What A Friend and what a foe. On the day Sir Alex Ferguson watched his horse run the race of its life to finish fourth in the Gold Cup, his Manchester United side were drawn against familiar opposition in the hunt for the European Cup. Chelsea and Cheltenham were on Ferguson’s mind on Friday. Ferguson’s Manchester United versus Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea is more than a fixture. It is the collision…
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho said anything less than his side’s 3-0 win over Lyon on Wednesday would have been a ‘failure’. Real secured their first trip to the Champions League quarter-finals in seven years at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, advancing on a 4-1 aggregate thanks to goals from Marcelo, Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria. Mourinho, who is one step closer to his stated aim of winning the European…
How they lined up Both sides started with variations of 4-2-3-1. This was arguably Mourinho’s strongest line-up and the one he favours most at home as Marcelo came in for Arbeloa, and Benzema started ahead of Adebayor in the changes to the side form the first leg. Lisandro ahead of Gomis and Briand for Bastos were the two changes for Lyon from the first leg. Briand played wide right, whilst…
Bayern Munich prepared for Tuesday’s Champions League second leg with Inter Milan by thrashing Hamburg 6-0 on Saturday. The Germans had been in crisis since winning 1-0 at the San Siro in the first leg. All that changed against Hamburg as Bayern halted their plummet down the Bundesliga standings and gave coach Louis Van Gaal, who will leave at the end of the season, some respite. Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben…
BARCELONAARSENAL Tuesday, March 08 19:45 Champions League Camp Nou Messi (45+3, 71) Xavi (69) (HT 1-0) Busquets (OG) (53) For three minutes here Arsenal dared to dream. For three minutes after Sergio Busquets’ own goal, levelling Lionel Messi’s opener and restoring Arsenal’s aggregate lead, reverie danced through Arsenal minds. The dream then dissolved into the darkest nightmare. Controversy and calamity engulfed them after 56 minutes. For all the folly staining…
Lukasz Fabianski says that Arsenal will relish the opportunity for revenge over Barcelona if they are paired against the Spanish giants in today’s Champions League draw. The Gunners failed to finish top of their qualifying group, which means that they will face one of the group winners in the final 16. Given that they cannot face an English club, the chances of meeting one of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern…