Arsenal continued their good league from into the Champions League but can consider themselves a little bit unlucky not to execute a perfect fairy tale in Europe after ‘only’ managed to score three goals against Ac Milan.
Losing 4-0 in the first leg, those three goals obviously weren’t good enough to take Arsene Wenger’s team advancing but they can be confident with their current form in their attempt to grab the Champions League spot by the end of season.
Following England‘s 3-2 home loss to the Netherlands last night, caretaker manager Stuart Pearce has ruled himself out of contention for the post of England coach.
Pearce however, maintained that he would still like to manage the team for the Euro’s. Playing in front of a 70,000 crowd, The Three Lions started the match brightly and heading into the break the stage looked set for an England victory.
However, two quick goals early in the second half from Klaas Jan Huntelaar (58th minute) and Arjen Robben (59th minute) changed the face of the game entirely. It took England more than 30 minutes to restore parity before the cruel hand of fate dealt them a harsh blow.
Manchester United followed their city rival, Manchester City‘s footsteps in advancing through the 1ast 16 of Europa League but it happened through a pretty tough situation as United’s opponent, Ajax Amsterdam put up a fight at Old Trafford.
The Dutch side went on to win the game 2-1 and were very close on making a come back after going 2-0 down in the first leg, a situation which obviously gave some scares for the Red Devils devotees at the Theater of Dreams.
Athletic Bilbao’s reward for defeating Manchester United is a tie against Schalke in the two-legged Europa League quarter-finals. This should a great match-up between two attacking sides with loud and passionate fans.
“It was a fiesta for us,” Bilbao secretary Javier Aldazabal said of the Basque club’s impressive 2-1 win on Thursday, following a 3-2 upset of the English champion at Old Trafford. “To be in the European last eight, it’s a surprise but we are enjoying it.”
Andre Villas-Boas left bitter with the result that his team, Chelsea, earned in their Champions League against Napoli especially since he believe that the 3-1 defeat could have been avoided should some defensive errors didn’t happen.
Villas-Boas simply thought that shaky defending will always leads to defeat when fighting against a team like the Naples based outfit as they possessed strong quality up front with quality players such as Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik.
Another disappointed result earned by English sides on Italian soil as after Arsenal‘s defeat against Ac Milan not long ago, this time it’s Chelsea‘s turn to suffer a similar outcome although Andre Villas-Boas ‘ team did put out a better effort than Wenger’s boys.
Playing against Napoli at San Paolo, the Blues actually managed to take an early lead but got pummeled 3-1 in the end, leaving Villas-Boas in despair as his team suffered another disappointment.
Arsenal‘s mental condition is apparently in a deep mess after their major Champions League defeat against Ac Milan as it was shown on their recent FA Cup showing at Sunderland, where Arsene Wenger’s side went out of the competition rather surprisingly.
Getting battered 2-0 by Martin O’Neill’s side obviously isn’t a positive sign from Wenger’s boys but their French manager remain calm and promised that things can improve in upcoming matches.
Chelsea‘s failure in beating Birmingham City provides more pressure for Andre Villas-Boas side ahead of their Champions League clash against Italian side, Napoli, in the midweek as the Portuguese coach admitted that his side’s confidence is rather low at the moment.
Villas-Boas hopes that his players can overcome that mental problem as they will be facing much more difficult task in Southern Italy rather than their recent FA Cup tie against Birmingham that ended 1-1.
After embarrassingly exiting the Champions League last December, Manchester United have now set their eyes on winning the Europa League after concerns arose on whether his team was committed to Europe’s second tier club competition.
After a little spat with UEFA president Michel Platini over comments he made after his side’s shocking defeat to FC Basel in the Group Stage of the Champions League last December, Ferguson has maintained that he will field a strong side for United’s clash with Ajax in the round of 32.
Their is a lot of uncertainity over who will be the next England Captain after John Terry was sensationally axed from the position last week. Favourites for the job United’s Rio Ferdinand ruled himself out of the running while Man City‘s Joe Hart has down played his chances of replacing Terry.
As things stand, the firm favourite to replace Terry is Liverpool Steven Gerrard. However, with the Reds skipper having not featured in Capello’s line up since early last year will have to battle for it as both Scott Parker and Frank Lampard still in the running for it.
