Soccer Central

Arsenal won 3-0 this evening at the Emirates, and Manchester United 1-0 in Porto, meaning that the two teams will now meet in the Champions League semi-final. Three of the four teams left in the cup are English, and it’s now only Barcelona that potentially stands in the way of another English European champion being crowned.

United went ahead after just 6 minutes this evening, and 4 minutes later Arsenal was ahead also; a stark contrast to last week when both teams were behind by the 10 minute mark. Arsenal added two further goals in the second-half to secure their win this evening, Manchester United however relied on their early lead to take them through, and with Rio Ferdinand back in the centre of defence; a clean sheet was able to be kept. Edwin van der Sar looked far more confident this evening with his two rock solid defenders back in front of him, and although Porto had chances, so too did United, and Manchester United perhaps should have won the game by more goals than they did. A win was what they needed though, and in becoming the first English team to win in Porto; Manchester United is now through to yet another Champions league semi-final.

That man Cristiano Ronaldo was the only player to score in the Manchester United game this evening, and he certainly scored the sole goal of the game with fantastic style. Smashing it home from 40 yards; Ronaldo’s effort was a worthy match winner, and Ronaldo will no doubt be incredibly impressed with the goal he scored today. It was just his second Champions League goal of the season, and United will now be hoping for a few more of those when they meet Arsenal at Old Trafford two weeks today.

Theo Walcott is back hitting the goals for Arsenal, and as we enter this late stage of the season; Arsenal is the team hitting top form at the right time, Manchester United meanwhile has been wavering, and it’ll be interesting to see how United copes with Arsenal on April 29th.

Will Manchester United be able to recapture their fantastic form from earlier on in the season, or will the side continue to stutter and falter? That question will be answered in two weeks time, and on April 29th Manchester United will possibly be looking towards a quintuple.