The draw for the quarter finals and semi finals of the 2010/2011 UEFA champions league was held at UEFA headquarters at Nyon, Switzerland today. The draw was made by former England international Gary Lineker. The draw was to determine the pairings for the quarter finals and semi finals of Europe’s premier cup competition.

UEFA Champions League draw results

Only eight teams are left in the competition.  They are Real Madrid fc, Barcelona fc, Chelsea fc, Manchester United fc, Tottenham Hotspur fc, Shalke fc, Inter Milan and shakhtar donetsk.

For the quarter finals, here are the pairings below.

Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Inter Milan vs Shalke

The champions league draw was also to determine the semi final pairings. The results of the draw is below.

Inter Milan/Shalke vs Chelsea/Manchester United

Barcelona/Shakhtar Donetsk vs Real Madrid/Tottenham Hotspur.

The most outstanding match of the quarterfinal round will definitely be the match between Chelsea and Manchester United. This now means the two sides are guaranteed to meet each other at least three more times this season. This is bound to be a close match but I’ll put Manchester United as slight favorites to go through.

For Tottenham fans, getting into the Champions League quarter finals in their first season in the competition is reward enough. Now they must face the mighty Real Madrid. I’m not going to say Spurs can’t beat Real Madrid but Madrid will be heavy favorites to go through here with all their experience and a coach who knows how to get there.

Barcelona had what will appear on paper an easy draw against Shakhtar Donetsk and should not have any problems getting past them into the semi finals.

International also will have what appears on paper to be an easy draw and also should be able to book their passage into the semis with a win over Shalke.

The semi final draws promises a very enticing match up if results should go as they are expected to. There could be an “el classico” semi final clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The other semi final match could see either Chelsea or Manchester United face Inter Milan or Shalke. The Champions League draw was attended by officials of each club.

Aston Villa’s Richard Dunne and James Collins have both been fined two week’s wages each for their part in drink related brawl at Leicestershire spa last week. The fines will amount to 100,000 for each player. Aston Villa had wanted much higher fines but reduced it when the Professional Football association got involved.

Villa officials met both Dunne and Collins on Tuesday to question them about their role in the incident that took place at Champneys Springs Spa last week. Two days later both players were informed their role in the incident will cost each of them two week’s wages. Villa wanted to make the fines heftier but clubs can fine a player more than two weeks salary only after approval from the Professional Players Association. But the PFA in this case felt a heftier punishment was not neccsessary.

Reports say that the pair are angry at Aston Villa’s decision not to extend any punishment to the backroom staff that were also involved in the drink induced argument that took place in the absense of their manager, Gerard Houllier.

Both players have however accepted their punishments and will not be challenging the decision of Villa.

Club manager Gerard Houllier has refused to make any extended comments on the case. He said as far as he was concerned, the pair have been disciplined and that ends the matter.

He said the incident have not damping the morale of the players. The team had gone to the spa on a team boning exercise and the manager said it was a successful exercise barring the incident.

Manchester United midfielder, Ryan Giggs, has brushed aside any chance of him returning to Wales as a player or coach, when they face England this March.

There have been rumors swirling around that the veteran player might be tempted out of international retirement to feature in some way for Wales as they take on England in a Euro 2012 qualifying match on 26th March.

The match is scheduled to be played at the Millenium Stadium in Cardif.

Giggs, who is 37 and has featured 64 times for Wales, is very interested in offering his assistance to Speed in some manner before the match. However he is firm on his decision to retire and says he will not be involved in the match as a player or coach.

Ryan Giggs said he will be in Wales with his family so he will possibly got to speak with Speed.

He said, ” I doubt that I will be involved in coaching but I talked to Speed and he said if there was any assistance I could give….”

“Gary and I have played together for the team and I want success for the Welsh team as much as he does.”

“I’m not going to be playing but I might go to see him a couple of days before the match.”

When asked further if he might play, Giggs replied that he won’t be going with his boots.

Ryan Giggs and Manchester United

Ryan Giggs hanged his boots on his international career back in 2007 to concentrate on his career with Manchester United which now spans some 20 years. Even at 37, Giggs is still a big feature in Sir Alex Furguson’s team.

During his time at United, Giggs has only played under one coach and believes that when the time comes for Furguson to be replaced, the new manager will have a huge mountain to climb.

He said, “It is a huge challenge. They will be replacing the most successful coach ever”

“He is always changing things, trying to build the teams age balance right and that should be able to help the next manager.”

Giggsl also believe the next United manager will inherit a very good team and that should help them get a good start. He thinks it will not be an impossible task but one that will be very tough.

Ryan Giggs also said he believe furguson will stay on much longer than he will at Old Trafford.

He said ” I simply don’t see Furguson leaving Manchester United in the near future.”

Giggs said he thinks Furguson will stay at Manchester United for at least another five seasons because he still have the desire to coach.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011

Registration for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon has opened from today February 23. The age requirements for entering the marathon are that you must be at least 14 years on or before 30th October 2011.

Anyone interested in taking part in the Marine Corps Marathon should got the official race website to register. When you register, you’ll receive a runner’s bib number via email in about a month before the race. You should print this and take with you to the race on race day.

The race will take place on Sunday, October 30, 2011.

Bahrain grand prix postponed

The authorities in Bahrain have announced the opening race of the season will no longer be hosted by the troubled country.

Bahrain was scheduled to host the first race of the 2011 formula 1 season. However political instability has led to violence in the country. And the Crown Prince of Bahrain has announced that for safety reasons, the race cannot go on as scheduled.

He called formula 1 commercial supremo, Bernie Ecclestone earlier in the day to inform him of his decision.

He said his nation’s full attention is now focused on rebuilding his country’s dialogue.

Ecclestone has earlier informed the racing community that any decision to cancel race will be made solely by the Bahrain authorities and that canceling the race was not necessary yet.

The Crown prince said he was grateful for Ecclestone’s support and understanding.

Bernie felt sad that the race has been called off and wished the people of Bahrain well in their quest to heal their country.

The cancellation of the Bahrain race now means that the first race of the 2011 f1 calendar will now be the Australian grand prix scheduled to take place on the 27th of March.

It is likely the Bahrain grand prix will still take place on a rescheduled date but no new date has been set yet.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL. – A packed Daytona speedway was stunned as Trevor Baynes came from nowhere to win Daytona 500.

This is not fiction. He is only 20yrs old and his team is team, Wood Brothers Racing, are the oldest team in the competition.

This is a fairy tale marriage between the oldest team and youngest driver as no one expected Trevor Baynes to win the greatest race on the American racing calendar.

The youngster said on his radio, “are you kidding me”, as he crossed the finish line to claim the biggest moment of his career.

On the day when NASCAR was marking the 10th anniversary of one of it’s darkest days, this happens to one very uplifting story.

Trevor Baynes just turned 20 years old on Saturday and this must be the sweetest birthday present he has ever gotten. Had the race been held two days earlier, we would’ve had a teenager winning the biggest race of the NASCAR calendar.

Baynes said he had never even dreamed of this achievement. The kid could not even find his way to the victory lane. He had to be directed there.

This is perhaps the most spectacular win in NASCAR’s 53 years of running the Daytona 500.

Trevor Baynes who comes from knoxville, Tennessee even joked he was now more popular than Peyton Manning who comes from the same town.

This is a great race win for a boy who wasn’t even old enough to have a sip of the victory champagne and the oldest team in all of NASCAR who nobody even talks about.

Surely now everyone will be sitting in bars across the country and talking about Trevor Baynes and the Wood Brothers Racing team.

Daytona 500 race start time

The 2011 Daytona 500 race is here and there are many of you wondering when is the start time for the race? We will let you know when the race will start and where you can actually get to watch the race if you are not going to be at the race track in Daytona, Florida.

The race is on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at the Daytona speedway. The race will start at 1:30pm ET. You can watch the race on FOX and they start coverage of the Daytona 500 at 1:00 pm ET.

There is also a significant anniversary being celebrated as it is 10 years since the death of Dale Earnhardt.

There have been various tributes to him throughout the week.

The race will last throughout the aftenoon so don’t fret it you miss the start of the race. You are guaranteed plenty of action throughout the race.

This will be the 53rd edition of the great Daytona 500 race.