Toure goal fails to lift the gloom

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Barcelona 1 Schalke 04 0 (Barcelona win 2-0 on agg):BARCELONA PROGRESSED to the last four of the Champions League last night but their subdued performance, coupled with events earlier in the day, is likely to fill Manchester United with hope rather than dread.

Yaya Toure scored the goal just before half-time, but Frank Rijkaard's side, once again, looked like a team devoid of confidence.

The aggregate scoreline may look comfortable, but Schalke were the better team for large spells of the tie.

There was further bad news for Barcelona when their captain, Carles Puyol, was booked in the second half. He will now miss the first leg against United.

Barcelona are a club in crisis, one whose inner turmoil was brought crashing into the open yesterday when a high-ranking official admitted the club had invented injuries as an excuse to leave "certain players" out of the side. Those players are widely understood to be Deco and Ronaldinho, the latter of whom is unlikely to play for Barcelona again.

Sunday night's 0-0 draw with Getafe at the Camp Nou brought the first protest of the Joan Laporta era: thousands of white hankies being waved. As Laporta, who had launched a harangue against the local media for "conning" Barca fans earlier that day, departed the directors' box, 200 fans were waiting at the foot of the stairs chanting: "Resign! Resign!"

Fans also gathered at the club's training ground to attack their "lazy" players, chanting: "Less millions, more bollocks".

A good performance against Schalke might have been enough to lift the gloom around the club, but it failed to materialise.

Toure scored in scrappy circumstances in the 43rd minute but the goal failed to calm Barca. It took a late challenge from Lilian Thuram to deny Kuranyi in the 80th minute to subdue the visitors.

BARCELONA:Valdes, Puyol, Thuram, Zambrotta, Abidal, Iniesta, Toure Yaya (Marquez 81), Xavi, Henry (Gudjohnsen 90), Eto'o, Bojan (Giovanni 72). Subs not Used: Pinto, Milito, Edmilson, Sylvinho. Booked: Puyol.

SCHALKE 04:Neuer, Westermann, Rafinha (Larsen 76), Bordon, Krstajic, Kuranyi, Ernst, Kobiashvili (Grossmuller 31), Jones, Asamoah (Sanchez 69), Altintop. Subs not used: Schober, Streit, Howedes, Pander. Booked: Rafinha, Westermann, Ernst.

Referee:Roberto Rosetti (Italy).