Soccer Central

Due to a poor first half display from Arsenal this evening, Manchester United was able to capitalise, and grabbed a goal through John O’Shea. United really should have scored more, such was poor quality of Arsenal’s first half performance; sadly for Alex Ferguson though, only the one goal was scored, and although Arsenal battled back in the second half, 1-0 to Man United was the way the game finished.

Ronaldo thumped one against the bar, and United had several other chances to score throughout the game; Almunia held firm in the Arsenal goal though, and after the goal from O’Shea, allowed for no further Man United goals to be scored.

This was a good win for United, and they now have a lead to take to the Emirates; it still won’t be an easy game next Tuesday though, and Arsene Wenger will no doubt be looking to get back into the game and make Manchester United fight.

Ryan Giggs made his 800th appearance for Manchester United this evening as he came on in place of Anderson in the 66th minute. It’s been an absolutely brilliant week for Giggs, and having won the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year award on Sunday, he now hits a massive milestone in his career, and at the age of 35 is still a very important player for Manchester United. He doesn’t make too many starts anymore; he still has a strong part to play when called upon though, and is doing absolutely brilliant to still be playing in the top flight of English football after so many years in the game.

Tevez was disappointed to be substituted this evening, and received a massive amount of applause when leaving the field, as the United fans made it known just how much they’d like Carlos Tevez to stay with the club past the summer. Tevez’s future still remains uncertain, I think it’s felt by most though that Manchester United would be stupid to let him go, and fans will no doubt keep fingers crossed in the summer that the fee is paid to officially make Carlos Tevez a Manchester United player.

Manchester United was already the favourites to defeat Arsenal in this Champions League semi-final, and after their win this evening this still remains to be the case. Manchester United has already been to the Emirates Stadium and lost this season, Ferguson will be confident that his team can achieve a win next Tuesday though, and as the game goes out live on ITV1; I’m sure there’ll be many armchair Manchester United fans all throughout the country, willing their team to win in London, and reach a second consecutive Champions League final.

The quintuple dream is out of the question for Manchester United now after losing to Everton in the FA Cup semi-final; the quadruple is still possible though, and Alex Ferguson will no doubt be feeling very hungry for another fantastically successful season of league and cup glory.

Manchester United will now be looking to join Liverpool and Nottingham Forest as the third ever English team to win the Champions League in consecutive seasons.

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.

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.

Chelsea went into this tie at Stamford Bridge 3-1 up, and it was therefore expected that Chelsea would be the team heading through to the Champions League semi-final fairly comfortably. Liverpool took the match by storm in the first-half though, taking a 2-0 lead into the break, stunning Chelsea, and proving that despite Chelsea’s home advantage; they weren’t going to make this easy for Chelsea.

Liverpool was just one goal away from taking the overall lead, but Guus Hiddink’s half-time team talk obviously did the trick as in the 52nd minute Didier Drogba pulled a goal back and Chelsea once again had a clear advantage. In the 57th minute Alex scored a belter of a freekick, the game was levelled, and Liverpool now had a lot of work to do in order to get back in the game.

When Frank Lampard scored in the 76th minute then the game looked to be over; Chelsea was winning 3-2 on the night, 6-3 on aggregate, and the club was surely now well on its way to playing Barcelona in the semis. Liverpool fought back though, and two goals in two minutes meant that Liverpool was now only one goal away from achieving an aggregate win, with eight minutes left to find the net. There was a tense end to the game, and had Steven Gerrard been on the field then perhaps Liverpool would have found that extra goal that they required; sadly they didn’t though, and instead it was Chelsea that scored, again through Frank Lampard, meaning that it ultimately ended 4-4 on the night, with Chelsea winning 7-5 on aggregate.

This was a brilliant game to watch as a neutral; a real spectacle for football fans of the world, but probably not a particularly pleasurable experience for Guus Hiddink who was twice one goal away from absolute humiliation. Had Liverpool won this game at Stamford Bridge then it would have been a huge upset, and although they did come close; Liverpool’s Champions League run has once more been ended by Chelsea, and Chelsea will now be hoping to reach their second consecutive Champions League final.

Chelsea has never before won the Champions League, and if the club does indeed make it to the final then Manchester United may well once more be their opponents. If it is a repeat of last year then Chelsea will surely be looking to exhibit their revenge; if Manchester United is to make it to the semi-final though then may have to do what no English team has ever before managed; win in Porto.

Chelsea can now relax a bit as they’ve made it through to the Champions League semi-final, Arsenal and Manchester United meanwhile have it all to look forward to tomorrow evening. Chelsea is through to another Champions League semi-final, Liverpool however is out, and tomorrow we’ll find out whether we have one, two, or three English teams heading through to the Champions League semi-finals.

Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-1 in their quarter-final game at Anfield this evening, putting the pressure on Liverpool to perform next week when they travel to Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool took an early lead through Fernando Torres in the 6th minute, and the fans must have thought at that point that the team was cruising towards victory; Branislav Ivanovic had other ideas though, equalising in the 39th minute, and then scoring again in the 62nd minute of the match.

Didier Drogba was the last to score this evening, and completed the 3-1 victory in the 67th minute. Drogba squandered opportunity after opportunity throughout the match, ultimately Chelsea will take an impressive lead into the second-leg though, and have every right to feel very pleased with the 3 away goals they scored this evening.

It’s advantage Chelsea, and although Manchester United’s place in the semi-final is far from guaranteed; we could yet have a repeat of last year’s Champions League final, and if that is indeed the case then Chelsea will no doubt be looking to take their revenge.