Barcelona

Gazing into the milky depths of a none-too-clear crystal ball, is that a Manchester United-Real Madrid European Champions League final we see being played at Wembley Stadium on May 28? Or is the view distorted enough so that it could ? just possibly ? be Inter Milan and Barcelona squaring off in the title game? One thing is certain, it surely isn't Schalke '04 and Shakhtar Donetsk, but there is an outside chance that it could be two London teams playing in a London final. Anyone for Chelsea versus Tottenham Hotspur?

With a trio of sharp, literate films that mapped the emotional landscape of the young, American and upscale, Whit Stillman emerged from the '90s independent film scene as one of the decade's most distinct voices. His 1990 debut, "Metropolitan," earned him an Oscar nomination for screenwriting, and his follow-up examinations of the lives of the "urban haute bourgeoisie," as the characters of his movies were dubbed, "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco," only cemented Stillman's reputation.

As the crow flies, about 787 miles separate London's Wembley from Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu. The crows aren't flying in either direction, however. They were eaten Saturday at both stadiums. Those in England with black feathers around their mouths are easy to spot. They include Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand, all four from no-longer-treble-chasing Manchester United. In Spain, they include Jose Mourinho and Raul Albiol from Real Madrid and Dani Alves from Barcelona.

Defending champion Inter Milan, riding a hat trick by Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, roared past Werder Bremen, 4-0, in Milan on Wednesday, signaling that the Italian club will not easily relinquish its European Champions League title. Things were a little more difficult for two former champions with lofty aspirations in this year's tournament. Barcelona, the 2009 winner, traveled to Russia and was tied, 1-1, by Rubin Kazan, the same team that defeated it in Spain last season and held it to a tie in Russia.

ALCORCON, Spain - On a dusty plateau dotted with half-built condos, unemployed Spaniards hope a proposed development will amount to more than a mirage in the desert: a glittering gambling city to rival Las Vegas, and the quarter-million jobs it's expected to bring. American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, owner ofLas Vegas Sands Corp., wants to build a casino complex dubbed EuroVegas, complete with 36,000 hotel rooms, 18,000 slot machines and three golf courses, and this Madrid suburb is vying for the jackpot.

They are two former colonial powers fighting over gold in Africa — and doesn't that have a familiar ring? This time around, though, the Dutch and the Spanish are not involved in a land grab, or if they are it is only over who will control a patch of grass at Soccer City on Sunday night. That's when the World Cup final will be played in Johannesburg, where the Netherlands takes on Spain for the 2010 title. But if there are tears in Amsterdam come Monday morning, the Dutch will have only themselves to blame.

Defending champion Inter Milan and former champions Barcelona and Manchester United were handed relatively safe passages through the first round of the European Champions League when the draw was held Thursday in Monaco. The same was not true for nine-time winner Real Madrid, seven-time winner AC Milan and four-time winner Ajax Amsterdam. The three powers were drawn into the same formidable group, along with luckless Auxerre. For Inter Milan, now coached by former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, the prospect of facing Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur and Twente Enschede in Group A play will not be especially daunting, despite team President Massimo Moratti's words of caution.

These sculptures, photographed by Times reader Eric Davidoff, adorn the rooftop of La Pedrera, an apartment complex in Barcelona. The dreamlike quality of these figures matches the surreal look of the building itself. Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, known for his whimsical creations, designed La Pedrera. You can find La Pedrera on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona. Other Gaudi creations in Barcelona include La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral more than a century  in the making, and Park Guell.

Two women died and 128 people were hospitalized by a mysterious outbreak of a respiratory illness in Barcelona during the night, the regional government said on Saturday. Sixty people were still hospitalized, three of them seriously ill, nearly 24 hours after the illness appeared. Most of those affected lived in Barcelona's port area.