Predictions for tonights CL

A

Alan

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Manure 1-2 Lille :eek: :cool:

AC Milan 3-2 Celtic

Bayern Munich 2-1 Real Madrid

Arsenal 1-1 PSV Eindhoven

Well after three of my four teams got through yesterday I'm gonna go for all four tonight;)

:D
 
MU 1 - 0 French sore losers

AC 1 - 0 Celtic (They won't have nakamura or Ven heseseheheselink)

Bayern 2 - 0 Real Madrid

Arsenal 0 - 0 PSV
 
Lol here we go agian...

Man to win!
Milan to win!
PSV to win!
I like Munchen and Madrid........... Real to go through.
 
Champions League winners and losers from football365.com :)


Winners

Liverpool
Not that they actually won this week, of course. Still, whatever the misgivings at Liverpool's second-half performance at Anfield, only the most blinkered would argue that Pool did not deserve to progress. Which is a considerable accolade given the illustrious identity of their opponents.


Michael Ballack
In dumbed-down Britain, goalscoring has increasingly become a misleading cloak of salvation. Following Chelski's recovery against Porto, Ballack was heralded by the back-page headlines as a 'hero', with even The Daily Telegraph lauding the German as Chelski's 'rescuer' despite the accompanying match report conceding that he had otherwise 'suffered' against stubborn opponents. With one strike, his inadequacies were consigned to the small print. By contrast, Stanley Mortensen would have had more than a FA Cup final renamed in his honour if only he had been born 50 years later.

Were it not for Andriy Shevchenko, Ballack himself would be written into history as the flop of 2006/07. His goal on Tuesday night was only his fifth this season, a pathetic response from a player who has reaped £140,000 every Friday since last May.


ManYoo
Injuries to Mikael Silvestre and Darren Fletcher are an irritation rather than a cause for sleepless nights. Of greater concern to Sir Alex Ferguson is that, in the space of a week, ManYoo have lost three strikers - and four if you stretch the argument to include Paul Scholes.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should return in three weeks or so, but the preliminary prognosis on Louis Saha's dodgy hamstring is a month-long recuperation. Given those setbacks, Sir Alex sought - unsuccessfully - to persuade Henrik Larsson to renege on his pledge to return to Helsingborg. "I would do anything to keep him. I have spoken to the lad and he is going back. That, unfortunately, is that." The situation is so desperate that the exiled Alan Smith could return from Siberia or wherever it is he has been.

The Swede's header against Lille, only his third goal in a 12-match spell that sentimentalilty alone would regard as outstanding, was a welcome parting gift yet also a stark reminder of the class ManYoo will be deprived of at a crunch time of the season when not only are they running out of players but running out of form. Results suggest otherwise, yet only the seriously myopic would contend that Ferguson's side are currently performing well.


Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa
As Ronald Koeman belatedly confirmed after PSV's game at the Emirates that Alex is a Chelski player on loan in Holland, the player is eligible to appear in this column. Yet the deal remains murky, so much so that, as opposed to the convention on loan deals which prevented Glen Johnson appearing for Pompey on Saturday against his parent club, Alex is also eligible to play for PSV against Chelski if the two teams are paired in Friday's draw. UEFA will surely take a dim view of such an obvious conflict of interests.

The official explanation for Alex's three-year stay in Holland is that the Home Office would not and will not grant a work permit on account of his infrequent international appearances. Yet such legal obstacles have been overcome before, and it is curious that Chelski, who have never revealed their interest in the player, neglected to even invite Alex to Stamford Bridge this winter whilst reduced to a single fit centre-half. One lingering rumour is that Jose Mourinho, doubting the 24-year-old's capabilities, refused to heed Frank Arnesen's advice and sign the Brazilian. In which case, why is Alex still on Chelski's books?

Curious and curiouser...


Losers

Arsenal
The Invincibles have been replaced by The Profligates. No other side in Europe but Arsenal could have fallen in such a manner.

To be eliminated from one cup competition to a side which, other than their late goal, had failed to create a single clear-cut goalscoring opportunity in 180 minutes is unfortunate; to be knocked out from two in less than a week in identical circumstances is...well, you know.

It could only be Arsenal. In life, you make your choices and you take your choices. In football, you play for Arsenal and you miss your chances. The one consolation for the club's supporters is that, as their team spurned opportunity after opportunity and Jens Lehmann took on the role of spectator, the calamity could be seen coming with the plodding inevitability of a car crash in an episode of Casualty. Arsenal's scripts have become all-too predictable.

Having scored at both ends, and been a colossal performer in both legs, Alex will be the talk of the footballing town. From an Arsenal perspective, the only player worth discussing is the Chelski/PSV defender's namesake.

There are many people in the world who are somewhat odd. There are, for instance, those who prefer their bath water to be cold rather than hot. And there are perhaps still those who believe in Alex Hleb.

The Belurusian was sickeningly poor against PSV, ultimately disastrously so. It was Hleb's soft pass that enabled Farfan to break for his penalty appeal. And it was Hleb who idiotically pushed over a boxed-in Sun Xiang on the touchline for the free-kick from which Alex produced PSV's one and only shot on goal. If you witness a stupider piece of football in your lifetime then it will be because the inmates of the local lunatic asylum have been released for the day unsupervised.

In fairness, aside from those two aberrations, Hleb was merely abysmal. Weak, abject and indecisive, less than 50% of his attempted passes over a distance in excess of four yards reached their intended target, while his lack of incisiveness was put in blistering perspective by converted centre-half Kolo Toure. Nonetheless, crossing still remains the weakest facet of his game.

Gallingly, Ronald Koeman has preached a retrospective game of Nostradamus, citing crafty 'game plans' and so forth. Utter tosh. Any other side in the last 16 of the Champions League which created half as many chances as Arsenal did during the tie would have won comfortably.


Mohammad Sissoko
Mohammad Sissoko is a terrific player, and a vastly under-rated one at that, but he was ascloseasthat to infamy against Barca. Already booked for an irresponsibly rash tackle, he flew into a tackle just before half-time that was so late that he missed man as well as ball. Numerically reduced, Liverpool may well have crumbled in the second half as Barcelona finally awoke from their slumbers.

In any case, the booking brought immediate retribution in the form of a one-match suspension. The frustratingly-peripheral Steven Gerrard, "found out as a nothing player" on Wednesday by RTE's hysterical commentator Eamon Dunphy, will be hankering after Sissoko's central role. Benitez, though, is governed by a cautious nature and it is probable that, even after just four appearances since August, Javier Mascherano will confirm Gerrard's reduced status as Liverpool's fourth-choice central midfielder. For a player deemed inadequate for the side second-bottom in the Premeirship, it would represent an astonishing turnaround.


Claude Makelele
There are unmistakable signs that Makelele is on the wane. The 34-year-old was repeatedly rested during the first half of the season in order to keep him fresh for this spring's battles but old age is a considerable foe.

Having watched the ball passed around him, the Frenchman was replaced at half-time during the Carling Cup final two weeks ago, prompting a revitalised display from the champions, and on Tuesday night he was hauled off during the interval against Porto. The result was identitical: a comeback 2-1 win.

Mourinho's masterstroke in the dressing-room - if there was any, and that's certainly debatable given that Chelski's equaliser owed far more to incompetent goalkeeping rather than inspiration - wasn't to tell his team to "enjoy" their crisis but to introduce John Obi Mikel in Makelele's place.

The situation is complicated by John Terry's latest injury, but once Mourinho has a fully-fit squad of players to choose from, he will surely confirm that Makelele has ceased to be an untouchable.


Emmanuel Eboue
Second-season syndrome has been painful for Eboue. Due to Morten Gamst Pedersen's horrible tackle in the recent cup tie at Blackburn aggravating a long-standing ankle injury - and causing Philippe Senderos to be deployed as an emergency right-back with devastating consequences for the Gunners - Eboue missed the PSV clash, the 13th time he failed to start an Arsenal match since the dawn of 2007.

A ban emanating from the Carling Cup final 'brawl' also means that Eboue is ineligible for the Gunners' next two fixtures. Arsene Wenger will thus have to wait until at least March 31 before he can field his first-choice back five of Jens Lehmann, Eboue, Gael Clichy, William Gallas and Kolo Toure for only the second occasion this season. Furthermore, as neither Thierry Henry nor Robin Van Persie are certainties to return this season, Arsenal are likely to complete the entire campaign without fielding their first-choice team at any juncture.

Pete Gill
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United to Kick Liverpool out of the Quarters if they play eachother!:D
 
A rock gives more options going forward than Sissoko :o

Put Stevie G in CM :mad:

Carragher was player of the round :cool: With Finnan a close second ;)

How's the new Spaniard Arbeloa. He's a RB but plays his first two games at his new club at LB against Barca and does brilliantly :cool:

Team of the round: Liverpool
Player of the round: Carragher

Thank you very much ;)

Poor Arsenal out already and Manure experiencing the dizzying heights of the QF for the first time in years:o
 
JK8 said:
Lol he played decently,but maybe its because of his name you decide to single him out.
Click to expand...

Bwhahahahahah

Do I sense the race card :rolleyes: . In the sport forum nogal. That's a first :o

He played brilliantly in defence but was terrible in attack. Gerrard can defend and attack. How many times did Sissoko get the ball outside the box where Stevie G is at his most dangerous only to stuff up. At the very least Alonso should have been there. Maybe Sissoko and Gerrard instead in CM. Then again he is only 22(I think). Rafa must focus on his ability going forward. Funny thing is he started out as a striker :o
 
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Just had a look at the 1/4 final fixtures. Makes for some very interesting match-ups incl the semis.

The toughest it seems would be Milan vs Bayern but then again there is no easy tie to mention.

There is the prospect that MUFC vs LFC in the final. :) (hoping that Milan crumble and Bayern having horror flashbacks of their loss in '99 - LFC should beat PSV and could well see morally depleted Chelsea off too). If so, I can't remember any all English final in history.

With 3 English teams still in it - this would make the Premier league the best, Finally.
 
alanf85 said:
How many times did Sissoko get the ball outside the box where Stevie G is at his most dangerous only to stuff up.
Click to expand...

Luckily for LFC that Sissoko has been out most of the season or else it would have been worse.

Also with Aresenal out now, the pressure is on LFC to keep 3rd spot or else these is the chance of no CL for them next season. (that is if Platini confirms he is reducing the entries to 3 per league - this is a scandal :mad: - it must go on merit as this makes the CL worth watching)
 
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