Spurs and Manchester United both qualified as group leaders last night.
Spurs topped their group after a 3-3 in Holland.
FC Twente 3 Tottenham 3 is a typical scoreline for Redknapp’s team, who have scored 18 goals in six games.
Sky pundit Ray Wilkins said that Milan could keep a clean sheet against Spurs. If they meet, we’ll find out about that.
Manchester United, the masters of minimalism, did just enough in a 1-1 draw against Valencia.
Bad news : Berbatov missed good chances, Rio came off at half-time, Smalling joined Vidic.
Good news : Rooney looked very sharp, played well, hit the bar with a shot from outside the box. Rookie keeper Ben Amos looked good.
First goal : Carrick mistake, Dominguez played a smart pass wide to Pablo Hernandez, who fired his shot between the legs of Amos.
Surprise of the night : Park’s shot was parried, Anderson, of all people, scored the equaliser when he buried the rebound with aplomb.
Sir Alex didn’t use Paul Scholes, brought on Ryan Giggs as late as 81 and Darren Fletcher as late as 90. He’s already thinking about the Arsenal game on Monday night. Not playing against Blackpool gives him a game in hand and a fresher squad. His Hernandez was well wrapped up and watched the whole game from the bench. If United had really needed a goal, the jack-in-the box Mexican would have come on.
Dominguez, 29, played for Rubin, then Zenit, then Rubin again, and produced some amazing goals and assists in Champions League games.
I used to think, “This guy is explosive, he’s the best Portuguese striker I’ve seen for years ! I must be losing my grip, I thought I knew all the top Portuguese strikers.”
Turned out he’s not Portuguese. Alejandro Dominguez was born in Buenos Aires and played for River Plate, who sold him to Rubin Kazan in 2004.
Matchday 6 is always hard to predict because top managers rarely play their strongest team.
But Barcelona Reserves were good enough to beat Rubin 2-0 in Group D, where the Danish runners-up qualified with three wins and a draw. What an opportunity for Pep Guardiola’s academy kids, who showed their phenomenal potential, both collectively and individually. The stars of tomorrow, visible today in the world’s most glamorous competition. Wow!
Congratulations to FC Copenhagen, the first Danish club to qualify for the knock-out phase.They thumped Panathinaikos 3-1 and the second goal was a penalty for a trip on Jesper Gronkjaer, who buried the kick himself. Seeing that reminded me of an Arsenal-Chelsea match at Highbury. After the game we were told that Claudio Ranieri didn’t speak good enough English, so Gronkjaer would come up and talk to the press. Blond with a wickedly pretty face, he sat there looking like a pop star, a member of a boy band. The last question was a good one.
Reporter : “What about at the end, when Lee Dixon’s arm smacked you in the face?”
Gronkjaer :”This is also football.
That moment was a polaroid, one of those snapshots that linger in the mind’s eye. This is also football. I can’t remember the score in that game but I’ll always remember the wicked boy-winger smiling as he said, “This is also football.”
Scene : Greengrocer shop.
Time :10.30 a.m.
John (looking up from The Racing Post): “Arsenal are ten to one on.”
Myles : “I’m not interested in walkovers.”