Champions League Preview, Matchday 8, Tuesday March 4

By: Laurie | March 4th, 2008

This is it. After the games today, four teams will continue on, and four will go home and kick their collective dogs and dream about next year. Here are the previews for today’s games.

(This is the more abridged, front page version. For more depth, be sure to check out Rob’s preview at Champions League Offside.)

Milan vs. Arsenal
The first match ended in a 0-0 draw, but by all accounts it was a far more exciting game than the scoreline might indicate. Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac played out of his mind and thwarted Arsenal time after time. Milan is going to be trying to do that thwarting thing again, and hoping that goalscorers like Pato and/or Kaka will be able to hit the net going the other way. Milan will probably be missing Clarence Seedorf, but should have Pato, Kaka, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and ~~Alessandro~~ Andrea Pirlo back in the lineup.

As for Arsenal, they started the year with a bang and are still leading the EPL, but recently they have been more fizzle than sizzle. They got knocked out of the Carling Cup in the semis by eventual winners Tottenham, and last weekend could only muster a draw against Aston Villa. They’re looking to turn it around at the San Siro, but they’re going to have to do it without Kolo Toure and the nastily injured Eduardo da Silva.

Sevilla vs. Fenerbahçe
The first leg ended 3-2 Fenerbahçe. Were you surprised? I was, a bit. Both of these teams are trying to prove that they can play with the big boys, and one of them will get the chance after today. Fenerbahçe goes into this game with a one-goal lead, but Sevilla has two important away goals and could go through with a 1-0 win.

Fenerbahçe will be relying on homegrown talent and a little Brazilian magic to advance in their first visit to the knockout stages. They’re not coming off a great recent run domestically, but they’re looking to make up for it here. Volkan Demirel, Diego Lugano, Gökhan Gönül and Semih Şentürk should all be back, but they’ll be without Roberto Carlos (deep cut to the shin,) Stephen Appiah (blood clots), and Claudio Maldonado (calf.)

Sevilla aren’t having a great domestic season, but they’re last year’s UEFA Cup winners, which shows that they tend to do their best in knockout competitions. My favorite description of their style comes from Goal.com:

The one gaping weakness that the Nervionese men have is their penchant for gung-ho attacking football. A case in point could be observed at the weekend against Deportivo, where they dominated the contest, had countless shots at goal, but unfortunately left their backline unattended one time too many as their opponents scored twice on the two occasions when they attacked.

Gung-ho attacking football. With Fredi Kanoute, no less. Happy sigh. Hope it works for them. They may be without Julien Escudé and Ivica Dragutinović, and will definitely be missing striker Ernesto Chevantón. But José Crespo should be back in the lineup.

Barcelona vs. Celtic
Celtic lost their opening match, 2-3 after taking the lead twice. Barcelona, the expected leaders, go into the home game with three away goals. Can Celtic take it back? Do you believe in miracles?

Celtic will be without Balde, Kennedy and Doumbe, but Stephen McManus and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink will be back. And Andreas Hinkel is cup-tied after playing in the competition for his previous team, Sevilla.

Barcelona will be without Gabi Milito, who is ill. France centerback Lilian Thuram will probably play instead. But they have the fab four — Messi, Henry, Eto’o and Ronaldinho — at their disposal.

I would personally love to see Celtic take it, just so I can continue to type the name Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

Manchester United vs. Lyon
In the opening match, ManU tied it up with an 87th minute goal by Carlos Tevez for a 1-1 draw.

ManU is known for offensive firepower. Think: Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney. Think: their complete destruction of Roma last year, 7-1. (I’ve probably just made Chris curl up into a fetal position by bringing that up again.) And Lyon’s defense can be a bit…shaky. Yet somehow in the first game, Lyon managed to shut down ManU until the very end. Can they do it again, while still managing to score?

Domestically, ManU is fighting hard with Arsenal to go top of the table in the EPL, and Lyon is clinging to top of Ligue 1 by their fingernails. ManU will be playing without Gary Neville, Mikael Silvestre and Ben Foster. Lyon is pretty much full-strength, with the possibility that Cris could at last return to fill the gaping hole in central defense.

Look for Lyon’s twenty-year-old vunderkind striker, Karim Benzema, to impress, perhaps along with fellow youngster Hatem Ben Arfa.