After the fun and games of Tuesday night it was more mundane fare as the might of England went head to head on Wednesday. After five goals at Old Trafford it was a 1-0 to the Chelsea affair at Stamford Bridge. To be fair, I only managed a slice of the first half but the chances were few and far between. Maybe it proves that these are the two most solid and well-equipped teams left in the competion. But I hope not.
My sneaking suspicion is that Chelsea will make it through this time. I know Liverpool have a good pedigree in Europe but I see Mourinho's men as stronger all round. The longer it stays 0-0 at Anfield, the more likely the Blues are to progress. And then hopefully lose to Milan in the final.
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8 comments:
Chelsea are definitely in a good position. I think Liverpool still have a good chance though. Petr Cech has been prone to Dida-itis since returning from his head injury and the midfield hasn't had the cohesion of the previous two years (i blame ballack). Hopefully an early Liverpool goal will open the game up, but I want Chelsea in the final.
And they still crap on about the 2003 Juve-Milan final. But they don't come up with anything much better.
Milan-Chelsea final: which team do you reckon Sheva would rather be playing for?
-AR
Perhaps someone needs to stand up for the EPL here :o)
I thought it was pretty decent game, played at a frantic pace. Joe Cole's goal was easily the best goal over both the CL semi's (watch it again). The Cech/Terry/Carvalho combination are hard to score through. But, Anfield is a tough place to play and many teams (considered favourites) have choked there. Both ties are too tight to call and this years CL is all the better for that.
One for you AR : Who are "they" ? I watched the Juve/Milan final, and to be honest *I* thought it was pretty dull. And, like all professional footballers (i.e. greedy bastards) I reckon Sheva will be happy to play for whoever gives him the most money.
Milan Juve would have been better if Milan's goal had have been allowed (come on, we all know it was fair). It would have opened the game up. Nedveds suspension also made the game less entertaining than it should have been.
The Juve - Milan final at least had some quality in it. It was a good match in the 90 mins, the extra time was awful thoguh.
That match the other night, was very poor quality for a Semi Final.
No creativity, flair, imagination. The only piece of good football lead to a goal. The first ten mins looked promising but after that it was very poor imo.
I'll still watch the 2nd leg though ;)
Pat
An early goal always makes a difference. I agree the tie is in the balance but it would need Liverpool to score fairly quickly to spice things up.
AR
I think once teams get to this stage it always goes pretty cagey but the influx of foreign coaches and players has meant English teams produce fewer goals than they used to. I really don't know about Sheva, I used to think he was Rossonero through and through.
Trent
As I said, I didn't watch all the game so it was maybe unfair to comment. Still, if you look at Chelsea v Liverpool in Europe in recent times I think they have produced something like two goals over several hundred minutes of football (and one never crossed the line). If that had been two Italian teams we would never hear the end of it.
Scott
I think you can count the truly entertaining Champions League/European Cup finals of the last 20 years on one hand and Italian teams have been involved in many of them. The Milan v Juve game wasnt as bleak as it is sometimes painted certainly no more grim than watching Notts Forest many moons ago.
And what about the new version of the Copa del Rey, disguised as UEFA Cup? Just think it was my favourite competition when I was a child, and now is just ****!
I too used to love the UEFA competition (especially when Fiorentina reached the final) but it has become such a monster now. There are so many qualification games, "drop downs" from the Champions League and teams getting in from so far down their domestic league that it has turned the whole thing into a pale imitation of what it used to be.
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