RONALDO CONQUERS PORTO

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well Porto did look like it would be an easy encounter but unfortunately they caught us on an off night at Old Trafford. Which left us heading for the Estadio Dragao for a Champions League 2nd leg in the hope of being the first English team to beat Porto at this ground. It was probably the nerviest match of the season from a United perspective even though Fergie was reminding us that we've turned around ties from this sort of position before. For United it was back to 4-4-2. Van de Saar was in goal, O'Shea at right back, Rio and Vidic in central defence, Evra left back, Ronaldo right mid, Carrick and Anderson centre mid, Giggsy left mid(and captain), Rooney and Berbatov up front.

Well Porto may have had the opening attack but I was still eating pie when Anderson set up Ronaldo in the 6th minute and the Portugal captain ripped the net off. After that United could have gone two up but then Porto go a grip on the game and became the main offensive force, but with our first choice defensive partnership reunited for the first time in ages, the home side came up empty. The latter stages of the half proved to be a fairly even affair with end to end football but the bottom line when the half time whistle blew was that United were ahead. And yet there were still nerves, one false move and Ronaldo's genius would count for nothing.

Well Porto turned up the heat in the second half but they didn't really have an option, now it was their European fate on the line. Well they tried firing in a free kick, but that was relatively easy to deal with but our goalie was certainly busy on other occasions including one point when our defence gave Rolando a free header. Luckilly that went over the bar. And yet United replied by going on the attack again and even though they weren't to score a second, it was still Porto that had it all to do. And the home side kept hammering us late on, resulting in some nervous pacing on my part, this was probably United's most solid performance for a while and it got us into our third Champions League semi in a row.

Elsewhere, Chelsea faced Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Well Fabio Aurelio gave the visiting Scousers hope by opening the scoring and Xabi Alonso grabbed a penalty to put them right back in it, the Blues seemingly having an off night. In the second half, the Blues responded, Didier Drogba pulling one back on the night before Alex levelled things with a scorcher of a freekick and Frank Lampard completed the turnaround. And yet Liverpool weren't done, turning the game back around thanks to Lucas and Dirk Kuyt. Lampard had the last word though, levelling things late on. The draw turned out to count for nothing from a Pool fan's point of view though, thanks to their first leg win, Chelsea still won 7-5 on aggregate. One hell of a rumble though.

Arsenal faced Villarreal at the Emierates Stadium. Theo Walcott opened the scoring for the Gunners who were by far the better side before half time though one goal alone was not going to be enough to settle Arsene Wenger's nerves. Then Emmanual Adebayor and Robin van Persie hit the net as well, van Perie with a penalty and there was no way back for the stubborn gits of La Liga from there on in, Arsenal cruised to the finish line. A great result for the Gunners, achieved despite a lack on Premiership form this season. They have yet to garuntee a spot in next season's Champions League but can look back with pride on this season's run.

So now we have the semis and United face Arsenal with the first leg at Old Trafford. Well out of the three other semi finalists, this was pretty much our best case scenario. The Gunners may have been regular title rivals a few years back but now they've gone off the boil. Of course Arsenal fans would remind me that the one time we've faced them this season, they did actually beat us. That was when we were going through the first of our early season rough patches though. Now we're coming out of our second round patch and it should be full steam ahead for our second Champions League final in a row. Elsewhere, Chelsea face Barcelona with the first leg at the Nou Camp. Best wishes to the Blues but they have their work cut out.

Going down a level, the UEFA Cup quarter final 2nd leg matches took place and Man City faced Hamburg at the City of Manchester Stadium. Juan Paulo Guerro opened the scoring for the Bundesliga side and it seemed as though City were doomed but Elano equalised soon afterwards. Felipe Caicedo completed the turnaround on the night and Mark Hughes's team pushed for a third but were unable to get it, the match on the night fairly even. Credit to City for the win but ultimately it wasn't good enough. The first leg result still meant that Hamburg won the tie 4-3 on aggregate and with that, the British interest in the UEFA Cup faded away.

We still have the semis to deal with though and the first semi drawn was an all-Bundesliga affair between Werder Bremen and Hamburg with the first leg at the Weserstadion, Hamburg are the form side at the moment and probably the safe bet to win that one. The other semi is strangly enough, an all-Ukranian Premier League encounter, with Dynamo Kiev up against Shatkar Donetsk with the first leg at the Valeri Lobanovski Stadium. Kiev have more European experience and so should make it through. So that would result in a Hamburg vs Dynamo Kiev final at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. My hunch actually says that Dynamo will lift the trophy.

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