A blog about the latest soccer news, best players, transfer talk and anything else about the world game, with a heavy focus on the Selecao and Inter Milan!
So the first leg of the Barcelona vs Manchester United Champion’s League semi-final ended up a draw with no goals scored. It wasn’t the most exciting match I’ve seen but it had some moments of good action and controversy. Main one being Milito’s handball in the area that earnt Man U a penalty. Unfortunately C. Ronaldo smacked it into the crossbar and missed a golden opportunity to grab an away goal. There were quite a few other penalty appeals throughout the match but the game was mostly controlled by Barca, problem is, Eto’o was doing everything wrong. He wasted chance after chance after chance. Even worse than Eto’o was his coach who brain-farted twice to substitute the wrong people.
First he took off Messi at about the hour mark and although he had only recently been back from injury and will be needed in the return leg, he didn’t look tired and was the best player on the park. He brought in the youngster Bojan but he’s not quite ready for the big stage. Then Deco went for Henry. Deco was also playing well and it should’ve been Yaya that went to allow for another attacker.
Oh well, at least C. Ronaldo flopped again in a big match. He still doesn’t have what it takes when push comes to shove. So annoying how he complained about everything and looked up at the sky for answers. Very ugly traits for such a gifted player. The return leg should be excellent though. Enjoy the highlights below.
As I posted earlier, Manchester United were able to seal another 1-0 result at home against Roma. A Wayne Rooney effort made the difference.
Dynamo Kyiv faced off against Sporting Lisbon with a score that ending 2-1 in favour of Lisbon. The Kyiv goal was quite spectacular with a backheal assist. This left Group F with Manchester United comfortably on top, Roma and Sporting equal on points in 2nd and 3rd respectively (goal difference helping Roma). While Kyiv sit on the bottom with no points at all and a very difficult campaign ahead of them.
Rangers played a spectacular match against Lyon and were able to brush them aside 3-0 in France for some valuable points. Very strange indeed to see Lyon so overwhelmed. Puyol scored the first goal for Barca against Stuttgart after the keeper couldn’t hold on to a Ronaldinho header. The match ended 2-0 when the man of the moment, Messi, slammed home a Henry cut-back.
Robin van Persie slotted a nice goal after Adebayor performed a cut-back of his own to show he’s learnt a few things from the departed Henry. The final score was 1-0 to Arsenal over Steaua Bucuresti. Sevilla defeated Slavia Praha 4-2 with Fabiano scoring some nice goals (one leaving the keeper for dead). CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Inter were able to carry on their good form from earlier in the week where they destroyed Roma in a 4-1 drubbing. More importantly it was the form of Ibrahimovic which continues to win games for Inter, a brace from him sealed the score at 2-0. Check out the highlights for a truly spectacular finish on the second goal.
It seems that Milan have finally got their Duck. The duck I mean is Alexandre Pato from Inter (Inter of Brazil). Pato means Duck in Portuguese and Alexandre was given this nickname as he is from a place near Pato Branco (white duck) in Brazil. It’s funny that he played for a team named after Inter Milan but ended up with AC Milan, oh well, all the best to him! He has many Brazilians there to help him accustom.
He’s probably got a little coverage over the last year as he was involved in Inter’s Intercontinental Cup. They defeated Barcelona in the competition that used to be the Toyota Cup that puts the Champions League winners up against the Copa Libertadores winner. Brazil has had a good run over the last couple years actually (Sao Paulo defeating Liverpool the year before).
Alexandre definitely has much potential and AC Milan can probably thank Leonardo for bagging them another Brazilian talent (who also signed up Kaka’ from Sao Paulo some time ago). In my opinion, I think they’ll probably loan him so he can get some European experience before they start using him but he could already make an impact for them. Problem is he can’t start playing for them until January 2008 anyways, after paying out a fair bit for his buy-out clause they must be betting on him for the future. He definitely will be one to watch out for very soon! Check out his current abilities below…
