THE midweek games in the UEFA Champions League produced plenty of goals and saw three out of the four ties virtually settled, with the second legs still to come.
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| CRUCIAL: Rooney scores the only goal at the Bridge on Wednesday |
The one tie that remains in the balance is the all-England affair, although it is advantage Manchester United after the first leg at Stamford Bridge. Wayne Rooney can’t seem to stay out of the headlines at the moment. This time, he did so for the right reasons. Rooney struck the winner in United’s 1-0 success at Chelsea, to earn the Red Devils their first win in West London since April 2002. The only goal came in the 23rd minute. Michael Carrick picked out Ryan Giggs with a beautifully-placed long ball. Giggs made Jose Boswinga look silly, and by skipping easily around the back of the Portuguese defender, his pass told Rooney how to finish the silky move. Duly, Rooney delivered and this time, he kept his celebrations to a far more dignified manner. Chelsea struggled all night and seemed to lack the fight they should have shown, considering this is their only trophy chance this year. Fernando Torres still looks bereft of confidence and although Patrice Evra produced a goal line to deny Frank Lampard and Ramires was denied a certain stoppage time penalty, there could be no complaints over the final outcome. It sets up Tuesday’s second leg at Old Trafford perfectly.
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| DIFFICULT: Crouch's red card was a real letdown in Madrid |
However, Tottenham’s chances of progressing further look impossible, after suffering pure misery in Madrid. From the moment Aaron Lennon was withdrawn at the last minute with a throat infection, Tottenham’s night went from bad to worse, eventually losing 4-0 in the Bernabeau. Manchester City loanee Emmanuel Adebayor headed Real Madrid infront in the fourth minute, although Luka Modric could have dealt with the contact better on the line. Ten minutes later, Peter Crouch got himself stupidly dismissed after two crude challenges on Marcelo. Marcelo’s reaction to the red card was disgusting, but Crouch’s behaviour couldn’t be defended either, despite receiving some sympathy from Jose Mourinho. A second header from Adebayor shortly after the restart had Madrid in control and as the game wore on; their movement on the ball was simply too much for a tiring Spurs outfit. A beautiful strike from Angel di Maria painted a very grim picture with 18 minutes to go, and there was time for Cristiano Ronaldo to notch a fourth, producing the terminal blow. Surely, Real won’t need to worry about the second leg this coming Wednesday at White Hart Lane.
Another tie that is as good as over is the Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk quarter-final. From the moment Andreas Iniesta walked through the Ukrainian defence in the second minute, the gulfing class was evident. Barcelona won 5-1 through goals from Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Seydou Keita and Xavi. At the San Siro, the draw seemed to favour Inter Milan, but they were stunned by Schalke 04, who inflicted a 5-2 loss on the defending champions. Dejan Stankovic produced a brilliant strike in the first minute, his speculative effort from 55 yards leave Manuel Neuer rather red-faced. Afterwards, Schalke ran riot, as their great character won through. Some will be wondering why they are limping around in the mid-table region of the Bundesliga. Amongst the dismantling of Inter was a 70th Champions League goal for the incredible Raul. Cristian Chivu, who had been sent off in last week’s Milan derby, was dismissed for two yellows in this match too.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Schalke 04 are all but through to the semi-finals, but the English quarter-final remains right in the balance. The football world’s attention switches to Old Trafford for a belting second leg this week.
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