review- inter milan vs bayern munich

gomes celebrates his winning goal with his bayern team-mates

this was one of the most anticipated games of the season as it brought together last years finalists once more for 180 min to fight it out once again but this time for less of a reward!....the last of the first round of last 16 matches didn disappoint and bayern managed to take vengance over their italian counterparts for last years loss!...
this time around last year the most major difference in the inter squad was of course the absence of the charismatic jose mourinho under whom they secured the treble....leonardo surprisingly has had a better start to life at inter than the portugese but inter are still yet to show the same potential in the champions league as they did last year and on a defensive note this years side cant even come close to previous years having conceded the most number of goals in the italian league(*top 4*)!....diego milito was injured for this 1 and a 4-3-2-1 system was played with julio cesar(*Captain*) between the sticks....maicon, lucio, ranocchia and chivu were in defence and motta, zanetti and cambiaso were played in midfield....wes sneijder and stankovic played "in the hole" behind eto....
van gaal started his regular 4-2-3-1 system with kraft in goal, lahm(*captain*), badstuber, tymoschuk and pranjic in defence...schweinsteiger and gustavo in midfield with robben right, ribery left and muller playing behind gomez...
what followed was surprisingly a very very open game considering the defensive(*atleast from inters p.o.v*) line ups!...and it was the italians who had the early chances with ranocchia getting a shot in on goal in the very first minute!...eto also got a good oppurtunity to open the scoring but he shot from a difficult angle and on his weaker foot so it wasn much of a problem for kraft!....at the other end ribery hit the crossbar from a header following a cross from arjen robben!...the dutchman has only recently come back from injury and has given bayern that electrifying pace and skill down the right hand side that they bad been missing while he had been out!...

bayern were the better side during the opening 45 min controlling most of the possession and the chances....theyr defence also kept it very tight...the italians most of the times played very narrow since inter have never really had much width to them and the attacks are channeled down the center....the center area was made very crowded and the main player of inter...th 1 who makes them tick, wes sneijder wasn given any room at all to create chances or get shots on goal!...the german teams full backs also got higher up the pitch when bayern were in possession of the ball due to lack of width from the italians and chivu in particular was having a rough night against the combination of lahm and robben
SECOND HALF
inter started the second half on a more positive note and got a bit better through out the second 45....bayern were still bossing them from the wide positions and at times it seemed no1 at all was tracking either lahm or pranjic!....the front 3 always stayed up the field and didn help out in defending....
robben came very close to breaking the deadlock on the 53rd when following some good work from schweinsteiger, the flying dutchman drifted past challenges and hit a good right footed shoot from the left side of the box but it hit the near post and went out for a goal kick!...the second half was certainly a whole lot more entertaining and many more chances were created...the majority by the men in red and white and actually there was a whole 10 min period from the 60th min onward when there was wave after wave of attacks coming in from the germans and they had 5 or 6 good chaces to score!....ranocchia got injured after that and was taken away on a stretcher to be replaced by houssine kharja....inter were better in the 10 min leading up to the goal and created a few good chances in quick succession
then came the defining moment of the match when following a good cross field ball from ribery, robben was allowed to come in on his left foot as he soo loves to do and took a shot at goal which bounced awkwardly in front of cesar who could only parry it into the path of the on rushing gomez...he tapped in from 3 yards out and clenched a very well deserved win for the german side who will be very very happy right now knowing they got theyr revenge from the side that beat them in the final last year and have 1 foot in the quarter final with that invaluable away goal advantage!....for inter a lesson learnt harshly and leonardo will definitely need to put a more positive and attacking side in the match at the allianz if he is to have any hope of recovering something from this fixture
(*btw guys i noticed the commenting on my blog had been limited to only those who had subscribed and i felt that a bit unfair so now any1 can comment anonymously on any of the posts!*)...

review- marseille vs manchester united

two very evenly matched teams battled it out in france for what was a highly disappointing game with both sides failing to score!....both had their chances but none were taken and this was the only goal-less match in all of the last 16 fixtures!....

the scenes at the stade velodrome before the match

didier deschamps had to do without top scorer gignac who is injured and played a 4-2-3-1 formation with mandanda(*captain*) in goal....new signing rod fanni, diawara, mbia and man united old boy gabi heinze in defence...cisse and kabore in midfield with loic remy, gonzales and ayew in front of them and brandao in the lone strikers role.....

sir alex couldn call up champions league veteran ryan giggs for this as he was out injured along with the likes of rio ferdinand and big match hero ji sung park!....a 4-1-2-3 system was employed with van der sar in goal...john o shea, vidic(*captain*), smalling and evra in defence...carrick in the holding mids role and gibson(*a surprise pick ahead of scholes*) and fletcher in midfield....rooney wide left....nani wide right and berbatov in the center of attack!....

the game was pretty open in the opening few stages of the game with chance being created by both sides....

the player of the first half was definitely nani...he constantly troubled heinze who didn have the legs to keep up with his electrifying pace and skill....at times lyon had to double up on him just to squeeze the ball out!...the only proper shot on goal from the english side was from a nani free-kick which hit the bar but the ball dropped to fletcher who despite the awkward bounce, still managed to get his effort on goal and force a save from mandanda from outside the box....nani also managed to get in a very delicious looking cross into the path of berba but it was just a foot too long and the striker couldn get the touch that wouldv sent it into the back of the net!...

ayew also looked very sharp and was constantly getting balls into the penalty box and beating john o shea with good skill on the ball!... marseille looked a bit shaky at first but later got into the game and starting dominating possession!...the half just went on after that and no real opportunities were created!...

SECOND HALF

the second period of normal time began pretty much the same as the first ended with both teams concentrating more on not conceding!.....marseille did however sort up pick up the tempo and looked to be more threatening with ayew coming close to opening the scoring!...paul scholes was brought on 18 minutes from time and he gave some much needed passing ability back to the squad which carrick especially had been lacking at times throughout the 90 min...

marsielle will be positive at having not conceded on the night but will be aware that the real challenge awaits them at old trafford!..sir alex will be hugely disappointed with having failed to score but a clean sheet is always welcome and the whole team will be looking forward to the return leg!

review- chelsea vs copenhagen

anelka was in form on th night

a game of less competitiveness ended in chelsea taking away all the points and the massive advantage of 2 away goals as nicholas anelka, who was 5 in 5 before this match, scored both the goals to take his tally upto 7 in europe and give his side a much needed confidence boost!...it was also fernando torres' debut in europe for his new side and much was expected of the spaniard and although he didn score, he was playing much better than he did against fulham in the barclays premier league!
stale solbakken surprisingly changed his formation from what had served them so nicely during the group stage matches which included a draw with spanish giants barcelona!....he played a 4-4-2 with wiland in goal, antonsson, jorgensen, wendt and pospech in defence...domingues de souza, kvist, gronkjaer and bolanos across the midfield and damme and santini in attack...martin vingaard who had basically been there hero during the group stages was left out on the bench...
ancelloti decided to drop drogba for this 1 keeping him on the bench as he continued to try different options to try and make 50 mil pound signing fernando torres fit into the squad!...chel also started a 4-4-2 where cech started in goal with bosingwa, ivanovic, terry and cole making up the defence...ramires, lampard, essien and malouda were the midfield and anelka and torres started upfront!.....
chelsea attacked right from the off and torres had a good oppurtunity in the 6th min when the ball dropped to him quite kindly in the kobenhaven box but the spaniard wasn expecting it and his first touch was a bit too heavy and wiland did well to come and collect the ball from his feet!....then in the 16th min a misplaced back pass from gronkjaer gave the ball straight to anelka who rounded 1 player and made no mistake with the finish!....this was the frenchman's 6th in as many games and he really has been chelseas shining light this season in the champions league!.....
chelsea continued to dominate from their on in and the similar formations meant that most of the football was being played on individual battles and there was never really gonna be any doubt on who has the better squad!....torres had a few chances but still couldn find his chance and anelka continued to be a nuisance for the danish teams defence
SECOND HALF
martin vingaard was brought on finally for santini and basically created copenhagens first real chance of the match with a low driven shot that was saved by petr cech!...
then came the second goal for anelka....essien managed to maintain some good possession in midfield and layed it forward to lampard who produced a beautiful lofted through ball for anelka who finished very calmly!....a few moments later some good footwork from torres put him through on goal but he still couldn get his first goal for the club in what have been so far less but disappointing appearances for the spaniard in the chelsea blue!....chelsea were very comfortable after that and their goal was not under any real threat at all!
carlo ancelloti will be very pleased with his sides result which was required more for a confidence boost than anything!....theyl go to stamford bridge knowing they have a very comfortable 2 away goals advantage and are expected to progress!

review- lyon vs real madrid

benzema scored against his former club

the clash of last year...repeated again at the same stage!.....lyon managed a win against the 9 time champions back then....this time however real had a newfound spirit under jose mourinho and a better squad and were looking all the more dangerous!....they needed a win to put them comfortable for the second leg which they now really need to progress from having not gotten past this stage for the past 6 years...but yet could only manage a draw in what was a fairly interesting encounter!
claude puel started his regular 4-2-3-1 line up with lloris in goal, reveillere,cris(*captain*), lovren and cissokho in defence..toulalan and gourcuff in midfield, bastos, kallstrom and delgado in front of them and gomis filling into the lone strikers role which the injured lisandro normally occupies!
this was to be the first time karim benzema would play at the stade de gerland after making his big money move to real, but he was on the bench with kaka while mourinho also started his favorite 4-2-3-1 formation with casillas(*captain*) starting in goal, ramos, pepe(*finally back from injury*), carvalho and arbeloa in defence...alonso and khedira in midfield with di maria, ozil and real's man in form cristiano ronaldo in front of them...adebayor was in attack!.....
the match began at a frantic pace and stayed that way for quite a while with no side gettin any clear possession on th ball!...madrid were dominating it though a lil bit although lyon probably had the better of the chances with bastos a continuous threat down the flanks!....gourcuff marshalled th midfield superbly and most of lyons early chances were created through him....one person who wasnt performing at all however....was reals no7!....those of you who watched the game will have noticed how easily the former manchester united star was giving away possession in tryin to be over smart on the ball with all his fancy tricks!...in fact his only real contribution to mardids cause was a free kick in the 20th min when ozil was brought down by gourcuff some 28 yards out and even that wasn struck well enough and lloris was able to parry it away!....at the other end gomis got a GLORIOUS chance to take lyon 1 up when the french side broke quickly following a madrid corner and the ball was played out wide to bastos who put a cross in that wasn caught properly by casillas....it fell straight to the feet of the striker but he his his effort well over the bar!...
SECOND HALF
real were better in the second half and so was ronaldo...who came VERY close to scoring in the opening stages of the second half with a freekick from the right side of the box which seemed a very tight angle but he somehow managed to get enough power and swerve to direct it past lloris but unfortunately also past the center of the goal and it hit the framework!...ramos then struck the post with a header from an ozil corner!.....real uped the tempo from there and were a constant threat to lyons defence which started looking a bit more shaky!....in the first half lyons 4 in midfield were constantly closing down reals mid and players like ozil weren being able to create anything at all!....during the second however half however reals player seemed to be much quicker and the passing was a lot better which was creating chances!....
benzema was brought on for adebayor and the former lyon man certainly got a welcome reception from his former fans!....however th cheers soon turned to an orchestra of boos when after jostling well for the ball with toulalan, he got possesion of the ball and layed it onto ozil...the german played it square to ronaldo who first touch through balled it to benzema and the no9 took a few touches inside the box to settle himself before slotting it past lloris who did get a touch on it but it wasn strong enough!...
th rest of the match just seemed to go on with patches of it gettin really boring at times!...real defended well for most of the match but then they were broken....a freekick came in from gourcuff which hit the wall and came in high towards the defence...cris...who had had a very very good match won th header and it dropped really kindly to gomis who calmly slotted it past casillas who was left shouting at his defenders!....have to say lyon did deserve that goal after the impressive game they had!
all in all a good game of football and a good performance from lyon who in my point of view managed to rescue the match because of 1 sole reason...ozil, th man through whom all of reals attacks are channeled was man marked very very well and wasn given any space to create!..this meant that the attacks were having to go through the wings which lyon dealt with very well...obviously a pre-planned strategy!...mourinho will be confident though that his side can go all the way in th second leg as real have been very impressive at home and mourinho extended his own personal record of home wins to 9 years now without a defeat!....a very remarkable achievement indeed!

review- arsenal vs barcelona

delight on the face of wenger after v. persie's equalizer

an amazing comeback from arsenal secured the win for them over the team many call one of the greatest ever in what was a very memorable night at the emirates!....
okay so lets just get straight into the team news....both managers played their regular starting XI although nasri was back for arsenal which gave them a boost and he played out on the left wing with v. persie and walcott alongside him in attack...fabregas(Captain) played in the playmaking position behind the striker and song and wilshere were charged with having to deal with barcas attacks through the center....eboue, koscielny, djourou and clichy were in defence with the youngster szczesny making his champions league debut in the goal...
guardiola went with the side that has produced sooo much amazing football this season minus puyol in defence...valdes in goal...alves, pique, abidal and maxwell in defence with busquets xavi(captain) and iniesta in midfield and messi, villa and pedro up front!....
well even more was said about this game than the previous 1 due to all the events that took place between the two clubs, the most prominent one being barca's continued desire to get cesc fabregas back to where he initially started his career after the player himself expressed his desire to move back!...that transfer saga lasted the whole of last summer until fabregas finally put an end to it by saying he'l be staying...it was also a big occasion due to the fact that messi had basically ripped apart arsenals defence in the second leg at camp nou and most people....a lot of arsenal fans themselves included weren expecting much from this fixture!....
however once we kickoffed at the emirates the scene was totally different and arsenal attacked right from the off signalling their intentions very clearly....barca are used to A LOT of possession in their matches and mustv been expecting a re-run of last years first leg in which they totally controlled the whole flow of the game and wouldv been 5-0 up in the first 10 min if not for some excellent goal keeping from manuel almunia...the case this time around however was different and for the first 25 min barca couldn put together a proper passing move!...this was due to the fact that this time....arsenal were playing a very high line and were pressing a lot....nasri and walcott were continuously dropping back meaning when barca had the ball, they retreated in 2 banks of 4 making it hard for the catalans to play their usual game....there was however once chance on th 15th min when messi springed clear of the defence and got on to a perfectly weighted through ball from david villa and was through on goal but couldn direct his chip over szczesny properly and the ball drifted just wide of the post....th goal keeper has to be given credit there as he stayed up for as long as he could and forced the shot from messi who every1 had expected to score and half the barca fans had even already started celebrating!.....
walcott's lightning quick pace caused barca a lot of problems at the other end and he was continuously getting the better of maxwell who lets be honest was never really a match in terms of quickness....regualar chances were created through him but the finishing wasnt good enough from v.persie and fabregas....
and they were made to pay for it in the 25th min when after some neat foot work from messi the ball was played through to david villa who looked to be off side at first but clichy played him on and was made to suffer for it after a clinical finish from the spanish no7....barca dominated possession and chances for the remainder of the half and couldv easily been more up as daniel alves was being left completely unmarked again and again on the right hand side it looked like he was a right winger instead of a right back(*well he always does look like that*)
SECOND HALF
the second half had a relatively quiet beginning to it and the pattern of play seemed to continue with barca still dominating possession...then came the change that in my p.o.v changed the game for both sides....well changes i should say....guardiola took off villa and brought on keita shifting iniesta into a more advanced role while wenger took off song who was having a tough time coping with the speed of the play and was sitting pretty on a final warning after a series of bad tackles and brought on arshavin putting nasri in the middle....the fact that barca had taken off their main striker and brought on a holding mid meant that they lost most of their attacking threat and were concentrating more on possession...arsenal had made a positive attacking change and got more involved in the game after that and created more chances...jack wilshire...who btw had an EXCELLENT game considering hes still just 19 was involved in most of the chances and handled the center midfield brilliantly!...
pedro did have a good chance to extend barcas lead after he got a long ball out from abidal but koscielny handled the situation very well and was able to snuff out the danger...
then came the moment arsenal fans had been waiting for for a long time...following a free kick in their own half, th ball was squared out to clichy from fabregas and the left back made a bustling run forward....exchanging passes with arshavin in the process before layin a good through ball to v.persie on the edge of th box...the dutchman didn look like he could score from that angle but somehow managed to smash it past valdes at the near post for a fantastic finish!....he is on hot form right now and it showed with the way he took that on!....
arsenal marched on from their on in and the second goal followed quickly....5 min after th first, th ball was played nicely in defence and kept away from barcas players before fabregas launched a through ball to the right wing where nasri was lurking....the frenchmen took it forward a bit then cut it inside and layed it off to arshavin who was comin in from the far side and a brilliant finish from the russian secured a deserved win for arsenal!....

arshavin celebrates in style after securing the win for his side

a very very exciting match ended on a high for the gunners who will be very optimistic going in to the second leg knowing they can get something from that fixture although they will be vary of barcas threat at home as even last year a 1 man show from messi tore them apart and knocked them out of the competition!...a very quiet night for the argentine this time around....and my applause to wilshires performance...who despite his young age looked to be one of the most mature and skilled players on the pitch!...

review- valencia vs schalke

this match was sort of in the shadows because of the blockbuster event going on in the san siro but in truth it was an equally entertaining match with quite a lot of chances created and 2 very good finishes...one of them coming from the LEGENDARY raul gonzales....who is the highest ever goal scorer in european competitions!...
valencia were without juan mata for this 1 and joaquin was left on the bench....they went with a 4-3-3 system where guaita started b/w the sticks and infront of him were miguel, navarro(captain), ricardo costa and mathieu in defence...with everbanega, topal and costa in midfield and dominguez, soldado and adruiz up front....this time around last year valencia wouldv called up on stars like world cup winners david villa and david silva but unfortunately due to financial reasons those two had to be sold....the side still however has been doing pretty good so far under unai emery..
schalke however were able to start their usual 4-4-2 line up with german no.1 manuel neuer(Captain) in goal....uchida, howedes, metzelder and schmitz in defence....farfan, kluge, matip and jurado in the mid while huntelaar and raul started up front...this game was being looked forward to as rauls return to spain for the first time since leaving real madrid last summer!...
th game started well and huntelaar had a glorious oppurtunity to put the german side in front in the 9th min of the game but completely mis-timed his volley from 6 yards out!...valencia continued to attack after that and took the advantage on th 17th min when mathieu made a brilliant run down the left hand side and crossed th ball in towards soldado who made no mistake with an awesome finish to put the ball beyond the german keeper in to the far corner!....terrific football from the spanish who till that point hadn really created any proper chance....
valencia kept it strong at the back for the rest of the half and the full backs kept getting forward which was creating a prob for the schalke defence!...they kept chugging away at the defence and there were quite a few scares for neuer with valencia unlucky not to have scored a few more!
SECOND HALF
the second half started without any changes to th sides and in pretty much the same manner as the first ended with valencia attacking!...however raul did get an opportunity to equalize when neuer sent a long goal-kick towards him which he controlled well but couldn get enough power on his right-footed strike to seriously trouble neuer!....the game just carried on chances were created by both sides until the 63rd min when adruiz broke free on the left hand side, put a cross in towards th raul who took a fine touch before terrificly slotting the ball into the far corner!....it was his 71st goal in european competitions!....quite a remarkable feat!...
all in all a memorable night for raul on his return to spain and schalke will be optimistic going into th second leg cox of that away goal they have!

review- AC milan vs tottenham

crouch's calm finish ensured the win for spurs

milan legends andrea pirlo and filipo inzaghi, who is also th second highest goal scorer in champions league history missed out for the italians. they were however still able to call upon a very experienced side with the likes of 4 times champions league winner clarence seedorf also featuring!....allegri went with his preferred 4-3-3 with abbiati in goal, abate, nesta, vepes and antonini in defence...gattuso(captain for the night), thiago silva and flamini in midfield and seedorf playing 'in the hole' behind robinho and the man currently in th form of his life, zlatan ibrahimovich....this system however did mean that all their attacks would be concentrated down the center and they didn have much width which in the end proved to be their downfall as well!

tottenham had a quite changed team from the last time they visited the san siro in what was a classic against inter milan...theyr star that night gareth bale missed out this match through a back injury and luka modric who had had a hernia operation 10 days ago was on the bench!...spurs went for a more wide 4-4-1-1 formation with gomes in goal...corluka, gallas, dawson(captain for the night), assou-ekotto in defence...palacios and champions league debutant sandro in the middle...with lennon and pienaar providing the pace down the flanks and van der vaart playin in his favorite position, behind peter crouch....

spurs started very well with an effort on goal in the first minute after a good passage of passes!....milans front 3 playing very narrow meant that essou-ekotto and corluka had full licence to get forward at will and especially th latter was quite a menace for milan to handle and regular crosses were coming in from spurs' right hand side towards the tall target man, peter crouch!..infact tottenham had most of the early chances of the game and milans first real attack came on 20 minutes when corluka lost out possesion to robinho on the left hand side and th brazillion played the ball through to ibrahimovich who did pretty well to get away from dawson and put a cross in but it was too close to gomes and he hooked it away with his hand...abbiati meanwhile was carried away on a stretcher wearing a neck brace after a nasty collision and i certainly hope it wasn too serious and he has been quite a rock at the back for them this season!...marco amelia was brought on to replace the big italian...

spurs meanwhile continued with their all-out-attack approach which harry redknapp had promised and they had a quite clear strategy throughout the game....get the ball to the flanks and then combine the full back with the winger to create a 2 v 1 situation in order to get crosses in....they continuously flooded the box and crouch was again and again getting th better of the centerbacks because of his height...but their attacking wasnt the only notable point of the game...they defended excellently and the strikers werent given any space at all....in the system allegri was playing, all the attacks were to go through seedorf....if you watched th match however you will have noticed that at times he was nowhere to be seen....palacios had an excellent game marking him and as a whole spurs defended very very well and gomes had very little to do during the first half

SECOND HALF CHANGES

allegri brought on pato in the place of seedorf in the hope to cause the spurs back 4 some problems who till that point had had a relatively easy match!...spurs continued with the same team and basically the same strategy....expose the flanks to the pace of lennon and pienaar...this very nearly led to a goal in the opening minutes of the second half as lennon bursted down the right hand side, put in a cross to v.d. vaart who instead of passing square to pienaar tried an audacious but quite brilliant chip over amelia that was JUST wide of the post...th whole of milans defense was caught off guard and if it had been a few inches to the left it wouldv definitely gone in for what wouldv been one of th goals of the champions league!...at the other end a few min later gomes pulled off one of the saves of season after following a corner situation gattuso pulled the ball back into the box and yepes got up above everybody to put in a towering header which the whole stadium mustv thought was certain to go in but gomes took full advantage of his height and somehow reacted quick enough and put in a strong hand to get the ball clear which was heading for the top corner!....

milan certainly picked up from there and started playing better but a disgraceful challenge from flamini ruined th mood at san siro!....lunged in two footed on corluka and it shouldv been a straight red card for the frenchman but he was very lucky to escape with just a yellow!...corluka had to be taken off with a strapped ankle cox of that and was replaced by woodgate!...during all this gattuso had also pushed joe jordan, the spurs assistant and tempers were flaring all around!...gattuso went crazy and started pushing any1 who he challenged with and really shouldv gone off for a push on crouch after an battle for a high ball....

then came the moment as following a couple of crosses into the spurs box, the londoners finally got possession of the ball through sandro who squared it to modric...he took a touch and played th ball through to lennon who had miles of space to run into!....the lightning bolt as i call him broke at full pace...brilliantly got past yepes leaving him for dead and then squared the ball to crouch who had a simple tap in!...it was counter attacking football at its very finest and well spurs did deserve that goal and the win...they'l go into the second leg knowing they have that priceless advantage of an away goal and with the believe that they can charge their way into the quarters now!....

it proved to be a very eventful game and lived up to all the hype...tottenham even without their starlet bale were the better side on th night and deserved th win!...