Champions League Round of Sixteen
It's knockout stage time. After the thrilling Liverpool win over the thuggish Inter yesterday, I'm looking forward to another Italian job by Arsenal today over the other half of Milan. I'll also be keeping an eye on United vs. Lyon and Celtic vs. Barcelona. Should be a cracking afternoon.
If you're skiving off work, drop by for a chat.
posted by gatorbob @ 2:08 PM
99 Comments:
Hey Bob,
I am here until half time
Hey Dave! Here are the sides for the Lyon vs. United:
Lyon: Coupet, Reveillere, Squillaci, Boumsong, Grosso, Clerc, Juninho, Toulalan, Kallstrom, Govou, Benzema.
Subs: Vercoutre, Cris, Bodmer, Fred, Ben Arfa, Delgado, Keita.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Hargreaves, Anderson, Giggs, Rooney.
Subs: Kuszczak, Saha, Carrick, Nani, O'Shea, Fletcher, Tevez.
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Happy with that line-up?
I've got my England shirt on hoping that it'll bring some luck to the English sides today.
I guess one up front is okay away.
Everything else looks good.
Alright, how bloody old is Paolo Maldini? I've heard that this is his 1001 game for Milan. Crikey! Surely the Arsenal forwards can have some joy against those creaky old legs.
They're showing the Pool vs. Inter highlights again and complaining about the Materazzi red card. I don't get it. Two cynical fouls like a shirt tugging are as bad as two bad fouls. Two yellows make a red, boys - where's the mystery. If I were a CL ref, Materazzi would start on a yellow. I still haven't forgiven him for punking Zizou in the WC final.
I loved how the Pool fans drowned out the CL anthem yesterday with "You'll Never Walk Alone," but the corporate whores on FFF were bitching about it. Real fan culture trumps fake corporate culture any time in my book.
Why am nervous?
Lyon have Boumsong in their defense.
Are you keeping away from the Celtic score?
No, I'm going to be watching it. Do you want me to avoid talking about it?
Did you see the size of the Milan keeper? He must be eight bloody feet tall!
No need for you to be nervous. Lyon aren't the team that they were for a couple of seasons.
Nope, I don't need to kept away from anything
Pato is playing instead of Inzaghi
They've rushed Pato back into the line-up after injury. I'm surprised. Inzaghi is still the all-time top scorer in the CL.
If Arsenal lose this, will it mean anything with the Prem?
Toure hurt by being hit by the ball???
Wuss
Seriously, what could have happened there?
Adebayor is on a yellow.
Be careful.
ouch
Kicked in the face
Toure is off
From soccernet gamecast
Great opening for Lyon! Toulalan crosses, Govou collects but his shot is blocked by Ferdinand then turned behind for a corner!
Soccernet Gamecast has changed format
Not an auspicious start for the Arse. Senderos really isn't the lad you want in the heart of the defense on a night like this.
What kind of ball was that from Cesc?
If Arsenal were to lose this tie, it might affect their morale in the Prem. They've got some tough matches coming up soon.
I really want them to knock out Milan
Good stuff from Pato there. He really does seem unafraid of the occasion kind of like the young Roon.
Me too. I really hate the way that Italian sides go into these matches. Derek Rae can talk all he wants about Milan being technical and tactical but all it means is that they put eight men behind the ball who lump it into touch whenever they can.
From Soccernet
Rooney, of course, is up against the hapless Jean Alain Boumsong, who had a season long nightmare at Newcastle United you may recall. If you don't, then imagine Titus Bramble. But ten times worse
They should never been in the tournament last year and they end up winning it!!!
Celtic have scored against Barca
Lovely
Good stuff from Soccernet. Boumsong is pants. Agree with you about Milan. They should have been relegated to Serie B with Juve. Does anyone miss them from the CL this year? Didn't think so.
Fantastic news for the Jocks. Excellent!
And the old Chelski boy Kezman has scored for Fenerbache against Sevilla.
Make that 1-1 at Parkhead
Messi with the equalizer
They've really got Milan under the cosh here but they need a goal to open the floodgates.
Messi is rather good. Wouldn't mind seeing him running out for the Whites.
Derek Rae: "Gattuso - rugged competitor." Translation: "he's a dirty thug."
Couldn't agree with you more
That little hug he gave Eduardo was probably added with him pinching his neck
The ref needs to start handing out yellows for these niggly fouls like the ref did yesterday with Inter. That's what opened the match up in the end.
No doubt. And Gattuso probably added a few choice words of "encouragement" in his ear too.
Rooney touches passed Boumsong and only has the keeper to beat and it is blocked.
Should have been 1-0
Probably too much is going through Adebayor. I'd like to see some of the midfielders making some late runs into the box.
Lyon go down and almost score themselves
Sevilla have tied it up
Yep, Sevilla benefiting from an own goal by someone named Edu Dracena. I wonder if that's the former Arsenal player?
Derek Rae was on World Soccer Daily on Friday talking about how ESPN2 had changed their policy from running the scores of the other matches on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. Good job too.
Duck boy goes into the book for a push on Sagna.
Did you see the way the Mad German reacted. He is worse than Roon
Yeah, Mad Jens does lay it on a bit thick.
Nice play by the Arse
Lovely move by United, started by a sublime piece of touch and vision by Ronaldo. At the end of it Giggs was torn between shooting and passing and in the end, didn't really do either. A waste.
Shame about Fat Ronaldo. That injury last week probably ends his career.
Boring, boring Milan.
I am sorry but I never rated him that highly. It was a the over the top Brazilian love affair that everyone has
Celtic are two one up
You're just still smarting from that CL hat-trick he scored for Real when the United faithful rose and applauded him off the field. Come on, he was quality in his day, but his knees were wrecked by the time he was twenty.
I just never rated him.
And you can stuum about that Real game
Celtic will need another to cancel out the away goal by Messi.
Was Flamini held back there? I'd like to see that again.
Half-time: 0-0. Predictable. It's been all Arsenal, but the "dogged defense" (in Derek Rae's terms) has frustrated them. I'd love to see these negative bastids punished as Inter were yesterday.
Half time all round and all square with the two English teams.
Celtic are winning.
I have to leave.
Fingers crossed for the second half
See ya
Have a good class tonight, mate.
Second half starting now.
Arsenal have started as they finished the first half, pushing the tempo. And Milan are already starting to waste time, Nesta hitting the deck.
Almost an own goal there from Kaladze just inches away.
Jankulovski has come on for Nesta.
Oh, Eboue should've scored there after a lovely move involving Fabregas and some brilliant work from Hleb. Inches away again.
And now they've had one chalked off for offside against Adebayor. Shame. Another lovely move if a bit overworked. They've certainly switched into a higher gear since half time and Milan are really missing Nesta.
Adebayor again testing Kalac. This is thrilling stuff.
The midfielders, especially Hleb and Fabregas are starting to make the runs that I was looking for in the first half. Another opening, this time for Eduardo, but he blasts over. Great running here.
Speaking of Arsenal, TH-14 has scored a second for Barca. It's 2-2 now with Celtic and that's got to be the tie over now.
Oh dear, Davey. United have gone 1-0 down at Lyon to a goal from Benzema.
From 365: "54 mins: GOAL - BENZEMA. Lyon are in front and Benzema shows just why he is one of the best forwards in Europe right now. It's been all United in this half but Benzema somehow manages to turn on the edge of the box despite being surrounded by bodies and lashes a shot into the bottom corner of Van der Sar's net."
Oddo finds himself in a perfect position on the edge of the box but he finds Row M with a typical fullback's shot.
Plenty of forwards on the bench for Ancelotti but I doubt that the cynical sod will go for any of them. 0-0 is what they've come to get.
Fergie has rolled the dice, with Tevez and Nani coming on now.
Half an hour left for ManYoo and Arse to pull out some results here.
Senderos picks up a yellow card there.
A big ruck there involving Pato in the Arsenal box but they just about scramble it away.
This was about the time when Liverpool poured it on yesterday. Let's hope for the same today.
It's 2-2 now between Fenerbahce and Sevilla now. You'd have to fancy the Spanish side to go through.
Milan seemed to have weathered the storm of the Arsenal attack but here comes Bendtner off the bench.
Eduardo ends his night with a shot that literally hits the corner flag. Bendtner on for him. I wonder if he and Adebayor can make nice nice.
Nice flick on there from Bendtner and Fabregas has a nice shot saved by Kalac.
Pato goes down really easily there and he seems to have cramped up. Maybe he's faking it. Who knows.
Gilardino's coming on for the Duck.
Ambrosini is down now. And Milan are clearly just playing out the time.
I could have sworn that was a penalty for the Arse but it's ended up a yellow card for Eboue instead. Very tough to sort that one out.
Nice chance for Adebayor but he hit it straight at Kalac.
A second goal from Lionel Messi and Barca's third has effectively killed off Celtic's Champions League campaign. 2-3 now.
Yet another corner now for Arsenal. They're pouring it on. Fabregas to take, Bendtner reaches it but it's gobbled up again by the Milan back four.
Emerson has come on for Seedorf to close the door on Arsenal tonight.
Great news for Davey:
87 mins: GOAL - TEVEZ. United are level. Poor defending by Lyon as they fail to deal with successive crosses and the ball falls to Tevez at the back post adn he only has to tap the ball into the back of the net.
That should be enough for ManYoo tonight.
Another wasted chance there by Bendtner. He was leaning back there as he skied it over the bar.
Four added minutes.
Theo Walcott has been thrown into the action.
Arsenal's eighth corner of the night...
It's headed out and Walcott got everything on the volley but it's straight down the keeper's throat.
Two more minutes for the Arse to sneak one in.
The match in France has ended Lyon 1 ManYoo 1.
Fenerbahce seems to have won their match with Sevilla 3-2.
Great run by Walcott and he dinks over a lovely ball and Adebayor comes the closest of the night but his header goes agonizingly off the bar. That would have been the capper.
Full-time: 0-0.
Not as good a night for the British sides tonight. United are probably in the best position, Celtic are almost certainly finished and Arsenal are on a knife's edge. Here are my predictions for the eight sides to progress to the semis:
1. Liverpool
2. Chelsea
3. Real Madrid
4. Shalke
5. ManYoo
6. Arsenal
7. Sevilla
8. Barcelona
Yes, that's right - no Italian clubs in the final eight. A bold prediction but I think it could happen and I hope it does.
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