The final eight of the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League all put in valuable performances and gave good accounts of them. The first legs were full of stories of anguish, style and what might have been. For the English clubs, it was a week full of mixed emotions and though, both are still in the game, injuries to their red-hot key men could have the final ultimate say in their future participation this year in European competition.
For at least forty-eight hours, the hearts of Manchester United, England and Fabio Capello must have been racing, when Wayne Rooney hobbled off in the Allianz Area, then was spotted outside the United team hotel on crutches. Had England’s World Cup dreams dies with this latest injury trauma? Fortunately, scans revealed the good news, minor ligament damage which meant all Three Lions fans could breathe a huge sigh of relief. For United though, the prognosis is not so good and a three week lay-off means we may not see Rooney in Europe until the final in Madrid, should United get there. That’s a big ‘should,’ as Manchester United’s night in Munich turned into a nightmare. Rooney scored a very early goal, cancelled out by a deflected Franck Ribery free-kick. Then, Bayern got ultimate revenge for the 1999 final, by scoring a deserving injury-time winner through Croatian Ivica Olic. Olic fully capitalized on a rare error from the consistent Patrice Evra, which pretty much summed up the evening for Sir Alex Ferguson. They do remain favourites for the return at Old Trafford this Wednesday, but any mistakes will be punished, which could lead to a surprising exit.
For sixty-five minutes, Arsenal had been given a football lesson at the Emirates by the masters from Barcelona. It was like men versus boys and had Manuel Almunia not produced an inspired first-half showing, the game would have been out of reach. Less than thirty seconds into the restart though, Zlatan Ibrahimovic proved all of his doubters wrong with a delicious lob over the advancing Almunia, then powered home a second before the hour mark. It looked like curtains for the Gunners, until an inspired move by Arsene Wenger. Theo Walcott was thrown on and he changed the game in an instant, causing the Catalan defence some horrendous issues. He scored straightaway from his introduction, then played a part in the debatable penalty won by Cesc Fabregas, which saw Carlos Puyol dismissed. Fabregas smashed home the spot kick, to complete the comeback, his last action this season, after scans on Thursday confirmed a broken leg. This is a hammer blow for the return as far as Arsenal is concerned, especially with William Gallas and Andrei Arshavin also facing long injury lay-offs. However, they have given Barcelona enough to worry about for the rerun of the beautiful game this Tuesday.
Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho remains still on target for their ultimate aim, after trouncing CSKA Moscow at the San Siro. However, they only managed to net one goal, through Diego Milito in the first game and with a tricky assignment in Moscow; a 1-0 advantage looks very risky indeed. So, must morale in the Inter dressing room after Mourinho’s pre-match comments claiming he hates Italian football. Finally, in the all-French tie, Lyon benefited from some dodgy decisions and cataclysmic Bordeaux defending to take a 3-1 lead back for the second leg. However, like CSKA, Bordeaux will still feel they have a chance in this tie, although it is now a hard road from here.
All four ties remain in the balance then for this week’s second legs. The question will be how well can the English cope without the loss of their key players, Rooney and Fabregas.
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