UNITED HEAD FOR QUARTERS

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

Well, after the insanity of the first leg at Lens's Felix Bollaert stadium, United still came into the second leg of our Champions League first knockout tie with Lille with a 1-0 lead because, oui mes amis, you are allowed to take free kicks in the Champions League! So, the French side came moaning into Old Trafford, everyone looking for "football justice" after their stunts, though Fergies baffling decesion to go 4-5-1 was confusing. Silvestre at left back with Carrick, O'Shea and Scholes in centre mid, Wayne left mid(whatever) and Larsson up front.

Well the first half was fairly evens with neither side really getting the upper hand and Lille to their credit, making an effort to play decent football. United had the slight edge though and a string of corners should have given us a goal but it wasn't to be. As the half went on, the game got increasingly scrappy and Fergie must have come into this tie with a "what we have we hold" attitude. You don't really need that attitude against someone like Lille though even if Jean Makoun did come inches from heading into United's net just before half time.

After half time Lille seriously turned up the heat and gave the United goal a good testing with our defence looking a liability again and we never do play out best football when we're on the back foot. That left us limited to the odd counter attack, and in the 72nd minute that turned out to be good enough. Ronaldo burned down the flank, put the ball right on Larsson's head and we were sorted. Lille certainly had their chances after that but United were able to cruise the tie. Job done but it still feels like a long way to Athens.

Elsewhere, well Liverpool hosted Barcelona at a very noisy Anfield. Barca always looked sparkly in the first half though it was the Scousers that had the better chances. However the visitors went all out in the second half and the home side cracked on the night with Eider Gudjonsson hitting the net for the visitors. Not that it mattered in the end. All the ex-Chelsea man's goal did was forced the tie to 2-2 on aggregate and brought away goals into play, allowing Liverpool to win the tie.

Chelsea faced Porto at Stamford Bridge and soon would up in trouble when Ricardo Quaresma opened the scoring for the Portuguese side and the Blues couldn't break through the opposition defence before half time, seemingly having an off night. After half time though Arjen Robben managed to equalise to before Michael Ballack hit the winner. From there Chelsea managed to stay solid in case the visitors got any other ideas. Another one bites the dust.

Arsenal faced PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates Stadium. Both sides were nervey in the first half but Arsenal soon picked up the edge though no goals at half time certainly looked like a bad omen. However the Guners looked to be in business to some extent when Alex put the ball into his own net. The problem for Arsenal came when the Brazilian put the ball in the right net(for him and PSV) to force a draw on the night which left Arsenal going out 2-1.

Finally, Celtic faced AC Milan in the San Siro. The Celts were certainly well up for the tie even if the Italians had the better chances. Both sides dodged bullets though and in the second half in was more of the same. Milan battered the Celtic goal while Gordon Strachen's crew did the same at the other end. The home side certainly looked to end the match on the front foot but Celtic did brilliantly to keep them out and force the game into extra time.

At which point Kaka hit the net to give the home side the lead and Celtic come close to going two down not long afterwards and from there on in it was really all a Serie A show. The home side didn't let up in the second half either though the visitors had a decent attacking spell. That was soon dealt with and the Scots ended the match licking their wounds. Credit to them for taking the tie as far as they did, but you need to be a better team than Celtic to get out of the San Siro alive.

Going down a level, the UEFA Cup 2nd knockout round was also underway. In the first legs, Spurs got out of the Estadio Municipal with a 3-2 win over Braga which should take care of their route to the quarter finals and Newcastle pulled off an amazing 4-2 win over AZ Alkmaar at St James Park which should do likewise. Though Rangers are technically the last Scottish side left in Europe though, they don't look like they're going to last very long. A 1-1 draw with Osasuna at Ibrox gives the Spanish side the edge there.

So, next up for United are the Champions League quarter finals and we've wound up against Roma, with the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico! What can be said about this Italian side? Well we have no history against them whatsoever, they made the quarter finals despite finishing second in their group and are currently second place in Serie A. They can call on Francesco Totti as an assasin but my instincts right now are, still the toughest team we'll have faced in Europe this season but we should still make the semis.

As for the other English teams, well they both have an easier run than United, Chelsea face Valencia with the first leg at Stamford Bridge. No significant issues there. Liverpool face PSV with the 1st leg at the Phillips Stadion. While Arsenal fans might disagree, I still reckon that the Scousers are jammy gits particularly as they saw off the Dutch side well enough in the group stages. Either way, I think we'll be talking about three English teams in the semi finals of the Champions League for the first time ever!

FA Cup action on the weekend!

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