Barcelona trashes Bayern Munich 4-0 at the Camp Nou.

It was another easy day for Barcelona in the Champions League, as they didn’t have to struggle to beat their German opponents Bayern Munich in their first leg match of the quarterfinals. The Spanish giants had a comfortable 4-0 home win; but a controversial decision from the referee in the first half might have been a possible reason to Bayern’s humiliation.

Barcelona took the lead in the early stages of the game after Samuel Eto’o placed the ball onto Lionel Messi who scored his first Champions League quarterfinals goal.

Shortly after that, it was Messi’s turn to give Eto’o a chance to score. The argentine forward nicely served Eto’o with a true ball, which allowed the Cameroonian striker to put the ball at the back of the net with no real difficulty.

The game then became unfair when the referee failed to sanction Thierry Henry for a reckless challenge he made on Bayern’s keeper. Although the goalie was obliged to undergo extensive treatments, it looked like the officials were far from changing their minds.

Messi then went on to score his second goal of the night; and even before the first 45 minutes were over, the French striker Henry had already managed to add his name on the scoring sheet.

Barcelona then relaxed in the second half – eventually, with Bayern Munich unable to pull a goal back, the match ended 4-0.

So, Bayern are now the second consecutive team in the Champions League to be destroyed by Barcelona’s flood of goals – but at least, they can give their fans an excuse.

Now, they can only think of a way to overturn the score line when they meet the Catalans again in the Arena Stadium.

Read the rest of this article on the Bayern Munchen vs Barcelona match page

Chelsea poised to finish off Liverpool and reach the Champions League semis

Chelsea surprised Liverpool by coming from a goal down to beat them 3-1 on Wednesday night at Anfield. The Blues were poor in the first thirty minutes of the game, allowing Fernando Torres to open the scoring with a quick shot that went unseen by keeper Petr Cech. At the other end, Didier Drogba missed two glorious opportunities to put Chelsea back in the game.

But a wonder header from Ivanovic – which leveled the score line minutes before half time – proved to have turned things around.

The midfielder headed home his second of the night in the second half before Drogba sealed the victory with a superb tap in from close range. From there, Liverpool were totally sank under Chelsea’s blue sea…

There was no flood of goals or clean sheet like in their last two games at Anfield. The Merseyside Reds’ astonishing 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in Europe and 5-0 win against Aston Villa in the EPL suddenly became a story of the past.

Chelsea have one foot in the Champions League semi-final round…

Read the rest of this article on the Chelsea vs Liverpool match page.

Arsenal v Villareal: Everything to play for

Like at Old Trafford on April 7th, there was no winner at the El Madrigal when Villareal hosted Arsene Wenger’s Gunners in the Champions League. Captain Marco Senna opened the scoring in the first half with a long range shot only for Adebayor’s 66th minute wonder goal to cancel the Yellow Submarines’ lead. The two clubs will go head to head again on Wednesday night at the Emirates Stadium, and both know how hard the test of passing the quarterfinal stage will be…

Arsenal confident about reaching the semis

An away goal is always precious in Europe; that’s exactly what Arsenal secured in their visit to the El Madrigal on Tuesday night. No English team has ever won on Villareal’s home ground, neither were the Gunners able to do so.

But Coach Arsene Wenger isn’t worried about his team’s inability to steal a victory. Instead, the French man was full of praises for his young squad:

“This team has shown all season that they are mentally very strong. Our young players always have an answer. I’m confident that we can go through because we have good mental strength and desire. But we will still have to be on our toes because Villarreal are a very good team.

“It was a great goal by Adebayor, and a great game. Both teams played very well but they made it difficult with their early goal. I was pleased with the way we came back.

“We took over in the second half and it puts us in a good position. Adebayor’s goal was unexpected and even the keeper was surprised. I thought his body was in the wrong position to score but he turned it into an advantage for him - it was a great goal.

“After that we had many more chances and we could have scored a second goal. But I’m very proud of my players.”

One thing Arsene Wenger will fear is the loss of former captain William Gallas and first choice keeper Almunia. The defensive pair sustained bad injuries against Villareal which might turn out to be a big blow to the Gunners ahead of the second leg at the Emirates on Wednesday.
Speaking to French media Canal Plus, Wenger explained: “Gallas has a medial ligament injury.”

Read the rest of this article on the Arsenal vs Villarreal Match Page

Defending Champions Manchester United dream of beating Porto on Wednesday night.

It was a game that United was supposed to win… a game where they should have killed off Porto’s spirit of 2004, when the Dragons controversially eliminated the Red Devils out of Europe.

Manchester United didn’t start the game on the right tone. Accumulated mistakes resulted in Rodriguez stunning the home side after only three minutes gone down the clock.

The Red Devils were nowhere near their best form and at a point, one may even think that United were the travelling team – given their unimpressive show. Manchester United came close at times to score more goals – especially twice through Ronaldo – but Porto’s keeper Helton denied the Reds on several occasions.

Goals from Rooney in the first half, and Tevez at the 85th minute seemed to have sealed the win for the European Champions. However, Porto fought back and got what they deserved: a late equalizer from Mariano to level the final score line at 2-2.

Manchester United: Let’s blame ourselves!

Read the rest of this article on the FC Porto vs Manchester United Match page