Soccer is a wonderful thing. Even when you think you have it figured out, the game is always ready to surprise you. Two of the Quarter-Final results did just that. My score is now 7 right and 5 wrong. Still not much better than a coin toss, and probably worse than a monkey with a dart board.
Inter breezed past CSKA Moscow with some efficient, if not spectacular performances. 1-nil at home and then away are not great results, but the Russians were no pushovers. Jose Mourinho can be happy that his side managed to NOT CHOKE for the first time I can remember. This means that Inter will meet Barcelona in the semis; a match that I am confident will provide the tournament’s eventual winner.
Barcelona took Arsenal apart, as expected, on the back of Lionel Messi’s sublime performance. If there is any debate about who Maradonna’s successor really is, it can now be put to rest. Messi’s four goals against Arsenal (including a first half hat-trick) provided further proof that this is the best player in the world. Let’s just hope that he shows up in South Africa this summer.
Lyon managed to get past Bordeaux on the back of a convincing 3-1 victory at home. This one really disappointed me. I was betting on Bordeaux making it all the way to the finals. Unfortunately for me, Lyon was just too organized in the second leg to let their Ligue-1 rivals make up the deficit. I don’t think anyone expected Lyon to go this far, so I don’t feel too bad about picking them to be out by now.
The most surprising outcome was Bayern Munich beating Manchester United on away goals. The Bavarians have surprised me every round this year, and I think I’m finished with betting against them. I will say, however, that I felt that Wayne Rooney would be the difference, and I was proved right. I have no doubt that the injury ruling him out of the second leg was the turning point here. Congratulations Bayern, you really stunned the world here.
So, for the first time in quite a while, there is not a single English team in the Semi-Finals. However, I don’t feel, as some do, that this presages a long term drop in quality of the Premiership. Most of Europe’s money and top players still reside in England, and the league’s internal parity is getting to be quite good. I think this year’s results reflect success on Platini’s part. His new policies aimed at leveling out the game at the top levels seems to be working. Hopefully this trend will continue. Nobody wants to see a final with two teams from the same country ever again; all three of them I’ve seen have sucked.
Alright, I will return with Semi-Final predictions. Hopefully they will be more fantastic than my last batch. Ciao.
