Champions League Quarter-finals: April 5

I am officially one for four in my predictions for this round. Excellent. If I try to make predictions for the World Cup, somebody stop me, please?

Juventus 0 - 0 Arsenal (aggregate 0-2)
Arsenal could have come to Turin determined to just sit back and defend their lead, the way Liverpool did last year. But that's not the way they play, so it was a very open game. Both sides had some decent chances but Arsenal still looked like the better team -- although it took a couple of excellent tackles from Kolo Toure and some good saves from Lehmann to keep them in it.

Pavel Nedved was supposed to provide the spark for Juventus that had been missing from the first leg. Which I suppose he did, if by "spark" you mean getting flagged for offside, tossing his Farrah Fawcett hair petulantly at the refee, and finally getting sent off for a reckless challenge on Eboue. Game over for Juve.


Barcelona 2 - 0 Benfica (aggregate 2-0)
Barcelona had a chance at a penalty in the first five minutes, after a handball in the box, but Ronaldinho's shot wasn't well placed and the Benfica keeper saved it. Ronaldinho made up for it later by scoring Barca's first goal, from a cross from Eto'o. Benfica had been sloppy around their own penalty area, giving the ball away too easily, and Barcelona can create chances from nothing if you give them the tiniest bit of space.

The geniuses at TSN skipped over the first 25 minutes of the second half for no apparent reason, but from the scoreline I guess it wasn't that interesting. They did pick up the broadcast in time for me to see Eto'o kill off the game with a second goal.

Champions League Quarter-finals: March 28

Arsenal 2 - 0 Juventus
I'm off to a stellar start with my predictions once again. Arsene Wenger, on the other hand, apparently was looking in a crystal ball when he decided to sell Patrick Vieira at the end of last season, because last night the former terror of Highbury got taken apart by an 18-year-old muppet from Spain. And the rest of the Juventus team was equally useless. That's the thing about playing against a bunch of youngsters: they can run you into the ground, like Arsenal did here. It even seems to have rubbed off on Pires and Reyes, who usually spend most of their time falling over and sulking extravagantly.

Arsenal still have a tough game when they head to Turin for the return leg, but the odds are in their favour now, especially with Vieira, Camoranesi and Zebina suspended after they collectively lost the plot in this match. Liverpool managed to keep a clean sheet against Juventus in same fixture last year, and if they can do it then Arsenal should be able to do the same, even with their makeshift back line (at least they don't have Djimi Traore).


Benfica 0 - 0 Barcelona
Raise your hands if you were expecting a scoreless draw. Yeah, me neither. It was fun to watch, though -- very open play, lots of end-to-end stuff, although the possession stats were about 60/40 in favour of Barca in the first half. They should have been up by three or four goals at that point, but they'd missed some gilt-edged chances. Benfica, in contrast, were shooting from 25 or 30 yards out all the time, rather than trying to thread their way through the Barcelona defence -- which you would have thought was a good idea, with Puyol missing and all.

My tape cut out five minutes just after halftime, thanks to my inability to read the TV guide properly, but I'm going to assume the second half was more of the same: Barcelona toying with Benfica but failing to put in any decent shots on goal, Benfica breaking forward to counterattack whenever they could, and the Benfica keeper alternating between moments of brilliance and fits of complete lunacy.

Champions League Round of 16: March 8

Liverpool 0 - 2 Benfica (aggregate 0-3)
Question of the day: How much do Liverpool need Michael Owen a striker who can actually score? I'm starting to wonder if someone's put a voodoo curse on their forwards, like maybe they should be sacrificing a chicken in the penalty area or something. They had Benfica under pressure throughout the game -- especially in the first 25 minutes -- and still couldn't score. Morientes was just ineffective, and Peter Crouch missed at least one absolute sitter.

Their problems at the back can be summed up in two words: Djimi. Traore. Ok, it's not completely his fault, considering that Liverpool only had three at the back for the second goal. But both Benfica goals came from his side of the field, so you do the math.

In other news, my hatred of the ESPN commentators continues unabated.


Arsenal 0 - 0 Real Madrid (aggregate 1-0)
Who says scoreless draws are boring? This was a great fast-paced game, with lots of attacking play from both sides, although Arsenal dominated again just like they did in the first leg. Crazy Jens Lehman made a great double save in the 60th minute to keep the teams level -- probably the key play of the game. But I think the man of the match was Alexander Hleb. Normally he kind of gets lost in Arsenal's midfield, but this time he had a fantastic game. (His last name still sounds like a hairball, though.)

Favourite moment: Iker Casillas going up for a corner kick in the last five minutes, only for Robert Pires to almost score a Xabi Alonso-style goal from inside his own half. Oops.


AC Milan 4 - 1 Bayern Munich (aggregate 5-2)
It was Italy v. Germany all over again. Bayern Munich basically got their asses handed to them -- Milan was tearing their defence to pieces all night. Two goals from Inzaghi, another from Shevchenko to make up for the penalty he missed, and a gorgeous run from Kaká to finish things off and send the last German team out.


Lyon 4 - 0 PSV Eindhoven (aggregate 5-0)
I probably cursed PSV by picking them to go through, just to be contrary. Sorry, boys.

Champions League Round of 16: February 21

Wow, my predictions suck so far. One for eight. I guess I won't be taking over for Lawro any time soon.

Benfica 1 - 0 Liverpool
Three questions:

1. Why did Stevie G. start the game on the bench? If he's well enough to come on as a sub, he's well enough to play. And Liverpool desperately needed him out there. Benfica did a good job of hassling their midfield, not giving them a lot of space to play, but I think Gerrard would have been able to force his way through and create some more chances. Plus, you know, he's actually capable of putting the ball in the back of the net, which is more than you can say of the strikers at the moment.
   
   
2. What is wrong with Liverpool's defencing on set plays? Look back at their results over the past month or so (United, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Chelsea) and they're giving up way too many goals from corners and free kicks. I'm not going to get into zonal versus man-to-man marking, because I think it comes down to execution more than what system you use, but clearly something isn't working.
   
   
3. Do they need to go back to 4-5-1? Yes, normally I hate it, but I think it could work for Liverpool. Their midfield is much stronger than their forwards at the moment, so why not play to that strength? Stick Kewell and Garcia out on the wings (or even Cisse, if you like), move Steven back into the middle where he belongs, with Xabi and Hamann or Sissoko there as well so that he's free to push up and support whoever you play as a striker -- I'd say Crouch, because he's been the least awful recently. (Of course, I came up with this theory before I heard how serious Sissoko's injury is, but my point still stands.)

Real Madrid 0 - 1 Arsenal
I missed the first half because TSN, in its infinite wisdom, decided to postpone the game in favour of Olympic hockey at the last minute. Thanks, guys, really. This meant that I tuned in just after Thierry Henry's game-winning strike. I suppose I could download a replay from somewhere, but I'm lazy so I'll just take everyone's word for it that it was a fantastic goal. From what I did see, Arsenal played really well -- like the second coming of the Invincible team from a couple seasons ago that I loved to hate. Yay? Real Madrid, on the other hand, looked like they hadn't even bothered to show up. Aston Villa may be looking good to Becks right now...

Bayern Munich 1 - 1 AC Milan
Watching a game with Italian commentary is just weird. Although I kind of prefer it to the idiots who did the Liverpool match (a little hint: Pepe's last name is not pronounced "Reinya"). I stand by my prediction for a Bayern Munich win, because they definitely looked like the better team here. Milan had a few breaks forward where they looked dangerous, but Bayern controlled the game all over the pitch. Gorgeous goal from Michael Ballack, too -- I really wish that United had managed to buy him.

PSV 0 - 1 Lyon
The only game from Tuesday that wasn't shown here. Apparently nobody in Canada is expected to care about the French or Dutch teams. Which is...just about right, actually.