Left field

Chelsea vanquish Moscow ghosts

Some things are meant to be, others are not.

Frank Lampard said he never doubted Chelsea would win the penalty shootout against Bayern Munich in Saturday’s enthralling 2012 Champions League final, although they trailed in the spot kicks after Juan Mata’s early miss, while the hero of their astonishing victory Didier Drogba firmly believes it was Chelsea’s destiny to cover themselves in glory.

And rightly so one might add, having suffered an exact reverse four years ago on a rainy night in Moscow, which ended in agony for Chelsea after they were ahead in the penalty shootout against Manchester United only to see the elusive trophy snatched away by their Premier League rivals after John Terry’s barely believable miss.

Chelsea dominated long spells of the Moscow final which also ended in a strength-sapping 1-1 draw after extra time while they were on the back foot for most of their encounter with Bayern, who had the distinct advantage of playing in their own Allianz Arena.

Along with Terry, who watched the drama in Munich unfold from the sidelines as he was suspended, Drogba was the villain of Chelsea’s downfall in Moscow after being sent off in the dying minutes of extra time.

The robust Ivorian could not have vindicated himself more emphatically against Bayern, having headed in an 88th-minute equaliser before he coolly slotted the final penalty to send his team and an army of Chelsea fans into raptures. He conceded a penalty in extra time but Arjen Roben missed it.

Is it a simple case of Lady Luck smiling on Chelsea on Saturday after turning her back in 2008?

Has Alex Ferguson lost his edge?

If it was a last-gasp attempt by the wily and trophy-laden 70-year old Scot to outfox his Italian counterpart Roberto Mancini, it backfired spectacularly as United were second best throughout the contest and were lucky not to have lost by a bigger margin.

Still refusing to accept that his team are in the driving seat to win the title after overhauling an eight-point deficit to go top on goal difference with two games left, Mancini appears to have unnerved Ferguson with his pre-game rhetoric just as he emphatically won their tactical battle on the pitch.

For all their class and brilliance, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs looked every bit their age against a robust and relentless City midfield, marshalled by Yaya Toure who trampled United’s veterans with imposing ease.

Fielding the ineffective Park Ji-Sung as an additional ball-winner alongside Michael Carrick left Wayne Rooney a lonesome figure up front, with Nani reduced to chasing shadows after the supply routes were cut off.

Should United lose the title in the home straight, Ferguson might be left wondering whether he would have been better off starting with Danny Welbeck and either Antonio Valencia or Ashley Young, as that would have forced United to adopt their usual adventurous strategy even if it meant taking more risks.

United’s performance and formation bore a striking resemblance to the one that tamely lost to Barcelona 2-0 in the 2009 Champions League final, after which Cristiano Ronaldo openly criticised Ferguson’s big-game tactics in Europe and left for Real Madrid after six years at Old Trafford.

Although United retained their Premier League title that year and won another one last season, their 3-1 defeat by Barca in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley again exposed chinks in the armour which Ferguson has been unable to plaster.

City v United is fitting climax to Premier League title race

Three weeks ago it seemed the Manchester derby would be little more than a dead rubber after City’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal left champions United eight points clear at the top, in a commanding position to clinch their 20th league title and their fifth in the last six seasons.

But a rollercoaster Premier League title race produced yet another twist after United’s 1-0 loss at lowly Wigan, followed by a rip-roaring 4-4 home draw with Everton in which they threw away a two-goal lead late in the game, let City back into the title race after they had squandered a seven-point lead over United with their own dip in form.

Fans who will cram into City’s stadium on Monday and millions watching the showdown on television throughout the world could not have asked for a more thrilling finale, with local pride and bragging rights as well as the league title at stake.

United are three points clear of City with three games left. They will be almost assured of retaining their crown with a win and a draw would also leave them in the driving seat. City, on the other hand, will go top on goal difference if they win and that outcome would perhaps force their shrewd manager Roberto Mancini to concede the title race was wide open.

Since United went eight points clear, Mancini has repeatedly stated that City’s title challenge was over and refused to make a U-turn even after his team closed the gap to three points.

A master in tactics, motivation and beating his rivals to the finish line, Ferguson appears to have finally met his match in mind games as the pressure, for once, seems to have rattled his team and not the opposition.

English plight in Europe is no fluke

Anyone who might have assumed the deteriorating form of English clubs in Europe since Manchester United won the 2008 Champions League resulted from a convergence of misfortunate circumstances such as tough draws or mounting injuries to key players has been emphatically refuted.

Come Thursday, the Premier League might be left without a single club to represent it in either the Champions League or the less fancied Europa League, where Manchester rivals City and United were not just beaten but also played off the park last week by rivals many of their fans will have considered second-class opposition.

Especially unimpressive were Manchester United, who can consider themselves lucky to be taking only a 3-2 deficit to their return leg clash at Spanish side Athletic Bilbao, whose fans did all the singing at Old Trafford as the Basque outfit outplayed the English champions on their own turf like no other team in recent history.

“We were well beaten and they were the better team,” said United manager Alex Ferguson after their Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea produced a stellar performance to give his team a glimmer of hope they can overturn the tie in the cauldron of Bilbao’s San Mames stadium.

I can’t remember Ferguson heaping so much praise on any European opposition that visited Old Trafford in the last two decades, including the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich.

Like United, stuttering Chelsea and their caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo also face a daunting task of overturning a 3-1 first leg deficit in their Champions League last-16 clash with Napoli, who geared up for the trip to Stamford  Bridge with a 6-3 rout of Italian Serie A rivals Cagliari on Friday.

Premier League leaders Manchester City are in the best position of the three to progress as they have only a 1-0 deficit against Sporting Lisbon to overcome at their stadium. But an away goal for the visitors – who are fourth in the Portuguese first division with only a theoretical chance of winning the title - could mean more European disappointment for City, whose Champions League debut ended in a group stage exit at the hands of Bayern and Napoli.

Va-va-voom. Vintage Henry scores on Arsenal return.

The clock said 68 minutes, and no one at the Emirates Stadium in north London was looking at the action on the pitch as the fourth official held aloft his lit-up board to signal the re-introduction of Thierry Henry to English football.

Ten minutes later and he’d scored the game’s eventual winner. Comebacks don’t get this good this often.

14 to replace 15 shone the bright numbers before the goal, but alas Henry’s former number has since been taken by young English talent Theo Walcott, who idolises the French great.

Now, for six weeks and six weeks only after which he will return to the United States with the New York Red Bulls, Henry can be seen wearing an Arsenal shirt with the number 12, the same as his France days during which he won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship.

The only numbers Arsenal fans will care about are 228, 229 and who knows, possible even into the 230s.

With a trademark movement of his right boot, Henry had added to his record Arsenal tally of 226 having watched his new teammates spurn chance after chance against Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Arsenal fans out there, does this worry you? Would you like to see Arsene Wenger bring in another striker in the January transfer window given the lack of goals?

And Porto will play…..Europa League draw provides some stardust

There was the usual hushed silence and then sudden intake of breath heard in Nyon on Friday, though not for the Champions League Round of 16 draw but the first two ties of the Europa League Round of 32.

Holders Porto will play mega-rich Manchester City, they were the first two names out of the little plastic balls when UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was finally able to open the second after Davor Suker had tried and failed, and Ajax Amsterdam will take on Manchester United.

So what about the Champions League draw? Well, here it is in full:

Olympique Lyon v APOEL Nicosia

Napoli v Chelsea

AC Milan v Arsenal

Basel v Bayern Munich

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Have City knocked United off their perch?

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was quick to say that his team’s 6-1 mauling of arch-rivals United meant little more than another three points in the bag, but the Italian must surely be hoping it could signal a shift in the balance of power.

Having knocked Liverpool off their perch when they won a record 19th league title last season, United now face the prospect of playing second fiddle to City in England and Manchester, should their heaviest defeat to their neighbours in 56 years prove to be more than just a temporary setback.

Ferguson and several pundits wasted no time in pointing out United were undone after central defender Jonny Evans was sent off for a professional foul early in the second half.

But City were already on top at that point and earned their extra man on the pitch by carving United open with a defence-splitting pass -- which left Evans only with the alternative of letting Mario Balotelli run through on goal.

Fielding his unpredictable compatriot Balotelli instead of Edin Dzeko up front turned out to be a masterstroke by Mancini, much like his entire strategy which worked to devastating effect.

Any hopes of a trademark United comeback when Darren Fletcher made it 3-1 vanished after late substitute Dzeko scored a brace to throw the blue half of Manchester into raptures, prompting Ferguson to adopt an unfamiliar line in his post-match reactions.

“We just kept attacking. It’s alright playing with the history books but common sense has to come in at times. With the experience we had at the back, we should have realised that and settled for what we had when it went to 4-1,” Ferguson told the club’s official website (www.manutd.com).

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

United get rude awakening

The plain sailing Manchester United would have expected in the group stage of their Champions League campaign has turned into a rough ride after Tuesday’s 3-3 home draw with Swiss side Basel, who were unlucky not to have come away from Old Trafford with the three points.

Two draws in their last two games, away to Stoke City in the Premier League and the late escape against Basel, will have rooted out any complacency that might have crept into Alex Ferguson’s men after their flying start to the season which included an 8-2 drubbing of Arsenal.

United’s last two performances also showed that despite their three big summer signings in David De Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young, the team still lack depth when key players are injured.

With Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Javier Hernandez and the increasingly influential Chris Smalling all sidelined, United’s makeshift 11 with Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia filling in at right back looked bereft of ideas up front against Stoke and utterly unconvincing even when they were 2-0 up against Basel, when only a late Young header spared them from paying in full for a comedy of errors at the back.

Any thoughts of wrestling the Champions League title away from holders Barcelona will have also taken a back seat for the time being, especially given they also drew 1-1 at Benfica in their opener, as Ferguson could face fresh dilemmas with what to do with one or two players.

Dimitar Berbatov looks confined to the fringes, behind four other strikers in the pecking order, and Ferguson might be tempted to offload the Bulgarian during the January transfer window when he can still get a decent bargain for last season’s joint top scorer in the Premier League.

Michael Owen won widespread praise for his brace in the 3-0 League Cup win over Leeds United last week but looked rather flat against Stoke and played no part on Tuesday, while Rio Ferdinand was completely at sea against Basel’s 32-year old striker Alexander Frei.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Champions League kicks off but is there only one winner?

Can any team steal Barcelona's Champions League crown this term?

The easy answer is no.

They were so strong last season that even the final against a good Manchester United side was a stroll.

This term Pep Guardiola's men have strengthened, if that was possible, with the additions of Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez so it is hard to look past them and their silky skills.

But, no team has successfully defended a Champions League title so there is hope for the rest.

United have added youth to their mix and look Barca's only proper rivals again unless Jose Mourinho can work his European Cup magic at Real Madrid.

After all, it only took him two seasons to win the Champions League with an overachieving Inter Milan side.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Can’t win with kids? United just did.

“You can’t win anything with kids,” said former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen of Manchester United’s young team in 1995. Alex Ferguson’s troops went on to win the Premier League that season in 1996.

Are we about to see a similar outcome in the 2011/12 season after Ferguson hauled off the experienced trio of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick with United 2-0 down to rivals Manchester City before they staged a second-half comeback to win the Community Shield 3-2 on Sunday?

Centre backs Phil Jones and Jonny Evans coped well with City’s vast array of attacking talent, while Carrick’s replacement Tom Cleverley was pivotal in the move that led to Nani’s sublime equaliser, pinging passes with Wayne Rooney around the box.

Rooney even called them “young”, the England man himself only 25.

Another youngster is new keeper David de Gea, who was far from convincing in the first half but saved smartly from David Silva in the second period and will need some time to convince any early doubters that he is the man to fill the boots of Edwin van der Sar.

The Premier League season is now just a week away, and while Ferguson has been quick to point out the limited significance of any pre-season matches he will be quietly confident after another typical United comeback.

Picture: Manchester United's Chris Smalling (L) celebrates scoring with Tom Cleverley during their FA Community Shield soccer match against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London August 7, 2011. REUTERS/Toby Melville