UCL 2007-2008 Last 16 Days Three & Four

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5 March 2008 
 
REAL MADRID 1 (Raul 75) 
ROMA 2 (Taddei 73, Vucinic 92) 
 
Pepe was shown a second yellow for helping Vucinic to the turf after the striker had already ran the ball out of play. A ridiculous decision though the ref was shocking throughout. Two minutes later the inexperienced Torres (on for experienced but extremely poor Salgado) misjudged the bounce on an overhit De Rossi cross, Vucinic rolled the ball back to Tonetto and he whipped a cross into the box, Taddei leapt in the air above a static Heinze to send a brilliant flick header past Casillas. Raul was clearly offside when he collected a Robinho pass and equalised. Roma still need to learn to play to the whistle. In any case it didn't matter because they held their nerve and scored a second. Panucci, a late sub for Cicinho, swung a free kick into the box, a dejected Casillas made a half arsed attempt to clear but missed and Vucinic headed into an empty net. 
 
Roma actually had more shots. Real were toothless without Van Nistelrooy. Spending close to 80 million on Dutch midfielders (Robben, Drenthe and Sneijder) was overkill. A Dutch striker, namely Huntelaar, would have been a much better investment. Anyone fancy Roma vs Barca? 
 
Roma win 4-2 on aggregate 
 
Attendance : 80,000 
Red Card : Pepe 71 (Real Madrid) 
Assists : Tonetto, Robinho, Panucci 
 
 
CHELSEA 3 (Ballack 5, Lampard 25, Kalou 48) 
OLYMPIAKOS 0 
 
Ballack headed Chelsea into the lead from a deep Lampard cross. The extravagantly paid duo were involved in the second. Makelele and Terry headed on after the Olympiakos defence failed to clear their lines, Ballack 
floored Nikopolidis with a punishing drive and Lampard tapped in the rebound. Lampard's corner took a deflection off the impotent Drogba, Carvalho miss-hit and Kalou scrambled over the line. 
 
Suddenly Chelsea have found their scoring touch and look like contenders again, at least they will do until they draw Liverpool. Imagine that for a final. 
 
Chelsea win 3-0 on aggregate. 
 
Attendance : 37,721 
Assists : Lampard, n/a, Carvalho 
 
 
PORTO 1 (Lisandro 86) 
SCHALKE 0 
 
Fucile was sent off for going in on Kobiashvili with a studs up foul after he lost possession. Lisandro Lopes received a pass with his back to play and shielded by two defenders, as he turned he swung a right foot shot in off a post to give Porto a long overdue lead following some truly horrific misses. 
 
Rafinha - bottom left, Helton gets a touch but not enough to keep the ball out 
Lucho - Poor, straight down the middle but Neuer dived the wrong way 
Rakitic - Confidently driven into the bottom right corner 
Bruno Alves - Straight down the middle but Neuer jumps off his line to punch clear 
Altintop - Bottom right again, Helton dances as the German takes a run up but only succeeds in confusing himself 
Lopes - A rising shot towards the right corner, Neuer makes an incredible back breaking, one handed save 
Jones - Slammed in off the underside of the bar 
 
Schalke didn't even give the pretence of attempting to score a goal on the break. Their tactics were 
uber-negative but it's hard to feel sympathy for a team who dive as much Porto. Farias 80th minute trip and roll was the pick of the bunch. Never beat against Germans in a shoot-out. 
 
1-1 on aggregate, Schalke win 4-1 on penalties. 
 
Attendance : 45,316 
Assist : Lucho 
 
 
4 March 2008 
 
MILAN 0 
ARSENAL 2 (Fabregas 84, Adebayor 92) 
 
Milan made an excellent start. Fabregas was forced to make a goal-line clearance from a corner and Inzaghi weakly volleyed at Almunia. Kaka', who has struggled with a knee injury since the Club World Cup, made one of his trademark counter attacking runs and found Pato unmarked at the back post, despite having most of the goal to aim at the youngster shot straight at Almunia. Kaka' combined with Oddo down the right and once again as the Arsenal defence backed off but he dragged his shot wide. Hleb turned onto a pass and Nesta, expecting the ball to be played to Adebayor, got drawn out of position, he recovered just in time to bring down the Byelorussian right on the edge of the penalty box. Instead of awarding a penalty or free kick the ref, who had a poor match, gave Hleb a yellow card for diving. Adebayor muscled his way past Nesta and Oddo on the left hand side of the box before rolling the ball to Fabregas who even had the time to take a touch before hitting the crossbar. 
 
Senderos was left unmarked at the back post from a corner but weakly shot at Kalac. Eboue failed to capitalise on a dreadful mistake by Pirlo in his own box, shooting horribly wide. Almunia was finally tested by a Pirlo free kick that took a cruel bounce in front of him and Pato flashed a shot wide of Almunia's left hand post. Just as Milan were finally building some pressure Fabregas struck. A poor touch allowed Hleb to steal the ball off Pirlo in midfield, he played in Fabregas and as the Milan defence backed off his low drive bounced inside a post. Flamini hit a longball down the right flank towards substitute Walcott, Kaladze fouled him but the youngster quickly got to his feet, ran into the box and centred for Adebayor to tap in his first Champions League goal and seal a thoroughly deserved victory for Arsenal. 
 
Arsenal because the first English side to beat Milan in the San Siro. 
 
Arsenal win 2-0 on aggregate. 
 
Attendance : 81,879 
Assists : Hleb, Walcott 
 
 
SEVILLA 3 (Alves 5, Keita 9, Kanoute 41) 
FENERBAHCE 2 (Deivid 20, Deivid 79) 
 
Inside five minutes Fenerbahce's goalkeeper Volkan Demirel handed Sevilla the lead and I'm sure many of us thought a place in the last 8. Alves hammered a free kick straight at him and he punched the ball into the net. The outstanding Seydou Keita made it 4-3 on aggregate four minutes later. Collecting a pass for Kanoute on the centre circle he drove forward before unleashing an extraordinary left foot shot which beat Volkan Demirel all ends up. Deivid levelled the tie on aggregate (though Sevilla lead on away goals) from a corner, rifling the ball through a ruck of players. Kanoute chested down an Alves cross, turned and volleyed in off Gokhan Gonul, 5-4. 10 minutes from time Deivid broke from the wall onto an Alex free kick and volleyed against a post, the ball bounced back to him off Palop and he emphatically put away the rebound to send the tie into extra time. With penalties looming Zico made what seemed a suicidal decision to take off Alex mid way through the second period of extra time. 
 
Penalty Shoot-Out 
 
Kanoute - Bottom left, 'keeper goes the wrong way 
Gokcek Vederson - whipped inside the left post, terrible height but Palop dived low 
Escude - Too central, an easy save for Volkan Demirel 
Edu - Figures he would miss. He was shocking in the first leg. It was actually a good penalty, low and hard but once again to the left, sooner or later one of the 'keepers would go the right way 
Dragutinovic - Hammered into the roof of the net, un-saveable 
Aurelio - Left of centre, Palop goes the wrong way 
Maresca - Struck with power but straight down the middle, Volkan Demirel saves 
Kezman - Another shot struck with venom, Palop didn't get close 
Alves - Driven low to the bottom left, Volkan Demirel scrambles to save and send the heavy favourites out 
 
5-5 on aggregate. Fenerbahce win 3-2 on penalties. 
 
Fenerbahce will take some beating at home but their defence is shocking. If they get the winner of Schalke vs Porto they've got a great chance of reaching the semi's. 
 
Attendance : 38,626 
Assists : Kanoute (won fk), Kanoute, Aurelio, n/a, n/a 
 
 
BARCELONA 1 (Xavi 3) 
CELTIC 0 
 
A sensational goal brought Celtic's slim hopes of quarter-final qualification to a screeching end. Standing on the left hand edge of the box Ronaldinho played in Sylvinho with a delightful disguised pass, the former Arsenal fullback hung a cross into the box which Xavi met with a magnificent mid air volley. The avalanche of goals failed to surface, thanks largely to Boruc, and to make matters worse for Baca injury prone midget Messi went off with a pulled hamstring on 38 minutes. A brilliant save denied Nakamura a late, late consolation goal. 
 
According to http://worldsoccer.about.com/od/soccerprofiles/p/lionelmessi.htm at 11 Messi was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency. He joined Barca at 13 after they agreed to pay for his treatment. I think it's safe to assume if someone has a growth hormone deficiency they are given a wrestlers favourite drug human growth hormone (HGH) as treatment and that probably explains why Messi is susceptible to muscle injuries so early into his career. 
 
Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate 
 
Attendance : 75,002 
Assist : Sylvinho 
 
 
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Ronaldo 41) 
LYON 0 
 
It was fitting that such a poor match was decided by a poor goal. From the edge of the box Anderson hit a weak Grosso clearance against Ronaldo, Clerc got the ball caught in his feet when trying to clear and Ronaldo worked an opening before firing past Coupet. 
 
Manchester United win 2-1 on aggregate 
 
Attendance : 75,521 
Assist : n/a 
 
 
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