As an Arsenal fan, I like neither Chelsea nor Manchester United. That being said, Chelsea got screwed out of a penalty. They also played rather listlessly.
Edwin Van der Saar – making forty year olds proud around the world.
Some save by Patrice Evra, wasn’t it?
Fernando Torres may feel like he can’t buy a goal for Chelsea, but diving isn’t going to accomplish it either. A well deserved yellow card, in my humble opinion.
Looks like someone might be getting his wish.
What a way to counter Shakhtar Donetsk’s goal: scoring one of your own off the ensuing kickoff.
That goal, by the way, demonstrated one of the greatest threats Leo Messi poses for the opposition: mark him with one and he will probably get past you. Cover with him more than two – as was done with that goal and he lays the ball off to a teammate who is unmarked.
Andres Iniesta’s pass to Dani Alves for Barça’s second goal almost appeared to be delivered telepathically: a precision delivery matched with a perfectly timed run that was clearly not offside and a textbook finish. It’s as if they’re all of one mind in their execution.
Shakhtar Donetsk would have to beat Barcelona 4-0 (ideally) in order to move to the semifinals. Indeed, of all the defeated teams in the first round, the only that has the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of moving to the semifinals is Chelsea.
Comrade Coffin
Barça may get to play/beat Real Madrid four times in the next month (Copa, Liga, CL x 2). Please FSM!
Bruce Webb
Boy I love this series of posts because it proves Winston Churchill’s claim that America and Britain are two countries separated by a common language. Because my American city of Seattle hosts some of the most fanatical soccer fans and yet some of these posts might as well be in Sanskrit. ‘Own Goal’? And that scores the same as a touchdown?
And don’t get me started on ‘Public Schools’. Over here we don’t mean Eton.
Randinho
@Bruce Webb: Whatever.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bruce Webb: Elevators are lifts, fags are cigarettes, a car’s hood is its bonnet, a truck is lorry… Hehe, the British are funny.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
While I know that I’ll be screaming my head off for Barça if they get Real Madrid in the CL (well, any time, and for any team that doesn’t have a history of fascism…meaning I pray for a meteor strike whenever Madrid chances across Milan), I’m still pulling for my Red Devils to win all of the silverware still available.
But, Jesus, is Barça good…
sven
I stumbled upon the Guardian Football Weekly podcast a few weeks ago and have been really impressed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/series/footballweekly
It is surprisingly funny and helps me keep up with events I might miss from across the Atlantic. I do wish it talked more about the continent but overall it is an easy recommendation.
Mike in NC
xctl wh crs bt ths crp? [troll comment disemvoweled]
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Mike in NC:
Really? With all of the internet at your fingertips, you have to lower yourself to troll a thread just because you aren’t into the topic?
Ya know, you could just tell yourself to eat a big bowl of Shut the Fuck Up the next time you get that tingly feeling.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@sven:
Thanks. Listening now.
I really miss being able to listen to Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan’s podcast. That they got boycotted off of Sirius by a bunch of pissy Scousers who won’t listen to constructive criticism is a shame.
PS
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): For reasons unknown to me, the Guardian podcast is in fact (though not in name) Twice Weekly. Every single week there is an Extra on Thursdays, to accompany the Monday regular. They usually go up around 9 a.m. PST (5 p.m. GMT, noon EST). The cast varies some, with host James Richardson the only absolute regular in the studio, and even he’s been known to go on vacation. Dr Sid Lowe in Spain whom no one can shut up but few really want to chips in almost every time (he picked up his PhD last year or the year before). I can generally do without Sean (the bookie’s friend) Ingle but even he contributes to the gaiety of nations, and the rest of the rotating cast are usually surprisingly funny for knowledgable people, or vice versa. Important datum, frequently referred to but sometimes obliquely: James R is bald as a coot, hairless, like a billiard ball.
sven
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Well, at least you don’t bear a grudge.
@PS: I have only been listening for a bit but already find myself looking forward to my commute on Tuesday. Very entertaining for guys who aren’t foremost entertainers.
Anyone have an explanation for why this round has been so high scoring?
burnspbesq
@sven:
Karma. I think there was approximately one Champions League goal scored for every wide-open layup that Butler missed.
dollared
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Dude, you can stay Max McGee as long as you like. But I dibs Paul Hornung.
SRW1
@Bruce Webb:
Ahem Bruce, no form of touching scores in football. The only thing that counts is when the round one goes into the rectangular one.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@sven:
Hey. it really sucked what they did to Cohen. IIRC, it was the anniversary of the Munich crash, Man Utd. was playing at Anfield, and the LFC supporters were mocking Man Utd. with airplane crash shit…Cohen, a Chelsea supporter, pointed out that people who live in glass houses, yadda yadda, and that since Hillsborough- and admitting that, yes, officially the Scousers were cleared of responsibility for those deaths- they still continued with the loutish behavior, like when they crashed the gates in Istanbul for the CL final, putting lives in danger. For this they chased him off the air.
As for the scoring- conditioning and depth. Wasn’t it in the semis a few years ago when Man Utd. hung 7 on Roma?
@dollared:
Sure, no problem. There’s enough tomatoes to split between us. :D
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
taochiapet
i’ve gotta disagree about the torres ‘dive’. the replay cleared showed (to me) that he was clipped on the ankle as well as the calf. it was a sloppy challenge (as was the immediately prior missed call), but even if torres could have kept his feet, he isn’t required to (even as i value the ‘old school’ value of fighting thru tackles). he was actually fouled, and deserved a PK not a yellow.
thanks. i enjoy my visits to your blog.
handsmile
I’ve been listening to and evangelizing for the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast since last summer, so delighted to read that among those whom Randinho has gathered here there is increasing awareness and appreciation of it. The twice-weekly podcasts consistently deliver some of the most illuminating and hilarious moments of my footballing week.
For wretched addicts like myself, the podcast’s host, James Richardson, also offers a 5-minute solo each Friday commenting on the headline stories from the non-English European football press. Admire a genius at work.
I loathe both Lord Fergie’s Army and Chelski, though each squad features players of consummate professional talent and class: Michael Essien and Petr Ceck, Ryan Giggs and Edwin van der Saar. Of course, to continue with the dominant theme of “Douches” from Tuesday night’s thread on the Champions League, Wayne Rooney and John Terry are perennial selections for the World Douchebag starting XI.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team selection (Yuri Zhirkov, Jose Bosingwa), unfamiliar formation (4-4-2) and substitutions (Anelka, Mikel) can best and perhaps only be explained as the decisions of a man who truly wishes to be employed elsewhere next season.
Let us hope that Fernando Torres enjoys a fulfilling life away from the football arena. (50 million pounds should be able to provide some distractions.) His precipitous decline in form is now going into its second year.
Yes, the world is collapsing around our ears, but we may well have this to look forward to: Barcelona v. Real Madrid in the finals of both the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. And on April 16, they do meet in the Bernabeu for their second La Liga match of the season!! All right-thinking citizens gleefully recall Barca’s 5-0 humiliation of Franco’s favorites last November and droolingly anticipate an encore.
Tuttle
Evra was lucky not to concede that penalty, but other than that he was the most impressive player on the pitch. I think Torres got mugged and didn’t deserve the card he got so it all evens out on the missed penalty calls IMO.
As a Schalke fan neither performance yesterday has me quaking in my boots. Die Knappen have the capability to beat either EPL team. Given Schalke’s form, they’ll probably beat Man U then turn around and lose to 2nd division Duisburg in the Pokal final. That’s their modus operandi.
Hoping for a Schalke/Real final; The Revenge of Raul!
Dollared
@handsmile: Regarding Torres, isn’t this just the normal fate of speed merchants in true football? Who was that English wunderkind that everyone thought would be the difference in ’94? or was it ’98? Gad, I honestly don’t remember his name anymore. Thierry Henry is the only blazing fast/timed run/blows 70% of chances guy that has ever lasted to age 30.
Seems like a profile you could sabre-metricize, right down to the bad hamstrings….
PS
@Dollared: Michael Owen is on the MU bench. He would like to sign a new contract. I’m sure he’d love the checks. But he’ll struggle along without them.
True that, but they still couldn’t threaten the World Cup.
Vany
I’m still hoping, probably in vain, to see Schalke-Chelsea. The Russian Oligarchs’ Derby!
Glad to see the love for the Guardian Football podcast – it really is one of the best podcasts in any sport, entertaining even if you’re not a huge European football fan. I’m just surprised no one has given a shout out to Barry Glendenning yet.
Anyone listen to the Football Ramble?