[fire_kris]

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea

For me Liverpool were the better team on the night... any neutral will tell you that... though chelsea dominated the opening period... they didnt seem to possess great threat... Liverpool on the other hand had more clear cut chances... Kuyt missed any easy one early on...

All was going well until Riise spoiled the party... Even though I mentioned in the post prior to the game that I dont rate Riise highly as a defender but seriously didnt expect this...

Slight Advantage with Chelsea... but job is less than half done... for me Chelsea are well capable of conceding... and liverpool will have to bring their fangs outat the bridge..

@benchman: you didnt heed to swagat advice and continued in the same vein later on as well that's why the groan to the second post not the first...

@ronticus: Barca physically bully united... man in your celebrations you have even forget barca tactics....

here is a recent interview by rijkaard before the second leg against schalke in UCL...

FC Barcelona News - Rijkaard: “We don’t want to play their physical game”

I havent seen Barca playing a physical game and winning... Even if they do it will favor united more

Ciao...
Kris

[anand_addicted]

posting after quite sometime!!!!

sorry swagat bhai but i think liverpool was the better team yesterday and chelsea didn't deserve to get a draw and precious away goal....just look at the no of chances created by both teams .....as far as i remember chelsea had very few decent chances with joe cole missing a difficult volley and then in second half malouda selfishly went for glory when he could have passed the ball to lampard to tap it home......and the own goal wasn't even a chance .....should have been cleared easily but i guess risse had other ideas!!!!!!

liverpool on the other hand had some decent chances and had it been not for cech's brilliant goalkeeping they could have scored more.....but still Kuyt's goal was a scrappy one and the only credit which can be given to him can be his hard work.......

what happened to chelsea's mid-field ??????.....it was virtually non-existent.....don't expect that from their strong line up...:sly:

i think the players who stood out in the match were skrtel,carvalho and definitely peter cech........ its not easy to stay with drogba and prevent him from doing anything especially with all his refs influencing antics but skrtel did manage to keep drogba at bay.....
carvalho was making up for JT's bad day in office
but cech was simply superb:hurray:....... have always rated him high and yesterday he didn't let me down.....

i think it will be very difficult for liverpool at stamford bridge specially with chelsea having secured an away goal ....but liverpool are known for their resilience in UCL......

meanwhile enjoy the united Vs Barca match....sure promises to be a cracker of a match

[sherfur]

Luck is needed to win major trophies like CL and i think Chelsea have it this time

What a goal, what a goal by Risse. Bad luck for him as this will haunt him forever.

Blues to moscow....................


Liverpool has never scored in Stamford bridge.. Never.. in the recent times..

SO its advantage Chelseaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa:rockon:


As far as Man United va braca is Concerned, i am betting for barcelona today.

Messi is back.. and they are due one stellar performance.

Nou camp is an eerie place and i think barca will win tomorrow. 2-1.

Man United will go through in 2 tie.. but today barca wil win.

Man United fans.. make sure no one is red carded from ur side today..

I remember all Chelsea vs Barca encounters. Some players are so good rolling on the floors that u might play with 10 players whole of the match.. so just watch out

[joel1702]

Why Riise, Why???

couldnt believe it..was looking as the second ticked away...5,4,3,2,and almost on cue riise spectacularly scored with the last kick (or shud i say header of the game)...

Liverpool were firm favourites in the tie uptil that point..but now the balance is definitely in Chelsea's favour.

[anand_addicted]

luck surely wasn't on liverpool's side this time......the law of averages had to prevail......
must have been a real heartbreak for liverpool.......imagine having an own goal after 94 mins and 4 secs with injury time of only 4 mins......probably was the last attack of the match and poor old risse got it wrong completely......!!!

[ankit_insane]

Well, i expected a boring match, but this was just bad. I think both teams in thier efforts to be tight at the back, played far below thier capabilities. Lampard looked out of sorts, and Gerrard didnt have a great game either. I sometimes wonder that why are these 2 teams so circumspect against each other, and if one of the managers tells his team to attack, they could stand a very good chance.

For whatever i saw, Liverpool were the dominant team, and deserved a 1-0. Chelsea were very lucky in the end, reina had no chance, im sure anelka who riise was marking then would not have come up with a better shot! Definately see Chelsea going through with a win at the bridge, but in football, its never over till its over.

Now, Barcelona vs United. The 2 giants, with everything to play for.The Nou Camp faithful have been frustrated, but you can bet they would vehemently support thier team in this fixture. It will be a tough atmosphere for United to play in, and expect a sparkling game from Messi and Krkic. Cant say much about the others though. I see Sir Alex going in with a 4-5-1, with Carrick, Hargo and Anderson, Rooney on the left, Ronaldo on the right, and Tevez being the sole forward. Evra-Messi, Abidal-ronaldo, will be crucial, in addition to Etoo-Ferdinand. I expect a few goals in this match, and would predict a 1-1 or a 1-2 for United.Rooney to score. Optimistic i know, but with this United team, nothing seems out of reach. Another thing to watch out will be to stay away from the yellow cards, we would hate a final with some great players suspended.


This is it for Rijkaard and Barcelona, and this is it for United. What a match!! We will see the most attractive football, at hopefully the highest levels.

May the best team win(read United).

[sumitrocks]

I feel bad for poor Riise. There were talks of his moving out this season, and it'll be bad if he leaves as the villain of the UCL semis. I hope he gets a chance to redeem himself in the next leg, and take us to the final.

I'm still confident, because Chelsea couldn't score against us! Though, in the next match, Essien will be back, and he lends a lot of creative talent to Chelsea's midfield.

Still, I'm banking on Grant to make a tactical error or two, and help our cause.

I hope the law of averages catches up with him also, and his luck runs out.

[Jok3r]

Liverpool were definitely unlucky ...but they arent out of it yet...
if they can get their heads up again...the form of chelsea's defense this season will give them some hope...

their mental toughness will count..& if any team can do it in europe...its liverpool...expect them to come flying out of the blocks in the next match...the 1st 15-20 mins of the next leg will be vital...

most important aspect for chelsea will be the return of essien...makelele's age has ensured he doesn't have the fitness level that he had...for the job he does...

as for today's match...messi will start..& he will be vital...vidic is probably playing too...& it will be fun..united haven't come up against the kind of attacking game barca play...& krcic, messi, etoo & iniesta all playing together will pose worries for them...
only problem for barca is that if united do go on attack instead of looking to counter...then barca will be involved in defending all the time,their defense doesnt look like one keeping a clean sheet...as has happened a lot with them this season...leading to etoo & messi getting the ball less & less...

hope it is a cracker of a match:gunsmilie:

[swagatsinha]

Puyol is suspended for tonite's encounter, so it looks more unlikely that Barca will be able to maintain a clean sheet.

[joel1702]

Originally Posted by sumitrocks

I feel bad for poor Riise. There were talks of his moving out this season, and it'll be bad if he leaves as the villain of the UCL semis. I hope he gets a chance to redeem himself in the next leg, and take us to the final.

I'm still confident, because Chelsea couldn't score against us! Though, in the next match, Essien will be back, and he lends a lot of creative talent to Chelsea's midfield.

Still, I'm banking on Grant to make a tactical error or two, and help our cause.

I hope the law of averages catches up with him also, and his luck runs out.

Liverpool need to score early....winning at Stamford bridge is a tough ask...but how abt a 1-1 draw and Liverpool advancing on penalties

afterall,Reina is the best penalty stopper in the world