Last 4 Results: Leg 1, Day 1

Ugly.

Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea

In a virtual replay of last year's semifinal against Manchester United at the Camp Nou, Barcelona's high flying attack were frustrated by a single-mindedly defensive Chelsea game plan. Guus Hiddink took a page out of Sir Alex's playbook and was content to sit back and clog all the space in the box and hope for a lucky goal on a counter or set piece. Despite the fact that Barca controlled 65% of the possession, and out shot them 20-3, the Blues were rarely worried as Barca were forced to take most of their shots well outside the area. The tie will now be decided at Stamford Bridge with the worst news for Barca being the loss of their veteran central defenders, Rafa Marquez to a season-ending knee injury, and team captain Carles Puyol to suspension for picking up his 3rd yellow card. Chelsea must now be considered favorites to reprise their appearance in the final as the momentum swings decidedly the way of the tenacious Londoners.

Round of 4: Barcelona v. Chelsea

Round of 4: Manchester United v. Arsenal

Brackets: Semifinals

(click to enlarge)

Round of 8 Pool Standings

Once again the Power Rankings have proved atypically prescient in predicting the pool teams' standings. With each pick in this round worth 4 points, Team Jerusalem retains his place at the top of the table with an impressive 11-1 record, but shares the spot with Cantona who's EPL expertise and "law of averages" theory on English head-to-head matches saw him correctly select Chelsea over Liverpool. As mentioned before, the rest of us all picked en masse, except for Eastern Influence who also rode lucky Guus Hiddink up a couple positions on the table, while Crown City FC's Bayern boys let him down both literally and figuratively.

The next round figures to separate the wheat from the chaff as each correct pick is worth 6 pts. The ties begin next Tuesday, April 28th so be looking to make your selections over the weekend.

Last 8 Results: Leg 2, Day 2

C. Ronaldo is pumped about the tie-winner.

Porto 0-1 Manchester United {Agg: 2-3, United advance}
------------------------------Ronaldo '6

Cristiano Ronaldo's scorching 35m strike proved all that was necessary to eliminate Porto from the competition. United's defense looks to be back in form as they finally delivered a clean sheet for the first time in six matches.


Arsenal 3-0 Villarreal {Agg: 4-1, Arsenal advance}
Walcott '10
Adebayor '60
Van Persie '69 (pen)

Arsenal made good on their reputation for attacking football in a dominant performance against upstart Villarreal. Young English international Theo Walcott has emerged from injury in even better form as he contributed heavily to the Gunners' forays into the Yellow Submarine's defense. Arsenal will face Manchester United in the fourth all-English semifinal in five years. Incidentally, this is the third year in a row that three English sides are featured in the last four.

Last 8 Results: Leg 2, Day 1

Drogba and Ballack celebrate Alex's scorching free kick goal in a wild one at the Bridge.

Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool {Agg: 7-5, Chelsea advance}
------------------------------Aurelio '19
------------------------------Alonso '29 (pen)
Drogba '51
Alex '57
Lampard '76
------------------------------Lucas '81
------------------------------Kuyt '83
Lampard '89

In a match which some are already calling perhaps the best CL match ever played, Chelsea stormed back to defeat Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Twice Liverpool were one goal away from pulling off an astounding comeback to advance to the Last 4, but the Blues were up to the task each time. Lampard's goal in the 89th minute was the final nail in the Reds' CL coffin.


Bayern Munich 1-1 Barcelona {Agg: 1-5, Barcelona advances}
Ribery '47
------------------------------Keita '73

Bayern proved to be more energetic on home soil with a much more dangerous attack in the opening half of the second leg. As transfer rumors swirl, Ribery did well in what may have been a job interview for his future club by scoring the only German goal against them early in the second half of play. However, Malian Sedou Keita delivered the knock out blow with a lethal finish on a deft dish from Xavi after a beautifully built-up series of one touch passes.

Last 8: Mid-Tie Power Rankings

1. Cantona
___Team Jerusalem
2. Banana Island
___Big Bend (Team Auckland)
___The Continentalist
3. Real Marin
___Easter Influence
4. Claret & Blue
5. Crown City FC

There was a definite herd mentality in this round's picks. Out of the 36 picks made there were only 3 deviations from the group: Cantona and Eastern Influence picking Chelsea, and Crown City FC picking his boys from Munich. Chelsea's surprise spanking of Liverpool at Anfield sees Cantona and EI rise up through the ranks, while Bayern's listless debacle at the Camp Nou has cast CCFC down to the very bottom. Of course nothing's decided yet, and with this being Easter, there's always hope that CCFC will rise again.

We'll know more when the second leg matches are played this Tuesday and Wednesday.

Last 8 Results: Leg 1, Day 2

On a night of surprising results, Branislav Ivanovic scores the first of his two header goals in Chelsea's 3-1 victory at Anfield.

Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea
Torres '6
------------------------------Ivanovic '39
------------------------------Ivanovic '62
------------------------------Drogba '67

Barcelona 4-0 Bayern Munchen
Messi '9
Eto'o '12
Messi '38
Henry '43

Last 8 Results: Leg 1, Day 1

Emmanuel Adebayor saves Arsenal in spectacular fashion with an all-important away goal to secure the 1-1 draw on Spanish soil.

Villarreal 1-1 Arsenal
Senna '10
---------------------- Adebayor '66


Manchester United 2-2 Porto
-----------------------Rodriguez '4
Rooney '15
Tevez '85
-----------------------Mariano '89

Round of 8: Villarreal v. Arsenal

Round of 8: Manchester United v. Porto

Round of 8: Liverpool v. Chelsea

Round of 8: Barcelona v. Bayern

Waiting Out the International Break

While we wait for the Champions League to resume next week, I thought I'd throw out some videos of goals from the last week of league play. Two of the more in-form teams in Europe right now are Liverpool and Barcelona, who won 5-0 and 6-0 respectively when last they played.

Apologies to The Claret & Blue for highlighting a win against his Villa side, but the Reina to Reira goal embedded above takes the idea of 'direct football' to a whole new level. While it is still difficult to envision the Reds catching United in the EPL, watch out in the Champions League. Rafa knows how to win in Europe.

After hitting a month long rough patch, Barca seem to be back in groove that led them to a record breaking first half of the season. If you have a few minutes, take a look at the six goals here. If not, at least look at this mazey Leo Messi run. Forca Barca!

Also... please note that in the CL match results posted below (and from this point forward), text with the name of the goal scorer and time of goal hyperlinks to a video of the goal. Enjoy!