Hallmark of a Champion

What is the difference between a good team and a champion team?The answer is, a good team wins when it is in form while a champion team wins even when it is out of form. The recent results showed that Manchester United are a champion team and they can re-create history by winning the treble again. They had 5 difficult games(4 of them were away games) in 15 days and they came out victorious in all of them even though they didn't play very well. After a victory at Lille, United's progress in UCL looked like the only outcome of the tie. Then, United won a game at Craven Cottage against Fulham to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 9 points. United's reserves secured a victory at Reading to keep the FA cup hopes alive.Then came the big one against Liverpool at Anfield. Liverpool had not lost a league game at home for more than 1 year. So, even a draw would have been acceptable to United' fans. As the match went on, Liverpool created more and more chances and looked destined to score sooner or later. Liverpool nearly got the lead when Bellamy beat Van Der Sar but he was off side. United kept on defending and trying to hit Liverpool on the break. Then came the incident which could have proved to be the turning point of this game. Paul Scholes was sent off for a wild swing of arm aimed at Xabi Alonso. 10 men United side tried to hold on to a 0-0 scoreline. Van Der Sar made a great save to deny Peter Crouch a goal. In injury time, United won a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. Ronaldo's shot was deflected by the keeper and John O'Shea didn't make any mistake to beat Reina. United won the game in injury time and an unlikely hero in form of John O'Shea emerged. The lead at the top increased to 12 points. After this huge success, United beat Lille at home to reach the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League where they take on Roma. Then, United had an away FA cup game at Middlesbrough.Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero again for United as he scored the equalizer at Riverside Stadium to earn a replay at Old Trafford.

After this hectic period, players got some well deserved rest. United's next 3 games are at home and nothing less than a win would be expected in all 3 of them. United have some injury scares as well and it will be a test of character for the rest of the team. Van Der Sar might miss the next game. Rio Ferdinand will be out for 2 games and will miss Euro 2008 qualifier as well. Mikael Silvestre is out for the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder. Paul Scholes will miss the next 2 games due to suspension. Darren Fletcher is injured too. Louis Saha is out for 2 weeks and Ole Gunner Solskjaer had a minor operation. So, he will be out for a few weeks as well. Henrik Larsson ended his loan spell at Old Trafford and he will join his club Helsingborgs. Suddenly, so many players are out but United should still get positive results as core of the starting 11 is still there. United's next game is against Bolton who currently lie 5th in the league. Bolton are coming to Old Trafford after losing their last 3 games. So, United would like to take advantage of Bolton's poor form. When the two teams went head to head last time, Rooney scored a hat trick to give United an easy 4-0 victory. United would need a similar performance from Rooney and rest of the team to inch closer to the league title.

Results-UCL Round of 16

Chelsea 3(2)-2(1) FC Porto - Porto gave Chelsea an early scare but once the players settled in it was always going to be Chelsea's night. Ricardo Quaresma scored his second goal of the tie early in the game to give Porto an unexpected lead. This game exposed the vulnerability of Chelsea's back four in the absence of Terry. Robben's goal from long range early in the second half put the match right in the melting pot again. Porto keeper made a horrible error allowing the ball to go in. Michael Ballack won the game for Chelsea later in the half with a superb volley. It was Shevchenko who set Ballack up for this goal. So, the multi-million pound signings won a crucial game for Chelsea.

AC Milan 1(1)-0(0) Celtic - It took Milan more than 180 minutes to break Celtic's defence. Celtic played remarkably well. If Celtic were lucky, they could have won a penalty in this game which might have sealed the game. The score was 0-0 after the end of regulation time. So, the game moved into extra time and Kaka scored the winner for Milan.

Manchester United 2(1)-0(0) Lille - United didn't play the free flowing football, they are known for, in this game. For the last few weeks, they haven't been in great form but they got the right result. It was Larsson's last game at Old Trafford and he ended his stint with United in style, scoring the only goal of this game. He was given a standing ovation by the crowd when he was substituted by Smith. Crowd gave a warm welcome to Alan Smith as well who returned to top flight football after one year. After a long wait of 4 years, United moved into the quarter final of UCL.

Arsenal 1(1)-2(1) PSV Eindhoven - A Chelsea player ended Arsenal's cup dreams. Alex, who is out on loan to PSV from Chelsea scored on both sides of the pitch to upset Arsenal. First, he scored an own goal to give Arsenal a glimmer of hope but later he scored for his team to finish Arsenal off. Arsene Wenger saw his team's exit from 3 cup competitions in a fortnight. A loss against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final, loss against Blackburn in the FA Cup and now this loss, it surely has been a terrible season for Arsenal. They are not in a position to challenge Chelsea and Man Utd for the EPL as well. The only plus point of this season for Arsenal is that the youngsters played a lot in the absence of regulars which gave them invaluable experience and created a solid base for the future. Also, Thierry Henry aggravated his groin injury and he might be out for the rest of the season.

Lyon 0(0)-2(2) Roma - Lyon was tipped as a favorite to win this competition by many experts but Roma beat them in their den to create the biggest upset of this round. Roma were denied an early goal by the referee(because he thought that Totti had fouled before the ball went in) though it was a harsh decision. Totti made amends for his mistake by scoring a goal after a few minutes. Just before half time, Mancini scored one of the best goals of this round to double the lead. Mancini can be called the step-over king of Italy after he fooled the defender with some Samba magic. Lyon were not able to overcome the two goal deficit and choked yet again in the knockout stage of the competition.

Valencia(AG) 2(0)-2(0) Inter Milan - Valencia had already scored two crucial away goals at San Siro and they didn't give Inter a chance to come back at home. The match ended goal less. This match will be remembered for the brawl at the end of the game. The pitch looked like a wrestling ring with punches flying and players running after each other. UEFA fined both clubs. Valencia' David Navarro(who came off the bench to smack Inter's Burdisso in his nose) has been banned for 7 months. Inter's Burdisso(6 games), Maicon(6 games), Cordoba(3 games), Cruz(2 games) and Valencia's Marchena(4 games) have been suspended too. These are the incidents, nobody wants to see on a football pitch. So, lets hope these bans prove to be a lesson for the players and an incident like this is not repeated in future.

Bayern Munich(AG) 4(2)-4(1) Real Madrid - Bayern proved again the importance of away goals in two legged cup ties as they dumped 9 time champions Real Madrid out of the competition. Real missed Cannavaro and Beckham badly who didn't play due to injuries. It took Bayern only 10 seconds to score as Roberto Carlos made an error and Roy Makaay scored the fastest goal in Champions League history. Real kept struggling for most part of the game and Lucio put the game out of Real's reach by scoring his second goal of the tie in the second half. A funny incident saw Mark van Bommel and Diarra sent off. Ruud van Nistelrooy converted a penalty to retore some pride. Real came agonizingly close to an equalizer as Sergio Ramos put the ball in the back of the net but the referee thought that he had handled the ball before slotting it past the keeper. Bayern were the better team that night and they earned their place in the quarter finals.

Liverpool(AG) 2(0)-2(1) Barcelona - Many people thought that Liverpool had finished Barca at Nou Camp and they were right. Liverpool dominated this game and were cruelly denied by the cross bar twice. Victor Valdes made a great double save to keep Barca's dreams alive. Eidur Gudjohnson scored the winner for Barca but they needed one more to finish things off and Liverpool never gave them that chance. Jamie Carragher had an excellent game and Ronaldinho and co struggled to get past him. Liverpool were defeated at their fortress twice in 4 days but this loss didn't really matter.

This is how UCL Round of 16 ended. The quarter finals will have English flavor as 3 EPL teams have qualified. This round proved to be the end of the road for defending Champions Barcelona, French Champions Lyon, Italian Champions Inter Milan, English giants Arsenal and 9 time winners Real Madrid. Only one team(AC Milan) out of the 8 qualifiers were at this stage last year. This shows how unpredictable this game is. Hoping to see similar unpredictable quarter finals as well.