Manchester United - O’Shea 17′

If there were two sides you might have guessed would be drawn against each other at some point or the other in this season’s Champions League, chances are they might have been Liverpool and Barcelona, two of our most familiar European opponents in recent years. After all the talk over the past few months of Barcelona’s history-making grand treble voyage, the final frontier is just on the horizon and they will face their first serious obstacle this Tuesday. It may not be the Champions League final yet but to stumble at home in the first leg of the semi-final face-off with Chelsea and they can kiss their treble desires goodbye. Also, they’ve Real Madrid coming up this Saturday, a trip to Stamford Bridge for the return clash next week, and a tricky meeting with Villarreal four days after that, Barca’s delectable season could turn very sour extremely quickly.

On the other hand, Chelsea themselves are in quite a difficult position. Having admitted they’re out of the Premier League, and having booked a berth in the FA cup final, their only way to put an end to their two-year trophy less drought in style is to overcome Barcelona. Winning a double, especially by beating teams like Liverpool, Barca, etc., is something highly respectable considering all the harsh criticism they had to face midway through the season and the sacking of Luiz Scolari. Champions League Glory is what Chelsea have craved for since years now and they couldn’t have asked for a tougher semi-final challenge to prove themselves and silence their critics!

The Blues have only lost once since Guus Hiddink took over. He has restored the team spirit and unity and also made his side more efficient and less vulnerable. Also after their stunning 3-1 win at Anfield against Liverpool in the first leg of the quarter-finals, the Londoners will be full of belief that they can win just about anywhere.

The Spaniards have insisted that they will not change their attacking style of play while Hiddink has promised not to sit back and attack. It’s Bosingwa. The man in charge of stopping the most feared player in Europe at the moment - Lionel Messi. This match is balanced and it could all come down to one mistake either way or even personal brilliance(again, read Lionel Messi).

Also, we wonder what effect ‘The Curse Of Real Madrid’ will have on this tie?

Since 2002 when Real Madrid last claimed the European Championship, in each season that has followed—six in all—whoever knocked the Spanish giants out of the competition has been defeated only by the eventual champions.

1. 2003 Real Madrid Lost the Semi-Final to Juventus (Milan won the Cup beating Juve in the Final)
2. 2004 Real Madrid Lost the Quarter Final to AS Monaco (Porto won the Cup beating Monaco in the Final)
3. 2005 Real Madrid Lost the 1st knock-out round to Juventus (Eventual Winners Liverpool Beat Juventus in the Quarter Final)
4. 2006 Real Madrid Lost the 1st Knock-out round to Arsenal (Barcelona won the Cup beating Arsenal in the Final)
5. 2007 Real Madrid Lost the 1st Knock-out round to Bayern Munich (Eventual Winners AC Milan Beat Bayern in the Quarter Final)
6. 2008 Real Madrid Lost the 1st Knock-out round to AS Roma (Eventual Winners Manchester United Beat Roma in the Quarter Final)

Chelsea surely have some crazy curse to back them up but who’d dare challenge the might of Barcelona this season. So will it be Barca or The Curse Of Real Madrid?

Sounds strange but United and Arsenal have never played in Europe before. History will be re-written as both teams would battle it out in the Champions League Semi-Final for the first time.

Arsenal have been in excellent form ever since they got skipper Cesc Fabregas back from injury. They weathered a rough patch, during which time they failed to score a Premiership goal in four consecutive matches. However, now they seem to be clicking on all cylinders offensively, and nowhere was that more apparent than their thrilling 4-4 draw with Liverpool.

Unfortunately, their new signing Andrei Arshavin is cup-tied and ineligible for this match. Even worse for the Gunners is that Robin Van Persie will miss out and of course, there’s the defense. Without former skipper William Gallas and mainstay Gael Clichy, Arsenal’s defense has been struggling. Ex United rubbish Mikael Silvestre has been a poor(read Rubbish!) substitute for Gallas and Bacary Sagna has been inconsistent since returning from his own injury. They also blew up the FA cup semi-final thanks to poor goal keeping and a defense which is more of a liability. They will have to rise up to the occasion and show great passion and dedication, especially since they’ll be facing a side which came from behind to score 5 goals in 22 minutes against a team that had been in great defensive form off late.

However, United themselves are not on a high either. After their 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford to rivals Liverpool, they seem to have lost their winning touch and are looking highly vulnerable. The fact that they needed such a comeback against Tottenham only emphasized their continuing defensive woes. Evra has been in terrible form which was clear after Lennon repeatedly made him look like a school boy. If Evra has problems against the younger and faster Theo Walcott, then Manchester United might need to make yet another epic comeback. They do have some positives about their side though. Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and Dimitar Berbatov have started to show their awesome potential together and this  was visible when they shattered Tottenham last week. PFA player of the year Giggs too has been in good touch off late and Carrick too is a highly talented player.

So who will win between these four rivals? Will the young Gunners take their first step towards another Champions League Final? Or will Manchester United edge closer towards defending their title? Will Chelsea defeat Barcelona or are the Spanish giants too good for them?

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Manchester United - Ronaldo 57′p 68′ / Roony 67′ 71′ / Berbatov 79′

Tottenham Hotspurs - Bent 29′ / Modric 32′

Chelsea - Kalou 55′

Bolton Wanderers - Cohen 60′

Aston Villa - Young 43′

Everton - Gosling 90′

Manchester City - Robinho 35′ / Ireland 52′

Fulham - Nevland 30′

Hull City - Geovanni 73′

Liverpool - Alonso 45′ / Kuyt 63′ 89′

West Bromwich Albion - Olsson 40′ / Brunt 60′ / Menseguez 87′

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Liverpool - Torres 49’, 72’ / Benayoun 56’, 90’

Arsenal - Arshavin 36’, 67’, 70’, 90’

Manchester United - Rooney 9’ / Carrick 82’

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Everton, the Blues from Merseyside who managed to pull a city double on United were somehow able to put stop brakes on their FA Cup competitors Chelsea. The match was a so-so game with nothing much in it except for Chelsea’s 24 shots. Much was expected from this game as it was tipped to be a preview of the Wembley final. And we do hope this isn’t anything even close to what an FA Cup final should be(and hopefully will be).

Moving over to the Manchester United match against Portsmouth, It looked like United were going to net in at least 10 goals, At Least! After a long, long time we saw United play with such confidence and control over the game.

The result sees United move three points clear of Liverpool and six points ahead of Chelsea, who have each played a game more. Sir Alex Ferguson made wholesale changes to the team defeated by Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, with Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo among nine players recalled to the starting line-up.

Scholes was among them, and the midfielder duly celebrated his 600th appearance for United with a typically dynamic and influential performance, which he capped by laying on the goal that sealed the win. United started with real purpose and went ahead with a devastating breakaway goal. Sub Carrick finished it off with a late strike and an announcement of the return on the Red Devils.

Coming over to Anfield. What A Night! An absolutely adrenaline pumping and mentally draining display of football! What we saw at Anfield was a near win or die duel between title-chasing Liverpool and an in-form Arsenal who were without their top goal-scorers, it finished up 4-4 and on a night of glittering performances and it was the £17m Russian signing ANDRE ARSHAVIN who was the real star of the show. F*%^ You to all those who said this man won’t survive in the fastest and the toughest league in the world! Because it was Andre Arshavin playing against Liverpool scoring 4 out of the 4 targets Arsenal had on target!

Here’s how the goals went by:
Arsenal took the lead in the first half with Arshavin smashing it in the net after a defensive lapse from Liverpool. All this after Liverpool battering the Arsenal defense walls for nearly 35 minutes. End of 1st 45 minutes and Arsenal surprisingly walk the tunnel with a lead.

Then starts the second period. The shite performances of Sagna and Silvestre (and Gibbs) finally let Liverpool slip in with an equaliser from Torres. Liverpool score minutes later to finally take a well deserving lead. People at the Arsenal end think it’s game over and the Kops start dreaming of lifting the title. But it wasn’t over. Not yet. the next seven minutes see four goals - 3 official and one disallowed. Arshavin scores two of the most amazing goals of the season and his life to put Arsenal shockingly ahead in no time. Brilliant strikes from the Russian. Absolutely BRILLIANT! But then comes Liverpool’s main striker Fernando Torres putting Liverpool back into the game with some help from Silvestre and average keeping from the average Fabianski.

The game finally looked over. What more than 3 goals each in a Liverpool-Arsenal encounter? It wasn’t to be so. With Liverpool pushing for another goal Arsenal somehow manage to get the ball out of the box. Theo Walcott with his sheer pace bursts out with the ball running with Sega sonic speed only to find Arshavin to his left who picks up the pass, runs ahead and smashes it into the net with an absolute stunner of a goal. It’s four goals from the Russian and the arrival of an Arsenal Legend. Knowing Liverpool(and Arsenal’s shite defense), no one expected it to be over, not until the whistle. The Comeback Kings proved it with a late, late, late header from Benayoun. It’s 4-4 and surely game over only for Fabregas to net one in from an offside position.

We think it should’ve been 6-4 Arsenal with the way they played and those two disallowed goals.  But nevertheless, what a Night!

Chelsea - Drogba 51’ / Alex 57’ / Lampard 76’, 89’

Liverpool - Aurelio 19’ / Alonso 28’(p) / Lucas 81’ / Kuyt 82’

Bayern Munich - Ribery 47′

Barcelona - Kieta 73′

Last night Stamford Bridge witnessed one the most amazing UCL encounters and one of the best between the two London sides. Liverpool did walk onto the field with nothing to lose and Chelsea walked in as literal winners. Yes, they were, eventually. But not before all the heart stopping excitement caused out of the extremely melodramatic finish.

This game literally looked like a Bollywood script having everything in it till the very last minute. Aurelio netted the first of the many that were to follow. The Brazilian dared to do it differently with a freaky shot which curled and went right into the goal with Cech standing there more like Ballack - just a mere spectator. Boy wasn’t that amazing. It was one of the most intelligent free kicks taken this season but had he missed it, the Liverpool players and fans would have been on his case for a long long time.

The second goal for Liverpool and the game came from a penalty after Ivanovic fouled in the penalty area. Liverpool’s skipper for the night Xabi Alonso banged it straight into the net and sealed a 2-0 lead for Liverpool after just 28 minutes and without Steven Gerrard.

Chelsea looked like a bag of nerves till the half time whistle with Liverpool looking firmly in control and on their way to a stunning come back and march to the semis.

Well, in those 15 minutes of break God knows what Guus Hiddink told his side but boy wasn’t the game on after that? 6 minutes into the first half and Drogba’s faint touch coupled with Reina’s horrendous keeping gave Chelsea a goal and a breather.

6 minutes later Brazilian boy Alex smashed in one of the hardest kicks ever, straight into the net to give Chelsea the equalizer. That surely looked like Roberto Carlos thumping it in during his prime days! Suddenly the tides had turned and Chelsea looked nothing like they were in the 1st half. They now dominated the game, went ahead and didn’t sit back and wait for things to happen.

Lampard, who quite surprisingly isn’t included in the PFA awards shortlist(and C.Ronaldo is!), scored the third for Chelsea sealing the game in the 76 minute.

This one looked surely over only till Lucas and Kuyt scored 2 goals in as many minutes to bring the game back to life and the aggregate score to 6-5 for Chelsea. Liverpool now surely looked back on track to grab a spot in the semis. We’re sure Rafa must have been wishing that Torres was still on and Gerrard fit enough to play. Both teams were on a rampage through out the night and the last 10 minutes were no different.

Chelsea, fresh from their 10 minute blunder against Bolton were quite calm and composed last night. It was all over when Lampard scored his 2nd of the night making it 7-5 for Chelsea and game over for Liverpool. It was an absolutely astonishing display of football which was probably at it’s competitive best!

Through out the game it appeared that Essien missed his pal from Liverpool, Gerrard. The Chelsea player had nothing much to do in the game for most of the time as he had no one to mark. Must have been quite boring for sure!

The other spectator in the game was none other than Ballack. Not that he’s done anything different this season, last night he was at his wasted best. We’re sure if he was playing for a school team he would’ve been substituted by the 60th minute at least!

In the other game Barca progressed without much trouble. It was an absolute stale-mate with Lahm actually getting the better of Messi. God knows why he and Lucio didn’t feature in the 1st leg?

This does give United some hope but then again, they have to change history for this!

• Porto have never lost at home to English opposition in eleven matches in UEFA club competition, six of them at the Estádio do Dragão.
• The Portuguese champions have won all bar one of the eight ties in UEFA club competition when they have drawn the first leg away from home, including their first knockout round triumph against Club Atlético de Madrid this season. Their sole defeat came at the hands of FC Bayern München in the 1990/91 European Champion Clubs’ Cup quarter-finals, the German side winning 2-0 in Portugal after a 1-1 draw in Munich.
• United, meanwhile, have travelled away from home after a first-leg home draw on eight occasions in UEFA club competition – and ended up winning four of those ties. They have had mixed fortunes in the UEFA Champions League, winning 3-2 at Juventus after a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the 1998/99 semi-finals, but losing on away goals to Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the same stage in 2001/02 after a 2-2 home draw was followed by a 1-1 result in Germany.
• The holders have lost their last four knockout ties in the UEFA Champions League when they have played the second leg away from home.
• Porto have conceded 12 times so far, the worst defensive record of the sides in the last eight.

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Bayern Munich … well … they need Lucio and Lahm back for sure, but considering they are four goals down and up against Barca, even we don’t give them a chance now.

• No team has ever overturned a four-goal first-leg deficit in the UEFA Champions League. The biggest first-leg deficit a side has salvaged in the UEFA Champions League era was achieved by RC Deportivo La Coruna in the 2003/04 quarter-finals when they fought back from a 4-1 defeat at AC Milan to win 4-0 at home.
• Bayern have won seven of the 17 ties in UEFA club competition in which they have had to overturn a first-leg deficit at home, although in each previous instance they returned to Munich trailing by only a single goal. Of the ten ties that ended in aggregate defeat, the German side enjoyed the consolation of a second-leg victory seven times.
• Barcelona, meanwhile, have lost only three of 36 two-legged contests in UEFA club competition when they won the first match at home. Curiously, all three defeats came against English clubs: against Chelsea FC in the 2004/05 first knockout round (2-1, 2-4); Manchester United FC in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals (2-0, 0-3); and Aston Villa FC in the 1982 UEFA Super Cup final (1-0, 0-3).
• The Spanish club are the highest-scoring team on their travels in the competition this season with 13 goals from four matches and boast a fine recent away record in the UEFA Champions League, having won eight and drawn three of their last 12 games on the road.
• Lionel Messi’s double in the first leg with Bayern took his total for the season to eight goals, making him the competition’s top scorer this season.

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It’s going to be Arsenal all the way … but we hope that with no Senna in the 2nd leg, Pires leads Villarreal to the semis!

• Arsenal are unbeaten in 23 home matches in the UEFA Champions League. Arsène Wenger’s men have not lost at home in the competition proper – be it at their old Highbury home or the Arsenal Stadium – since going down 2-1 to Chelsea FC in a quarter-final second leg in April 2004.
• The Gunners’ impressive sequence includes their 1-0 victory against Villarreal at Highbury in the semi-final first leg in 2005/06, which remains the only defeat that Manuel Pellegrini’s side have suffered on English soil.
• The London club have conceded just seven goals overall during their 23-game unbeaten sequence. With clean sheets in all four of their home matches this season, they have not conceded a UEFA Champions League goal at the Arsenal Stadium in 424 minutes, since Dirk Kuyt’s 26th-minute strike for Liverpool FC in last season’s quarter-final first leg.
• Villarreal, however, have been in this position before, having drawn 1-1 at home to Panathinaikos FC in the first knockout round before a 2-1 triumph in Greece.
• Whatever the outcome it promises to be an emotional occasion for Villarreal midfielder Robert Pirès. Prior to moving to El Madrigal in summer 2006, the Frenchman had spent six seasons with Arsenal, during which he won two Premier League titles and two FA Cups. Voted the English Football Writers’ Player of the Year in 2002, he made 284 appearances, scoring 84 goals.

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Sunderland - Jones 55′

Manchester United - Scholes 19′ / Macheda 76′

Chelsea - Ballack 40′ / Drogba 48′ 63′ / Lampard 60′p

Bolton Wanderers - O’Brien 70′ / Basham 74′ / Taylor 79′

Wigan Athletic - Mido 19′

Arsenal - Walcott 60′ / Silvestre 71′ / Arshavin 90′ / Song 91′

Liverpool - Torres 5′ 33′ / Agger 83′ / N’Gog 90′

Stoke City - Faye 33′

Newcastle United - Carroll 81′

Middlesbrough - Tuncay 4′ / Bates 29′ / King 88′

Hull City - Manucho 10′

Portsmouth - Kaboul 32′ / Kranjcar 63′

West Brom - Greening 47′ / Brunt 61′

Tottenham Hotspurs - Pavlyuchenko 64′

Manchester United - Rooney 15′ / Tevez 85′

FC Porto - Rodriguez 4′ / Gonzalez 89′

Villarreal - Senna 10′

Arsenal - Adebayor 66′

Barcelona - Messi 9′, 38′ / Eto’o 12′ / Henry 43′

Liverpool - Torres 6′

Chelsea - Ivanovic 39′, 62′ / Drogba 67′

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Liverpool - Benayoun 91′

Chelsea - Lampard 56′ / Malouda 65′

Arsenal - Adebayor 8′, 50′

Bolton Wanderers - Davies 8′ / Cahill 44′ / Taylor 79′ / Gardner 85′

Middlesbrough - O’Niel 38′

West Bromwich Albion - Fuller 2′ / Beattie 47′

West Ham United - Stanislas 43’ / Tomkins 52’

Blackburn Rovers - McCarthy 82′ / Ooijer 89′

Tottenham Hotspur - Keane 30′(p)

Manchester United - Ronaldo 14′, 80′ / Macheda 90′

Aston Villa - Carew 30′ / Agbonlahor 58′

Everton - Alves Jo 26′, 51′ / Fellaini 47′ / Osman 61′

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A lot of people may say that Arsenal should win this comfortably, but even Wenger would agree that they’d have rather played a bigger team than Villarreal. Because this is where unexpected stuff happens. This is definitely a ‘giant-killer’ game.

Villarreal, a team very strong on the ground, is probably one of the very few teams capable of opening up the Arsenal mid-field and creating chances. Arsenal should be glad that they’ll be with Eduardo, Walcott, Fabregas and even the forever injured Tomas Rosiscky for the second leg, at least. With
Eboue coming good, Song finally getting his groove and Vela and Diaby playing well, Arsenal can only face a problem of choice as a certain undroppable Van Persie and dynamic Samir Nasri will also be there.

But the one man they won’t have is Arshavin. And boy are Arsenal going to miss him badly. This is where we thing Arsenal lose the game. In this case what they should do is play Song instead of Denislon, because then they’ll at least have someone who can pass the ball ahead instead sideways.

Stoping Arsenal in their path are going to be Julio Ceaser - the brilliant Brazilian goalie and young Italian talent Rossi. But the one man Arsenal need to be wary off is a man called Robert Pires. We all know about the Arsenal curse and we bet he will score.

Even though Barca just had a minor slip-up for a month, everyone’s saying that if everything goes on with absolute normalcy, Barcelona will be easy winners. We say IF everything does go as it should, Barca might just have to wait another year for the UCL trophy.

Not getting carried away by their record breaking win against Sporting and they’re mediocre performances in the Bundesliga, we firmly believe that Bayern Munich is The side to look out for in this season’s UCL. They’re Not the dark-horse, as labeling them one will be under-rating a high potential strong side.

Just look at this - IF everything does go as it should, then you’ll have a tight game won by Bayern and Not Barca. And here’s how that will happen. The world’s best left-back at the moment - Philip Lahm will easily be able to block Messi - as most other defenders usually rush into him but Lahm is one cool man who waits for you to screw-up so that he can clear it off.
Lucio, Ze-Roberto and Van Bommel can, on any day, keep out Eto’o and Henry. Agreed Puyol, Marquez and Pique are brilliant defensively, but like the rest of the Barca side, they too, are weak in the air.

And when you have two crazy men, Scweinsteiger and one of the world’s most under-rated player Frank Ribery attacking you and feeding the likes of Luca Toni, who by the way is one of the strongest in the air, Podolski and Klose, you know no defence can do anything.

So just because Barcelona have been supremely dominating in the La Liga and are in the form of their existence, you know you can’t count the German heavy-weights out. And we all know how mentally strong the Germans are. This one’s definitely going to be a cracker!

Chelsea can count themselves really unlucky to be facing Liverpool during their current mood for liking for complete demolition. There’s probably no side in Europe who can defeat Liverpool right now. United will have to slip to lose the Premiership to Liverpool but the UCL seems to be surely be going to Anfield.

Considering they’re current form - 13 goals in the last 3 games: 4 vs Real Madrid, 4 vs United at OT and 5 vs Aston Villa with just 1 conceded, that too from the spot.

It’s not like Liverpool are playing great football, they’re just riding on sheer momentum. Momentum which actually comes a lot from the now famous and much envied ‘Champions League Luck’. They just don’t seem to be in a mood to stop and it’ll surely be a herculean task for any team to break that. And on current form, no team looks like it can do that.

And more so Chelsea - not a chance. Agreed they’ve got Essien back and Drogba back in form, it will take something really special to break a team which has Mascherano and Torres going completely crazy. A team which, as described by Zidane, has the greatest player in the world right now, Steven Gerrard. The biggest problem with Chelsea has been that they played almost the entire season without Essien and are still not playing to the strength of Drogba, something that has helped them to be extremely successful in the last 4-5 years. On the other hand Liverpool seem to be riding on a wave of absolute craziness, momentum and luck.

And frankly speaking, any team facing them before the finals in Rome will be unlucky, even if it’s a Bayern or Barca.

[Our wish-list: United clinch this along with the F.A. Cup and BPL and become the first team since Celtic in 1967 to complete a season with all trophies in the domestic circuit as well as Europe OR it's another Arsenal vs Barcelona final where Henry finally scores and wins the game for his side - which on this occassion will be Barca, and celebrates!]