UNITED CRUISE INTO QUARTERS

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well I certainly never expected Lyon to roll over for us in the Champions League first knockout round and sure enough they didn't, we had to settle for a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland in the first leg. That still left us taking an away goals advantage to the second leg at Old Trafford though, surely we could secure a quarter final spot from here. We went 4-3-3 on this occasion, Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson in midfield with Ronaldo, Rooney and Nani up front.

The early stages of the match were fairly even but after that United dominated for a while and though Lyon had no intention of rolling over, the Reds certainly looked the stronger side. We survived Lyon's attacking spells which included some nervy moments before setting out again to break down the best Ligue 1 has to throw at European competition. And sure enough, our quality shone through when in the 41st minute the ball came to Ronaldo after a goalmouth scramble and the Portuguese start found himself some space to give United the lead.

We picked up where we left off in the second half but Lyon were clearly all fired up and it was still anyone's tie. However, Lyons best chances early on came from free kicks which went off target. The sides continued to exchange fire though and Lyons came close enough to equalising, Kader Keiter hitting the post. United had their own chances to make it two on the night but we weren't able to take them. Not a classic but we held on, mission accomplished and let's see who's next up.

Elsewhere, Chelsea faced Olympiakos at Stamford Bridge. Michael Ballack opened the scoring early on for the Blues with Frank Lampard making it two and the Greek side seemingly not interested at all. Soloman Kalou made it three early on in the second half, and really that was it. Chelsea should have made it four, Olympiakos looked well out of their depth proving that the Blues did indeed get the easiest Champions League ride of the Premiership teams at this stage.

Arsenal faced AC Milan at the San Siro. The Gunners had the first opportunities however the reigning champions quickly responded and the game went end to end, Arsene Wenger's crew emerging at half time with credit. In the second half things got even better for the Premiership side, they ran the show for a while and when Wenger looked to turn up the heat with fresh legs, they amazingly broke through with Cesc Fabregas and Emmanual Adebayor hitting the net for an amazing result!

Celtic faced Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Xavi opened the scoring for the La Liga giants early on and the Celts never looked like coming back from that, on the night or overall. This was a Barca show and though the SPL defence emerged with credit it was the La Liga giants who were able to cruise their way through the match. The Catalan side weren't able to score any more goals but they didn't need to, and the SPL's participation in this season's Champions League is over.

Going down a level, the UEFA Cup had reached the 2nd round 1st leg stage. Spurs got beaten 1-0 by PSV Eindhoven at White Hart Lane, Everton got beaten 2-0 by Fiorentina at the Artemo Franchi and Bolton drew 1-1 with Sporting Lisbon at the Reebok Stadium. A bad night for all three Premiership sides who now look like they're heading for elimination. Rangers beat Werder Bremen 2-0 at Ibrox though which suggests that the SPL might still have some European representation after this round.

Cup action both sides of the border on the weekend.

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