well, unless it is Sevilla/Moscow winner or Olympiakos/Bordeaux

as long as they avoid the Inter/Chelsea winner, Barca, United or Bayern - they should be fine in the next round

some *weird* draws in the 16

They won't play Chelsea right? Or is the no-same country-rule only in the first knockout round?

They can draw anybody in the quarterfinals, including United and Chelsea. We'll find out one week from today.

Well we certainly lucked out in the draw to get Barcelona while United got a pretty easy path to the final.

Arsenal don’t seem to do “easy” and Arsene Wenger was completely right that it took Thomas Vermaelen’s sending off to add urgency to their languidness to finish off West Ham.

Right off the top, the sending off was really soft. I cannot understand how Nemanja Vidic managed to stay on the pitch in the Carling Cup final after Vermaelen saw red. Almunia deserves credit for stepping up and blocking a very savable penalty. What struck me, though, was how not one Arsenal player bothered to bolt into the box — it was almost as if they expected Alessandro Diamanti to slam it in. Very disappointing and it betrays a weak mentality.

In the second half, Arsenal took time to adjust, largely as Alex Song dropped into the central defender’s role with Sol Campbell. Which begs the question of why Wenger would even bother having Mikael Silvestre in the squad, let alone on the bench, if you aren’t going to use him, especially as Song was f-ing colossal in the centre of the park in the first half. Gooners are going to be asking why Wenger, with Djourou’s injury, didn’t bother to further strengthen the back line if Vermaelen’s suspension and Gallas’ injury winds up costing us. Because the idea of Sol Campbell, who moves with the elephantine grace and speed of a 1964 Massey-Ferguson tractor and Silvestre in front of Manuel Almunia is not going to strike fear into the hearts of the Brummies, let alone bloody Lionel Messi and company.

MOTM – Song. Some halfwit in the Times — I think it was Oliver Kay — suggested Busquets and Toure were comfortably better than Song. We’ll see. Barcelona will pose a greater test for the Cameroonian, but he’s been excellent. Much interest will be on Gallas’ mysterious calf injury, which has kept him on the shelf since the home win against Liverpool. The onus is on the crack Arsenal physio/medical team. His recovery might be the difference between silverware and another trophyless season.

today's game was the most ridiculous game i have ever seen at this level

Yes, it had pretty much everything. I've never seen Arsenal with only about one-third of the possession in a match and they somehow remained in in the tie.

That said, the injuries to Fabregas, Gallas and Arshavin look bad and we rode our luck. Almunia lost his mind on the first goal and Clichy fell asleep on the second one when everybody else stepped up.

Still, they will be missing both their first-choice centre halves so I suppose there's hope. But Diaby has to learn to keep control of the bloody ball.

Well, we're still in the title race, barely. After a promising opening spell, where we played through Walcott and fashioned several great chances, our energy levels and invention seemed to drop.

We were very static for long spells in the second half in their end. Nobody was making runs off the ball. Our crossing and set pieces continue to be atrocious. And yet we're still in the race. Amazing stuff.

Given what happened today, though, I fear for what could happen to us at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Well, that's us done in the Champions League. Messi was magnificent and I don't know that we would have won even with a full squad.

On the positive side, some players stepped up their games and played very bravely against the best side in the world.

Oh and Sergio Busquets is an embellishing little cheat and an embarrassment to the Barca shirt.

better than Inter? Certainly more pleasing to watch...

Quote: Originally Posted By breum on 4/07/2010better than Inter? Certainly more pleasing to watch..

I saw both matches in the group stages and Barca handled Inter fairly easily in the group stages. Mourinho parked the bus at the San Siro in the scoreless draw and the 2-0 scoreline flattered Inter in the match at the Nou Camp.

I'm sure Mourinho's tactical masterplan will involve having Cambiasso or Muntari kick lumps out of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. Inter have a great keeper but their back four isn't the quickest and they won't be able to play a high line and squeeze the space that Barca likes to play in.

Well that's us done for the year. In truth, I knew we were finished when Vermaelen went hobbling off and we wound up with Campbell and Silvestre as our central defenders, which is a damn good pairing. What? It's not 2005?

Wenger's rueful comments about the need to spend have come four months too late. Another season that started so promising has again finished without silverware.

well apparently the Blues are trying to make this as difficult as possible.

Quote: Originally posted by breum on 4/17/2010well apparently the Blues are trying to make this as difficult as possible.

You don't have to worry about us any more. Just finished watching us throw away a two-goal lead against Wigan. Wenger needs to shop for a top-quality keeper and at least one or two centre halves in the summer, depending on whether we re-sign Gallas. It's a point that Alan Smith made in the Telegraph earlier this week.

Well that was a Saturday morning well wasted. We looked a lot more composed with Alex Song in the middle and I’ll admit Campbell put in another really decent shift. Here’s an honest question. Would you bring him to South Africa ahead of King, Dawson or Upson? I know he’s looked one hell of a lot better than Theo, who was off colour. And Silvestre kept falling down. I don’t know if he misjudged the turf and used the wrong studs but he was flopping around on the ground about three different times.

City were OK but the opportunity was there to tonk us with the Campbell-Silvestre pairing and they didn’t fire a single shot in violence. Poor old Vieira looks done. Don’t know how he escaped a yellow after kicking out at Song but he was thoroughly dominated. Kompany and de Jong continue to impress me but the City project looks like its going to need some serious reinvestment as Hughes’ buys are, by and large, not going to be enough to usurp the established order.