In a hard-to-believe draw for the quarter finals of the Champion’s League the two remaining English teams have been drawn to play each other.
This despite there also being two Italian teams and THREE Spanish who have all miraculously managed to avoid having to play one of their compatriots!
Conspiracy theorists are already looking for fields in which to have a day!
Here’s the draw in full:
Liverpool v Manchester City
Juventus v Real Madrid
Sevilla v Bayern Münich
Roma v Barcelona
So the path is certainly being paved for Real Madrid and Barcelona to progress with Sevilla the only Spanish club likely to depart the competition at this stage. Here are the four qualifiers. Take note because, even though it doesn’t look to be a particularly difficult prediction, these things can always go awry:
Manchester City
Real Madrid
Bayern Münich
Barcelona
You just see if we’re wrong!
The draw means, of course, that we are guaranteed an English club in the semi-finals and that has to be the positive spin on things. However, when considering that before the last round began, England had FIVE representatives in the competition it has been a pretty poor showing yet again.
Bayern Münich – Could have been knocking Manchester United out of the Champion’s League but will have to make do with Sevilla!
In paying homage to the now late Jim Bowen and looking at what Manchester United could have won we note that they would have been drawn against Bayern Münich so that was where their road would have ended anyway. The difference being that defeat to a team such as the Germans would have been a lot easier to stomach for United fans than the tame and, frankly, pathetic display which resulted in their loss to Sevilla.
Tottenham Hotspur would have been able to pit their wits against Real Madrid once again and may even have achieved similar results to those in the group stages, who knows? The problem would be that Real Madrid tend to take things more seriously when it matters and as the tournament approaches it’s later stages.
Chelsea need not think about who they would be playing had they beaten Barcelona because there was no way they were going to beat Barcelona, despite playing reasonably well in both legs, unlike United and Spurs.
So that wraps up the Champion’s League until April when the games are played and our prediction proves to be correct!
In other news…..
Jamie Carragher has been suspended until the end of the season by Sky Sports. Why? Are they now condoning his reprehensible behaviour by saying that he doesn’t deserve to be fired?
Jamie Carragher – Suspended until the end of the season when he should have been instantly dismissed
The message they are sending out with this action is that it is OK for a pundit to behave like a common thug and all that he will receive is a slap on the wrist from his employers.
It isn’t as though Sky doesn’t have more than it’s fair share of thick ex-footballers who could do what Carragher has been doing for a couple of years. They could even replace him with someone a tad more eloquent and one whose words would not be in need of translation!
Still, when you are the televisual equivalent to The Sun newspaper, morals and high standards are very low down in the list of priorities. It used to be that the media never let truth get in the way of a good story. Now it would appear that they don’t let decency and fair-mindedness come into any of their deliberations when deciding the fate of one of their own.
And finally…..
Congratulations to Stubborn Old Man and his Arsenal team on beating AC Milan twice to reach the quarter-finals of Big Vase thanks largely to a penalty they shouldn’t have been awarded!
The draw has been reasonably kind to Arsenal
They now face CSKA Moscow in a tie they should be able to win thus taking them a step nearer to winning the trophy that Stubborn Old Man doesn’t really want to win!
Strike that last remark! It isn’t that he doesn’t want to win the cup, it’s that he doesn’t think the winners deserve to be promoted up a level for next season’s Champion’s League. What’s the betting his opinion changes if Arsenal win the competition!?
It may all be irrelevant by then anyway as he will, possibly, have done the decent thing and retired. Retired from managing Arsenal anyway and that, to all those Gooners out there somewhere, (definitely not at The Emirates), is all that really matters.
Could we really see Arsenal challenging for the title next season if Wenger is not there? Yes, why not? Time to start a “Wenger remain” campaign!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 