Champions Last 16 1st leg

redspider

Celtic 2-3 Barcelona
It was quite a good game, but the difference in class told in the end. Barca dominated possession and attempts at goal. Celtic did get a couple of goals and played with a lot of heart but when Henry used his trademark curler (the defender should have been closer) and Messi did his tricks (unfortunate for Celtic after a couple of ricochets), Barcelona deserved the victory. Perhaps it could have been different but it was a backs to the wall job so Celtic fans can have no quibbles with the result. Barca were just a different class. Celtic have reached their target by getting this far so even though they are 99.9% out, and I dont expect them to get through, it shouldnt be all doom and gloom and was another football night to savour, even though the result went the wrong way.

Arsenal 0-0 AC Milan
This was a very good game, and Arsenal clearly had the better of the chances to score. How Adebayor missed that one from a couple of yards is baffling, and Arsenal deserved a 1-0 from this game. How that leaves the tie overall though is anyone's guess really. An away goal for Arsenal with a 1-1 draw for example and they would be through. Milan would be slight favourites to go through as it stands but only slight, it really is 50/50. It will all depend on whether Kaka can unleash some magic or not and how the Arsenal players respond to playing in the San Siro. If they play in a similar way as at home, they should get through.

Lyon 1-1 Man Utd
Benzema is a class act and scored a goal from very little. It was a 'negative' game in many respects in that both sides played 4-5-1 and Man Utd seemed to come looking for a draw. They were very nearly beaten though. But whether a 1-0 or a 1-1 result as it turned out, they showed that they have the beating of the Lyon team and I would expect them to get through. A draw was a fair result overall I thought but the away goal was vital though.

Fenerbache 3-2 Sevilla
Its never easy to play in the hostile atmosphere's of Istanbul, but with 2 away goals Sevilla are favourites to get through from here.

So, with the previous results being:
Liverpool 2-0 Inter Milan
Olympi.acos 0-0 Chelsea
Roma 2-1 Real Madrid
Schalke 1-0 Porto

I'll predict the last-8 qualifiers thus:
Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Porto
Barcelona, Man Utd, Sevilla and one of AC Milan/Arsenal

Not incoincidentally, those names figure highly in the richest clubs in the world list. Strange that ! ;-)

Redspider

homerjay2005

i expected liverpool, chelsea and united to get through and i still do after the first round of fixtures, arsenal i think will struggle in milan. i could be shaping up to be one of the strongest champions leagues in years....milan and liverpool as then have nothing much else to play for, will have a big say.

Dave!

olympi@ is banned because it's an MC.D venue and boards are having legal difficulty with them

PHB

Indeed, please nobody discuss why this is the case or anything else about M.C.D.
If you do you may be banned.
Thanks.

redspider

The word O.l.y.m.p.i.a.c.o.s should be free to use in any publication.
The word o.l.y.m.p.i.a is a trademark owned by
Organon N.V. NETHERLANDS Kloosterstraat 6 NL-5349 AB Oss NETHERLANDS
among other users


O.l.y.m.p.i.a is also a place (ie: a plain) in Greece and is linked with the Olympic games.

I realise this is not the thread to discuss 'the problem' but it seriously needs to be fixed.

Redspider

jank

Is that mcd issue still ongoing. That was like a year and a half ago...

anyway...