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The Sports Matrix: Friday 27 April 2012

Chelsea on alert as Guardiola set to step down at Barca

Pep Guardiola is expected to walk away from his role as Barcelona head coach today, four years and 13 trophies after taking over. Guardiola is understood to be meeting his players today to inform them he cannot carry on, and then make it public in a joint press conference with the club's president Sandro Rosell.

The Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has made no secret of his desire to bring Guardiola to Stamford Bridge, must now wait to see if the coach walks away from football for a year or straight into the club that has just knocked him out of the Champions League. MORE

Bilbao to face Madrid in final

It will be an all-Spanish Europa League final in Bucharest on 9 May, between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. Bilbao beat Sporting 3-1 (4-3 on aggregate), and Madrid beat fellow Spaniards Valencia 1-0 (5-2 on aggregate) in their semi-finals last night.

Ferguson: City are now major rivals

With three days to go before the vital Premier League Manchester derby on Monday, Sir Alex Ferguson has conceded that Manchester City are now the main rivals to his Manchester United side, saying City "are our direct opponents now". MORE

No handshake for Ferdinand and Terry

There will be no handshakes before QPR's match at Chelsea on Sunday. Chelsea's John Terry is due to appear in court on 9 July to answer the charge of racially aggravated abuse against QPR's Anton Ferdinand. Terry denies the charges. MORE

Team GB to take on Brazil in friendly

Great Britain's men will play an Olympic warm-up against Brazil at Middlesbrough on 20 July, the Football Association has announced. Team GB's women's team will play Sweden as part of a double-header at the Riverside Stadium. MORE

Larsson could be back for Sweden

Sebastian Larsson is expected to be fit in time to face England with Sweden in Euro 2012 in June, despite undergoing a hernia operation on Tuesday. The Sunderland midfielder had been carrying the problem for some time. MORE

Trott hits century as Bell out for duck

Jonathan Trott hit an unbeaten century for Warwickshire as they closed day one against Sussex on 281 for 5. Trott's fellow batsman for both county and England, Ian Bell, continued his poor run of form after he was dismissed for a duck. MORE

First Crucible clash for two of the greats

Stephen Hendry and John Higgins, who have won 11 world championships between them, will face each other for the first time at the World Snooker Championship today, at the Crucible. Hendry sad he was the clear "underdog". MORE

Team Sky's streak ends in Switzerland

Team Sky's winning streak in the Tour de Romandie ended yesterday, but Britain's Bradley Wiggins retained the overall lead. The 149.1km second stage, from Montbeliard to Moutier, was won by Saur-Sojasun's Jonathan Hivert. MORE

Interview: Tim Ream

"It was an interesting time [joining Bolton]. But it was scary. Less than 24 hours after my wedding I got the phone call from Bolton, but it was within 12 hours of me leaving on a flight for my honeymoon." MORE

Career Services

Day In a Page

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub
The Last Word: Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally

The Last Word

Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally