CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
The English Premiership confirmed its position as the strongest league in Europe this week, as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all booked their places in next week’s quarter final draw.
GUNNERS SNEAK THROUGH
In the end, only Arsenal came close to missing out, after losing one nil to Roma on the night. Level on aggregate, the match went to penalties, where Eduardo promptly missed the first kick of the shoot out. They eventually had to rely on a couple of awful efforts from Vucinic and Tonetto to send them through.
LUCKY ESCAPE FOR UNITED
Manchester United started brilliantly against Inter, Vidic’s fourth minute goal giving them a huge boost in confidence. Inter missed some good chances to equalise however, with Ibrahimovic a notable culprit. Yet again the Swede failed to perform on the big stage. Ronaldo’s early second half header effectively finished Inter off as the special one tasted only his second defeat to Alex Ferguson.
CHELSEA BATTLE PAST JUVE
Chelsea had a slightly rockier ride against Juventus, though in the end were good value for their win. Iaquinta had opened the scoring beautifully but Chelsea deservedly equalised through Essien and should have had a goal awarded when Drogba’s free kick clearly crossed the line. Juventus went down to ten men after Chiellini’s red card before Belleti inexplicably blocked a free kick with his hands and Del Piero converted the penalty. It proved a false dawn as Drogba scored to end Juve’s chances with seven minutes to go.
POOL LEAVE REAL REELING
Liverpool had by far the most comfortable passage of the English teams, crushing Real Madrid four nil at Anfield. An impressive first half saw Liverpool score twice through Torres and a Gerard penalty, though it could have been more without the excellent Iker Casillas in Madrid’s goal. Gerrard added another in the second half before substitute Andrea Dossena completed the rout with his first goal for Liverpool. Madrid might have genuine complaints about the harshness of the penalty and a possible foul by Torres in the lead up to his strike, but their defending was shambolic and they would have to admit that they were completely outclassed by the men in red.
AND THE REST.....
Elsewhere, Barcelona beat Lyon five two and six three overall, thanks to a man of the match performance from Thierry Henry. Bayern Munich set a new champions league record, beating Sporting Lisbon seven one at home to win by 12 goals to one on aggregate. Villareal beat Panathanaikos, two one away and three two on aggregate, while Atletico Madrid surprisingly went down to Porto.
They drew nil all away from home, making the two goals they conceded at the Vincente Calderon an expensive mistake, Porto going through on away goals, two all on aggregate. So where does this leave us now? The bookies make Barcelona the favourites, Paddy Power have them at 5-2, with Manchester United close behind at 13-5. United are 6-1 to win the League, Fa Cup and Champions League and finish the season with five trophies. Chelsea are third favourites at 9-2 while Liverpool look good value for 6-1.
Although the Premier League appears to have gotten away from them for yet another season, Rafa Benitez has again proven that he knows exactly how to win a knockout two leg tie. Don’t rule them out. Arsenal and Bayern Munich are a little less fancied at 15-2 and 10-1 respectively, though Bayern’s confidence will be high after their demolition of Sporting Lisbon.
Villareal and Porto are the rank outsiders at 28-1 and 33-1 respectively and are the teams everyone else will be seeking to meet in the quarter finals. Liverpool and Chelsea will probably hope to avoid a fourth face off in five seasons, while favourites Manchester United and Barcelona would presumably prefer to meet each other at a later stage. Whatever the permutations, there will undoubtedly be some intriguing match ups to look forward to after Friday’s draw.
