Winners and Losers

UEFA Champions League Recap

Winners:

Italy/Serie A – Yes, I mean it. All 3 sides played hard against faster, stronger and better teams. With a few breaks, 1 or 2 or possibly all 3 could have advanced. Of course none progressed, and moral victories do not count, especially given the tradition of the peninsular teams. But it was a good showing overall, with much work to be done nonetheless. AC, thank you in advance for qualifying for next year.

Future looks bright for Lucho Gonzalez and Porto

Porto - Scored 2 key away goals against a tough Spanish opponent and held the same side scoreless in the return leg. Definitely the pride of Portugal, particularly when one considers the debacle that was Sporting.

Aston Villa & Everton - When Roma‘s Tonetto blazed his penalty over the bar, giving Arsenal passage to the quarter finals, the biggest cheers likely came from fans of the two other teams competing for that precious fourth spot in the Premier League. They’ll welcome anything that distracts the Gunners from concentrating on the league.

The case for goal line technology: Even though it didn’t make a difference in the end, Drogba‘s disallowed goal in the second leg clearly crossed the Juventus goal line. In a competition that’s won and lost by razor-thin margins, it’s unacceptable for referees to continue to get those decisions wrong.

Losers:

Jose Mourinho – The special one may now just be the mercurial one as much as it pains me to say it.  Look, Inter was not exactly the best place for him to go. Unlike Chelsea which had not won the championship for 50 years and whose nucleus was young, Inter had won several league titles in a row and its core was veteran. But Jose had the itch to coach again and his scratch will likely yield a 1-year stint, regardless of the outcome for the rest of the season now that the champions league campaign is over.  For his sake, the black and blue best hold on to the lead and win the title.  PS: I would love to see him at AC Milan, though I do not see it, as his next stop is definitely La Liga.

Raul sees Real miss out again

City of Madrid – Real‘s defeats continued a terrible European trend for the squad, though I think the white shirts may yet three-peat and overtake Barcelona for the league title. Atletico‘s task was a difficult one having allowed 2 goals at home several weeks past, but in the end, all the madrilenos needed was one goal in the second leg and it did not happen. Finally, Barca could afford nothing other than a convincing victory at home yesterday. A 5-goal tally, with Henry, Messi and Eto’o putting on a show, really did not do much to offset La Liga‘s letdown this round. Villareal contributed much more to that effort in fact.

Sporting Lisbon (and perhaps Bayern Munich) – What happened there?  5-0 at home?  Come on. And then 7-1 against a squad of albeit talented reserves?  Own goal while flying in towards the net!  Hate to say it, but UEFA may want to check out what exactly was going on. Bayern stands only to lose from this, with expectations rising going into the latter stages.