The Champions League Contenders

What I am trying to do here is a round up of teams left in Champions League of this seasona nd their chances going forward. Ok, we will start with the defending champions Manchester United. Machester United is targetting an unprecedented five trophies this season. But their chase for the coveted five has received serious draw backs rercently. The signs were there in the second leg clash against Inter Milan. But an unambitious Inter side was brushed aside by ManU team with ease. But Liverpool dented a huge hole on their confidence with a 4-1 drubbing that too at Old Trafford. Add to that the 2-0 victory of Fulham against Manchester United at their home; that is the first time after 1964n Fulham has managed to upset ManU at their home ground. When Barcelona was brushing past sides at La Liga, the English media ridiculed us saying that we will never be able to do against a Manchester United defense. But now in two matches they have conceded six goals and scored once. The English media which made a fuss over Barca's recent blip is likely to term this as a mere lack of concentration. Alex Ferguson will be looking to have his team back on track as early as possible. Their recent catapulation at Fulham might have raised hopes at Porto but I don't see Porto beating ManU in Quarter finals. Manchester United should reach semi-finals with ease and that means they have time to pick up their form in Europe. But the same cannot be said about their challenge at EPL.

Liverpool is the in-form team at this moment. Their 4-0 and 4-1 drubbing of Real Madrid and Manchester United respectively has raised their prospect in Europe. In the last three matches they have score 13 goals and conceded once. Gerard looks to be in form of life and so does Torres. They could be our semi-final opponents if we get past Bayern. The key for Liverpool's recent victories against Manchester United and Real Madrid was that their opponents allowed them to dictate possession and speed. With Barca's possession football that would be difficult. But a Barca vs Liverpool semi-final is the most anticipated match at this moment. Chelsea's prospect of reaching the semi-final looked bright after the draw as it was revealed that they have to play second leg at home. But Liverpool's recent form and a lack of assertion from Chelsea's side have put them in serious doubt.

Arsenal maenwhile have found their footing back and playing some delightful football. But they will be deprived of the service of Andrei Arshavin in Europe and has to see how they cope without him in Europe. They didn't give a good account for themselves against Roma. Villareal has been written off by English media; I have no idea why. The truth is that Villareal is a very organised team and will be out for revenge for their earlier semi-final final defeat. They are pretty strong at home and have a very high chance of holding on their own at Emirates Stadium. Bayern who is Barca's opponent is having an Up-down season. Their form in Europe has been excellent but cannot be said of their domestic form. Barcelona has not beaten Bayern in Europe till now and that record has to be broken to proceed to the next round. To make matters worse we are going to play second leg away from home. Whatever Bayern vs Barcelona will produce the best football of all the Quarter final draws. FC Porto, the surprise quater-finalist has an uphill task of eliminating Manchester United. The fact that they have to play the second leg at home and Manchester United's recent form should give some hope.

Overall the draws look pretty balanced. Arsenal can write off Villareal on their own risk; they should remember Villareal's performance against Manchester United in the group stage. Manchester United looks to have one foot in the semi-fianls but if they can't pick up their Premier League form then they might become more vulnerable. Liverpool's drubbing of Aston Villa made sure that they now lie with just 1 point drift of Champions ManU. At this moment FC Barcelona and Liverpool are the best bet to lift the cup. Then we can't predict anything when it comes to Chamipons League, can we? Remember Porto's triumph. Aston Villa who opted out of UEFA cup to qualify for Champions League looks like have blown everything away. Martin O'Neil should have remembered the saying - "A Bird in Hand is Worth Two In BUsh".

Barca Player Rating against Malaga

Valdes - 8 - Didn't have anything to do in the first half. But made three crucial intervention in the second half to make sure that a clean sheet has been kept. There were reports suggesting that he would be presented with a new contract and this performance will surely speed up things.

Alves - 8 - Great performance offensively on the right flank. Defensively he might have left spaces but it is necessay for us to have this gentleman in great form. Took his goal really well.

Marquez - 7 - Good performance, Was calm and confident throughout the match.

Caceres - 7.5 - Questions were raised about his ability. Did really well and was the better of both the centre backs.

Sylvinho - 8 - Great performance on the left flank. He is constantly defying his age and improving with each game. Guardiola could think of retaining his when Puyol comes back. Played a part in two goals.

Xavi - 9 - Sensationa Performance!!! He was back to his best. Took his goal well, produced a gem of passes to creat Henry's goal, put Eto ahead in Eto's first goal; What can we ask for now?

Toure - 6 - Was taken off very early.

Iniesta - 8.5 - Continuied his great recent form. Greta pass to create Alves goal. Only downside would be the injury and may be the fact that he failed to get into the scoresheet.

Messi - 8 - Good performance. What a goal, simply out of this world. But wasted some pretty easy chances. Was involved in most of attacks.

Eto - 8 - Linked deep in attack. Was involved well. Great finish for the first goal and took the second goal well.

Henry - 8.5 - Another great perfomance from the Frenchman. Scored one, created one and had shots saved by goal keeper. Went deep to help the defense too.

Substitutes:

Keita - 7 - Good performance. He needed to be solid whne others are going forward and did just that.

Gudjohnsen - 6 - NOthing spectacular.

Bojan - 6.5 - Had a shot saved by goal keeper.

Man Of The Match - Xavi Hernandez

The Boat Cruises On; FC Barcelona-6, Malaga-0

In a sensational display which could be sending shivers across Europe, FC Barcelona destroyed the visiting Malaga team by half a dozen goals. The display was so phenomenol that a 6-0 final scoreline was indeed injustice to Barca. Barca was also helped with the Malaga team's attitude and plans which saw them defending deep and trying to crowd Barca out of the box. Then you can't blame them either as it could be suicidal for them to come and attack Barca and leave spaces all over the place. Once again our brilliant attacking midfield pair of Xavi and Iniesta set up this vitory. There were some concerns with injury picked up by Xavi, Iniesta and Toure. But the good news is that they all are set to recover well in ten days time. Iniesta now will not be available for Spain's match against Turkey. Barca were 4-0 ahead by half time with goals from Xavi, Messi, Henry and Eto; after the break Eto and Alves struk to complete the tally. Guardiola lined-up a starting eleven as expected - Alves, Marquez, Caceres and Sylvinho formed the defense infornt of Valdes. Xavi, Toure and Iniesta formed the midfield. Messi, Eto and Henry formed the usual front three.

The game started with Barca completely in control. In the 3rd minute Iniesta's shot was vlocked by Malaga goal Keeper, Goitia after a neat one-two between Iniesta and Eto. In the 14th minute Henry headed wide from a great Alves cross. Alves seemed to have found his form back and was a revelation in attack in the right flank. Eto was linking deep and that was causing all kind of havoc for Malaga. Then in the 19th minute Xavi took Barca deseringly ahead with a low shoot past after receiving a pass from Eto. Then in the 25th minute , Messi showed again why he is way ahead of other in the world at this moment. Xavi sent in a long aerial cross to Messi, what happened after that was purely magical. Messi chested the ball ahead of the defender and sets of on another magical Messi run into the box; inside the box he played a magical little dribble to take away the ball from the two defenders; but then I thought he might have miscontrolled it but he still found the upper right corner of the goal with a great right foot shot. The little dribble he did was so magical that my friends (one is a ManU fan and other a Chelse fan) was silenced. Here on it was clear that Malaga has to endure a long and tough night. In the 32nd minute Xavi produced a defense splitting pass putting Henry ahead, who rounded off the Goitia and slotted the ball into the goal with inside of his foot. In the 39th minute Eto saw his shot blocked after being fed by Iniesta after a great run into the box. In the 40th minute Henry saw his good shot from outside the box tipped over by Goitia. In the 42nd minute Messi saw his shot saved by Goitia; the defenders gave the ball away to Messi who had only the Goal Keeper to beat. That was just an unbelievabl miss and the reaction of Guardiola to that miss was simply awesome. In the 43rd minute Eto entered the scoresheet after a great move. Iniesta laid the ball to Sylvinho on the left; Sylvinho send the ball to Messi through a defenders leg; Messi played the ball to Xavi who gave the ball to Eto on the right inside the box; Eto clamly slotted the ball home with a fierce shoy through Goitia legs. Then in the 45th minute Messi saw his fierce shot blocked off Eto.

Barca was again the first one to take the initaiative in the second half. In the 47th minute Messi wasted another easy chance when he allowed Goitia time to make a save after he has earlier blocked off Xavi's effort. Then in the 49th minute against run of play Valdes was called into action. Valdes pulled out a great one hand diving save to deny Salva's header. Then in the 51st minute Iniesta send in a beautiful chipped cross ahead of the defense on to an advancing Alves; Alves produced a neat header over the keeper to register Barca's fifth of the night. In the 54th minute Valdes pulled off another save to keep a clean sheet intact. In the 57th minute Eto scored his second of the night. Sylvinho who is improving with more matches he is playing blasted a great shot from 25 yards out; Goitia saved it but the rebound fell to Henry who unselfishly squared the ball to Eto for a simple finish. It was surprising to see Barca not able to increase the lead even with half an hour left. Soon after the goal Guardiola took off both Iniesta and Xavi. Camp Nou faithfuls gave both the players a deserving standing ovation when they were taken off and was replaced with Bojan and Gudjohnsen. That substitution put almost five starikers on the pitch. The tempo of the game dropped after that and the only decent chance was for Bojan who shot his shot saved by Goitia off a great Messi pass.

Iniesta is said to be out for ten to fifteen days. That means he will not be available for International duties; but should be back in the squad for Barca's next match. Eventhough the performance at attack was great but we were troubled at times at the defense. But credit to Caceres and Marquez for holding firm. Keita who filled in for Toure played well; but it also showed that Toure is the best option we have in that position. Overall this was great result and a great step forward. We have clearly gotten over the little slump we had and what we need now is to have our players to escape any injuries.