Official Champions League Quarterfinals Thread

[KJS]

Bayern 3 Arsenal 1

Arsenal once again crashed pretty hard on the continent. Toure gives up a howler but is bailed out a bit by getting the crucial away goal in the 89th minute. Can the Arsenal defense keep a clean sheet at Highbury? I doubt it, but a 2-0 Arsenal win is not a total impossibility.

Liverpool 3 Leverkeusen 1

Shocking result, IMO, considering the absence of Steven Gerrard and other Liverpool stars. I didn't watch this one but it sounds like the Reds found their form at the right time. They can be content to hold the Germans below 2 goals in the next leg.

Real Madrid 1 Juventus 0

Sounds like the Galaticos were in control throughout. Still very much anyone's tie, since the return leg is in Turin.

PSV 1 Monaco 0

Can last year's finalists bounce back? With Morientes now playing for Liverpool they lack the same amount of quality up front this time around.

Still to come:

Barca v Chelsea

When the draw came out, Chelsea was cruising and a tie with Barcelona seemed like what many would have expected from the final. Now Duff is out, Bridge is out, Robben is out, and Chelsea have scored 1 in their last 3 matches. Still, the Blues defense is as solid as any club in the world, and they will certainly be content with 0-0 or 1-0 at the Bernabeau. But can they slow down Ronalidinho and Eto'o? This is the match of the week.

Other matches:

Porto v Inter Milan
Man Utd v AC Milan
Werder Bremen v Lyon

KJS

[Skjonne]

Count your matches and I think you'll realize that your title is wrong.

I watched Real-Juve and yes, Real controlled most of it, Juve beeing dangerous on the counter attack once or trice. The Ref was horrible by the way and Ronaldo looked like an ass that didn't know how to [censored]. The second he was replaced with Owen, Reals attack stepped up a gear or two

[jakethebake]

wtf are you talking about? is this some made up game?

[Big Limpin']

its soccer, dude.

keep that open mind, american

[Corey]

I forgot to DVR the ManU-Milan game today, but apparently Roy Carrol's blunder was horrible.

I was glad to see Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester lose as I'm sick of people saying the EPL is the best league and Europe "and it's not even close."

Let us also not forget the six Americans still playing for teams alive in the CL: Donovan (Leverkusen), Beasley (PSV), Tim Howard (Manchester), Jon Spector (ManU), Guiseppe Rossi (ManU, born in N.J., plays for Italy) and Zak Whitbread (Liverpool).

[KJS]

No way in hell Drogba deserved to be sent off. That was a clear 50-50 ball. Tough break for CFC. They looked content to play for 0-0 from the start and were lucky to get one on the counterattack. But clearly Barca was too much for them shorthanded. Perhaps even full strength had the same changes been made. Next leg should be a good match too.

KJS

[JoeU]

Thanks for the update.

I didn't get a chance to see any of the games, and read the Real/Juve result in the paper today /images/graemlins/frown.gif.

Who do you think will come out on top in the end?

Joe

[Skjonne]

[ QUOTE ]
didn't know how to [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Is sh[/b]it such a bad word? Wtf?

[KJS]

I have only seen 2 games: Bayern v. Arsenal and Barca v Chelsea. I have read about all of them though, as well as a lot of the punditry.

I would have to say at this point in time I think it will be Barcelona or AC Milan. But I don't have the bracket in front of me, so they might meet in the semis. I think they both have the pace to take the game to the opposition and score goals away. That is a huge advantage. And Eto'o and Shevchenko are the best strikers in the world right now, IMO.

KJS

[The once and future king]

Anders Frisk must die.

[ QUOTE ]
was glad to see Chelsea lose as I'm sick of people saying the EPL is the best league and Europe "and it's not even close."


[/ QUOTE ]

FU.

Chelsea will do Barcelona at the Bridge when we have Robben back. The thing that stood out for me was how tacticaly naive Barca were. They pushed up far to much. After the break before Drogbas dismissal we were the dominant team.