Arsenal scored and beat Roma 1-0.
Manchester United played better than Arsenal but did not score at Inter Milan. That 0-0 means Jose Mourinho can win with a 1-1 at Old Trafford, as he did with Porto on the night that changed his life
Arsenal terrorised Roma with a full court press at the start of the second half and created four chances in the period 45-60. They showed the energy and fluency that’s been missing. It was exciting stuff, with Nasri prominent, and two more goals would have killed the tie. But their pressure failed. Arsenal should have won 3-0.
Even Eboue was useful but the only goal was a penalty in 37 when Robin van Persie powered beyond Mexes and played for a penalty. He got up and whacked it in from the spot, sending keeper Doni the wrong way.
It’s amazing that after three 0-0 draws in the league, Arsenal again could not score a goal in open play. But, since I’ve believed all season that NONE of Arsenal’s strikers is good enough, maybe it’s not so surprising. The team plays better football without Adebayor but their finishing is just not good enough.
In 65, Eboue had the chance to wrap up the game when Clichy’s long diagonal ball beat the last defender and put him clean through. But he dithered, taking five touches, and his shot went 12 inches past the near post.
Over the 95 minutes, it was an odd mixture of professional and unprofessional. And Roma are not much of a team these days.
Nasri was a gutsy professional playmaker from central midfield and sparked a lot of good things. He must have run 14 kilometres.
Van Persie won the penalty professionally and buried it professionally. He powered beyond Mexes inside the box and put his right leg where Mexes could not avoid touching him and went down. If Mexes hadn’t touched him, RVP could not have got a shot in or got to the ball. He played for the penalty and won it. You’ve seen them not given. Mexes didn’t complain because he knew he’d been done. Mexes did not want his leg to touch RVP’s leg but he could not help it.
Bendtner’s ball-control was unprofessional a few times. He did OK in patches. He played on the left, with RVP in a more orthodox centre forward role.
Referee Larsen was unprofessional because he started the second half with only nine Arsenal players on the pitch. Toure and Gallas were late back up the tunnel and Toure stupidly ran straight on without the referee’s permission, while Gallas waited on the touchline for the ref to allow him onto the pitch. Toure deserved his booking. It was really farcical, quite pathetic. What we saw there was something I’ve never seen in any game, let alone a Champions League game. In a pre-season friendly, it’s OK, maybe. Against Roma in the Champions League, such sloppiness should not happen.
Vucinic, Roma’s best player, was unfit, came on for 10 minutes, replacing Julio Baptista, who was not good enough to play for Arsenal. On this evidence, he’s not good enough to play for Roma either.
Ramsey got ten minutes, made two good passes out of three.
In the San Siro, Manchester United dominated the first half and didn’t give Adriano and Ibrahimovic as much time to play as they get in Serie A.
The world champions played with a lot of swagger and composure and looked very good, even though Berbatov was peripheral and Ronaldo was showboating from the first whistle.
You could see Cristiano thinking: This is a world stage, I’ll show them how a superstar plays. Very immature.
Second half, Jose changed it and Inter were much better but created almost nothing. A 0-0 means he can draw 1-1 at Old Trafford and qualify. He was always planning a very tight tie. He said before the game that he could imagine the second leg going into extra time.
The lesson of the night was that the tempo of English league is something Serie A clubs can’t handle.
Chelsea v Juventus might prove the same thing tonight.
Watching Stevie G’s body language in training, looking at his face, I began to wonder if he was fit enough to start at Real Madrid tonight. It’s a mega game for Rafa because the title has gone now.
The court case is affecting Gerrard. That fracas with a DJ in a Southport night club had caused Stevie G a lot of stress. When you’re stressed, your motor responses are not as good as normal. If you’re a footballer, that’s very bad news. I recently found out what happened that night, when the police arrested everybody involved. But it may be wiser not to write about what happened. Last week I heard that the DJ does not want to press charges.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia; Sagna, Touré, Gallas, Clichy; Eboué (Ramsey, 82), Diaby (Song, 62), Denilson, Nasri; Van Persie, Bendtner (Vela, 67). Subs not used: Fabianski (gk), Djourou, Gibbs, Merida.
ROMA (4-4-2): Doni; Motta, Loria (Diamoutene, 72), Mexes, Riise; Taddei, De Rossi, Perrotta, Brighi (Pizarro, 56); Totti, Baptista (Vucinic, 82). Subs not used: Artur (gk), Filipe, Tonetto, Montella.
Referee: C Bo Larsen (Denmark).