UEFA Champions League (Official Thread)

[Smudger]

PSG get an away goal opener too. Lavezzi smashes home from close range after a nice one-two with Pastore & undressing a defender, leaving himself one-on-one with the goalie. Ball went right past the goalies hand, but it was at such close range, it was asking a lot.

 

[Smudger]

PSG added a 2nd away goal right before the half as Lucas Moura went rampaging through the Valencia defense before setting up Pastore. Went off the goalie's leg to add more misery to his dreadful day so far. Lucas has been every bit as advertised in this one so far. Exceptional player for his age and looks like he's going to be very good in the future. This tie looks all but over with PSG being up 2-0 on aggregate with two away goals in the first 45 minutes. Even if Valencia bring one back in the 2nd half, I think the hole is pretty insurmountable at this point. Lavezzi & Pastore have also been playing great today as well as Lucas.

 

[Smudger]

Make it a double away goal delight for Juventus too. Matri's nifty first touch into space found Marchisio, who cut back from the defender & found the back of the net after the goalie got a touch onto the shot. Looks daunting for both Valencia & Celtic now, with both teams down 2-0 on aggregate & away goals.

 

[Smudger]

Nightmare at Celtic Park. Vucinic put's Juventus firmly in the drivers seat after slotting home after a terrible turnover in there own half by Celtic. 3-0 Juventus. Looks all but over now.

 

[Smudger]

Crazy finish at the Mestalla. Rami brought one back for Valencia in stoppage time off a set piece & then Ibrahimovic got sent off with less than a minute to play. No clue what he was thinking, but he was clearly frustrated throughout the game after missing several opportunities to score. Valencia still have a daunting task ahead of them going to Paris down 2-1 & needing at least two away goals to have any chance, but PSG being without Ibrahimovic for the 2nd leg is definitely a help to them. That came out of nowhere.

Juventus took care of business despite being pegged back for most of the game winning 3-0 at Celtic & all but finishing off this tie with three away goals. It would be a performance for the ages for Celtic to pull this off, so I'm going to go ahead and make the safe bet by putting The Old Lady through to the round of eight.

 

[tAFKaT]

Smudger, what did Ibrah do?

 

[Smudger]

Smudger, what did Ibrah do?

He was down the right side of the field in Valencia's end & I think he was just trying to hold onto the ball & kill some time, but he lost the ball & then lunged forward to get it back with a high foot & came down on the Valencia players (Guardado I believe it was) shin. I don't think it warranted a straight red, but it was a rash challenge to say the least. There was really no reason to do it, given there was less than a minute left in the game, but he was clearly & visually frustrated for most of the game. He missed a few opportunities to score from close range & I think that got him flustered as well as some bad turnovers. He was pretty bad throughout the game & it clearly got to him.

That being said, I don't think PSG are in that much danger without him heading into the 2nd leg up 2-1 on aggregate with two away goals. They could've easily scored four in this game if him & Lavezzi hadn't squandered some great chances to bury the matchup. Valencia is going to throw everything they have at them in Paris no doubt, but I think that will leave them extremely vulnerable like it did today at the back on a few occasions.

 

[Smudger]

Starting lineups:

Manchester United @ Real Madrid. 2:45 on Fox Soccer Channel

Manchester United: De Gea; Rafael, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans; Jones, Carrick, Kagawa, Welbeck, Rooney & van Persie

Real Madrid: Lopez; Ramos, Coentrao, Arbeloa, Varane; Alonso, Khedira, Ozil, Di Maria, Ronaldo & Benzema

Borussia Dortmund @ Shakhtar Donetsk. 2:45 on Fox Sports (Wherever)

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Bender, Piszczek, Hummels, Santana, Schmelzer, Kehl, Blaszczykowski, Gotze, Reus & Lewandowski

Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov; Hubschman, Dinca Rat, Srna, Rakitskiy, Fernandinho, Mkhitaryan, Chigrynskiy, Teixeira, Adriano & Taison

 

[Smudger]

United get the opener. Welbeck off a perfect corner kick by Rooney. Got in great position & the cross was as pinpoint as possible. Pretty lively match so far. de Gea did extremely well to get a finger on Coentrao's shot that ended up hitting the inside of the post early in the game. Monumental away goal for United in the first 20 minutes.

 

[Smudger]

Cristiano Ronaldo opens the scoring for Madrid. Brilliant header off a great Di Maria cross. It's going to be a mismatch all day if Evra has to defend him in the air.

 

[Smudger]

Brilliant free kick goal by Darijo Srna has Shakhtar Donestk up 1-0 in the 1st half against Borussia Dortmund.

 

[Smudger]

Robert Lewandowski gets the vital away goal for Borussia Dortmund four minutes from half. Kind of fortuitous goal considering his complete whiff on the first shot got both defenders to lunge to the ground leaving him one-on-one for the put away. Huge away goal for Dortmund this late in the half.

 

[jlb1705]

I must say, Fox Soccer 2Go sucks donkey balls.

I've been stuck in bed with the flu all week, and my bedroom TV doesn't get FSC so I had to try to get the RM-MU match on my iPad instead. Did the 7-day free trial and got 45 mins. of laggy video. With the amount they normally charge for this, it's no wonder illegal streams are so popular.

On the bright side, while I was interested in hearing the Gus Johnson experiment, my feed had Martin Tyler instead.

 

[Smudger]

my feed had Martin Tyler instead.

Lucky, lucky man. I always enjoy a Martin Tyler called game.

 

[Smudger]

Has to be one of, if not the best games de Gea has played while at United. He's the sole reason it's still only 1-1. He's made a number of crucial stops in this one so far.