CL Quarter Finals, day 1

The Hulk vs…eh…Hulk…

Two massive games on the table, with FC Porto trying to copy their result of some seasons back at Old Trafford and Arsenal traveling to Spain to take on Spain’s number two contestant in the CL, Real Madrid….oops… Villareal…

And Manchester United wouldn’t be tricked by the Portuguese for a second time, wouldn’t they?

Well, it was 0-1 after four minutes, with Edwin van der Sar having had to deal with matters in the first 15 minutes much more than in the whole CL campaign thus far. The Porto players took the game to the static Man United defense. I actually spotted a Oranje flag amongst the Porto fans and it makes sense. Porto played like Oranje against Italy/France. Soaking up pressure, allowing space and when in possession they’d add a couple of gears to the game with excellent runs and passes. Man United was shell shocked and needed quite some time to get back into the game. Wayne Rooney was able to equalize on a wonderful through-pass by…Porto center back Bruno Alvez. The only decent pass Rooney received in the whole first half. If it wasn’t for that howler, ManU wouldn’t have had one decent opportunity, while the guests had at least 10 shots at goal.

Two mistakes (Evans for ManU, Alvez for Porto) and two goals.

1-1 at half time. What can Sir Alex cook up?

Second half was much better from ManU’s perspective but it took a long time for the Reds to score. With Tevez and Giggs on, the team seemed more composed and composed. But despite having Porto under control, the goal took some time. With 5 minutes to go, it was a cool flick on back heel by Rooney enabling Tevez to score, 2-1. All seemed safe – relatively – for Sir Alex’ lads until a break by Porto some minutes later left their Argentinian replacement Marina unmarked in the box: 2-2.

In eight days, Porto will host Manchester and Porto never lost at home against an English side.

An exciting 90 minutes of football and I have a new hero in the person of Portuguese midfielder/winger/striker…The Hulk!

Villareal – Arsenal now!

And the Spanish number 4 in La Liga got off to a ravishing start, testing the Arsenal back line in the first minutes of the game. The Gunners had to do without Van Persie (injured) while Pellegrini held Robert Pires on the bench. Midfielder Senna scored the 1-0 in the first half with a rocket from distance and sloppy Arsenal could have gotten in more trouble. Adebayor didn’t make friends with the ref, waving his arms about while Fabregas clearly misses rhythm. In the second half, Arsenal started to play a tad quicker and the passing got much more crispy. And the thing with Adebayor is, of course, he will run at defenses time after time, knowing that the odds will one time favour him. And with Cesc picking up his game a nudge or two in the second half, that’s exactly what happened. Fabregas’ soulful pass found Adebayor in the box, with a yard of space. But…with his back to the goal. No problemo. Adebayor cushions the ball with his chest and with a superb bicycle kick, he outfoxed goalie Gomez: 1-1. Arsenal had the better of the game in the second half and with some more composure, could have and maybe should have killed the game off in the last 10 minutes.

Those legs…

So, we’re up for some exciting thrillers in a week’s time.

And tomorrow, it’s Van Bommel vs Messi. And Kuyt vs Hiddink . Can’t wait!