STILL HIT AND MISS

 

It was the final run in before Christmas all through United's house...nothing was stirring except for players on the treatment table. Some of our guys were regaining fitness, others not so much. In the meantime, Chelsea were starting get some free air at the top of the table but surely all was not yet lost. We'd overhauled bigger leads before now and yet still there were rumours of us signing Sol Campbell. I wouldn't have complained too much if we had snapped him up but Fergie seems to have other ideas. The bottom line is we still had a Premiership campaign to get on with and two more games before the Reds could even think about unwrapping presents.

First up came Wolves at Old Trafford. United were pretty much outclassing a Wolves team who's selection weaknesses went on to become infamous and Wayne and Vidic were able to hit the net before the half time whistle. After that we pretty much cruised through the second half. Valencia garabbed a third midway through the second half and with no further opposition from the visitors, those were some much needed three points. Technically Wolves were breaking Premiership rules by fielding their reserves in a Premiership match but morally the whole thing sounds like a storm in a tea cup. Either way it's not really our problem.

Next up was a trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham. Well our injury jinx wound up striking again and Roy Hodgson's men took full advantage. Danny Murphy opened the scoring before half time. Still, we could have turned the match around. Fulham had other ideas though and Bobby Zamora got their second before Damien Duff joined the party. A United comeback from that point onwards was never a serious proposition. Just when we thought we were getting back on form...this happens. Probably United's most humiliating defeat of the season so far. Again, questions will be asked - do we have what it takes to overgaul the Blues?

Elsewhere, Chelsea beat Portsmouth 2-1 at Stamford Bridge before drawing 1-1 with West Ham at Upton Park with former Chelsea assasin turned West Ham manager Gianfronco Zola grabbing an unexpected point. Villa in the meantime first beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light and then saw off Stoke 1-0 at Villa Park to continue their brilliant run of form that will surely see them play Champions League football of some fprm next season. That leaves United still 2nd in the Premiership though, four points behind leaders Chelsea while just two points ahead of Villa and a detour through the Champions League. We need to regain form. Now.

In the meantime, the Champions League 1st knockout round draw has been made and United face AC Milan with the first leg at the San Siro. Well that wasn't what I had in mind. The attention is all on David Beckham's probable return to Old Trafford for the first time since '03. However having to deal with one of the big guns of Serie A in the last 16 is not good news, whoever's playing. AC are 2nd in Serie A at the moment and a fair way off the top. Can we beat them? Well I was equally nervous about us facing Inter at this stage last time around and we pulled that off. I'm cautiously optimistic but it'll be one hell of a rumble either way.

Elsewhere, two other Premiership sides have made it through. Chelsea are up against Inter with the 1st leg at the San Siro. Jose Mourinho is trying to play down his history with the Blues but that'll certainly be an interesting encounter - Chelsea will have their work cut out though. Arsenal face Porto with the 1st leg at the Estadio de Dragao. Definately the easiest task of the three Premiership sides so the safe bet is to say the Gunners will make it through. Overall it has not been the smoothest of draws for the Premiership sides but still, it's pretty much a certainly that one of the three Premiership outfits will reach the quarter finals at least.

Going down a level, the draw for the first knockout round of the Europa League has also been made. Liverpool face Unirea Urziceni with the first leg at Anfield(Scousers have to win this one if they won't people to stop laughing at them). Everton face Sporting Lisbon with the 1st leg at Goodison Park(not completely unworkable for the Toffees, but still tough). Fulham face Shatkar Donetsk with the 1st leg at Craven Cottage(suspect this will be the end of the road for Roy Hodgson's crew). So overall, there should be some Premiership presence in the last 16 of this competition though all three sides will be given a match with the opposition they've drawn.

In the meantime, far out in the UAE, the Club World Cup took place. In the quarter finals Pohang Steelers beat Congolese Linafoot side TP Mazeembe 2-1 at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium while Mexican Premier League side Atlante beat Auckland City 2-0 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. That set up a semi final where Barcelona entered the competition and beat Atlante 3-1 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium with the MPL side opening the scoring against the European giants only to for Barca to put their foot on the gas in the second half. That meant the Barca maintained the 100% record of European teams reaching the final of this competition since it's expansion in '05.

The final saw Barcelona face Estudientes at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Mauro Bosselli opened the scoring for the Copa Libatadores winners late on in the first half with the Premiera Division side dominating the opening period and Barca smothered. Just like in the semis though, the Champions League winners picked up the pace in the second half though, however Estudientes failed to crumble and it was only late on that Barca got an equaliser through Pedro. They were unable to turn the game around though and that left the match going into extra time. In a match between two giants of their respective continents, it was never going to be a onesided affair.

Barca ran the show in the first half of extra time but their opponent's defenders once again proved to be a tough net to crack. It wasn't as if the La Liga side had anything to worry about at the other end though. Still, with 15 minutes to go the match remained deadlocked. At this point though, only one side was ever going to break the deadlock and sure enough Lionel Messi hit the winner with their opponents only even getting a shot on goal in the dying seconds. So, congratulations to Barcalona who have grabbed a total of six trophies in the calender year of 2009 and have become the third UEFA team in a row to be crowned champions of the world.

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