Chelsea 2 Manchester United 1
Chelsea moved level on points with Man United in the race for the premiership title.Chelsea started the match very well & pressed Man United from the start when Essen brought a save out of Van Der Sar in the opening minutes.Things got worse for United as Vidic had to be subbed in the 12th minute as he was caught in the face by Drogba’s knee.Hargreaves came on as United had to reshuffle their defence.Joe cole then got unlucky as he span on a ball in the 21st minute but his shot hit the angle of the bar then in the 24th minute Drogba & Essen had a lovely one two then Essen made a fantastic cross which went over everybody.Man United were very poor as Rooney who was alone up front found it very hard and with Giggs & Nani being very slow in joining him in attacks.A free kick then caused trouble as Ashley Cole floated it in & John Terry rose to meet the ball but couldn’t direct his header goal wards.Then success as all the pressure told as Chelsea took the lead Drogba done some neat work & put in a cross which Ballack in acres of space header across the keeper & into the net.The players then showed some class when they held up Frank Lampard’s shirt with R.I.P Pat Lampard on it Then the ref went & booked Ballack for taking his shirt off. Read more
Bayern Munich 1 Zenit St Petersburg 1
An Own goal by Bayern’s Lucio gave Zenit the upper hand in this semi final first leg & the away goal.Bayern will now have to score in Russia if they want to make the final in Manchester next month. Bayern made all the early possession & the running but couldn’t make any chances or any really clear cut.Bastian Schweinsteiger had bayern’s first good shot but it didn’t really test the keeper .Bayern then went one up in the 20th minute when ZeRoberto ran into the box with pace & was brought down by Fernando Ricksen which brought the ref to point to the spot Ricksen was booked for his high challenge which means he now misses the second leg.Ribery then stepped up to take the penalty which was a very poor taken one which the goalie Viatcheslav Malafeev saved but the rebound came straight back to Ribery who then put it into the net to score.Malafeev was then called upon a few more times in the first half when he had to save from a Ze Roberto free kick & then being very alert to keep out Martin Demichelis.Just before the break Oliver Kahn was called upon to save from Radek Shirl & then Igor Denisov who had his shot blocked . Read more
Rangers 0 Florentina 0
Rangers will be pleased with the result as they held italian side Florentina to a goalless draw & didn’t concede an away goal.Florentina dominated this football match with lots of possession & slick passing but really didn’t create any clear cut chances on goal which Rangers were able to cope with. In the early part of the first half Mutu & Kuzmanovic could only fire in shots from distance but they were straight at the Rangers keeper Alexander.Rangers were playing like the away side & could only counter attack when Jean-Claude Darcheville who was playing up front on his own accelerated down the left but his cross was only deflected to the Florentina keeper Frey.
La Viola was pressing the Rangers defence & making them work when Jorgensen forced a shot which Alexander had to save.Florentina was worried though about Darcheville as a couple of times be spinned & turned & could have broke free but was fouled instead.Mario Alberto Santana was cautioned for his last foul on Darcheville as it was more like a rugby league tackle than a football one with the Rangers man now getting frustrated with all the close marking he was getting.Florentina was now getting restless with getting nowhere & just before the half ended Mutu thought he could cheat when he tried to direct a cross with his hand but the ref decided not to book him strange.
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Barcelona 0 Man Utd 0
It could have bin better for Man Utd but still held Barcelona to a draw after Ronaldo’s penalty miss in this cagey champions league semi-final.It only took Man Utd 2 Min’s when a cross into the box was meet by Ronaldo’s head which then went onto hit Gabriel Milito moving raised arm.The ref pointed to the spot straight away so up stepped Ronaldo who placed the ball to the right sending the keeper the wrong way but the ball hit the post & went to safety.Barcelona then took the game to Man Utd by their slick & probing passing by couldn’t really make any creative progress in the final third as the Man Utd defence held firm.United tried to attack but Barcelona play a lot with the ball & made United also have to play defensive football were Ronaldo & Rooney didn’t really get to be any force.Ronaldo did have another penalty shout turned down minutes later when he ran on to a bad pass made by Iniesta & was through on goal but Rafel Marquez got his body in the way to get the ball back to Valdes but on the tv replay it looked more like a barge which bundled Ronaldo in the penalty box.It took Samuel Eto’o just before half time to get his first chance after beating Rio Ferdinand on his inside but it was charged down by Wes Brown. Read more
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1
Chelsea have a clear advantage going into the second leg of this semi-final tie after Riise’s own goal deep into injury time.This was a fantastic match which saw Chelsea give a start to Florent Malouda & Liverpool Alvaro Arbeloa.Both teams started slow & was watching each others moves while Chelsea had all the nice & slick passing it was Liverpool had the better chances.It took Liverpool 7 Min’s to get there first when Steven Gerrard shot straight at Peter Cech then Dirk Kuyt was to blame when his poor ball control let him down when Alonso put him through & Cech was able to clear. Joe Cole was them put through & in the clear but he didn’t know he was in acres of space & wasted it.Chelsea then had penalty appeals turned down when Drogba was brought down by Carragher who went up field only for Cech to make a brilliant save from Torres. But it took a mix up & defensive errors to give Liverpool the lead.Alonso was alert & took a quick free kick which Lampard couldn’t get clear & Mascherano then miss-kicked & Kyut ran it & put the ball past Peter Cech& the half ended with Liverpool in front Read more
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