Chelsea played well, fair enough, but if some of the Barca players were wearing different boots the headlines would have been different.
I disagree. Well, I agree about the rest of Spanish football (this Real team would surely not be second in the Prem), but about Tuesday’s match. Chelsea came out with one aim only; to shut Barcelona down. They played very well indeed yet only just succeeded, and despite having 9 men behind the ball at almost all times, never completely stopped Barca from playing. Entirely incapable of scoring is a massive overstatement, IMO. No, not so many clear-cut chances, but the threat was always there. Stalemate over another 90 or 120 minutes is very far from a foregone conclusion.
Barca’s post-match reaction to their tactics was pretty funny though, it has to be said. “You … you can’t defend! That’s not fair!”
I’m hoping Chelsea win just to piss off Platini. English dominace? In the 90’s an Italian team made the CL final, what 6 times in a row? Where was the uprorar then?
Newcastle look to be in real trouble but they should sneak past 'boro.
Liverpool aren’t giving up the ghost but it probably doesn’t matter. United should stroll to the title.
'Boro aren’t who they need to sneak past. It’s Hull or Sunderland they need to nose out. Now, Hull haven’t been exactly scaring people lately, but with three games left, it’s tough to see where Newcastle are going to get their extra win. And if Hull manage to sneak a point tomorrow from Villa, that’ll be an even tougher row the Toon will have to hoe.
As an aside, The womens FA Cup Final is being shown on ITV.
Arsenal v Sunderland, the Arse making their 4th appearance in 4 seasons.
From what I can see those gals would give Newcastle a thrashing 
Newcastle might quite like that!!! 
Poor ol’ Hull. It doesn’t look a happy camp at all. Cousin was snapping at anyone and everyone, Geovanni in particular getting it in the neck. And while the latter was having a bit of a shocker, Cousin was hardly playing so well as to be able to lecture others. Not encouraging signs for Hull fans.
It really is hard to see where any of the bottom five are getting their next point from. Hull might hope to get something out of Stoke or Bolton (though I wouldn’t bet on it), and obviously someone’s going to get something out of Boro/Newcastle, but other than that there’s not much going. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many teams competing so hard to be relegated. At the moment it looks like even 35 points might see a team safe, which is unbelievably low.
Jeez, man, talk about damning with faint praise. 
So much for it being a trophyless season for Arsenal! 2-1 to the Arsenal Ladies!
Still holding out hope that the men can accomplish something tomorrow night. If only Arshavin wasn’t cup-tied…
I think it will depend on what team Ferguson picks. One with Tevez supported by Rooney and Ronaldo may well devastate Arsenal. Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson (can’t wait for Hargreeves to return) should be able to contain Arsenal.
Well, that was over quickly. 4 Arsenal goals in the second half, anyone?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
No, thought not.
I’ll never count a team like Arsenal out. The bastards could still make a game of this, though I hope not.
well that’s a bit of an anti-climax. I suppose Arsenal will be looking for revenge when they come to Old Trafford. If United beat Man City on Saturday then the Arsenal match will become less and less relevant.
Time to get Rooney and Evra off now, come on…
EDIT: And off goes Evra.
2nd EDIT: And Rooney. Phew.
I was enjoying that until the Fletcher sending off. It’s definitely put a dampener on the victory for me.
Won’t matter. They can whip Chelsea without him.
Assuming Chelsea win tomorrow. I think Barcelona will win it to set up a very interesting cup final.
One hopes that the rumours about United and Ribery are patently false.
I remember someone upthread mentioning that action replays will never be used for match decisions, but tonight’s Fletcher incident was a perfect example of why they should.
Because a penalty decision involves a natural pause in the game anyway, there is no excuse for important wrong rulings like the one in this game not to be settled fairly. It would only have took a moment for the ref to be shown a clip of Fletcher’s wonderful tackle, and a player wouldn’t be having his dreams dashed.
A less drastic option than action replays might be simply to give the players back the right of appeal.
Yup. It is absolutely ridiculous that referee’s mistakes are protected more than a player’s right to fairness.
I got nothing to say 