Madsear's Guide to the Champions League.
(All hail the return of Madsear! I'm telling you with Baggiesboy and Mr. Mad up front, we have a terrible twosome of strikers on the No Mas side. That's right, mates, I'm the manager of this squad and I play the 4-4-2. Madsear and the Bag, lemme tell you something, they may not be the quickest front pair you've ever seen, but they're both linebacker-size and mean as all hell. If I were you? I'd just let them score. Now on with the CL... - L)
Here they are, the quarterfinals. And just like last year, we have the four English (let's say the four Premiership) powerhouses facing some continental sides. Let's start with tomorrow night's matches, the first one between AS Roma and Manchester United and the second between Schalke and Barcelona.
AS ROMA - MANCHESTER UNITED (2.30Pm @ ESPN2)
This looks like a classic. These two teams have met four times in the last year (who could forget the 7-1 humiliation sustained by the Romans at Old Trafford last year). After having eliminated Real Madrid in what may have been the match of the year, Luciano Spaletti's team are hoping to pull the same prank on Sir Alex's boys on April Fools Day. A few hours ago, during the press conference, Spaletti hailed Manchester as "the best team in the world, certainly the best team I have seen in the last decade." Okay Luciano, stop the buttlicking right now - your team is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, the big surprise would be to see ManYoo not win the Champions League this year, given how they've already dominated their opponents during the group stages. Manchester is the favorite and deservedly so. But AS Roma is special. They are the only team in Europe playing like one. They have stars, many of them. Some people, yours truly included, believe Francesco Totti to be, on a good day, the best player in the World (I've said the same about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and it's still true). Roma plays the most beautiful game second only to... well, Manchester. Which is why tomorrow night's battle is sure to be interesting. On one of the largest pitches in Europe, two of the faster teams going at it. Something nobody should miss.
Manchester should win because their ace, Cristiano Ronaldo, is playing the best football of his life (and that's saying something), scoring his 35th goal of the season last Saturday. Add that to the fact that the "Cappo di tutti Cappi", Francesco Totti has been injured in Cagliari and may not be playing the home bout and you could bet safely on the Red Devils. I'm still thinking, however, that a draw is possible for Roma, if not more.
SCHALKE 04 - BARCELONA
It is now official! The Fantastic 4 experiment at Barcelona is a failure. They only played two games together and they're done - Leo Messi is injured, Thierry Henry is saving his back for this summer's Euros, Ronaldinho may be sold somewhere in the Premiership, while Samuel Eto'o is the only player looking like his old self lately. Juan Laporta took a chance and failed miserably. The only way for Frank Rijkaard to keep his job during the summer and prevent "The Special One" from coming back to Bernabeu would be to win the Champions League. Only problem is, it's not looking too good these days on the Barcelona side. Losing to lowly Real Betis is not exactly the best way to prepare for such a rendez-vous, especially if you lose Samuel Eto'o in the process.
The good news for Barça is that Rafael Marquez (really? he's playing? shit I would have thought he'd still be resting - L) and Gabi Milito are reporting for duty. Given how bad their defense has been lately that's more than good news. The other good news is that their opponent is just Schalke 04.
The German side has never been this high in the competition and are already giving The Humble Speech. Slomka is smart enough not to put any pressure on his boys but he knows full well that if they want to beat Barcelona, this is it. They can surprise some people with their midfield. If Rakitic and Jones are playing, they can be as good if not better than the Toure/Iniesta pairing that has not been working perfectly these days, with Yaya Touré working overtime to cover for Xavi and/or Andres.
Schalke are not well known and it's a shame, but Barcelona very well could meet with another surprise if they're not focused and play like they did this Saturday past.
This looks like a classic. These two teams have met four times in the last year (who could forget the 7-1 humiliation sustained by the Romans at Old Trafford last year). After having eliminated Real Madrid in what may have been the match of the year, Luciano Spaletti's team are hoping to pull the same prank on Sir Alex's boys on April Fools Day. A few hours ago, during the press conference, Spaletti hailed Manchester as "the best team in the world, certainly the best team I have seen in the last decade." Okay Luciano, stop the buttlicking right now - your team is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, the big surprise would be to see ManYoo not win the Champions League this year, given how they've already dominated their opponents during the group stages. Manchester is the favorite and deservedly so. But AS Roma is special. They are the only team in Europe playing like one. They have stars, many of them. Some people, yours truly included, believe Francesco Totti to be, on a good day, the best player in the World (I've said the same about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and it's still true). Roma plays the most beautiful game second only to... well, Manchester. Which is why tomorrow night's battle is sure to be interesting. On one of the largest pitches in Europe, two of the faster teams going at it. Something nobody should miss.
Manchester should win because their ace, Cristiano Ronaldo, is playing the best football of his life (and that's saying something), scoring his 35th goal of the season last Saturday. Add that to the fact that the "Cappo di tutti Cappi", Francesco Totti has been injured in Cagliari and may not be playing the home bout and you could bet safely on the Red Devils. I'm still thinking, however, that a draw is possible for Roma, if not more.
SCHALKE 04 - BARCELONA
It is now official! The Fantastic 4 experiment at Barcelona is a failure. They only played two games together and they're done - Leo Messi is injured, Thierry Henry is saving his back for this summer's Euros, Ronaldinho may be sold somewhere in the Premiership, while Samuel Eto'o is the only player looking like his old self lately. Juan Laporta took a chance and failed miserably. The only way for Frank Rijkaard to keep his job during the summer and prevent "The Special One" from coming back to Bernabeu would be to win the Champions League. Only problem is, it's not looking too good these days on the Barcelona side. Losing to lowly Real Betis is not exactly the best way to prepare for such a rendez-vous, especially if you lose Samuel Eto'o in the process.
The good news for Barça is that Rafael Marquez (really? he's playing? shit I would have thought he'd still be resting - L) and Gabi Milito are reporting for duty. Given how bad their defense has been lately that's more than good news. The other good news is that their opponent is just Schalke 04.
The German side has never been this high in the competition and are already giving The Humble Speech. Slomka is smart enough not to put any pressure on his boys but he knows full well that if they want to beat Barcelona, this is it. They can surprise some people with their midfield. If Rakitic and Jones are playing, they can be as good if not better than the Toure/Iniesta pairing that has not been working perfectly these days, with Yaya Touré working overtime to cover for Xavi and/or Andres.
Schalke are not well known and it's a shame, but Barcelona very well could meet with another surprise if they're not focused and play like they did this Saturday past.
posted by madsear at 6:17 AM
2 Comments:
God Bless those crazy mancs that make the trip to Rome. Everyone hates them, I can't even imagine the police "protecting" them if it gets hairy with the Roma Ultras.
And that's the return legs sussed. Okay, so it's possible that Schalke could pull something out of their as-er, hats at the Nou Camp, it looks very good for the Catalans and the Mancunians at this point though.
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