Champions League Preview, MatchDay 10, Part Deux

By: Laurie | April 9th, 2008

So how do I feel about yesterday’s results? Let’s quote the immortal words of Ian, who before yesterday’s death of the Turks, said:

“Go Fenerbahce. I’m firmly on the bandwagon, if only to avoid the possibility of another Chelsea-Liverpool, which ranks just below “a fork” in terms of things I want in my eyes next round.”

Yeah. What he said. And I’m equally depressed about the death of Arsenal. But at least the game was exciting.

Chances are looking pretty good that we’ll have three EPL teams in the semis. I’ll let you decide how you feel about that.

But onward! Today is another day! The glass is half full! Roma can still theoretically knock out ManU, right? So let’s take a look at today’s games. And, as always, I provide only puffy-little-quiche-and-carrot-sticks type information. If you want real meat, go to Champions League Offside, as well as the team blogs. (For links, click on the team names, below.)

Today’s games, which kick off at 20:45 GMT, or 11:45 Pacific, 2:45 Eastern:
Barcelona vs. Schalke

Schalke is the only thing resembling a small fish that we still have in these games. They’re perhaps not actual small fish, since they’re currently second in the Bundesliga. But they’re not a global brand, which is reason enough to make me root for them. And they’re not dead yet.

They didn’t do too horribly last week, losing 0-1 on seventeen-year-old Bojan “May I Buy a Vowel” Krkić’s first Champions League goal. But if Schalke are wanting to advance, they’ll have to score.

They’ll be helped by the fact that Barcelona has been struck by the injury bug and will be missing Ronaldinho (who apparently still has that phantom thigh thing), Deco and Lionel Messi. Unfortunately Schalke will also be missing a few, including Ivan Rakitic, and possibly Mladen Krstajic, Heiko Westermann and Christian Pander.

I don’t know about you, but I’m rooting for the underdogs.

Manchester United vs. Roma

Roma is still haunted by the ghost of that 7-1 drubbing last year, and they’d like nothing more than to put it behind them with a vengeance. It’s an uphill battle after ManU scored two away goals last week.

But hope springs eternal, and Roma is a quality team, and Manchester United will be missing some key players. They could be particularly hard-hit by the loss of defender Nemanja Vidic, and possibly Rio Ferdinand (who in my opinion was man of the match last week.) If Ferdinand is out, the defense could be decidely more porous, which could make life interesting. Now it’s up to Roma to take advantage of it.

Roma will still be without captain and talisman Francesco Totti, though, so they won’t be operating at full-strength either.

Viewing and other options:

The ManU-Roma game will be shown live on ESPN2, if you can stomach listening to Tommy Smythe and company as they engage in whatever today’s equivalent is of comparing Arsene Wenger to Basil Fawlty.

And I’m having a hard time negotiating the Setanta schedule this morning, but they usually show at least one of the games.

Also, I just discovered that if you can’t get to a TV, ESPN360.com will be showing both games here in the states. Not everybody gets the service –it’s free with some broadband packages, including Verizon — but if you do, you might as well take advantage of it.