Soccer Central

Chelsea will be the happier of the two sides this evening, having held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw at Nou Camp. Both teams had an excellent opportunity to score; Drogba for Chelsea, and Bojan for Barcelona, neither side was able to find the net though, and ultimately the game ended 0-0.

Chelsea has the clear advantage as they take Barcelona back to Stamford Bridge next Wednesday; Barcelona however have it all to do as they now need to achieve a win in London. History dictates that Chelsea will win the game, as in the ties that have taken place between these two teams in the past; it’s always been the team that plays its home game second that wins.

Guus Hiddink will no doubt be very pleased that all Chelsea need to do is win at Stamford Bridge to make it to a second consecutive Champions League final, and with Manchester United the favourites to win the other semi-final against Arsenal; we may yet have a repeat of last year’s Champions League final which ended with a penalty shootout victory for Manchester United.

Chelsea played a very defensive game this evening and made sure Barcelona didn’t score, they’ll no doubt be very confident for the game next week, and will definitely be feeling that they have a very good chance of winning the game. Barcelona will give the game their best shot, I just feel that Chelsea will have more about them though, and with the home advantage on their side; I just can’t see Barcelona picking up a win at Stamford Bridge. They may yet prove me wrong, but the way I see it is that Chelsea is the team heading for the final.

Manchester United versus Chelsea in the final is my prediction, tomorrow we shall see how Arsenal perform away at Old Trafford though, and if they can pick up an away goal or two then that could prove to be incredibly important. Arsenal will be without their star midfield man Andrei Arshavin as he’s not registered to play for them in the Champions League, and a number of other key players are also likely to be missing as a result of injury; Arsenal do not face at all an easy task at Old Trafford, Manchester United has been rather inconsistent of late though, and if United is having another bad day then Arsenal will definitely be looking to capitalise.

Expect an exciting game between Manchester United and Arsenal tomorrow, and if you live in the UK then be sure to tune into Sky Sports 1. Both teams are likely to be well up for this one, and an action packed game of footballing excitement can surely be guaranteed.