Friday’s Champions League draw was ghastly, I thought.
One good thing : Barcelona and Manchester United can’t meet till the final.
Felt sorry for Lyon and Bordeaux, drawing each other.
They will play for the honour of representing the French League in the semi-final.
That is no small matter.
Inter’s second leg is on the plastic pitch of CSKA Moscow. They can overcome that, just.
Van Bommel of Bayern Munich will kick Man United, of course, but the Bayern defence is very dodgy.
The first leg at the Allianz is the day before the Arsenal-Barcelona game on Wednesday March 31.
When I saw the Arsenal draw I thought : This will be 13 days of Thierry Cesc Thierry Cesc Thierry Cesc TH14 old club old hero coming back blah blah blah blah. The TV and papers will go on and on about it, on and on about 2006, Lehman’s red card, the similar styles of play.
I thought : Please, enough already! Stop it!! Just give me an injection and wake me up on March 31.
The game could be an electric game, could be a classic. It might even persuade me that Arsenal and Barcelona’s styles of play ARE similar.
Still, it’s been a good week for football.
LIVERPOOL look like a side that’s coming back into form, after beating Portsmouth 4-1, when Aquilani ran the show, scoring one goal and making two. Then Torres scored twice in a 3-0 win against a useful Lille side which had promised a lot in the first leg.
Rafa should start 4-4-2.
Torres can’t take on two defenders all the time, and the passes to Torres need to come from 10 and 15 yards, not 30 or 40. Otherwise he gets frustrated, tries to bulldoze his way through, throws his body at opponents.
Fernando Torres is the guv’nor and he is 26 today, Saturday.
An alpha male warrior with a superb temperament who took only 12 minutes to score his first goal for Liverpool. Bergkamp took 11 games to score his first, a volley against Southampton, I seem to remember. Glenn Helder cross, difficult volley, controlled, kept it down beautifully. After that, DB10 scored his second goal in the same game.
FULHAM were fantastic against Juventus, coming back a Trezeguet goal in two minutes to win 4-1.What a night at the Cottage and what an awesome goal by American sub Clint Dempsey !From the right side, chipping the keeper without looking, just as Glenn Hoddle used to do, just as Bergkamp used to do.
Brilliant ! What a night of glory and excitement for little old Fulham. It was a second leg and therefore a Big Night. Barcelona can’t be a Big Night at the Emirates because even if Arsenal win it’s only half-time.
Tomorrow Liverpool can do Arsenal a favour by taking a point or three from Man United.
Strange that Rooney has only scored one goal for United against Liverpool in 11 games. That goal gave United a 1-0 victory at Anfield in 2005. It’s mental and emotional and personal. But Wayne has matured a lot. He might show that again on Sunday. Pepe Reina is very good and it will be interesting to see if Rooney can head one past him.
Arsenal will spank West Ham today, for sure.