It's a relief Barca keeps its best moves on the pitch because Gerard Pique, Shakira's present
love interest and his team mates tried matching her booty shaking in a failing effort. Xavi was on
stage but the rest of the heavenly triangle Messi and Iniesta were absent. Busquets too having
decided being upright for one evening was enough.
The suspicion that the Premiership was fought amongst a group of 30 lb lightweights and won
depending on who blinked first was borne out today.
If this does not convince football at its core is a team sport than nothing ever will. The match
was over minutes into the final although Man Utd might point rightly to Rooney's superlative finish
as evidence to the contrary.
This Taiwanese animation lampoons the Giggs affair and makes the salient point. Be afraid, very
afraid of censoring the internets (sic). Because it will blow up in your face. If only
Giggs had been more savvy he would have taken heed of the Streisand effect.
Here is Sir Alex caught in the act of trying to ban a reporter who strayed from the reservation
by asking a question about Ryan Giggs.
"We'll get him" is distinctly gangster-ish but it also gives you an insight into how
the Man Utd manager wants to keep away a media circus salivating at the prospect of a bigger story
than the Champions League finals.
Icelandic volcanic ash changes the Catalonian club's travel plans.
They will be in London this evening two days ahead of schedule. Grimsvotn is the offender this
time with meteorologists predicting prevailing winds will carrying its ash to English airspace
potentially shutting down busy hubs like Heathrow.
One can't but wonder with Arsenal on the ropes, Nicklas Bendtner could have pulled off the most
outrageous heist of the 21st century with an almost last minute goal. But as is his wont, the
Dane's touch deserted him and Victor Valdes was able to stop him. It was the one clear chance that
Arsenal had all evening.
Karim Benzema's subdued celebration after scoring his first goal against his former club was at
odds with the overwhelming relief Jose Mourinho felt. It has been a record of futility for the
world's most celebrated club against their French opponent. Actually, it was the first time Real
had scored against Lyon away.
Nicolas Anelka shows an older more ruthless streak as a finisher. Part of the problem playing in
the slot is the deferment to the frontline strikers, Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba in carrying
the scoring load. The 4-3-3 formation only works if there is a willingness to go wide and create an
overlapping dynamic.
Joe Jordan pulled out the oldest trick in the playbook winding up Gennaro Gattuso. He might have
indeed called the Milan midfielder '"f****** Italian b******'".
But Gattuso defending his actions as a response to racism borders on the comical.
Whatever Arsene Wenger said at halftime seemed to work a charm.
Arsenal's bright start vaporized as Barca began painting pretty little triangles all over the
Emirates. It all looked hauntingly familiar as Andres Iniesta fed Leo Messi squaring off to Villa
before breaking away with the return as the Arsenal defense gave futile chase.
Raul during his Real career was responsible for scoring some big goals against Valencia. Only
this time it was with new club Schalke in their CL encounter with the Spanish side at the Mestalla.
His goal canceled out Roberto Soldado's 17th minute strike.
Some good news for Gooners as in form Samir Nasri has been cleared to face Barca in their
Emirates encounter. He's a gametime decision according to Arsene Wenger.
"Samir is in the squad and the starting line-up will be decided tomorrow," said
Wenger.
This will be a great boost for Arsenal as Nasri is not just a playmaker but he's been in great
goalscoring form as well.
Peter Crouch might have scored the goal but the architect was Aaron Lennon bursting forth
leaving Mario Yepes sprawling in his wake.
Spurs shrugged off the loss of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale as they went on the offensive through
Rafael Van der Vaart with Sandro and Wilson Palacios bolstering the midfield.
Didier Drogba's return to the club he considers "home" was not exactly a scintillating one. His
club continued its downward spiral as they lost to Brandão's late goal. Chelsea were distinctly
unlucky to have not been awarded spot kicks when Souleymane Diawara's fouls brought down both
Malouda and Salomon Kalou, who also had the mortification of mooning the world.
Great clip showing Abou Diaby's reaction to Eboue's warm up on the bench.
The match was a mixed bag. Arsenal got the win but looked far from assured. When Cleo got the
equalizer, a familiar anxiety gripped the fans and an exasperated Wenger took his frustration out
on the water bottle.
Arsenal might have conceded the top spot to Shakhtar with that shocking loss to Braga but there
is the not so small matter of locking up second.
Which starts with today's match against Partizan. Braga have the same number of points but are
considerably behind on goal difference. They also meet Shakhtar away which compounds that
handicap.
Spurs finish on top of Group A as they tie FC Twente, 3-3 in a cracking game. But this will be
known for a Paul Robinson type botch up by FC Twente goalie Sander Boschker gifting Spurs the first
goal.
Against Croatia four years ago, Robinson then England's goalie managed to look equally comical
trying to clear Gary Neville's back pass.
A weakened Inter team is spanked by Werder Bremen and finishes second to Spurs in Group A. Goals
from Sebastian Proedl, Marko Arnautovic, and Claudio Pizzarro gave already eliminated Werder a 3-0
win.
Before the match, Massimo Moratti made it amply clear that he wanted to end the CL group stage
on a high note before the club departed for the Club World Cup later this month.
I had anxiously been expecting a great game in the Champions League final, which I watched in my
new football-hangout in Caracas over a few Soleras. I was not disappointed, although it did not go
exactly as I thought. That FC Barcelona was so superior to Manchester United was surprising, and
nobody can say that their 3-1 victory was undeserved.
After Manchester United's perhaps expected 4-1 victory at home to Schalke 04, it is now confirmed
that the Champions League final at Wembley om May 28th will be a repeat of the 2009 final, where FC
Barcelona defeated Manchester United 2-0. Back then, the English side had been weak favourites, as
many expected them to be stronger physically and tactically.
The semifinalists for this season's Champions League are ready after some not overly surprising nor
exciting matches. The semifinals are as follows:FC Barcelona-Real MadridSchalke 04-Manchester
UnitedThat the two Spanish giants are playing one another in a couple of weeks on four crucial
encounters is completely unprecedented.
As I was at work, and leaving late, I recorded one match. I didn't know which one in fact, but I
made sure I heard no results, and quickly put on the match as I came home.Chelsea-Manchester United
was a bore! Manchester United won 0-1 on a Wayne Rooney goal, and will probably make it to the
semifinal, but the most notable thing about the match was how lousy Chelsea played, and Ancelotti's
very
I think that Schalke 04 were probably considered the little guys in this season's Champions League,
and not many would have put money on the German side as they were to face Inter Milan in the
quarterfinals. But today any lack of respect for this German side that it is virtually impossible
to sympathize with should be totally absent.
The last seven years mighty Real Madrid has been unable to make it to the quartefinals of the
Champions League, but 2011 finally saw them get through. Under José Mourinho the team is as good
as it has been for years, and one of the teams that has often been a stumbling block, Olympique
Lyon, was dispatched with a well-played and offensive 3-0 victory.
It seems that all Italian teams are on the way out of the Champions League: today it was AC Milan.
After losing 0-1 at home to Tottenham, the Italians were unable to score in London, and 0-0 was
enough for the English to progress to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. Last Italian team
left is Inter, who lost 0-1 at home to Bayern Munich, so they will surely have a difficult time
keeping
I think that most people were expecting that Barcelona would be able to defeat Arsenal, which they
also did, 3-1 tonight, to qualify for the quartefinals of the Champions League. What less people,
including myself, were probably not expecting is that Arsenal would play so bad! In spite of a bad
referee, 3-1 was pretty lucky, although Barcelona's attack was also somewhat inefficient; David
Villa
Manchester United-Valencia is for personal reasons one of the most classic matches in CL football,
for the simple fact that I support Valencia, and I have seen them play the United times many times,
including a match in 2000 in Valencia, where I saw them draw 0-0, and both were through, and I then
got drunk with a bunch of United fans.
Sir Alex was gracious in defeat "They're the best in Europe, no question about that. In my time as a manager, I would say
they're the best team we've faced. Everyone acknowledges that and I accept that. It's not easy when
you've been well beaten like that to think another way. No one has given us a hiding like
that.
Four matches between the archrivals of Real Madrid and Barcelona have ended. The first one, the
league match (which I did not see because I was barbecuing with friends in Richmond, California),
ended 1-1, and with 8-point difference, the league is quite certain to end in Barcelona for the
third season in a row.
I have been travelling, and although watching football as much as possible, have not been able to
post much here. Still, many interesting things have happened in the world of football!In the
Italian Serie A, AC Milan and Napoli played a match where the southerners had the chance of taking
over the first spot.
