Guardiola was paid tribute by thousands, who had turned out with flags and banners and what he has achieved for the club during his four-year spell in charge. Three-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Messi gave the Nou Camp a boost by pulling ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the league’s top scorer title, even though Barcelona may have conceded their 2011 league title to arch-rivals Real Madrid last week.

In Real’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Granada, Ronaldo scored a goal, leaving the Portugal striker on 45 league goals, five behind Messi with one league match remaining. In the history of European football, Messi is now also the undisputed all-time top-scorer, having overtaken the previous record of 67 goals scored by German legend Gerd Mueller for Bayern Munich in a single season in the 1970s.

Following Real’s 32nd league title triumph, the Spanish capital had reigned in a party atmosphere but they were heading for defeat until Ronaldo equalized an early Franco Jara goal from the spot ten minutes from time. David Cortes dramatic own-goal gave Jose Mourinho’s men the victory.

The World Player of the Year repaid Guardiola in his own way, even though he had said he had been too upset to go watch his coach give the news conference where he said he was leaving the club a week ago. He ran across to embrace Guardiola on the touchline and the rest of the squad swarming around them in a huddle, after scoring his fourth goal.

Guardiola added that he thank Messi for this detail. He added that have received a lot of affection from the players throughout his time here. He loves them a great deal and that always remains. When Barca take on Athletic Bilbao in the King’s Cup final in Madrid on May 25, Guardiola has one more away game in La Liga as boss, and a chance to win a 14th trophy in his fourth season.

With Guardiola saying he needed time out to recharge his batteries, his close friend and assistant Tito Vilanova will replace him next season. As for the club’s most successful coach, Barca president Sandro Rosell has left the door open to return when he liked.

Dwight Howard’s return is doubtful for the Orlando Magic. If he does not play then his production against the Wizards would be sorely missed. It appears doubtful he will play as the visiting Magic try for their 10th straight win in this series, although he has some astonishing numbers against the Wizards.

Orlando (34-23) cruised 119-89 at home over Detroit. Howard will travel to Washington, but is listed as doubtful, although the superstar center missed his third game in two weeks Monday due to back spasms. For the lowly Wizards (13-44), his absence would be good news. During Orlando’s nine-game winning streak over Washington, Howard is averaging 24.3 points and 13.4 rebounds while shooting 73.4 percent.

Forwards Ryan Anderson (ankle) and Quentin Richardson (sore back) returned from absences for the Magic, while Howard sat out Monday. Anderson finished with 14 points, as he had missed the three previous games. Glen Davis started in Howard’s place and had 16 points and 16 boards.

Since a season-high five-game slide, Orlando has won two straight. In the Eastern Conference, the Magic are tied with Atlanta for fifth, one game behind Indiana. Coach Stan Van Gundy said that there are going to be ups and downs with nine games to go. He added that he liked the level his team has played at the last two games and he hopes it will continue.

On Monday, the Magic played without backup point guard Chris Duhon. He was suspended for one game for conduct detrimental to the team. In three victories over Washington this season, Orlando has made 36 3-pointers. In those defeats, the Wizards have shot 41.1 percent, with John Wall connecting at 37.7 percent but managing to average 16.3 points.

In the season, Anderson is Orlando’s leading scorer with 23.0 points per game, making 13 of 24 3-pointers. With Monday’s 113-85 rout at league-worst, Charlotte, Washington ended a five-game losing streak. Earlier in the season, James Singleton and Cartier Martin are both working under 10-day contracts after playing in China. They combined for 37 points and 18 rebounds.

The Flyers have to make sure there is no letdown with their playoff spot locked up, as there is still a chance to catch the Rangers and Penguins in the conference race. Vincent Lecavalier is traveling with the team with the hope that he will play at some point during the trip, which includes stops in Boston and New Jersey. The team is on its three-game road swing that starts Monday in Philadelphia. The Flyers have killed off 36 of 39 opposing power plays in the last 14 games. Their penalty-kill is at 82.2 percent and they have climbed to 15th in the League.

Lecavalier has had a broken right hand since Feb. 18 during a game against the Capitals. He wore a no-contact jersey, although he skated with the team Sunday. Lecavalier told the Tampa Bay Times that his hand felt a little better but he is yet to gain strength in the hand. In 58 games, Lecavalier has 21 goals and 46 points and the Lightning have gone just 8-7-1 without him.

The Flyers’ center Claude Giroux has a chance to become the first one ever to win an Art Ross Trophy. No Philadelphia player has ever won it. Giroux enters Monday with 86 points, 11 behind League-leader Evgeni Malkin. He is in one point behind Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos for second place. There are just seven games left. This season, Stamkos is setting a new career high with a league-best 52 goals, while Giroux has 4 goals and 10 assists in 13 March games.

The injury report is long for the Lightning. Adam Hall (upper body), Goalie Mathieu Garon (lower body), Ryan Shannon (shoulder) and Nate Thompson (upper body) are out. Lecavalier (hand) is doubtful for the match. For the Flyers, defenseman Andreas Lilja is day-to-day (upper body), while Andrej Meszaros (back surgery) is out.

The betting odds as per various sportsbook are Tampa Bay Lightning (17/8), while Philadelphia Flyers (4/9).

Brady and Welker were the combination early in the season and now Brady is spreading the ball around to everyone on this offense. Deion Branch has been a great target for Brady but Chad Ocho Cinco has failed miserably.

Bill Belichik will face his former general manager, Scott Pioli in this game and he will be looking to lay the wood to the former Patriots mastermind. Belichik is not the general manager that Pioli was but Belichik can coach a team and he ill savor a chance to show he can win without his former mentor.

This game boils down to a simple question. Can the Patriots defense put together a good game against a horrible offense? If the Chiefs score more than 20 points in this game, the Patriots may as well pack it in now because they will not make it out of the first round of the NFL Playoffs.

Brady can only score so many points and this defense is going to have to step up and stop someone. The Patriots are weak on the corners and this is where their problem lies. They need to play tighter on coverage and if the corners are poor in coverage then the safeties need to step up and help out on deep routes.

Make sure you take advantage of all of the football prop bets on this matchup.

Ted Lilly (3-3 4.67) has been pitching well this season for the Dodgers and has gone 2-1 in recently. Lilly has been eating up innings on the mound recently, averaging 6.0 innings per game in those starts. In his last start, Los Angeles defeated Pittsburgh 10-3 on Tuesday, May 10 behind six innings from Lilly.

If Lilly isn’t able to go the distance, the Dodgers’ bullpen should be rested and ready to shoulder the load. Los Angeles’ relievers have pitched only 7.0 innings in the last three games.

The recent point differentials for the Dodgers and the Cubs suggest that Los Angeles should be the favorite. While both teams have played poorly lately, the Dodgers have been outscored by 0.76 runs per game compared to 0.94 for Chicago.

There are also a few reasons to be wary of putting money down on Los Angeles. The Dodgers haven’t met expectations when favored recently, with just a 47.4% win percentage when favored in the odds. Los Angeles has been even worse when it is favored at home, posting a 6-8 record. The Dodgers have played poorly over their past ten games going 3-7 during that time. During that stretch Los Angeles has been outscored by an average of 1.3 runs per game. The Dodgers have struggled versus right-handed pitching recently going 11-17. It’s an issue in this game for Los Angeles because the Cubs will put Carlos Zambrano (4-1 4.38) on the mound.

Those looking to cash in on point totals, might want to wager their money elsewhere. The over/under is set at 7.5, nearly the same as the 7.58 combined run average of both teams.

The Detroit and San Jose series has been a treat for all hockey fans, in what has been one of the closest contested matchups of the entire second round. Detroit and San Jose have played some excellent playoff hockey, showcasing excellent goaltending by both teams as well as clutch goal scoring.

The Red Wings will need to take it one game at a time if they are hoping to come back and make this a series. San Jose can expect Detroit’s best effort to date as game four is scheduled for Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit beat San Jose in game four by a score of 7-1 only to fall short in game five and lose the series when the two teams were in the exact same scenario last year. As Detroit tries to extend it one more game and take the series back to San Jose, fans should expected another hard hitting, low scoring affair in game four of this series.

While the over/under total is at 5.5, NHL Odds have the Red Wings as a -140 moneyline favorite.

In horse racing odds, Stay Thirsty is at 15-1 to win the first jewel of Horse Racing’s Triple Crown.

Kent Dominguez actually led the horse to victory in the Gotham Stakes, who has been the jockey for Stay Thirsty over the last two races. The owner of Stay Thirsty Mike Repole recently confirmed that Dominguez will be the man for the job.

By Calvin Borel, one of the top jockeys in the world, Stay Thirsty was worked out. Dominguez was announced as the rider for Stay Thirsty shortly after the workout. As Uncle Mo has had some health issues, there were also questions as to whether or not the jockey for Uncle Mo would take over for Stay Thirsty. Repole and Todd Pletcher, the trainer of the horse, decided to stay with Dominguez in the end.

At Churchill Downs, recently Stay Thirsty had an extremely fast time over five furlongs. On a tack that was considered to be fairly sloppy, Stay Thirsty was the tied for the fastest of the 19 horses that ran on Easter Sunday.

Stay Thirsty looks like a good contender for the Kentucky Derby, all things considered as well as he will continue to prepare for the big race. On the 7th of May, the Derby will take play on.

To win the World Series this season, MLB Odds have the Angels at 35-1 and the White Sox at 40-1.

On the season the Los Angeles Angles are 6-5 as well as in the standings already find themselves 3 games behind the Rangers. The Chicago White Sox trail the Cleveland Indians by 1 game after 11 games as they are 7-4.

Through some great offensive production the White Sox have managed to win their games. In the MLB in Runs, Batting Average, On Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage, they are within the top 5 teams. To this point in the season they have outscored their opponents by 15 runs. They have gone 4-2 while playing at home this season as they will be the home team in this game.

Even though the Angels have been a great team in terms of pitching, they have not been nearly as consistent offensively. By collecting all 6 wins for the Angels, Dan Haren and Jered Weaver have been carrying the load. The pitchers have combine for 47.1 innings while only allowing 20 hits and 4 runs as the team is 6-0 in their starts. By hits or walks Haren has only allowed a total of 13 batters on base.

In this series, unfortunately the Angels will only have one of those two pitchers to take the mound. Either Palmer or Chatwood will have to step up to help Weaver what this means.

While the Flyers are at 11-2, NHL Betting Odds have the Rangers at 35-1 to win the Stanley Cup.

In the Eastern Conference currently, the Rangers find themselves in a fight for the last playoff spot. With eighty seven points, three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes, New York and Buffalo are tied for the eighth spot. To New York’s chances of surviving the first round of the playoffs, gaining two points in this contest may be crucial.

Not many people will be expecting the Rangers to win that series, especially after New York has won just one of five games so far this year against Philadelphia, if the Rangers get matched up against the Flyers.

The Flyers will be trying to get two points as well to help secure first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, while this game is obviously important to New York for numerous reasons. Throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, number one seed will allow Philadelphia to have home ice advantage where they have 21-11-6 record.

The Flyers are also trying to hold off a red hot Washington team for the best record in the Eastern Conference in addition to being in a division race with Pittsburgh. Every chance to gain two points in the standings is amplified with very few games left on the schedule.

To win the World Series, MLB Betting Odds have the Cardinals at +2000.

The Cardinals will still have Chris Carpenter even without Wainwright. For the Cardinals, last season, Carpenter put 16 wins on the board and pitched 235 solid innings. With a ton of innings from the workhorse in 2011 they will need another season.

To step up and pitch the way he did last year the Cardinals will also need their young gun, Jaime Garcia. Last year Garcia had a 2.70 ERA and looked like a guy that the Cardinals would be able to rely on in the future.

Even if the Cardinals won’t have it on the mound they will have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball in their lineup. Albert Pujols, who is widely regarded as the best hitter in baseball, the Cardinals have him in their team. Matt Holliday, a hitter that has proven to have the ability to hit for average and power while knocking in runs, they also have him.

Whether or not Pujols will be a distraction for the Cardinals this season, there are some concerns about this. The Cardinals were not able to put together a deal that satisfied the slugger as he has asked for a contract extension.