The FC 100: Loves Talking Football.

All of the Champions League games are delicately poised going into the second legs in a fortnight’s time.
                
Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona are in strong positions having secured an early advantage in their respective ties.
Liverpool produced a dominant performance to secure a 2-0 win over Inter Milan. Having been held by ten-man Inter for 86 minutes, the Italians were on course to pull off a terrific result having defended doggedly from the outset. However goals from Kuyt and crucially Steven Gerrard in the 90th minute, have given Liverpool a terrific platform from which to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Gerrard’s goal may well prove to be the difference as Inter would surely have settled for a 1-0 defeat. Materazzi’s suspension and an injury to the superb Ivan Cordoba will also give Liverpool hope that they can grab a vital away goal in the San Siro.
The Inter Milan team may well be a much-changed outfit however, with the likes of Viera, Figo and Hernan Crespo likely to feature prominently in the second leg. While Torres was, for the most part, kept quiet by Inter’s excellent defence, the Spaniard will fancy his chances against a weakened defence in the second leg, especially as Inter will have to push far further upfield than they ever did in the game at Anfield.
              
An 87th minute goal from substitute Carlos Tevez gave Manchester United a vital away goal despite a lacklustre performance. Lyon took the lead early in the second half after United-target Karim Benzema scored a terrific solo effort, with four Red shirts around him the Frenchman somehow shifted the ball from his right foot to his left and belted the ball past Edwin Van der Saar.
In a free-flowing game Wayne Rooney’s 1-on-1 with Coupet was well saved while Juninho went close with a free-kick.
Benzema had a chance to make it 2-0 when he evaded a Rio Ferdinand challenge only for the ever-reliable Vidic to step across and sheperd the forward wide.
Ronaldo had a quiet night but produced a terrific save from Coupet late-on when his free-kick threatened to sneak in at the far post. However when Giggs and Scholes were replaced by Nani and Tevez, United began to look brighter and sure enough when Nani’s cross was deflected by Fred, Tevez pounced on the line to give United a foot in the quarter-finals.

Celtic and Barcelona put on a terrific game of football at Celtic Park but with the Catalans running out 3-2 winners, Barcelona will be confident they can secure victory in the Nou Camp, and they are already looking like the team to beat. Despite a disappointing campaign so far in La Liga, Barca have cut the gap on arch-rivals Madrid to just five points and on this display they look like peaking at just the right time.
Celtic took the lead through Venegoor of Hesselink, a terrific header against the run of play. However despite Robson’s goal to make it 2-1, a brace from Messi and a brilliant strike from Thierry Henry leave Barcelona in the driving seat.
Gordan Strachan joked after the game that he wouldn’t put his house on Celtic winning in two weeks time and he’s rarely wrong about these kind of things.

Elsewhere AC Milan and Arsenal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Emirates. AC will be favourites as the old masters denied an exciting Arsenal team. Adebayor’s stoppage time miss will be giving him sleepless nights this week, the Togo striker slamming a header against the bar with the entire goal gaping in front of him…..Chelsea did enough to take a 0-0 game back to London and should progress past Olympiakos. With one eye on Sunday’s Carling Cup Final, Avram Grant rested Terry and Lampard and with one of the strongest squads in Europe, Chelsea should progress to the next phase in two weeks time…… Fenerbache’s 3-2 win over Sevilla makes for a hell of a return leg in Spain. An 87th minute deflected winner means the Turks can progress to the quarter finals for the first time if they avoid defeat in Spain. However, Sevilla will be confident they can turn the game on it’s head at home, and are many peoples’ tips as a dark horse this season…..Roma and Real Madrid served up an entertaining encounter which the Italians shaded 2-1. Despite a strong first-half performance from Real, Roma take the advantage thanks to two Francesco Totti-assisted goals….Shalke 04 lead FC Porto 1-0 thanks to a fourth minute Kevin Kuranyi strike. While the game was always likely to be tight, Shalke are firmly in the driving seat, aware that an away goal will give the Portugese team a mountain to climb. While Shalke’s defence has been their achilles heel so far this season, in Kuranyi they have a top striker and they will look to score and force FC Porto to gamble at the back, having to attack in search of three goals…

Tonight’s action:

Liverpool V Inter Milan
Olympiakos V Chelsea
Roma V Real Madrid
Shalke 04 V FC Porto

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The pick of the ties comes at Anfield where Liverpool and Inter lock horns for the first time since their controversial 1965 European Cup semi-final where the Merseysiders took a 3-1 advantage into a second leg that the Italians won by three goals to nil, sealing their place in the final. Allegations of corruption have refused to go away since that night when the referee, Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil, allowed two goals that Liverpool felt should never have been allowed to stand. Ian St John also had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside. While the memories of that game still linger in the minds of the older generation of Liverpool fans, Inter Milan fans went out and bought Liverpool replica jerseys by the bucket-load following Liverpool’s 2005 win over their arch rivals AC Milan.
Tonight’s game is likely to be a tight affair with some intriguing battles. When Liverpool last came up against Zlatan Ibrahimovic they knocked Juventus out of the Champions League en route to glory in Istanbul. Sami Hyypia often struggled against the Swede though, and the lanky striker hit a post that night in Anfield.
Javier Mascherano will also come up against some familiar foes in his Argentine teammates Esteban Cambisso, Javier Zanetti and Julio Cruz, who is expected to lead the attack alongside Ibrahimovic.
Meanwhile Fernando Torres will start for Liverpool up front and will be anxious to score on a night that epitomises why he chose to come to Anfield.

Prediction: While many are predicting Inter to come and destroy a Liverpool team lacking confidence, this one should be tight. Liverpool respond well to Champions League adversity and might nick it, 2-1.

Olympiakos V Chelsea

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The suggestion is that Chelsea will be resting the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard, while Nicolas Anelka will drop to the bench to make room for Didier Drogba. Michael Ballack and Alex should return to the starting lineup for Chelsea in place of their captain and vice-captain.
Continue reading ‘Champions League 2nd Round’

MAN UTD V MAN CITY

A thrilling derby is in store for the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow, Sunday February 10.
While the first talking point will be whether the Man City fans will respect the minutes silence for the victims of the Munich air crash, the game itself should be entertaining.
Benjani’s confession that he didn’t want to leave Portsmouth will probably not have endeared him to the City fans. A goal at Old Trafford may go some way to changing that.

Continue reading ‘Sunday Preview’

Wow that headline was clever.

Anelka has gone to Chelsea and is further evidence that Chelsea are going to attempt to play better football as they set about their Grant years.
Anelka will replace Drogba who is bound to leave soon. Like, this summer. Most of the Premiership defences wont miss him. Most of thefc100 wont either. Good player yes. Complete prat. Hell yeah.

Milan Mandaric has confirmed his belief that Harry Redknapp will leave Pompey for the sunnier climate of the North-East and Newcastle. Wait, no that’s….Anyway, Redknapp was in the process of something special at Portsmouth, a club that took him back despite his falling out with the chairman during his previous stay. Still, loyalty is tricky when, as the tabloids explained, you’ll be offered bucket-loads of cash and Pascal Chimbonda at your new club.
Does Harry have a thing for Pascal? Anyone who saw Jimmy Bullard’s teammates stint on Soccer AM will be aware that…’Pascal Chimbonda’s quite long’….but still, anyone else think that was a weird headline? News of the World I think.

Skrtel has completed his move to Liverpool. Sad day for Liverpool fans. Wasn’t so long ago that Anelka was pleading with Houllier to be allowed to stay at the club. Liverpool didn’t take up that option. They signed Cisse. And the rest, my friends, is history. Except history is coming back to haunt them. Leave it in the past I say. Skrtel wont play tomorrow as he is unfit having played his last competitive game in mid-December. Tomorrow, the Slovakian will presumably spend the day searching for the missing vowel in his surname.

It looks like beleagured Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez will be the first Premiership manager to welcome a big money signing into the Premiership. Martin Skrtel looks set to join for £6-7 million from Zenit St Petersburg.

Seems strange that this money is suddenly being made available given that a move for Khaladze was seemingly rejected by Liverpool’s Yanky-Doodles as they weren’t happy to splash the cash.

A meeting between Hicks, Gillett and Rick Parry in the USA is expected to focus on the plans for the new stadium which have hit the brakes in recent weeks. Benitez will be hoping his masters rubber-stamp the deal for Skrtel with Liverpool desperate for centre-back cover.

Sami Hyypia is unlikely to leave, although rumours are linking him with Fulham. Skrtel is ineligible in the Champions League, which Liverpool will be prioritising at some stage in the second half of the season unless miracle results let them back into the title race.

Anyone know whether Skrtel is any good? Let us know by leaving a comment. We would also like to hear how Liverpool fans are warming to the American owners? Not very well….? We thought so….