Majsjus guide to Champions League

[Majsju]

Bah! to the World Cup and Euro2008, Champions League is the tournament that counts in football. And as we're down to the final 16, it is starting to get really exciting.

 

Tonight

 

Liverpool - Inter

 

Liverpool is quite shaken after the shock-defeat in the FA-cup against Champinship team Barnsley. Add to that that they are struggling to reach 4th place in the league, rather than being in the title race, and things does not look good for the scousers. On the other hand, they have managed before to perform their best when the odds are heaviest against them.

 

Inter on the other hand is looking quite unstoppable at the moment. It would take a total collapse for them to not win the league again, they are still in the Italian cup, and have looked strong in Champions League. The #1 things against them is that this is about as far as they have reached in CL. And we have seen before that after the group stage, experience from play in Europe is quite important.

 

Prediction: 1-1

 

Players to watch

Liverpool: Gerrard. If Liverpool is to have any chance, the key is for Gerrard to perform. The heart of the team, and the one skillful enough to find a way through Inters defense.

 

Inter: Ibrahimovic. He has finally taken the last step from being an arrogant trickster to a complete footballplayer. Joint topscorer together with Uniteds ronaldo (5 goals), second best scorer in Italy (14), and still he is just as happy setting up goals for others.

 

 

Olympiacos - Chelsea

 

Olympiacos may be a top team in Greece, but they are too lightweight for Europe. First time they have survived the group stage in nine years, and they have never defeated an English side over two legs. Playing at home gives a small chance for a draw, with a fanatic support, but little speaks in favour of them here.

 

Chelsea with Grant is not the same as Chelsea with Mourinho. Still, even resting Terry and Lampard has them better than Olumpiacos on every single position. The greatest threat to them is underestimating Olympiacos, and in this phase of the tournament, that is something you just don't do.

 

Prediction: 1-3

 

Players to watch,

Olympiacos: Must confess I know very little about this team. Perhaps the keeper Nikopolidis, just because it's cool to play CL when you're 37 ;D

 

Chelsea: Didier Drogba. Failed to win Africa Cup with his Côte d'Ivoire, and Olympiacos will be the ones to pay for that. One of the best forwards in the world.

 

 

Roma - Real Madrid

 

Roma threw away the last chance to hunt down Inter for Lo Scudetto, had players fighting during training after the defeat against Juventus, and clearly is not very stabile right now. But then, that is not very unusual for this club. They can play some marvellous football some games, but can not perform through an entire campaign. Best result in CL was last season, when they reached the quarter finals (only to get crushed at Old Trafford with 7-1).

 

Real Madrid has lost two of the three last games, and the league that seemed to be theirs is now wide open as the gap to Barcelona is only five points. Have returned to the typical RM attitude that attack is the best defence, and has one of the most impressive attack forces in the world. But the defence leaves a lot to wish for. Casillas may be one of the best keepers in the world, but he gets awfully alone sometimes.

 

Prediction: 2-3

 

Players to watch,

Roma: Totti. Few players are so connected to their clubs as Totti. Sure, you have players like Neville, Giggs, Raul etc, but it is not so hard to stay in a club when you win. Totti has never won anything with Roma, but refuses to leave despite a lot of offers throughout the years. If he performs, Roma has a chance.

 

Real Madrid: Van Nistelrooy. When he left United for Real Madrid, everyone expected him to fade away. Bah! said RVN and continued to do the only thing he knows on a pitch, scoring goals galore.

 

 

Schalke 04 - Porto

 

The Germans must drive their fans absolutely crazy, with a form that bounces like a yo-yo on crack. But much of that has been due to injuries on key players. Now pretty much everyone is back, and things look brighter again.

 

Porto goes like a juggernaut in the Portugese league. Unfortunatly for them, CL is quite a different story. Lacks the strength and speed to stop the Germans, at least away.

 

Prediction: 2-0

 

Players to watch,

Schalke 04: Rakitic. The Croatian midfielder is only 20, still he constantly puts on impressive performances.

 

Porto: Quaresma. The speedy and technical midfielder was once considered a greater talent than Ronaldo. Has not lived up to those expectations, but is still an exceptional player.

 

 

Tomorrow:

 

Lyon - Manchester United

 

Lyon as usual lost key players during the summer. And as usual others step in to take their places. This has not worked quite as well this season though, the defence is considerably weaker than usually.

 

Manchester United rested five players in the FA cup tie gainst Arsenal. That did not stop them from smashing the gooners with 4-0. Now players like Giggs and Ronaldo are back in the squad, to complete one of the most formidable attack forces in the world. Add to that a central defence with Ferdinand and Vidic, and you have a team without any real weaknesses.

 

Prediction: 1-3

 

Players to watch,

Lyon: Ben Arfa. Not the first player to be dubbed "The next Zidane", but probably the one who deserves it the best. Speedy, excellent technique, and great passes.

 

Manchester United: Rooney. Ronaldo may be a more spectacullar player, but Rooney is the heart of the team. His performance against Arsenal may have been the best performance by an English forward I have ever seen.

 

Celtic - Barcelona

 

A fanatic homecrowd, British fighting spirit and Scottish rain might help them reach a draw. But as a team, they are nowhere near the quality it takes to beat Barca.

 

Barcelona saw Eto'o find his form in the Africa Cup. Ronaldhino is starting to show his old self after his injury. With them, the magic quartet (Eto'o, Ronaldhino, Messi, Henry) is complete. The defence is not quite as magic, but with the ability to score three goals for every goal celtic scores, that is not as important.

 

Prediction: 1-2

 

Players to watch,

Celtic: McManus. The captain who came from the clubs youth academy has been crucial to Celtic reaching this far in the tournament.

 

Barcelona: Messi. At 21, already a superstar, with the technique to beat any defender.

 

Arsenal - Milan

 

Arsenal comes to this tie with 0-4 against United fresh in their heads, and 10(!) players more or less injured. It depends a lot on how many of the players with slighter knocks that might perform. In the league, Adebajor has found a hysterical form. The challenge is to use the defeat against United as fuel.

 

Milan is oooooold. Maldini (40) could be the father of most Arsenal players. Both the first and second keeper have small injuries that might keep them out of the game, which would force Milan to use third choice Fiori. He has not played a competition game in 4 years! On the plus side, Kaka is back from injury, and wonderboy Pato has recovered enough to at least be on the bench.

 

Prediction: 2-1

 

Players to watch,

 

Arsenal: Must confess that because of the injury situation, I'm not quite sure who will actually be playing. Fabregas should want some revenge after the humiliation he suffered against United, and the oldboys should suit his style a bit better.

 

Milan: Since Pato starts on the bench, Kaka. Not as good as he was last season, but still one of the best players in the world.

 

 

Fenerbahçe - Sevilla

 

Fener is extremely hard to beat at home. The quality of the squad is not good enough for this stage though.

 

Sevilla have hit form in the Spanish league since Jiménez took over as coach. But can they handle the extreme pressure of playing away in Turkey, with Fenerbahçes fanatical homecrowd?

 

Prediction: 1-1

 

Players to watch,

Fenerbahçe: Alex. In a team that really focuses on being a Team, he is the closest thing you get to a star.

 

Sevilla: Fabiano & Kanouté. Weird to nominate two players, but they are hard to separate. Both have four goals in CL, both hit form in the domestic league at the same time.

[MsDanya]

I hate to say it, but I agree with your prediction about Liverpool-Inter. *sigh* its either that or Inter wins.

[Haxorsist]

As much as I dislike saying it, Man U has a scary team this year. They're gonna go far. I also have to admit that I've not been paying much attention to football this season, while I have been following the NFL. Yes yes, I'm ashamed of myself too.

[Dark Justice]

Arsenal will never win this. They are too weak. After the mighty mighty Tottenham crushed them at home 5-1 in the cup, they have never been the same. Like they showed against you lot in the cup.

And Milan might seem old now, but they just keep on winning dont they. They were still Ooooold last year. Didnt stop them winning the entire cup again. Just look at Inzagi. 2 goals in the final last year, after not really playing an entire game for the whole season...

 

[Majsju]

True, but last year Milan did not play with a keeper who had not played a competition game for four years.

 

As for Arsenal losing against Spurs, Arsenal played with a lot of reserves, while Spurs played close to their strongest team.

 

That said, I think Milan is slightly favourites over two legs. I maintain 2-1 to Arsenal in London, but that means 1-0 in Italy is enough for Milan.

[MsDanya]

Liverpool 2-0 Inter

 

I love being wrong  8)

[Majsju]

I am so glad I'm not an Inter supporter right now, I would probably have thrown my telly out the window and start writing death threats to the referee. Sending off Materazzi was one of the greatest blunders from a ref I've seen in CL. It did not get better when the ref completely ignored all the diving and fouling from the scousers.

 

But what a heroic performance from Inter, perfect defending with one man short for 54 minutes, and then let in a fluke goal. For the second goal, Inters keeper should get a fine. What the hell was he thinking about?

 

Tough way back for Inter, with Materazzi suspended, and Cordoba injured for the game in Milan.

 

 

As for the other games, defending with ten man paid off for Olympiacos, who got 0-0 vs Chelsea.

 

Two great goals, and a handful of missed chances for Real saw Roma win with 2-1. That should teach Real to not start experimenting with an already weak defence...

 

Schalke got 1-0 vs Porto. Good to get a win, but it is still wide open.

[Dark Justice]

well. against spurs, it was their desition tot to start with Fabregas & adebayor. (but apart from them, it was pretty much their 1st team. (apart from v persie being injured... DIABY, SAGNA, FABREGAS, EDUARDO, GALLAS, HLEB, DENILSON, FLAMINI, GILBERTO, Lukasz FABIANSKI(GK), ADEBAYOR, BENDTNER, TRAORE, HOYTE, WALCOTT, MANNONE(GK). Sorry for this being in CAPS. Came like that...)

 

True the keeper is crap, but if they dont get any chanses to score, it doesnt really matter. Its gonna be a boring game btw. very boring. Milan wins 1-0.

 

The ref sucked bad yesterday. Apart from the hopless sending off, Loverpool should also got a penalty on the handball. (and its easy to see you dont like the scousers much btw...  8))

[Majsju]

I'm a United fan, of course I hate scousers ;D

Though, we are talking CL here, and if an English team faces an Italian, I always hope the English side will win. But not like this. especially not when I watch the game and wants to see some good football. Sending off a player ruins the flow of the game.

 

As for the gooners vs Milan, the gooners will get chances. Difference is, with a crappy keeper in Milans goal, you don't need the kind of chancres you would need with a fit first choice keeper. And gooners have the one thing Milans defene has a problem to deal with; speed.

[Majsju]

Oh, and regarding the handballs...

 

I don't think the ref is to blame for missing the first one. The hand is not even a decimeter from the knee, and there are players between the ref and the situation, awfully hard to see.

The second one, I take it as a straight compensation for sending of Materazzi. Had he not been sent off, Viera would not even have been on the pitch, much less involved in such a situation.

[Majsju]

Ok, some changes. Apparently Kalac is well enough to guard Milans goal, and Pato is starting. This of course improves Milans chances of getting a good result with a few hundred percent.

[Majsju]

Not as great result as I hoped for, but Sir Alex for some reason chose to start with a 4-5-1 formation, which limited the really lethal chances. Still, United controlled the games, except for the great goal by benzema, and that was such a top quality goal that there is nothing to say about it. Putting Tevez on the pitch and swiching to the usual 4-4-2 gave us the equaliser, and after all, 1-1 is a perfectly acceptable away result.

 

From the summary I saw of Arse - Milan, the gooners threw away a victory, by misfiring at least two great chances. Lucky for them, apparently neither Pirlo nor Kaka had a very good game, or it could have ended really bad.

 

Celtic put on a brave performance, and if you score two against barca, you are not backing home with the entire team. Unfortunatly, Barca has quite the attacking power, and put three behind the poor Celtic keeper. 2-3 at home is nearly impossible to turn around, even if you are somewhat evenly matched.

 

Fenerbahce - Sevilla 3-2. Have not heard anything other than the result from this game. Scoring two goals away puts Sevilla in a really good position for the game in Spain.

[Majsju]

And tonights trivia, Ryan Giggs became the 9th player to have made 100 appearances in the Champions league.

Paul Scholes reached 98 apps, and has a great chance to become the 10th, if United defeat Lyon, and he manages to not get injured again.

[Majsju]

And here comes the second leg...

 

Tonight:

 

Manchester United - Lyon.

With a draw and away goal from the first game, United can just sit back, control the game, and score a winner. Hahaha! United can not play that way at Old Trafford, it will be full charge forward. Which will mean Lyon getting a few chances, but the only real threats they have are Benzema, and Junhinos freekicks. I may be biased, but I can't see Lyon turning this around.

 

Prediction: 3-1

 

Barcelona - Celtic.

Celtic showed at home that they can put up a fight. Unfortunatly, they got an absolutely horrible result, as they have to win with 3-1. At Nou Camp...

 

Prediction 4-1

 

Sevilla - Fenerbahce

Two away goals to play on for Sevilla, and Fenerbache is not nearly as strong away as they are at home.

 

Prediction 2-0

 

Milan - Arsenal

Age and experience vs youth and enthusiasm. It is quite open, but I think Milans insane CL experience gives them the edge. Not to forget Arsenals lousy form. Two straight draws in the league, smashed by United in the FA cup, and not managing to score at home against a weakened Milan. Now it is at San Siro, and Milan has an amazing ability to rise above themselves in home games in the CL.

 

Prediction: 2-1

[Majsju]

A bit more tight than I had wished for at Old Trafford. Still, United had perfect control, and I was never worried, since there was a feeling that United could kick it up a few notches if they had to.

 

Shockingly disappointing performance from Milan. No energy, no real wish to do anything. Not even Kaka did much. The last European game for maldini and Inzaghi, and Milan really must start to rebuild now.

 

Barcelona did like United, a 1-0 win without putting in more effort than needed. Perhaps messi walking out injured in halftime had something to do with that.

 

And it's not Champions League without at least one big surprise. Fenerbahce managed to get their act together, and sent out Sevilla after penalties. Quite fun that feners keeper got to be the hero, considering that Sevillas two first goals were completely his fault.

 

 

Tonight, Chelsea beats Olympiakos, 2-0.

 

Real beats Roma, question is if they win big enough to advance. 2-1.

 

Porto beats Schalke, 1-0.

 

 

Inter - Liverpool is postponed til the 11th, because san Siro can't handle two games in two days...Liverpool will get the only away win this round, with Inter missing three(!) starting defenders, and Ibrahimovic not 100% after his injury.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

4 English teams through. 1 from Italy, Spain, Turkey and Germany.

 

First time any one league has provided half the teams left in 1/4's.

 

Schalke aren't great, neither are Fenebache. But then again, they'll probably do something unexpected.

 

How long is Messi out for?

 

As for Milan starting to rebuild, they should've done it a couple of years ago. There are a lot of players who are getting on a bit. Nesta, Pirlo, Gattuso are all getting on, Ronaldo's knackered. Tough times.

[Majsju]

Last time I read, Messi is out for 6-8 weeks.

 

As for one league providing half the teams in 1/4s...Remember last season when EPL provided 3/4 teams in 1/2. Kinda shows which league that rules Europe ;D

 

With some luck with, this year 4/4 teams could come from EPL, now that would be awesome.

 

And of course Milan should have started rebuilding years ago. But still, they did manage to win CL last year, so it did not become a crisis until this year. But unlike teams like United, Milan does not, as far as I know, have anything like an academ of their own, so they have to rely on buying players ready to walk straight into the starting 11.

 

But perhaps we will see a change now, since there is no chance Ancelotti will be allowed to stay. He will be fired within a week after the league finishes.

And yet, he was not the first Italian coach to go, as Mancini announced he is stepping down immidiatly after the loss against the scousers. Though I would not blame him too much. The biggest problem Inter has is a severe lack of good players on the midfield. I mean, when Viera starts a must-win game in the CL, you have some serious problems. I used to hate his guts when he played for the gooners, but last night I just felt sorry for him. So slow, so old.

 

And now the wait for the draw...As a United fan, I kinda hope for Roma. 7-1... ;D

[Haxorsist]

Hehe and you got Roma!

 

Fenerbahce - Chelsea. Walkover! ;D

[Majsju]

It is like an early christmas ;D

 

Going for 8-1 this year...

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

It is like an early christmas ;D

 

Going for 8-1 this year...

 

LOL.

 

You'll go through, but it'll be close.

 

Who do you think, Liver or the Arse?

 

(Look at the bottom of my sig. You might appreciate it.  ;D)

[Majsju]

Over two legs, the scousers should take it. They are by far the more cynical team of the two, while gooners can be quite naive.

 

And yeah, the remark about 8-1 was quite tongue-in-cheek. What happened last year was a once in a lifetime result. Still, we have a much stronger team now than a year ago.

 

And your sig is absolutely correct, there is only one Georgie. Even though I'm a bit too young to have been around to actually see him. Thank goodness for telly ;D

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

Exciting times.

 

The top four from the Prem. all won this weekend, Utd. looking imperious. ::)

 

Totti's a doubt for the Utd. / Roma tie. :'(

 

Torres is on fire. ;D

 

Chelsea are bound to carve out a 1-0 thriller if required. :-\

 

The Snl, well, they won in the end... ::)

 

Hmmmm....

[Majsju]

While it is good news for United that Totti is out, there are concerns for Evra, Ferdinand, Carrick, Giggs and Van Der Sar. They were all fit enough to travel with the team to Rome, but none of them are 100%. Nani is definitly out (as well as Saha, but that is not such a big deal).

 

But there are at least some good news for United, Rooney has scored again, after over a month missing the target. And often when he has not scored in a while, he gets goals for a couple of games straight.

 

As for the non-english team, I am starting to itch to toss in a couple of Euros on Shalke beating Barcelona. Barca is clearly not a very balanced team right now, they had a chance at hunting down Real for the league, but instead they have only managed to win one out of the last five games. A small bet on Shalke could give a nice return, while not hurting too much if Barca does get their act together.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

Utd.'ll be ok. Their squad size'll keep them going to the end ... or at least a little longer. You'd take a draw in Rome then hand out a beating in Manchester, plus, the league's in the bag so you can rest ahead of the return.

 

As for Saha ... when's he in?  :P

 

Yep, Shalke might be worth a few Euro.

 

Got to run, need to get a seat at the bar!  ;D

 

Good luck.  ;D

[Majsju]

Report from yesterdays training had Giggs, VDS and Evra in action, and Carrick sidelined. Apparently Ferdinand was never really injured, he just got a black eye against Villa.

 

So, my guess at starting XI

 

VDS

Brown Rio Vidic Evra

Ronaldo Scholes Hargo Anderson Giggs

Rooney

 

and most likely a draw, 1-1.

 

Regarding bets on Schalke, Messi is still out, Eto'o not certain (picked up a knock last game), and Ronaldhino is out of the squad.

 

Time to chip in a small bet on where Ronaldhino is playing next season, very unlikely it will be Barca. My guess is that his next adress will be in either Milano or London. If it is London, his career is over, no way he can handle the physical game in PL.

Perhaps a straight swap with Ibra, since what Inter desperatly need is a creative midfielder. And Ibra wants to have a shot at success in CL, which he will never get with Inter.