Free Kick: Can't rule out volcano's explosive fallout on field

To what extent were Barcelona and Lyon in the European Cup and Fulham and Liverpool in the Europa tournament affected by the need to travel by bus across Europe to their respective games?

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez for one stoutly refused to use it as an excuse for his team's 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid; yet I seriously wonder.

In addition, Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has criticised the pitch at the San Siro for being too dry and promised to soak the field at the Nou Camp thoroughly, before tomorrow's return with Inter.

Inter bring a 3-1 lead to Barcelona and deserve high praise for the way they strongly recovered from conceding that opening goal.

However, they were immensely lucky in the latter stages not to concede a goal from a penalty when the otherwise inspired Dutchman, Wesley Sneijder, blatantly brought down Daniel Alves in the box. There was also a strong hint of offside when Diego Milito scored the third Inter goal, having earlier missed several good chances.

Far from illustrating what the Italians call "The Immutable Law of the Ex" —the tendency of players to score against their former clubs — Zoltan Ibrahimovic, who joined Barca from Inter last summer, was anonymous in the first leg.

Subbed on 62 minutes it remains to be seen whether he plays Wednesday.

We can be pretty certain that the ever explosive 19-year-old attacker Mario Balotelli won't be among those present. Coming on as a sub after 75 minutes, he came off the field at the end throwing his shirt in a gesture of disgust at abuse from the crowd.

He is a precocious talent, but eternally dissident, which is why it seems most unlikely that Marcello Lippi, though badly in need of such attacking flair, will take him to South Africa.

This evening sees the return match in France between Lyon and Bayern Munich, who should have won far more convincingly in Germany against a disappointing Lyon side.

Even after the sending off of the hugely talented winger, Franck Ribery, for a nasty foul on Lisandro Lopez, Lyon couldn't establish supremacy.

In the end, they themselves were down to 10 men, when Jérémy Toulalan, switched to centre back, was given a harsh second yellow.

The star of the show was the gifted Dutch winger Arjen Robben. He has been in prolific form for Bayern, and Lyon will have to nullify him. But surely they will have more energy and brio than they showed in Munich and 1-0 is not the hardest mountain to climb.

As for Milito, he will be hoping to impress Diego Maradona sufficiently to win a place in the Argentine World Cup squad.

The author is an expert on soccer, based in England