Will he stay or will he go?

The club season must be over. The transfer rumours have started in earnest and once again the big story is whether Christiano Ronaldo is going to Real Madrid. Manchester United has stated forcefully that he is going nowhere, while Real Madrid says that they will do whatever it takes to get him. Who cares!!!!

Those who have read my blog before know well that I am a United supporter and watching the little diver play this season has been amazing. But, we have been through this before. After his antics in the World Cup he brazenly stated that he would not play again for the Red Devils. That was two years ago and I believe that was the Manchester United crest on his jersey in Moscow.

        

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon is really good at playing the media game. He has to be. As the ELECTED president of the club he has to do what it takes to keep himself in the seat. What better way to do so than by making huge promises that he doesn’t have to keep. When things don’t work out it can always be blamed on the other club. Genius.

                

Ronaldo is a prima dona. He likes being the centre of attention, it helps pump up his bank account. He is a spectacular player I’ll give him that, but if he goes it will not sink the Red Devils into the pits of dispair. If he stays he’ll get the chance to play for the World Club Championship and the European Super Cup as the World Player of the Year. Make no mistake though, if he goes…the club will still get the chance to be the best in the world. Ronaldo will just have to watch. 

                                 

Champions League Quarter-final Draw

                             

     AS Roma  v  Manchester United

Not the draw I had hoped for this round. These two met in the group stage with the Red Devils winning 1-0 at home and Roma getting a 1-1 draw in the return leg. So it’s safe to say that they know each other. Roma is coming off of a stellar thumping of Real Madrid in the last round and they have what it takes to make the finals. Manchester United had trouble finding the net against Lyon, but were dominant offensively in both matches.

On paper it would appear that the Italian side would be better suited to advance from this round. They are definitely scoring more against better opposition. I’m keeping the faith though and I think that Sir Alex is going to have the lads fired up and ready for Roma. If United can come away with a draw in Rome they will win at Old Trafford. The main concern is how protected the traveling supporters will be in Italy. History is not on their side. My guess- Manchester United 4-2 AS Roma aggregate.

          Schalke 04  v  Barcelona

Schalke are excited about drawing Barcelona and I kind of see why. Lionel Messi is out for this round, Thierry Henry isn’t a shadow of how he was at Arsenal and Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho still don’t like each other. The Germans ground down FC Porto and beat them in a penalty shootout, can they do the same with Barca? The Catalan club beat Celtic quite handily in the last stage, but Schalke has a better defense than the Scots.

Schalke are not a club that scores a lot, where as Barcelona have found the net consistently in the campaign. The Spaniards have a very potent attack and will make the German side run. Schalke will tighten the back and keep the scoreline down. Barca will come through, but it will be a fight.My guess- Barcelona 3-1 Schalke aggregate.

             Arsenal  v  Liverpool

Two English sides had to meet in this round, they just had to. The Gunners and the Reds will make the tie exciting. This is the match-up that will be the most physical with both sides showing flair and muscle. Arsenal came back from a bad first leg at home to send AC Milan packing with a stunner at the San Siro. For their part Liverpool sent off the other Milanese side with two straight victories over Inter Milan.

Rafa Benitez is a different manager in the Champions League than he is in the Premiership. By that I mean successful. Arsene Wenger has quite a pedigree for himself and will have the Gunners ready to go after the double. The keepers will be the difference in the round and I have to give that edge to Pepe Reina. My guess Liverpool 3-2 Arsenal aggregate.

           Fenerbahce  v  Chelsea

The “experts” seem to believe that Fenerbahce was the side everyone wanted to get. I don’t think so. The Turkish side have the ability to run and pressure a defense as Sevilla found out in the last round. Chelsea can find the twine very well themselves and have the midfield to pressure both offensively and defensively. A fact that Olympiacos can attest.

Avram Grant has to prove to his critics that he can manage in a big match and I think he will. Chelsea are just too strong of a side and after their debacle at Barnsley they will be focused on the game at hand. They will with stand Fenerbahce’s attack and advance to the semi-finals. I’m picking the Londoners to win BUT don’t be surprised if the Turks pull the upset. My guess Chelsea 5-2 Fenerbahce aggregate.

Champions League-Liverpool makes it a fourth

  Inter Milan 0 - 1 Liverpool 

The Champions League quarter-finals is now set with Liverpool’s victory in Milan on Tuesday. The Serie A leaders had some great opportunities in the opening stanza to take a one or two goal lead. Not that the Merseysiders were playing badly as they too had some fine opportunities of their own. Javier Zanetti, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Julio Cruz were the tip of the Inter attack while Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres did their best to torment the Italian defense.

The home supporters were stunned in the 50th minute as Nicolas Burdisso was shown his second yellow after colliding Lucas Leiva. Playing ten men against Liverpool is never a good thing, but when you are already two goals down before the opening whistle it’s a nightmare. Thirteen minutes later Torres made the most of an opportunity at the edge of the box and slipped the ball past the outstretched hands of Julio Cesar. The Reds tightened up the defense for the remainder of the match and when the whistle blew they had done what many (myself included) didn’t think they could do. Now bring on Chelsea!

   

Week’s Round Up

It’s been a bit of a week and I’ve fallen way behind with all of the action. So I’ve bundled this exciting week together.

Champions League:

AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal- The Champions League holders came into the second leg in great position. They were returning home with a 0-0 aggrigate, and they usually play well at home in CL matches that matter. Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Addebayor scored late in a match that could have gone either way down to the very end to end the Italian side’s dreams of a repeat.

Barcelona 1-0 Celtic- The Spanish giants came home with a 3-2 aggrigate over the Scottish champions and even Gordon Strachan felt that his side had quite a hill to overcome to advance. Three minutes into the second leg Xavi popped in a Silvinho cross and put the match to bed early. The victory was costly for Barca as Lionel Messi was taken off in the 35th minute with a hamstring injury that will keep him out of action for awhile.

 Sevilla FC 3-2 Fenerbahce- I had a feeling that Fenerbahce were going to make the second leg interesting, but I wouldn’t have guessed how interesting it would be. Leading the aggregate 3-2 the Turkish club saw their hopes sink after 10 minutes when Sevilla snatched two quick goals from Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita. Fenerbahce drew the aggregate through Deivid’s twelve yard strike. Frederic Kanoute put the Spanish hosts ahead again just before the half with a deflected volley. Sevilla’s hopes of an outright victory died when Deivid scored off of his own rebound to tie the aggregate score at 5-5 in regulation. Volkan Demirel saved from Julien Escude, Ivica Dragutinovic and Dani Alves in the shootout to win (fittingly) 3-2 on penalties.

 Manchester United 1-0 Olympique Lyon- Cristiano Ronaldo scored a beauty from an Anderson rebound to send the English champions through to the quarter-finals. Lyon made them work for it as they had in France for the first leg. United were holding a 1-1 aggregate score and could have easily sat back for a goal-less draw, but they came out fired up and could have had a sizable lead by halftime. They were unable to find the net until the Portuguese winger found the mark in the 41st minute. Lyon tried to come back and could have knotted the score late as Kader Keita hit the post. Manchester United equaled Juventus’ 11 year old record for consecutive home wins in the Champions League with this result.

FC Porto 1-0 Schalke 04- Porto won the battle, but lost the war against visiting Schalke. The German club had a 1-0 lead on aggregate coming to Estadio do Dragao and looked set to advance until Lisandro Lopez scored in the 86th minute to send the Porto supporters into a frenzy. Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer made two huge saves in the shoot-out to see his side advance 4-1 on penalties.

Real Madrid 1-2 AS Roma- Real went down 2-1 in Rome in the first leg and faced an uphill battle to begin with at home. The task became massive when defender Pepe was sent off for his second bookable offense in the 71st minute. Two minutes later Roma made them pay with a header by Rodrigo Taddei. Raul tried to right the ship as he scored from Robinho’s through ball in the 75th, but it was Roma’s night as Mirko Vucinic’s diving header found it’s target in the dieing seconds of the match. I wonder how many away fans the Roman ultras will hospitalize in the quarter-finals? Rome’s finest don’t seem to care.

Chelsea 3-0 Olympiacos- The Blues cruised in this match with first half goals from Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard, and an early second half strike from Salomon Kalou. I had hoped for more from the Greek side as they had been gritty in the first leg in Athens. Sadly they never showed for the return leg in London. The Blues made it three of three for the Premiership so far with Liverpool in great shape to make it a foursome against Inter this week.

FA Cup:

Manchester United 0-1 Portsmouth- Sometimes the better side doesn’t win and sometimes the referee makes a game changing decision, but United need to suck it up and realize that whinging about it isn’t going to change things. The Red Devils had so many chances to score there just isn’t enough time to list them. They lacked the killer instinct that they have showed in recent weeks. Tomasz Kuszczak was harshly judged by Martin Atkinson when he was red carded for “bringing down” Milan Baros in the box. I saw the replay and he got the ball first, but Baros sold it and got the penalty. Rio Ferdinand pulled on the keeper’s jersey and stepped up for the penalty. He guessed right on the direction of Sulley Muntari’s shot he just couldn’t get to it. The Nigerian’s goal sends Pompey into the semi-finals.

 

BARNSLEY 1-0 CHELSEA!!!!!- The Tykes earned this victory over the Blues. Chelsea were without Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Claude Makelele, Paulo Ferreira and Ashley Cole, but with the star power that Avram Grant has at his disposal there are no excuses. Barnsley’s attack repeatedly exposed the Chelsea defense. If they’d have taken advantage of their breaks the score line would have been ugly for the Premiership side. Kayode Odejayi made history when Marciano van Homoet crossed it in and the Nigerian striker cut the ball off before it got to Carlo Cudicini and headed it into the net. Whoever gets the Tykes in the semi-finals will fall if Barnsley play like they have against Chelsea and Liverpool.

MIDDLESBROUGH 0-2 CARDIFF CITY!!!!!- Cardiff City always looked like the winner in this match and that was without the goals. Boro only had the Cup to play for, but they played like they weren’t that interested. Peter Whittingham got on the end of a ball that Middlesbrough couldn’t clear and with some fancy footwork he curled the ball into the top right hand side of the net in the 9th minute. Roger Johnson scored a fantastic header from a great Whittingham cross in the 23rd minute to finish the hosts off early. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink showed that he is not a player to ignore as he came frighteningly close a couple of times. So far the FA Cup final I’d love to see is Barnsley vs. Cardiff City. They have both proven against the big boys.

Bristol Rovers 1-5  West Bromwich Albion- This may have been the “least interesting” of the FA Cup matchups, but I don’t think so. The Rovers are the lowest ranked team left in the Cup so a Final appearance for them would be monumental. West Brom started the scoring early as  James Morrison sent a rebound into the roof of the net in the 17th minute. Ishmael Miller doubled the tally on the half hour mark as he got on the end of a long ball and sent the ball into the upper left of the goal. Bristol Rovers refused to cash it in as Danny Coles finished off a cross in the 31st minute to stay in the match. The Baggies ended the Rovers dream with two more goals from Miller and one from Kevin Phillips. So the semi-finals will be dominated by the League Championship with Portsmouth as the lone Premier League representative.

Premier League:

Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle United- Liverpool took advantage of a reeling Newcastle and kept Kevin Keegan winless since his return Tyneside. If he doesn’t do something soon they will have to fight their way out of the relegation zone. Jermaine Pennant, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard all found the twine for the Reds in a match that the Geordies never really threatened in.

 Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham- Couldn’t pass this one up as the newly minted Carling Cup holders got back on track and dominated a feeble Hammers side. Dimitar Berbatov netted twice in the first 11 minutes to set the tone for the match. Gilberto scored his first for the Spurs and Darren Bent made a rare appearance on the score-sheet to round out the beating.

Wigan Athletic 0-0 Arsenal- Not an exciting match although it had it’s moments. The Gunners needed three points from this match and to drop two to Wigan leaves the door open for Manchester United who have a game in hand and should be a bit angry with the way they left the FA Cup this weekend. Wigan did a good job of containing Arsenal, but they just didn’t look like they had a plan for actually scoring against the league leaders.