...randomness surrounding Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard, and other great indie rock bands; a quasi objective look at "my" sporting teams; the random horror film; plus other crap as we see fit...all with a Pittsburgh based feel.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Champions League Quarters Irrelevance (pretty much)


Barcelona trounced Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 (Jess pronounces this "SHACK-tard DOUGH-nuts" for some silly reason), with David Villa and Lionel Messi both being held off the score sheet. Basically, this leaves only 1 of the 2nd leggers next week with any meaning.

Dani Alves looked like he had $$ on the Shak for most of the game, before scoring Barca's 2nd goal on Andres Iniesta's beauty of a set-up.  Prior to netting the goal on a lovely finish, he seemed insistent on setting up Shakhtar with a goal of their own.  Then he scored and proceeded to celebrate like a dick.  I've grown tired of Dani Alvez.


I love Iniesta, though.  Easily the man of the match.  Props to Seydou Keita as well, who got me (minus 2 goals) the GW.


So the Barcelona and Real Madrid trouncings (up 4-0 on Spurs) basically means there will be meaningless 2nd legs next week.  That sucks.  What we can look forward to, however, is 4 (FOUR!) El Classicos over a 2 week period.  These two will meet twice in the Champions League Finals (April 26-27, May 3-4) for a chance to go to the CL Final.  They will also meet on Sunday, April 17th in La Liga action (Barca +8 pts), and again 3 days later in the Copa del Ray Final.  FCKYA!  I'm sensing another treble!

The Man U / Chelsea match was much more competitive.  And while I was rooting for a penalty call on Patrice Evra in the closing minutes for taking down Ramires in the box (this should have been the equalizer and won me my "draw" play), I find enjoyment in watching Chelsea lose.  Fernando Torres has still yet to score in a blue shirt, and seeing the frustration grow is pretty awesome.  Even more comical is watching him nose dive in the box, and then get yanked off the turf by Rio Ferdinand.  Eff Torres.


And what the hell is Drogba getting subbed off for in lieu of Torres?! I'm not a big Drogba fan, but he was clearly more effective than Chelsea's #9. Anyway, nice away W for the Red Devils, who will have the clear advantage up 1-0 going back to Old Trafford. The Winner will have the luxury of playing Shalke 05, and avoiding either of the Spanish giants until the Final. I'm rooting for a Man U / Barcelona final, myself.

Oh...Chelsea apparently has some dude named Jerkoff on their squad. No joke.

Going out to my man Iniesta!!

5 comments:

gbvh said...

In that game, Iniesta had one of the most bone-headed yellow cards in recent memory.

gbvh said...

...unless the card(s) carry over (?) to the next round.

in which case -- it's a mourinho move. and should be looked at.

in which case -- respect the game.

in which case -- play the game, not games.

etc.

Karl Mikus said...

Thou shall not lose faith in inter! I can. You can't. haha

gary said...

As soon as Andres got the yellow, I thought of the Mourinho move. I think it was just boneheaded. But he won't be needed next week anyway!!

I'm going on record now:

Inter wins 4-nil to advance!!! FCKYA!! faith restored!!!

gbvh said...

That's my point.
They were up 3-0 and he probably thought "Hey, I'd rather miss next week than potentially one of the games in the next round."

Something's gotta be done to get that crap out of the game.