Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Chelsea vanquish Moscow ghosts
Some things are meant to be, others are not.
Frank Lampard said he never doubted Chelsea would win the penalty shootout against Bayern Munich in Saturday’s enthralling 2012 Champions League final, although they trailed in the spot kicks after Juan Mata’s early miss, while the hero of their astonishing victory Didier Drogba firmly believes it was Chelsea’s destiny to cover themselves in glory.
And rightly so one might add, having suffered an exact reverse four years ago on a rainy night in Moscow, which ended in agony for Chelsea after they were ahead in the penalty shootout against Manchester United only to see the elusive trophy snatched away by their Premier League rivals after John Terry’s barely believable miss.
Chelsea dominated long spells of the Moscow final which also ended in a strength-sapping 1-1 draw after extra time while they were on the back foot for most of their encounter with Bayern, who had the distinct advantage of playing in their own Allianz Arena.
Along with Terry, who watched the drama in Munich unfold from the sidelines as he was suspended, Drogba was the villain of Chelsea’s downfall in Moscow after being sent off in the dying minutes of extra time.
The robust Ivorian could not have vindicated himself more emphatically against Bayern, having headed in an 88th-minute equaliser before he coolly slotted the final penalty to send his team and an army of Chelsea fans into raptures. He conceded a penalty in extra time but Arjen Roben missed it.
Is it a simple case of Lady Luck smiling on Chelsea on Saturday after turning her back in 2008?
Has Alex Ferguson lost his edge?
If it was a last-gasp attempt by the wily and trophy-laden 70-year old Scot to outfox his Italian counterpart Roberto Mancini, it backfired spectacularly as United were second best throughout the contest and were lucky not to have lost by a bigger margin.
Still refusing to accept that his team are in the driving seat to win the title after overhauling an eight-point deficit to go top on goal difference with two games left, Mancini appears to have unnerved Ferguson with his pre-game rhetoric just as he emphatically won their tactical battle on the pitch.
For all their class and brilliance, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs looked every bit their age against a robust and relentless City midfield, marshalled by Yaya Toure who trampled United’s veterans with imposing ease.
Fielding the ineffective Park Ji-Sung as an additional ball-winner alongside Michael Carrick left Wayne Rooney a lonesome figure up front, with Nani reduced to chasing shadows after the supply routes were cut off.
Should United lose the title in the home straight, Ferguson might be left wondering whether he would have been better off starting with Danny Welbeck and either Antonio Valencia or Ashley Young, as that would have forced United to adopt their usual adventurous strategy even if it meant taking more risks.
United’s performance and formation bore a striking resemblance to the one that tamely lost to Barcelona 2-0 in the 2009 Champions League final, after which Cristiano Ronaldo openly criticised Ferguson’s big-game tactics in Europe and left for Real Madrid after six years at Old Trafford.
Although United retained their Premier League title that year and won another one last season, their 3-1 defeat by Barca in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley again exposed chinks in the armour which Ferguson has been unable to plaster.
City v United is fitting climax to Premier League title race
Three weeks ago it seemed the Manchester derby would be little more than a dead rubber after City’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal left champions United eight points clear at the top, in a commanding position to clinch their 20th league title and their fifth in the last six seasons.
But a rollercoaster Premier League title race produced yet another twist after United’s 1-0 loss at lowly Wigan, followed by a rip-roaring 4-4 home draw with Everton in which they threw away a two-goal lead late in the game, let City back into the title race after they had squandered a seven-point lead over United with their own dip in form.
Fans who will cram into City’s stadium on Monday and millions watching the showdown on television throughout the world could not have asked for a more thrilling finale, with local pride and bragging rights as well as the league title at stake.
United are three points clear of City with three games left. They will be almost assured of retaining their crown with a win and a draw would also leave them in the driving seat. City, on the other hand, will go top on goal difference if they win and that outcome would perhaps force their shrewd manager Roberto Mancini to concede the title race was wide open.
Since United went eight points clear, Mancini has repeatedly stated that City’s title challenge was over and refused to make a U-turn even after his team closed the gap to three points.
A master in tactics, motivation and beating his rivals to the finish line, Ferguson appears to have finally met his match in mind games as the pressure, for once, seems to have rattled his team and not the opposition.
I surely do hope the blue side of Manchester manage to pull off the game of the season.
It should be a game to remember & importantly a game to haunt Man Utd player & fans for life…
– YNWA
no prizes to guess the root for this hatred 
English plight in Europe is no fluke
Anyone who might have assumed the deteriorating form of English clubs in Europe since Manchester United won the 2008 Champions League resulted from a convergence of misfortunate circumstances such as tough draws or mounting injuries to key players has been emphatically refuted.
Come Thursday, the Premier League might be left without a single club to represent it in either the Champions League or the less fancied Europa League, where Manchester rivals City and United were not just beaten but also played off the park last week by rivals many of their fans will have considered second-class opposition.
Especially unimpressive were Manchester United, who can consider themselves lucky to be taking only a 3-2 deficit to their return leg clash at Spanish side Athletic Bilbao, whose fans did all the singing at Old Trafford as the Basque outfit outplayed the English champions on their own turf like no other team in recent history.
“We were well beaten and they were the better team,” said United manager Alex Ferguson after their Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea produced a stellar performance to give his team a glimmer of hope they can overturn the tie in the cauldron of Bilbao’s San Mames stadium.
I can’t remember Ferguson heaping so much praise on any European opposition that visited Old Trafford in the last two decades, including the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich.
Like United, stuttering Chelsea and their caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo also face a daunting task of overturning a 3-1 first leg deficit in their Champions League last-16 clash with Napoli, who geared up for the trip to Stamford Bridge with a 6-3 rout of Italian Serie A rivals Cagliari on Friday.
Premier League leaders Manchester City are in the best position of the three to progress as they have only a 1-0 deficit against Sporting Lisbon to overcome at their stadium. But an away goal for the visitors – who are fourth in the Portuguese first division with only a theoretical chance of winning the title - could mean more European disappointment for City, whose Champions League debut ended in a group stage exit at the hands of Bayern and Napoli.
Va-va-voom. Vintage Henry scores on Arsenal return.
The clock said 68 minutes, and no one at the Emirates Stadium in north London was looking at the action on the pitch as the fourth official held aloft his lit-up board to signal the re-introduction of Thierry Henry to English football.
Ten minutes later and he’d scored the game’s eventual winner. Comebacks don’t get this good this often.
14 to replace 15 shone the bright numbers before the goal, but alas Henry’s former number has since been taken by young English talent Theo Walcott, who idolises the French great.
Now, for six weeks and six weeks only after which he will return to the United States with the New York Red Bulls, Henry can be seen wearing an Arsenal shirt with the number 12, the same as his France days during which he won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship.
The only numbers Arsenal fans will care about are 228, 229 and who knows, possible even into the 230s.
With a trademark movement of his right boot, Henry had added to his record Arsenal tally of 226 having watched his new teammates spurn chance after chance against Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup.
Arsenal fans out there, does this worry you? Would you like to see Arsene Wenger bring in another striker in the January transfer window given the lack of goals?
That’s efficiency – Thierry Henry style. More trouble from Arsenal, it’s what everybody’s expecting.
Liked this Reuter’s soccer blog — as good, informative and complete like any top sports news website out there.
And Porto will play…..Europa League draw provides some stardust
There was the usual hushed silence and then sudden intake of breath heard in Nyon on Friday, though not for the Champions League Round of 16 draw but the first two ties of the Europa League Round of 32.
Holders Porto will play mega-rich Manchester City, they were the first two names out of the little plastic balls when UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was finally able to open the second after Davor Suker had tried and failed, and Ajax Amsterdam will take on Manchester United.
So what about the Champions League draw? Well, here it is in full:
Olympique Lyon v APOEL Nicosia
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
does the 2-2 draw with Milan change your mid Don Emiliano? Also remember Fabregas and Sanchez have been added to Barca’s roster
