Inter Milan 1
Sundays games
Atalanta vs. Reggina
Cagliari vs. Napoli
Catania vs. Sampdoria
Palermo vs. Bologna
AS Roma vs. Lecce
Siena vs. Chievo Verona
Udinese vs. Fiorentina
AC Milan vs. Torino
Saturday, April 25
Fiorentina vs. AS Roma
Chievo Verona vs. Udinese
Sunday, April 26
AC Milan vs. Palermo
Bologna vs. Genoa
Lecce vs. Catania
Sampdoria vs. Cagliari
Lazio vs. Atalanta
Torino vs. Siena
Reggina vs. Juventus
Napoli vs. Inter Milan
Results from the 32nd round of the French first-division football league (home teams listed first).
Saturdays Games
Caen 1, Nancy 2
Grenoble 1, Toulouse 0
Monaco 3, Rennes 1
Nantes 2, Nice 0
Sochaux 0, Auxerre 1
Valenciennes 0, Le Mans 2
Saint-Etienne 2, Lille 1
Sundays Games
Lorient vs. Marseille
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Le Havre
Bordeaux vs. Lyon
Results from the 31st round of the Eredivisie, the Dutch first-division football league (home teams listed first).
Fridays Game
Heracles Almelo 4, NAC Breda 0
Saturday, April 18
Feyenoord 1, FC Twente 0
De Graafschap 0, FC Groningen 1
AZ Alkmaar 1, Vitesse Arnhem 2
NEC Nijmegen 1, Roda JC 1
Sunday, April 19
FC Volendam vs. Sparta Rotterdam
Willem II vs. ADO The Hague
FC Utrecht vs. SC Heerenveen
PSV Eindhoven vs. Ajax
Friday, April 24
Sparta Rotterdam vs. De Graafschap
Saturday, April 24
Heracles Almelo vs. PSV Eindhoven
NEC Nijmegen vs. NAC Breda
SC Heerenveen vs. FC Twente
Roda JC vs. FC Volendam
Sunday, April
Vitesse Arnhem vs. FC Utrecht
ADO The Hague vs. Feyenoord
Ajax vs. AZ Alkmaar
FC Groningen vs. Willem II
Results from the 31st round of Spains first-division football league (home teams listed first).
Saturdays Games
Getafe 0, Barcelona 1
Athletic Bilbao 0, Deportivo La Coruna 1
Atletico Madrid 3, Numancia 0
Malaga 1, Mallorca 1
Recreativo Huelva 0, Real Madrid 1
Sundays Games
Valladolid vs. Villarreal
Almeria vs. Osasuna
Espanyol vs. Racing Santander
Valencia vs. Sevilla
Real Betis vs. Sporting Gijon
Saturday, April 25
Malaga vs. Deportivo La Coruna
Almeria vs. Numancia
Valencia vs. Barcelona
Sunday, April 26
Getafe vs. Villarreal
Recreativo vs. Mallorca
Valladolid vs. Osasuna
Athletic Bilbao vs. Racing Santander
Espanyol vs. Real Betis
Sevilla vs. Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid vs. Sporting Gijon
Its down to Ukraine vs Germany for the UEFA Cup.
Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev advanced to the semifinals for the first time and will meet in the final four, while Hamburg and Werder Bremen progressed despite failing to win their second legs Thursday.
Shakhtar defeated former European champion Marseille 2-1 to ease through 4-1 on aggregate, while Kiev beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the Ukrainian capital after a scoreless first leg.
Diego repeated his first-leg performance for Bremen, scoring twice at Udinese to earn the German club a 3-3 draw and a 6-4 total edge.
While there are three English Premier League sides in the Champions League semifinals, the last English UEFA Cup representative, Manchester City, was eliminated by Hamburg 4-3 on aggregate despite winning the second leg 2-1.
Its unbelievable, to get to the semifinals is fantastic, Hamburg coach Martin Jol said. Bremen have got probably more experience, but weve got a talented team.
The semifinals are April 30 and May 7. Bremen and Kiev are at home first. The Germany-Ukraine final will be on May 20 in Istanbul.
Hamburg held a 3-1 lead after the first leg in Germany, and Paolo Guerrero extended the advantage by scoring after 12 minutes when City captain Richard Dunne failed to clear Jonathan Pitroipas low cross.
But Elano responded for City 4 minutes later from the penalty spot.
Felipe Caicedo scored Citys second in the 50th minute after being fed by Stephen Ireland. But City was reduced to 10 men in the 75th when defender Richard Dunne was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Ivica Olic.
Udinese had gone ahead of Bremen in the 15th minute when Switzerland midfielder Gokhan Inler struck from 35 yards. Diego, who played with a thigh injury, took advantage of a defensive error to equalize in the 28th with a spin move and precise shot.
Fabio Quagliarella restored Udineses lead in the 30th, lifting the ball over charging goalkeeper Tim Wiese. Quagliarella then made it 4-4 on aggregate by scoring again in the 38th as he fell down at the edge of the area.
But Diego connected again in the 60th minute, heading in a rebound after a shot from Hugo Almeida hit the crossbar. Diego has five goals in six UEFA Cup games.
Hes a great player. Every team would like to have a player like that, Udineses Brazilian defender Felipe said.
Diego had a chance for a hat trick, but his penalty kick was blocked by goalkeeper Samir Handanovic in the 72nd. A minute later, Claudio Pizarro scored an insurance goal for Bremen.
Already 3-0 up from last weeks home leg, Luis Fernandinho extended Shakhtars lead after 30 minutes in Marseille when goalkeeper Steve Mandanda failed to cover his near post.
Hatem Ben Arfa leveled in the 43rd for the French league leaders. But they missed numerous chances before, in the third minute of injury time, Luiz Adriano poked the ball through Mandandas legs.
Ismael Bangoura set Dynamo Kiev on its way to a victory over PSG, scoring with a low long-range drive in the 4th minute.
PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau scored an own-goal in the 16th. Defender Ceara headed a cross from Olexandr Aliyev up in the air, and Landreau failed to punch the ball away as it spun off the back of his fists and into the net.
Ognjien Vukojevic made it 3-0 in the 61st by reacting quickly to the rebound after Landreau blocked Aliyevs free kick.
