So it was honours even in the first Mourinho v Ferguson battle last night. The 0-0 draw at the San Siro between Inter and Manchester United will have left both camps fully believing that they can triumph in the second leg.
Inter will be pleased that they haven’t conceded a goal at home and United will be pleased to get back to Old Trafford with no deficit to overcome.
Dominated
The first thirty minutes were dominated by United and chances fell to Ronaldo and Giggs that on another day you may have expected them to take. Inter gradually got back into the game and in the second half, they showed just about enough to convince United that the home leg will be absolutely no stroll in the park. The best chance fell to Adriano who scuffed his shot horribly when well placed.
Wayne Rooney looked lively when he came on with ten minutes left but got himself booked for a perfectly fair tackle. I hope that card will be rescinded.
I suppose with the home leg to come United are just about favourites in this tie now but with a 1-1 scoreline at Old Trafford being enough for Mourinho’s men, it is still a tough one to call.
Unfortunately
At The Emirates Arsenal took on Roma in the second of the England v Italy trilogy. Arsenal had several chances in this game but unfortunately for them, many of them fell to Nicklas Bendtner. The self professed ‘best striker at Arsenal’ couldn’t manage to take any of the opportunities and the team could well regret that when they travel to Rome for the return.
Robin Van Persie is becoming almost as important to Arsenal as Gerrard is to Liverpool or Lampard to Chelsea. His run into the box just after the half hour mark drew a foul and he got up to confidently to despatch the penalty.
Misses
At times, Roma were ripped apart by Arsenal but more misses followed and Arsenal couldn’t increase their lead. Almunia was called upon to make at least one fine save to prevent Roma bagging the all important away goal and the tie is far from over.
Again, this one is hard to call but I guess Arsenal are just about favourites to go through as they try to protect their lead.
In Madrid, Atletico took on Porto in a game that had everything. Maxi Rodriguez gave Atletico a valuable fourth minute lead, but Porto came back strongly and Lisandro Lopez equalised on twenty-two minutes.
Horrendous
When Diego Forlan tried a shot from twenty-five yards just on half-time the crowd moaned as he hit it softly, straight at Porto keeper Helton. What happened next was something that Helton will never forget. The comedy value of his horrendous error that allowed the ball to dribble into the net was high for all but the Porto fans.
In the second half, Porto pushed hard for an equaliser and after missing one good chance, Lisandro Lopez added his second and gave Porto a deserved draw.
With two away goals, Porto must be strong favourites to go through in this one.
Tremendous
The fourth game saw tournament favourites Barcelona travel to Lyon. The French champions took the lead after seven minutes when Juninho scored with a tremendous free-kick from way out on the left. It was a truly wonderful strike and left Victor Valdes with no chance.
Lyon were the better side in the first half and Benzema was a constant threat. He struck a post in the first half but then Samuel Eto’o did the same for Barcelona.
After the break Barcelona improved without ever getting near to their best. They equalised from a corner that was flicked on and Thierry Henry dived to head home at the far post.
Favourites
The game finished 1-1 which must leave Barcelona as strong favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.
There will be more excitement this evening as Liverpool travel to Real Madrid, Chelsea take on Juventus in the third of the England v Italy games, Bayern Munich travel to Lisbon to play Sporting and Villarreal have home advantage over the Greek side Panathinaikos.
This could be the most exciting final stages of the Champions League for some time. None of the ties are really easy to predict.
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