Champions League round-up

Man Utd fans, is there anything you feel you can read from Man Utd's current form that warrants alarm? In a season where the Red Devils aim to put a spanner in the Chelsea works to claim another title, they have won more away from Old Trafford impressively, with Sir Alex aiming to make their ground one to fear coming to, with 1 defeat and 1 win out of 6. This is in contrast to one's perception of coming to Old Trafford many seasons before. That in itself means the manager considers his side are not fearsome enough this season, 13 games gone, and that is a reflection of the team's progress overall. Comprehensively, Utd faltered at the weekend, in style, and last night they were expected to bounce back with anger and determination to show their fearsome reputation that they had enjoyed in previous European encounters.

When Lille attacked for their goal, captain Gregory Tafforeau ran down the left practically unchallenged and when he pass diagonally, it went across Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown to former Spurs player Milenko Acimovic, clearly seen running between Brown and Mikael Silvestre without anyone picking him up. Utd's best chances went to Christiano Ronaldo, with his contact hitting the ball off the underside of the crossbar, and Park Ji-Sung, on for Kieran Richardson, played in nicely by VNR only to miss with some contact made on him prior to. Utd were spared 20mins from time when Matt Moussilou headed freely over from centimetres from Mathieu Debuchy's cross, with the Utd defence comatose.

Sunday's clash with Chelsea at home is more even more significant, with both sides smarting from 1-0 defeats away in Europe where they were expected not to. The difference is while Jose Mourinho has the players and the hunger to put things back on the right track again, plus a second XI from which he can replace an injured player with little worry of disrupting the team's flow, Sir Alex is without key players and has a side wondering what is happening to them why they have lost twice in a row in such a manner. On the backsiding of a Roy Keane blast, one may question whether the blast was appropriate, but many say Keane is feeling it for the club and wants to raise the players. Critics say Ferdinand kept his place despite recent criticism, but who else is available to replace him anyway?

Arsenal conducted business last night with their man Thierry Henry marking yet another low, curling effort out of the blue that the keeper Jaromir Blazek couldn't expect, much less see. But they left it late in the game to wrap it up, with Henry replaced by Robin Van Persie on 66mins and Arsenal breaking minutes later on the counter. Either Gael Clichy or Lauren found Bergkamp on the left, he passed across to RVP, who seemed to have delayed too long but simply moved to his preferred left foot and curling in. Sub Emmanuel Eboue was key in RVP's 2nd, finding RVP on the edge of the box, the Dutchman this time finishing low with his right foot. It had been debated whether RVP or Reyes was the sharper finisher but with Reyes on the wing, RVP had clear instructions after replacing Henry, in that this was the moment to score goals if he had indeed improved. He didn't disappoint.

The football over the past 48hrs produced some goals that I hope we'll see from individuals in the WC2006. Splendid goals taken. All of Barcelona's goals were superbly taken as Panathinaikos capitulated. Andres Iniesta threading through for Mark Van Bommel's lob; Samuel Eto'o's header; Lionel Messi chipping over the advancing keeper and finishing; Messi and Ronaldinho, with a backheel pass to Eto'o, setting the Cameroon striker for his second off his weaker foot; Messi again, an 18 yr old Argentinian, finding Eto'o on the left and first time Eto'o sent a curling high ball over the keeper and in, the best goal of the game.

From Tuesday night's action, three of them came from Liverpool. For Fernando Morientes to score was something to quell the usual press mongers hovering over Anfield, but also for himself. Controlling a chip from Steven Gerrard, he characteristically chested it down and then finished, the delight obvious in his celebrations. Then in the second half Finnan's cross whipped in for Luis Garcia to glance a header in from outside the box, superbly taken. Then as Harry Kewell aimed to break through, the ball came within Djibril Cisse, who slotted it in crisply through the keeper's legs. No bias here, they were three well taken goals.

In Olympiakos v Lyon, Juninho Pernambucano's equaliser was best goal there, a trademark free-kick curled past the keeper's left into the corner. The Brazilian is the one Lyon player to have for freekicks and his touch has failed to disappoint the French side managed by former Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier. But where Inter Milan faced Porto, behind closed doors again, Hugo Almeida, Porto's Portuguese forward, unleashed a ferocious thunderbolt of a freekick from 30-35 yards that completely rocketed straight past Julio Cesar. There was no chance of stopping it. 21 goals Tuesday, 31 last night, a better Champions League week this season.

Finally, much may be said regarding Chelsea's defeat to Real Betis. Mourinho said Chelsea should not take into consideration Everton's position when they played at Goodison Park, and he said the same about Betis. The Spanish side came 4th last season after 16 wins, 14 draws, 8 defeats and currently lie 3 places off the foot of the Primera Liga after 2 wins, 3 draws, 5 defeats, 3 defeats coming at the Rui­z de Lopera. With Chelsea's current form, this defeat went against the grain but it was mentioned by Ray Wilkins on Sky Sports last night that Chelsea at least aimed to come back, which we would expect from such a side. And as Mourinho said after the game, they are a great side but weren't so on Tuesday, it's a matter of reviewing and correcting what went wrong.


RedsMan.