First leg predictions:
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea
Barcelona 2-1 Manchester United
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Barcelona 1-2 Man Utd
Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
Barcelona 2-2 United
Gagging for the Liverpool game now. Expect Rafa to revert to 4-2-3-1 but you wouldn’t know. I wonder if Pennant has played himself into contention at all (apparently had a cracker against Fulham and plays reasonably well against A.Hole). Probably not though - I’m sure Kuyt will get the nod.
I’m gagging for the Man U game. Could be an absolute cracker. Even kind of looking forward to theChelsea Pool game. Can’t beat games with this much at stake. The tension is always high.
Things to watch out for tonight.
-JT with a crunching early tackle on Torres.
-Torres’ knee-slide dive. Often employed with an extra shoulder twist.
-A deflected goal.
-Ashley Cole being a cock.
-Carragher getting away with a dodgy handball/jersey tug.
Chelsea haven’t managed to sell out their ticket allocation for tonight’s game.
Was on a 16 hour train ride that arrived at 6am yesterday morning with an onward journey to Hong Kong. Was pretty beat so decided to have a nap at 11pm until 2.15am with the game on at 2.45am. Set my alarm but slept through it and awoke at 4.44am. Argh.
Fook Riise. Was Aurelio injured that he came off?
No idea Clarkey - didn’t see the match as I was helping TFK to a 0-7 defeat out at Astro. Did ya see the goal though yet? It was some shocking error - sometimes you get unlucky owngoals - this one was just down to carelessness and incompetence together.
was only dipping in and out of the match as i had things to do…think he(ayrelio) was stretchered off alright…
Aurelio went off with a groin injury after about an hour. It was just as I got in from the astro debacle but I don’t think his injury was connected. The ball bounced too close to Riise for him to stoop down and head it away. It was clearly a right foot clearance but he simply wasn’t capable of using his right foot.
Great to hear the liverpool result, I slept through it. Was it a shit game? The thought of Liverpool winning the European Cup fills me with more dread than I could have possibly imagined. Sad, I know, but it would be pretty unbearable. Hopefully Chelsea get their shit together for the second leg.
No need to worry Jun. Liverpool won’t win because Utd are going to win it. I couldn’t care less who wins the Chelsea - Pool game, bring it on I say.
Great result for Chelsea. I cant see them losing or drawing 2.2 with Liverpool.
Thompsons reaction after Riises goal.
That sort of bias is in punditry is shocking. Thompson is a complete fool.
I only saw the last half hour and both teams were pretty poor. Liverpool couldn’t keep the ball and Chelsea were hoisting long balls up to Drogba and trying to feed off knock downs. The away goal turns the tie completely on its head as 1-0 is a superb result in a home leg for the hosts if both teams are fairly evenly matched but 1-1 sees the advantage move totally to the opposition. With a 1-0 Liverpool would have had the lead, would have been under no obligation to attack at Chelsea and would have almost ended the tie if they scored down there on the break. Now Chelsea are through as things stand and have the second leg at their place where they’re notoriously difficult to beat. It’s not insurmountable for Liverpool but they have it all to do.
I’d say next week’s game will be an absolute shitfest. Still think Liverpool could do it as they are in better form than Chelsea but Chelsea ae damn solid and will have Essien back. On a happier note, I put my four euro on 1-1 last night. Only got 9-2 but still.
Well, I had €20 on a Liverpool and Barca double at 9/2 so John Arne Riise doing a Jim McDaid on it (heading totally in the wrong direction) has completely scuppered that one.
United team:
Van Der Sar
Hargreaves
Rio
Brown
Evra
Park
Carrick
Scholes
Ronaldo
Tevez
Rooney
Bench
Tomaz
Pique
O’Shea
Silvestre
Anderson
Giggs
Nani
I dont like the look of the team at all. Vidic is a big loss but its the midfield that is concerning. Deco is playing for Barca.
Strange, strange team.
Just had a few quid on Barca at 6/4.
Don’t think it’s that strange under the Vidic circumstances really. Hargreaves is at right back cos he couldn’t trust neville after a year out. Park is in on the left cos he thought Nani wouldn’t help with messi defensively. Anderson is a bit of a suprise but I like him playing Tevez. Come on lads.
I’ve just gone 100 smackers on Barca at 6-4. Haven’t done a bet in a while and feel like getting excited about Barca, also think it’s a smashing price.