Category Archives: Champions League

Schalke way over Inter

on April 14, 2011 None comments

The quarter finals from UEFA Champions League offered us a show that worth all the money. Schalke and Inter battled to obtain the qualification in the next stage. The second leg of the quarter final started with a big advantage of 3 goals after the first stage result, 5-2 for Schalke.

Teams:

Schalke: Neuer, Sarpei, Howedes, Raul, Edu, Baumjohann, Papadopoulos, Jurado, Metzelder, Uchida, Matip
Substitutes: Schober, Plestan, Junmin, Schmitz, Charisteas, Karimi, Draxler

Inter: Julio Cesar, Zanetti, Stankovic, Lucio, Thiago Motta, Eto’o, Sneijder, Maicon, Ranocchia, Milito, Nagatomo
Substitutes: Castellazzi, Cordoba, Kharja, Cambiasso, Materazzi, Pandev, Coutinho

Exactly like the first leg, Schalke’s players were more lucid, with more ideas in construction and with a Raul of genius. They started the scoreboard in 45 min. through Raul’s strike. At this time Inter is 5 goals under qualification.

A spark of hope comes in for Inter in 49th minute, after Thiago Motta puts the ball in the net.

Qualification with an overall score of 7-3 for Schalke is obtain in minute 82 when Howedes, served by Raul, scores sealing the deal.

Schalke will meet Manchester United in the next stage.

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Real Madrid, highscore

on April 13, 2011 None comments

Real Madrid with a coach that matches expectations, managed a run through the quarterfinal games against Tottenham. With an aggregate score of 5-0, the words are insufficient to express the English pain. All the weight remains on Manchester United to keep the flag high for the queen.

The teams were align following:
Tottenham: Gomes, Bale, Huddlestone, Lennon, Pavlyuchenko, Van der Vaart, Gallas, Modric, Dawson, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto
Substitutes: Cudicini, Kaboul, Jenas, defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Sandro

Real Madrid: Casillas, Carvalho, Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa, Albiol, Ozil, Khedira, Adebayor
Substitutes: Adan, Kaka, Benzema, Granero, Garay, Higuain, Di Maria

The game was balanced enough but the genius mind from Real, Cristiano Ronaldo, took a shoot from 25m, Tottenham’s goalkeeper, Gomez , let’s the ball slide through his hands. A small score but add +1 at the four from the first round and you have a qualification obtained.

Next stage of UEFA Champions League is a new “El clasico” from Primera Division between Real and Barca.

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The english duel, 1-0 for Manchester.

on April 7, 2011 None comments

Champions League is used to deliver best games. Two heroes, one of the both sides, Wayne Rooney and Edwin van der Sar , first one his goal and second his saves made United favourites to win the English quarter-final.

The first leg was decided by Rooney’s strike in the 24th minute after great work by the evergreen Ryan Giggs. His goal is pretty important because it’s an away goal, and on the Old Trafford they will have the home advantage.

Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United):
“We’re not surprised. We didn’t get many chances, Nani in the second half and Chicharito’s [Javier Hernández] first-half header. Overall, it was a matter of a clever midfield. I think most of the time we contained them very well.”

Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea):
“We know it will be difficult now. We need to win at Old Trafford and have the confidence we can do this. Our performance tonight was good and we gave 100%. In general we played good football, with good control, but we conceded a goal too easily and it was very difficult to come back.”

Next Tuesday is not far away and the final result will set. Stay tuned.

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Barcelona, a walk in the park!

on April 7, 2011 None comments

Last night, UEFA Champions League offered us a magic evening. The entire Europe were awaiting the game between Barcelona and Shakhtar Donetsk. A game that was announced as a balanced one, with good odds on both sides, turned out to be a bit different.

With a shy game, the champions from Ukraine got the first taste of a Champions League quarter-final, when Iniesta puts the ball in the net in the 2nd minute from the start. Not having a lot time to recover from a shocking start, Alves served by Iniesta passes Pyatov and takes the score at 2-0 for the Catalans.

The break was a hope for recovery for Shakhtar’s players but, just minutes after, Barca strikes again through Pique. The Eastern Star was crashing bit by bit after Keita wrote his name on the scoreboard. 4-0 Barcelona.

The spark was just for a moment when Luiz Adriano scored the honor goal for Shakhtar, a moment forgotten after Xavi sealed a qualification after the first leg with a score of 5-1.

Real vs Barca is almost a sure thing but still, the ball is round!

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Chelsea, qualification achieved.

on March 17, 2011 None comments

Starting teams:

Chelsea – Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Zhirkov, Anelka, Drogba

Copenhagen – Wiland, Wendt, Zanka, Antonsson, Bengtsson, Bolaños, Claudemir, Kvist, Vingaard, Gronkjaer, N’Doye

This match starts also with a moment of silence and the message display, ”With you Japan ”, kept by both teams.
Hoping for miracles on English soil and trying to recover from a 2-0 defeat in Copenhagen, the Danish players start in force. But Chelsea is not there to act like a spectator in their hometown!

Copenhagen is overwhelmed in blue, Chelsea players are everywhere, an avalanche of occasions but no ball in the net.

Chelsea succeeds to accomplish its mission, obtaining the qualification after a good first leg in Denmark.

An so, Chelsea is the 3rd English team after Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in the quarterfinals.

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