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• Barcelona embark on two-day coach journey to fulfil fixture
• MotoGP event in Japan cancelled due to flight restrictions

The volcanic ash cloud has caused large-scale disruption to this week’s sporting events, causing cancellations and forcing teams to take to the roads.

The Champions League semi-final first legs, scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday, will go ahead, with Barcelona and Lyon embarking on lengthy coach trips.

Barcelona began their journey by bus yesterday, driving 394 miles to Cannes, before this morning travelling the remaining 218 miles to Milan, where they meet Internazionale tomorrow evening.

“The two Uefa Champions League semi-final first legs will go ahead as scheduled this week despite the current restrictions on European air travel,” read a statement on Uefa’s website, which also revealed a decision would be taken “in the coming days” about whether Thursday’s two Europa League semi-finals between Atlético Madrid and Liverpool, and Hamburg and Fulham would go ahead as planned.

Newcastle have also been forced to make the 400-mile journey to Plymouth for tonight’s Championship clash by coach.

The FIM Moto GP World Championship race in Japan on Sunday, meanwhile, has been called off. With the Spanish round at Jerez – a flagship home race for the series’ rights holders, Dorna – due to be staged a week later, there had been fears over teams being stranded in Japan.

A statement from the FIM read: “The recent volcano eruption in Iceland has resulted in an ash cloud cover infiltration. Air traffic space over Europe has stopped all international travel in and out of Europe. This case of ‘force majeure’ has obliged the grand prix permanent bureau to postpone the grand prix of Japan planned on 25 April 2010.”

The final leg of the Diving World Series, due to be staged in Sheffield this week, was rearranged to take place in Veracruz, Mexico, following the conclusion of the second leg there on Saturday.

The Moroccan Golf Classic has been postponed but the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea on the full PGA European Tour is unlikely to be affected, with the majority of players already in Asia after the Volvo China Open.

The Formula One commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, has no doubts the Spanish grand prix will go ahead on 9 May despite teams fearing their preparations could be hampered.

When asked whether the grand prix could potentially be postponed, Ecclestone said: “No. Not at all. There are no problems with the race.”

The three-day eventer Oliver Townend was today hoping to jet out to Kentucky in a bid to land the Rolex Grand Slam and the £230,000 reward on offer.

Having won at both Badminton and Burghley, the Yorkshireman is chasing the final leg of the slam – and the lucrative prize – in Lexington but is having to do so after a tortuous journey across Europe to avoid the ash cloud.

His trek began in Ellesmere and has taken in Crewe, London and Paris, from where he caught a taxi to Madrid with a view to flying out of the Spanish capital for the United States this afternoon.

MotoGPFormula OneMotor sportBarcelonaChampions LeagueUefa Europa LeagueLiverpoolFulhamNatural disasters and extreme weatherJames Callowguardian.co.uk

• ‘He has had his head turned by ludicrous notions’
• Steve Bruce’s club would want at least £12m for striker

Steve Bruce will tell Kenwyne Jones to pull himself together and forget about joining Liverpool as Sunderland prepare for tomorrow’strip to Everton.

Bruce is still fuming about what he describes as “totally ludicrous” reports which “insult everyone’s intelligence” suggesting the centre-forward could be poised to join Rafa Benítez’s team on loan.

“They’ve certainly unsettled Kenwyne,” said Sunderland’s manager. “He has had his head turned by these ludicrous notions that I’m going to let him out on loan but he’s got to get this nonsense out of his head.

“As far as I’m concerned the issue has been put to bed, we’ve got Kenwyne for at least the next six months. We’ll see what the situation is in the summer but I’ve always said I do not want to part with him.”

Although Sunderland would sell Jones if the right offer came in – for at least £12m – they are privately convinced that neither Liverpool, nor his other suitors, Birmingham City and Stoke City, will stump up the requisite cash while also meeting the wage demands of a player who seemingly has his heart set on moving to Anfield. “Liverpool would have to make a serious offer for Kenwyne to leave,” stressed Bruce.

In the meantime his side are currently struggling – Sunderland have not won in the Premier League since November – and he was so dismayed by the poverty of Jones’s performance during Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Portsmouth that he is considering dropping him.

“It’s possible,” said Bruce. “I certainly need to have another talk to Kenwyne before Everton because the situation has certainly affected him. I tried speaking to Kenwyne last Friday before we played Portsmouth but at the moment I’m telling him one thing and he’s maybe hearing different stories from elsewhere. Right now he’s maybe questioning me.

“Whether Kenwyne doesn’t want to be at this club any more I don’t know but we are paying him very well and we need to get him turned round, pointed in the right direction and focused again. Kenwyne’s a wonderful, fantastic talent but only when he’s playing at the right level. It’s up to him but this is a big, big club.”

Bruce is particularly infuriated as he claims Liverpool and Sunderland had no contact over Jones until last Friday night when his chairman Niall Quinn telephoned the Anfield chief executive, Christian Purslow, to demand an explanation for a series of newspaper reports. “I’m led to believe there has been a mis-communication but that the situation has been led by agents, which I find unhealthy,” he said.

The Sunderland manager’s gloomy mood has hardly been helped by the incident in the bathroom of a Mexico City bar which saw one of his long-term transfer targets, the Paraguay striker Salvador Cabañas shot in the head – “it’s shocking, a tragedy, I’ve been after Salvador for three years,” said Bruce – but he is buoyed by Lee Cattermole’s return to fitness and the central midfield enforcing role.

Cattermole has been badly missed during a three-month convalesence from a knee injury. “We’ve never been quite the same without Catts,” said Bruce who will give a debut to Matthew Killgallon, his new signing from Sheffield United, in central defence.

“Losing Lee has been a bit similar to Liverpool losing Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard but now we’re getting our injured players back I’m confident we can go on a winning run and finish in the top 10.”

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