Champions Last 16 1st leg

Celtic 2-3 Barcelona
It was quite a good game, but the difference in class told in the end. Barca dominated possession and attempts at goal. Celtic did get a couple of goals and played with a lot of heart but when Henry used his trademark curler (the defender should have been closer) and Messi did his tricks (unfortunate for Celtic after a couple of ricochets), Barcelona deserved the victory. Perhaps it could have been different but it was a backs to the wall job so Celtic fans can have no quibbles with the result. Barca were just a different class. Celtic have reached their target by getting this far so even though they are 99.9% out, and I dont expect them to get through, it shouldnt be all doom and gloom and was another football night to savour, even though the result went the wrong way.

Arsenal 0-0 AC Milan
This was a very good game, and Arsenal clearly had the better of the chances to score. How Adebayor missed that one from a couple of yards is baffling, and Arsenal deserved a 1-0 from this game. How that leaves the tie overall though is anyone's guess really. An away goal for Arsenal with a 1-1 draw for example and they would be through. Milan would be slight favourites to go through as it stands but only slight, it really is 50/50. It will all depend on whether Kaka can unleash some magic or not and how the Arsenal players respond to playing in the San Siro. If they play in a similar way as at home, they should get through.

Lyon 1-1 Man Utd
Benzema is a class act and scored a goal from very little. It was a 'negative' game in many respects in that both sides played 4-5-1 and Man Utd seemed to come looking for a draw. They were very nearly beaten though. But whether a 1-0 or a 1-1 result as it turned out, they showed that they have the beating of the Lyon team and I would expect them to get through. A draw was a fair result overall I thought but the away goal was vital though.

Fenerbache 3-2 Sevilla
Its never easy to play in the hostile atmosphere's of Istanbul, but with 2 away goals Sevilla are favourites to get through from here.

So, with the previous results being:
Liverpool 2-0 Inter Milan
Olympi.acos 0-0 Chelsea
Roma 2-1 Real Madrid
Schalke 1-0 Porto

I'll predict the last-8 qualifiers thus:
Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Porto
Barcelona, Man Utd, Sevilla and one of AC Milan/Arsenal

Not incoincidentally, those names figure highly in the richest clubs in the world list. Strange that ! ;-)

Redspider

The word O.l.y.m.p.i.a.c.o.s should be free to use in any publication.
The word o.l.y.m.p.i.a is a trademark owned by
Organon N.V. NETHERLANDS Kloosterstraat 6 NL-5349 AB Oss NETHERLANDS
among other users


O.l.y.m.p.i.a is also a place (ie: a plain) in Greece and is linked with the Olympic games.

I realise this is not the thread to discuss 'the problem' but it seriously needs to be fixed.

Redspider