European Soccer 2009-10

[Still MIGHTY]

Rooney out 2-4 weeks... Grrrrrreat

Uh oh....That's Chelsea and Munich, yikes

I know it.

They need to show that they are a complete team and bring it together for those two. Rooney is obviously huge and United's best player, but if they want to be great, everyone has to step up.

But to possibly lose the Premier lead and get knocked out of the Champions... Not a good prospect for the week ahead.

[MattF]

It's only the 15th minute, and Barca should already be up like 3-0, Almunia keeping them in it

[Jarred Revolver]

Oh crap, Cesc with a yellow (on a perfectly fine tackle!) and will miss the return leg at the Nou Camp! CRAP!

[TFoA]

I guess all Barca needed was a change of ends...22 seconds into the 2nd half and they're up 1-0.

[MattF]

Of course my stream goes out right before the goal.

[MattF]

2-0, and again my stream cuts out right before the goal, this is getting irritating

[MattF]

Arsenal get one back, while Inter finally break through against Moscow

[TFoA]

They've tied it with a Fabregas penalty...good for him, he makes up for missing out on the 2nd leg by putting Arsenal level with Barca. It's weird, Barcelona's been dominating this game, IMO...yet Walcott comes in & takes them by surprise & then the penalty. Very fortunate turn of events for Arsenal.

Now it's 10 on 10 since Fabregas looks like he hurt himself taking the penalty. This game is wild!

[MattF]

That was NOT a penalty IMO

[Jarred Revolver]

Oh man, I sure as hell hope Cesc didn't break his leg! Losing him AND Gallas for the season in one game would be such a shame. I can't wait to see Walcott start in the return leg at the Nou Camp.

[dfwabel]

They've tied it with a Fabregas penalty...good for him, he makes up for missing out on the 2nd leg by putting Arsenal level with Barca. It's weird, Barcelona's been dominating this game, IMO...yet Walcott comes in & takes them by surprise & then the penalty. Very fortunate turn of events for Arsenal.

Now it's 10 on 10 since Fabregas looks like he hurt himself taking the penalty. This game is wild!

Did UEFA assign that Swiss official, or did Don King? Really questionable cards on both sides.

While the audio of the game really was subpar or absent, the announce crew showed that since they spoke English, they rooted English. GK Manuel Almunia faced more pressure in that initial 20 minutes than I have ever seen a GK face in a major match. Victor Valdez was not bad either (to the point to why is Iker Spain's solid #1?)

Credit BBC:

"I fear the worst, which is that I have broken something," said the midfielder, who limped off after his late penalty.

"It is the fibula. I think I put my leg between [Carles] Puyol's when I was fouled, and kicked it.

"When I took the penalty, I was quite strong, but after when I went to get the ball, I could not walk any more."

Fabregas, who was a doubt before the quarter-final first leg with severe bruising to his knee and leg, was only declared fit to play after the final warm-up.

[Saintsfan]

That was NOT a penalty IMO

I think the penalty was one of those where actually the attacker bought it, Puyol didn't do much active to foul Fabregas.

On the whole game, the first 60 minutes of football was the best performance by any team, that I think i have ever seen. Barcelona were stunning. Truly. I don't wanna go in for hyperbole, but they were awesomne, except for a lack of goals (big credit to Almunia for that!) Arsenal did well to let Barcelona blow themselves out, put on a speedster like Walcott and run at the defense like he did at the end. I did think that the referee was a bit card happy, and both sides suffered on that one. It will be interesting to see how Barcelona's second string center backs get on.

On the whole of the Champions League quarter final round, all 4 ties are up in the air still going into a second legs. I still think the likeliest semi final round up is United against Lyon and Barcelona against Inter, but any of those sides could easily get knocked out.

[dfwabel]

That was NOT a penalty IMO

I think the penalty was one of those where actually the attacker bought it, Puyol didn't do much active to foul Fabregas.

On the whole game, the first 60 minutes of football was the best performance by any team, that I think i have ever seen. Barcelona were stunning. Truly. I don't wanna go in for hyperbole, but they were awesomne, except for a lack of goals (big credit to Almunia for that!) Arsenal did well to let Barcelona blow themselves out, put on a speedster like Walcott and run at the defense like he did at the end. I did think that the referee was a bit card happy, and both sides suffered on that one. It will be interesting to see how Barcelona's second string center backs get on.

On the whole of the Champions League quarter final round, all 4 ties are up in the air still going into a second legs. I still think the likeliest semi final round up is United against Lyon and Barcelona against Inter, but any of those sides could easily get knocked out.

Are you kidding?

Lyon is the better team.

Bayern is up and Rooney seems to be out for the return match

Barqas 2 away goals are huge since Puyol is out. They have played very aggressive as of late; the same will occur in a week.

Inter got a goal. CSKA hast to be very aggressive, but Inter is the better team and has a coach who is solid.

[Saintsfan]

That was NOT a penalty IMO

I think the penalty was one of those where actually the attacker bought it, Puyol didn't do much active to foul Fabregas.

On the whole game, the first 60 minutes of football was the best performance by any team, that I think i have ever seen. Barcelona were stunning. Truly. I don't wanna go in for hyperbole, but they were awesomne, except for a lack of goals (big credit to Almunia for that!) Arsenal did well to let Barcelona blow themselves out, put on a speedster like Walcott and run at the defense like he did at the end. I did think that the referee was a bit card happy, and both sides suffered on that one. It will be interesting to see how Barcelona's second string center backs get on.

On the whole of the Champions League quarter final round, all 4 ties are up in the air still going into a second legs. I still think the likeliest semi final round up is United against Lyon and Barcelona against Inter, but any of those sides could easily get knocked out.

Are you kidding?

Lyon is the better team.

Bayern is up and Rooney seems to be out for the return match

Barqas 2 away goals are huge since Puyol is out. They have played very aggressive as of late; the same will occur in a week.

Inter got a goal. CSKA hast to be very aggressive, but Inter is the better team and has a coach who is solid.

How are you contradicting what I said.

Lyon are 2 goals up, but Bordeaux has an away goal, a 2-0 win would be enough for them. And any team with a half decent defence and a guy like Chamakh up front stands a chance of getting that. Though Lyon would still be favorites.

Bayern are up by one goal going into an away leg. Manchester United will be happy with that situation. Yes, Rooney is out, but Berbatov will come in and do a job. My own belief is that in that tie, United should remain favorites, but they have a harder task than they would have wanted.

Barcelona remain favorites, but the momentum did swing at the end of that game, and that is important. If Arsenal can get more possesion than they did last night, then they stand a chance of going to the Nou Camp and getting a result. Barca are still favorites, again as I indicated above, but Arsenal stand a chance still. (Though Fabregas is every bit as big a miss for Arsenal as Rooney is for United).

Inter are not necessarily a great attacking team. If CSKA get a 1-0 home win, then they get a penalty shoot out, 2-0 they get a semi final place. Neither are impossible. Again, I do make Inter favorites, but its a game that could go either way.

All 4 games could go realistically go either way, and in my judgement none of the ties have a different favorite now, even if the odds have gotten closer in a few of the ties.

[TFoA]

EPL had a pretty big day today...Chelsea went to the top of the table with a 2-1 victory over Man U, and in the race for 4th, Spurs suffered a setback with a 3-1 loss to Sunderland, Villa redeemed themselves with a 1-0 victory over Bolton (amidst rumors that MON might be on the way out.), & Man City are currently beating the out of Burnley, 5-0 at halftime.

[MattF]

Burnley are done, its a shame because I'm rooting for them to stay up, but I don't think they have any chance.

It wasn't the prettiest but Villa got the job done, and thats all we can ask for. UTV

[Saintsfan]

I fear Burnley may be follwing P h down back into the Championship. (P h's relegation will be confirmed today if West Ham can beat Everton, more likely if they fail to win their own next league game). Its looking increasingly like the champions will be Chelsea, they seem to have turned on the form tap at just the right time in the season.

[TFoA]

Newcastle have clinched promotion from the Championship with five games left to play. Apparently there's a 60 Million pound Promotion Party going on right now.

[NEW.ERA]

THE MAGPIES ARE BACK BABY!

I will again start caring about the Premier League.

[WJMorris3]

You know, if the Germans do well enough in the next couple days (I'm looking at you, Bayern, Hamburg, and Wolfsburg), we could be talking about Germany getting four teams in the Champions League from 2011-12 instead of Italy.