ole!

larrson

Last 16

My first time to contribute here... so the champions league is taking a break- honestly I'm way behind in football news these days, the only event I'm clinging to is the champs. Too bad the Moscovites didn't make it to the knock-out phase..... Anyway. Very interesting match-ups as you can read here. I'm counting on the triumphs of Porto, Manchester United, AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan/Valencia (takde perasaan). Huwaarrggh I wish I'm having the chance to be in Athens this coming May instead of February... tsk2.

Trivia: AC Milan reduced their ticket price for their final group match against Lille to €1 in an attempt to avoid a low turnout at their 80,000 seater San Siro stadium. AC Milan had already won the group and had nine major first team players out injured for the match. The match attracted a crowd of 27,067.

Kaka's Hattrick

Its Roo's game alright

Bolton 0-4 Man Utd: Rooney runs riot

Wayne Rooney consigned his 10-match goalscoring misery to the dustbin with a sensational hat-trick which propelled Manchester United to a 4-0 victory at Bolton and back to the Premiership summit.

Having marked his United debut with a three-timer against Fenerbahce two years ago, Rooney has waited quite a while to wander off with another match ball.In fact, given his recent difficulties finding the net, the £27million hit-man would probably have been grateful for anything at the Reebok Stadium.

• Sam hails hat-trick hero Roo As it was, just 24 hours after Sir Alex Ferguson predicted an imminent return to form, Rooney rasped home a magnificent treble as United ousted Chelsea from top spot with a scintillating display, consigning Bolton to their biggest home defeat since the Red Devils' similarly enjoyable visit to the Reebok Stadium in 2002.Rooney had not scored since his double against Fulham on the opening day, which was the last time United put together such a breathtaking display of attacking intent.

With Cristiano Ronaldo fully recovered from the virus that kept him out of last week's win over Liverpool, Ferguson was able to name a full-strength side, a luxury Kevin Nolan's suspension meant Sam Allardyce was not able to enjoy.Neither could the Bolton boss have been too enamoured with what took place in the opening 20 minutes.Having constructed one of the most effective units in the Premiership around a firm defence and disciplined marking, Allardyce must have been aghast at the blur of red shirts which sped around the field unchallenged.Maybe, when he gets home and has a chance to review the onslaught in a more relaxed setting, even Allardyce will be able to appreciate how wondrous United were during that opening spell.

The only relief for Bolton came from the knowledge they had only conceded twice because, in truth, it should have been double that number and possibly even more still.With Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs darting back and forward off their wings as though they were tied to a piece of elastic, Louis Saha dropping deep and turning quickly, Patrice Evra and Gary Neville providing the overlaps and both Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick picking out team-mates with ease from their central midfield station, it was little wonder Bolton found it difficult to cope. Throw in Rooney on top form and the task is impossible.Much has been made of Rooney's 10-game goalless streak.

But even as recently as Friday, Ferguson was claiming it would not be long before the England star broke his barren run. It took him precisely 10 minutes.Rooney had already come agonisingly close to turning home Giggs' low cross, when he was picked out brilliantly by Carrick, who lofted a first-time pass over the Bolton defence.If there was any anxiety lurking deep within the young striker, who only blew out the candles on his 21st birthday cake on Tuesday, he did not show them, letting the ball bounce twice before letting fly with a first-time, left-footed volley which gave Jussi Jaaskelainen no chance.The Finn was equally helpless with Rooney's second five minutes later, which was true eye-of-the-needle stuff.

Tal Ben Haim provided the accidental assist when he slid in to rob Neville. Unfortunately for the Israel defender, he merely toed the ball to Rooney, who found the only gap available to curl a shot wide of the nearest defender but inside Jaaskelainen's left-hand post.Rarely in Allardyce's seven-year tenure at Bolton can he have seen his team so badly outplayed on home soil.It was hardly a surprise some of the fire went out of United's play after such an explosive start, yet Saha and Giggs, twice, nearly increased their lead, Jaaskelainen denying the Welshman on the latter occasion after Abdoulaye Faye set him up for a volley when he was attempting to cut out a cross.The second period was a much more even affair.

In fact, Bolton had the edge and if Edwin van der Sar not superbly turned away Ivan Campo's instinctive strike 15 minutes from time, the Trotters might have launched a miracle comeback bid.As it was, with Vidic superb, United's defence stood firm and the fight seemed to have ebbed out of the Trotters long before Saha presented Ronaldo with a tap-in.Bolton were on their knees begging for mercy by the end. But none was forthcoming as Darren Fletcher seized on Abdoulaye Meite's mistake and set up Rooney for his glorious third.

Sam Allardyce hailed Wayne Rooney the best English player in the Premiership after watching Manchester United's hat-trick hero rip Bolton apart at the Reebok Stadium. After 10 games without a goal, Allardyce feared Rooney might return to form at the expense of the Trotters and his worries proved correct as the young striker smashed home the first top-flight three-timer of his career. In the week of his 21st birthday, Rooney stole all the headlines and, even as the magnitude of a 4-0 home defeat was sinking in, Allardyce was still able to offer his verdict on the youngster. 'Wayne has today proved beyond doubt he is through his bad patch and why he is quite rightly regarded as the best English player in the Premiership,' said Allardyce. 'His hat-trick was well deserved and it just shows the people who were writing him off were talking nonsense. '

Apart from the third goal, there was very little we could do to stop him. The first two were magnificent goals made of outstanding qualiy.' Sir Alex Ferguson revealed he had spoken to Rooney prior to the game about his barren streak, although only to reinforce the message to concentrate and relax. There certainly appeared little evidence of anxiety when Rooney was presented with his first opportunity by Michael Carrick's magnificent 10th minute lofted pass as he allowed the ball to bounce twice before despatching a left-footed volley beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen. Rooney's second arrived five minutes later when he curled a shot into the corner after seizing on a loose ball on the edge of the Bolton area.

Then, after Cristiano Ronaldo had tapped home a third, Rooney wrapped up the victory after being set up by Darren Fletcher. 'It was going to happen sooner or later,' purred Ferguson. 'I spoke to Wayne beforehand and just told him to relax and keep concentrating. 'Once he got the first one, you could see the confidence coming back and after that, I was just hoping the ball would go to him all the time.' The win propelled United back to the top, just hours after Chelsea had leapfrogged them with their victory at Sheffield United. Just 10 games into the season, already the title race is looking between the pair, not that Ferguson is too concerned about that. 'I don't care if we are involved in a two-horse race as long as we win it,' he said. 'Chelsea have laid down a marker but we want to challenge them.

There is a growing confidence within the club, we are looking very strong and we will have a good go.' At least for Allardyce, the pain of defeat was cushioned by the knowledge his side remain in third spot, and that they are unlikely to face such a formidable force again. 'Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say on the day, we could not compete with them,' he said. 'We might be close to Manchester United in the table but in terms of spending power and quality of squad, the difference today showed. 'We can compete with most teams but when the top boys are on song, it is very different. 'In the end, the title will come down to a battle between United's flair and Chelsea's resilience. The one who suffers the least number of injuries will probably come out on top.' Wayne Rooney provided himself with the best belated 21st birthday present imaginable at the Reebok Stadium and declared: 'It's good to be back.'

After 10 games without a goal, the Manchester United striker hit form against Bolton this afternoon, scoring twice in the opening 15 minutes before completing his first Premiership hat-trick to seal a 4-0 rout late on. It was Rooney's first three-timer of any description since his debut-day exploits against Fenerbahce over two years ago and the match ball will no doubt eclipse any of the expensive presents he received on Tuesday, as well as silencing the doubters who condemned him for his lack of recent firepower. 'There has been a lot of talk by a lot of people over the last few weeks saying I couldn't do it any more, stuff like that, so the feeling when the first goal went in was brilliant,' he said. 'Although I am not too worried about not scoring as long as we get the result, it was a relief, especially as I had gone such a long time without scoring.

'To finish the hat-trick was nice. I am delighted and happy just to be back amongst the goals again and to have secured the three points in what was a big game for us. I'm really proud and happy with the performance.' Sir Alex Ferguson suggested on Friday the end of Rooney's goal drought was imminent and so it proved. 'The football in the first 20 minutes was probably the best we have played as team all season,' said Rooney. 'We opened Bolton up and got in behind them and created a lot of chances. 'We wanted to set a quick tempo, we knew Bolton were a difficult team to play against and we wanted a goal in the first half to hold onto. We did that and managed to get a few more as well. 'We'd heard the Bolton players saying they hadn't conceded a goal at home and that gave us more motivation to get the win. 'We were aware of the Chelsea result but it is still early days in terms of the title. Hopefully we can keep winning our games and concentrating on ourselves.'

A classic El Clásico

Phil Ball
Archive

article taken from SoccerNet

What a difference a week makes. Pardon the cliché, but we're all allowed one from time to time. After last weekend's events, in which Real Madrid staggered from neighbour Getafe's coliseum like an arthritic gladiator to the tune of Marca's 'Es possible jugar peor?' (Is it possible to play worse?) and Barcelona consolidated their lead in the table with a convincing victory over rivals Sevilla, it was all looking like a case of déjà vu.

DenisDoyle/GettyImages

Raul Gonzalez: Flying again

Capello administered a hair-drying session to the Madrid squad the day after, insisting that they would never play so badly again, or Lord help him, he would retire to a Tuscan monastery, don a hair-shirt and never be seen again. Over in Barcelona, the schadenfreude (or however you say that in Catalan) was overflowing, such was the special glow of content at the further evidence that the house of Bernabéu was still in disarray. Even worse was the fact that Getafe's manager was Bernd Schuster, the ex-Madrid midfielder who had been president Calderon's first choice - as expressed in the hustings before the elections, but who had been persuaded otherwise by Mijatovic, a Champions League winner during Capello's previous reign at Madrid and much in favour of his return.

The general feeling last Sunday was that the new Madrid were a walking disaster, and that they had made the wrong choice of manager. Capello - like Camacho a fairly untouchable figure when it comes to the Madrid press, was suddenly under fire. Calderón was also coming in for some stick for allowing Mijatovic too much power, whereas at the beginning of the season the same president had been praised for his hands-off approach, in contrast to his megalomaniac predecessor.

But on Tuesday in Bucharest, something happened. Madrid won 4-1, Raúl scored, something clicked and the team rang rings around their hosts - who were not a great side it has to be said, but one who were fully capable of knocking an already punch-drunk opponent out of the ring. Madrid never let them settle, and by dominating them physically and tactically ran out deserved winners. Robinho, handed a run-out from the start, changed Madrid's formerly plodding style to a speedy and threatening fluency, and the team looked a different prospect altogether. And the Yin-Yang nature of Madrid and Barça continued the next night when Chelsea outfought the Catalans to score a deserved victory, in what was hardly a bad showing by Rijkaard's men but which was a defeat nevertheless - and defeats for Barça are news these days in Europe.

Last season, Barça just looked too good for Chelsea, superior in technique and more flexible in their tactical approach. On Wednesday, Chelsea simply looked stronger, more up for it. Ronaldinho seemed timid, easily dispossessed and seemingly keen to pass the buck to Messi - a player who is an astounding talent but who met his match in Essien. The Chelsea man didn't so much man-mark Messi as simply ensure that the space between the Argentine and the player about to pass him the ball was always closed down. And suddenly, with Barça's two supermen relatively subdued, Chelsea themselves emerged with a more liberated look to their play than in last season's encounters, and could have won it by a greater margin.

Madrid's players, one supposes, were watching on the telly, having arrived back from Bucharest that afternoon. Whether the game in London influenced their own tactical approach remains a moot point, but there were definite similarities in the way that they ceded the majority of possession, but only in certain areas of the field. Once Barça moved into the final third, Madrid's tackling was fiercer and more committed than it has been for many a moon, and although Gudjohnsen should have scored when Messi pulled the ball back to him, and although the visitors had a good spell in the last twenty minutes of the first half, the truth is that Barça were well beaten.

The game was one of the best clásicos in recent memory, probably because Raúl scored the opener so early, thus obliging Barça to come straight out of their shells. It became a great clash of styles, Madrid playing a sort of semi-catenaccio style, but breaking with much more speed and fluency than of late. Barça had the lion's share of possession, but as the game wore on their midfield began to give the ball away more than is their wont, at times in dangerous positions. And physically Madrid's midfield line of Emerson and Diarra were always too much for Xavi and Deco, with Iniesta similarly subdued.

DenisDoyle/GettyImages

Robinho sparkled in El Clásico

Roberto Carlos, heaven help us, suddenly looked a great player again, and Cannavaro mopped up magnificently. Ivan Helguera, recently restored to the side after looking down and out on his luck (he wasn't even given a squad number in summer) played as well as he did in Romania - an unexpected boost to a defence that wilted alarmingly at Getafe.

Helguera's a strange fish. When he made his debut back in 1999 he was hailed as the new Bobby Moore by Michel, making one of his early appearances as a commentator. This was praise indeed, and Helguera was soon in the national side. But when Hierro declined and fell, so did Helguera. The protector suddenly gone, it was clear that the Cantabrian was neither one thing nor the other - certainly no central defender, and lost in no-man's land when there was no commanding centre-back to sweep behind. Seemingly in terminal decline, it's interesting that as soon as Cannavaro has come good, so has Helguera. Messi gave them the run-around at times on Sunday, but Messi will do that to anyone. In general terms, Ivan and Fabio looked a solid pairing. Will historians look back on this week and see it as decisive, as a turning-point? Well- it could be, but it's still hard to see Barça being beaten by many teams this season, unless they fall foul some sort of psychological crisis. They were certainly missing Eto'o for the first time this season, as Gudjohnsen was willing but far less able to frighten the Madrid back line.

Messi did some amazing things, and at times just seemed unstoppable, but in the end Robinho was the more effective of the two young starlets, criss-crossing Barca's back four with speedy and intelligent runs that constantly put the Catalans on the back foot when they were desperately trying to concentrate all their efforts on breaking Madrid down. If the Brazilian has at last come of age, then La Liga watch out. Even Becks got ten minutes at the end, which made the game his 100th appearance in the white shirt.

Valencia, Deportivo and Sevilla will of course resent the focus on el clásico this week, pointing out quite rightly that they're more than in with a shout this season. But like it or not, the idea that Madrid are back from the dead - love them or loathe them - is always good news, because it raises the temperature of the combat. The game at the Bernabéu was a great advertisement for La Liga, at a time when its self-proclaimed starlight was beginning to show signs of fading. Even Raúl and Roberto Carlos looked good! Football continues to move in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform.

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Phil is a published author of some repute and we're very lucky to have him here on Soccernet. If you want to own a real-life Phil Ball book, you can purchase either An Englishman Abroad, Beckham's Spanish Adventure on that bloke with the ever-changing hairstyle, White Storm, Phil's book on the history and culture of Real Madrid and his splendid and acclaimed story of Spanish football, Morbo.

Man Utd 2 - Liverpool 0

Man Utd 2 - Liverpool 0
Old Trafford : 22nd Oct 06
Scholes, Ferdinand

***But it WAS Giggs' brilliance....great assists!***

"Two amazing goals highlighted by an announcer delivering amazing and amusing calls including songs."
--> couldn't agree more ! :-D