[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Juve got absolutely mauled by Real. Moment of the game must be a toss-up between Ronaldo's second and the Juve fans' classy reaction to it. Not often does one get a standing ovation at an away game.

I missed watching it live. Just caught up on all the action. Whatta goal !

[Chetan_Rao]

Unexpected scoreline at Anfield. Not the 3 scored, but the 0 conceded, solid second-half defending. 1 away goal at the Etihad and City will need 5 in 90 mins!

Caught a bit of luck too. Salah was (just) offside for the first goal, then Sane wasn't for the one that got disallowed late in the game.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Unexpected scoreline at Anfield. Not the 3 scored, but the 0 conceded, solid second-half defending. 1 away goal at the Etihad and City will need 5 in 90 mins!

Caught a bit of luck too. Salah was (just) offside for the first goal, then Sane wasn't for the one that got disallowed late in the game.

I agree, the 3 goals was not really surprise; City's defense doesn't have the appetite to create a wall unlike say how Mou setup his United team against the top 5. But what's surprising was 3-0 scoreline; with Lovren pairing up with Van dijk I was hoping that it won't end up as a 3-2 or 3-3, but they managed really well

[strawhat]

Well what a turnaround by Arsenal after a torrid last couple of months. Racking up wins and gaining momentum towards the fag end of the season. The scene keeps repeating itself.

CSKA were dispatched with ease yesterday. In the first half especially, the football was from the prime Wenger era. Exceptional. There is serious pace in this team but it has been restricted to the centre with Walcott and Ox gone. But they don't seem to capitalise on it nearly enough which is why they keep losing the big games. Ozil was brilliant though. The defense splitting passes are such a joy to watch. His partnership with Ramsey at CM is evolving beautifully. Really wish Ramsey signs a long term contract. Lac should really consolidate from here now that his confidence will be high.

Hopefully there won't be any surprises at Moscow and we can storm our way into the semis (fingers crossed). But this is Arsenal so anything is possible.

[Chetan_Rao]

Some great goals in European competition this week. Ronaldo, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey.

Arsenal were terrific to watch in the first half. Football played as it should be.

[vb-saan]

The guy now may have permanently angry look, but he has to resolve to ensure that his team won't be the one who will gift the trophy on a platter to the rival - Jose did it again! He did that a few years before against Liverpool (the infamous Gerrard slip) and now against CIty. As a Liverpool fan, naturally I don't like United, but this was a well-deserved one!

Now I hope City won't bounce back from this scar on mid-week

[knightrider_7]

City's nightmare week continues. Its Liverpool who go into the semis.

In the other match Roma beat Barca on away goals. Full credit to them for the way they have done it.

Two great matches. Had to watch them in two windows side by side.

[Chetan_Rao]

ROMA!!!! A European classic, nobody fancied them but what a performance on the night after nicking an away goal in the 1st leg.

The Liverpool - City game had some horrific officiating. Cards galore for comedy fouls, wrongly disallowed Sane goal and Pep sent to the stands for dissent. Liverpool defended well in the first half except that one moment when van Dijk switched off, then stepped on the gas in the second.

If some of Roma's magic rubs off on the Old Lady of Turin, we could hopefully have another classic tomorrow.

[vb-saan]

Two great matches yesterday – Man. City started off in the same way as they did against United on the weekend, and I would say Liverpool was lucky with the disallowed second goal. Pep’s frustration is understandable but happy to see the Red side in the semi-finals.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

ROMA!!!! A European classic, nobody fancied them but what a performance on the night after nicking an away goal in the 1st leg.

Roma did fire up especially after that first goal went in, but there was something wrong with Barca – they looked completely disjoint and was almost like nobody is sure of what they have to do; the fluency was completely missing.

[RiGOD]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Roma did fire up especially after that first goal went in, but there was something wrong with Barca – they looked completely disjoint and was almost like nobody is sure of what they have to do; the fluency was completely missing.

Roma did play really well yesterday and they did have a considerable physical advantage over the Barca players. Velverde should've seen this coming when chose to play the same eleven (almost) consecutively for the last, I dunno how many matches. Even the game against Leganes saw the top players including Messi playing in the starting eleven. And benching players like Dembele, Denis and Vermaelen rather than including them in the starting eleven, was a huge mistake IMO. Barca should've tried for an away goal much earlier, I'd say when it was 2-0 rather than trying hard for it after 3-0.

Anyway, it was absolute horror for a Barca fan like me. Hope they'll learn from here and do something to remain unbeaten in the League and seal the title as soon as possible. And as for Velverde, this man sure does have work to do.

[kavensri]

Though I did not watch the match, from the highlights it is clear to me that Roma had so many chances apart from those 3 goals. So, it is well deserved win for Roma, which very few expected when the draw was made and after the first leg matches are over. Key players should have been rested for the weekend league match as most of the Barca players looked tired. May be, they became complacent from the first leg score and thought that they cannot be beaten by more than 2 goals?
Whatever it is, this has to be classified as a tactical loss for Barca.
And me being a hard core Barca and ManC fan (in that order), a disappointed day (or should i say night) to begin with :(

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by vb-san

...Liverpool was lucky with the disallowed second goal. Pep’s frustration is understandable....

UEFA are staunch traditionalists and against introducing any video assistance measures to help referees, so dodgy decisions aren't going away anytime soon.

Even accounting for that, what really hurt City was they only managed 3(?) shots on target over a two-legged tie. Not good enough at this level of competition.

they looked completely disjoint and was almost like nobody is sure of what they have to do

Barcelona under Valverde aren't exactly the tiki-taka machine they were under Guardiola, but they still play a possession-based ground game that can be disrupted by a team willing to press them relentlessly and harass them off the ball. Roma did that well, and combined with their height advantage, were the perfect foil to Barca's tactics. Barca's midfield hasn't been the same since Xavi left and the now-aging Iniesta plays sparingly. De Bruyne would be a perfect addition, but Pep won't sell

[Chetan_Rao]

If anyone's wondering why there won't be any British referees at the World Cup, tonight was why.

[arunramaswamy]

I believe UEFA under any circumstances wants Real Madrid or Barca to be in the finals. But what a great come back by the best team in Europe by far, Juventus. They have shown great character time and again. Some thing the 'nervous' stars of United could learn. Sad to see Buffon ending his career similar to another legend Zidane. Must have been a deja vu moment for the Real manager. One more favourite bites the dust for me.

[rdst_1]

It was definitely a great match, but from a neutral's view, that was definitely a penalty, an extremely soft one though. If that foul hadn't been right in front of the goal, he, for sure, would not have given that penalty.
But that was a goal for sure, had the defender not put his hands and knees through the back of Vasquez.
Definitely not the way anyone wanted the match to end, though.