Champions League knockout stage draw

Chelsea could REALLY use a Sneijder. I've always loved the way he (or any creative attacking mid) plays the game. Mourinho said time and time again that Inter was one player away from being a top tier side in Europe, his solution was Sneijder, and the difference he makes in the Inter side was epitomized today. You're right, Chelsea's answer at that position is Lampard who plays a much more industrious and box to box game as attacking mid and doesn't really spark creativity in his side. They tried with Deco and he showed flashes of his ability but played poorly mostly and was never given much of an opportunity once Scolari was sacked.

Eto'o can play lousy for 77 minutes. All he needs is that one moment. Eto'o shined in the middle with strikers on either side for Barca. Plus it never hurts to get service from Iniesta and Xavi. I still think he and Ibra were better suited with their former teams.
 
Inter won.

Sold Ibrahimovic for 40 million Euros + Eto'o.

Used the money to get Sneijder.

Eto'o + Sneijder hook-up for the winning goal today.

As much as I've criticized Mourinho in the past for his anti-football, the dude made all the right decisions today and had his team outplay his opponents in their own backyard. His move to switch Eto'o to the left side was a stroke of genius.

As for Chelsea, they need to buy at least 2 more attackers.

---------Drogba-----Anelka------
Malouda---------------------RM
-------------------CM-----------
-----------Essien----------------

Anelka isnt necessarily the problem. Ask yourself how many times a Chelsea player got him the ball today. No service = no chances.

Anyways, its always good to see Chelsea get owned in Europe. Never gets old.
 
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Eto'o was poor for 77 minutes but then sealed the victory. I think the problem with him is positioning. At Barca he'd normally get the ball in the final 3rd of the pitch (usually in the middle) and then go from there. With Inter he's expected to do much more and cant really play a central role because of Milito's presence.

Wesley Sneijder is a freakin' baller.

Chelsea are just not good enough in Europe. They've always lacked the creativity necessary in tight UCL matches to squeeze out wins. You look at the scores in all the times they've been eliminated in Europe and you see that they dont concede too many goals when they lose but the problem is they cant score at all. IMO, they've always had good strikers but no real creative influence in the middle. You have a guy like Lampard that plays in the AM role but doesnt make the team better and is pretty much only good at one thing (making late runs into the box and shooting on net). Year in and year out Chelsea are eliminated in the same fashion but some of their fans point the finger at the refs or their manager rather than at the personnel that they have. It's time to make some serious alterations to that team.

Inter are legit UCL contenders. This team is capable of beating anyone...including Barca.
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Not sure how much we can trash Chelsea here. I certainly can't agree that they are "just not good enough in Europe" when they lost the trophy because of a penalty miss 2 years ago and were knocked out by a loaded Barca team at the last minute of a semifinal game in which many thought the refereeing was horrible last year. This year they ran into a team that you concede is a legit CL contender, and again lose a hard-fought game. To say that they get owned in Europe every year is surely hyperbole.
All in all, losing to Manchester, then Barca, then Inter isn't the worst track record a team could have, especially when they could have won any of the three. 

I would save my "we need to change something here" talk for a team like Milan or Liverpool, not Chelsea. They need some new blood and a creative midfielder to pull some strings, but overall they're a solid team. 
 
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for some reason I'm liking that John Terry lost...
 
As a Chelsea hater myself, I hope the club adopts your attitude and continues to fail in Europe on an annual basis.

Sorry Persia, but you are dead wrong. Let's look at the facts...

2004 semis: 5-3 loss to Monaco
2005 semis: 1-0 loss to Liverpool
2006 Round of 16: 3-2 loss to Barcelona (Lampard converts a meaningless PK in 90th min of the 2nd leg)
2007 semis: 1-1 draw with Liverpool (lose on PKs)
2008 finals: 1-1 draw with Man Utd (lose on PKs)
2009 semis: 1-1 draw with Barca (lose on away goals)
2010 Round of 16: 3-1 loss to Inter

So you're telling me a team that's scored a measly 7 goals in their last 11 UCL ties in which they've been eliminated is good enough? They lose every single season the same way. They keep things tight, but they dont have players explosive enough to break open these tight matches. The team rarely has width, rarely shows creativity, and are usually unable to create enough scoring chances.

People blame Anelka and yet they dont realize that this man is forced to track back and retrieve the ball from central midfield because Chelsea dont have anyone there to get him and Drogba the ball. People are going to blame Ancelotti and forget that Ranieri, Mourinho, Grant, Scolari, Hiddink have also fallen short coaching Chelsea in the same competition. This team simply is not good enough. Blow it up and get some new players if you really want to compete for the Champions League title.

P.S. Frank Lampard is honestly one of the most over-rated players on the planet. All this guy does is pad his stats in meaningless matches. He doesnt perform in big matches and more importantly; he doesnt make his team mates better. The guy is a waste for Chelsea and for England. Andy Gray was like "Who is Ancelotti going to take off...obviously you cant take Lampard off" as if this dude is untouchable or something. Essien + Drogba are the best players on Chelsea but the English media will have you believe that it's Terry and Lampard
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Edit: One more thing...Gray pointed out Chelsea only had 1 player under 25 on the pitch today (Obi Mikel). This team is obviously too old.
 
Hey guys, just wanted to make a few observations;

- Sevilla needs to get rid of Jiménez, quick. You can't go out in front of your own fans and merely try to hold on to a scoreless draw. You have Negredo sitting on the bench. Why mot use him, try to score in the first third of the game and then sub an offensive player for a defender?  It's easier to make defensive substitutions than it is to try and turn a defensive lineup into an offensive side. I'm glad his fraidy cat strategy failed.

- Mourinho is a genius. He clearly was out to make Chelsea players snap, and they did. Drogba was shadowed by Motta, the biggest headcase in Europe, and predictably was sent home early. Ballack was too focused on complaining to the ref to actually think about playing. Ivanovic was consistently trying to do too much, and Zhirkov could only cover for him so much. Terry is out of sorts, and Inter attacked him often in set pieces. Mourinho knew he could get in Chelsea's head, and that led Inter to the quarterfinals.

- Ancelotti is starting to look more and more like Pellegrini, a guy whose scheme is great against smaller teams but who gets outwitted by most coaches once the rosters are remotely similar.

- This is looking a bit like 2004, the most unpredictable UCL ever. CSKA, OL and probably Girondins will be in the quarterfinals while giants such as AC Milan, Madrid and Chelsea sit at home. This is further proof that big spending isn't hurting the game as many alarmists like to claim.

- I'm glad Eto'o performed as well as he did tonight, but I still believe there was no winner in the Samu-Ibra deal. Inter came out on top from a financial standpoint for sure, but the alternative for Barça was to keep Eto'o and not play him, risking a locker room blowup like the one that did the Rijkaard team in back in 2007. Ibra has given Barça a playmaking dimension that Samu could not replicate, and I am convinced that Barça's play will improve as the season goes on just like it did last year.
 
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

As a Chelsea hater myself, I hope the club adopts your attitude and continues to fail in Europe on an annual basis.

Sorry Persia, but you are dead wrong. Let's look at the facts...

2004 semis: 5-3 loss to Monaco
2005 semis: 1-0 loss to Liverpool
2006 Round of 16: 3-2 loss to Barcelona (Lampard converts a meaningless PK in 90th min of the 2nd leg)
2007 semis: 1-1 draw with Liverpool (lose on PKs)
2008 finals: 1-1 draw with Man Utd (lose on PKs)
2009 semis: 1-1 draw with Barca (lose on away goals)
2010 Round of 16: 3-1 loss to Inter

So you're telling me a team that's scored a measly 7 goals in their last 11 UCL ties in which they've been eliminated is good enough? They lose every single season the same way. They keep things tight, but they dont have players explosive enough to break open these tight matches. The team rarely has width, rarely shows creativity, and are usually unable to create enough scoring chances.

People blame Anelka and yet they dont realize that this man is forced to track back and retrieve the ball from central midfield because Chelsea dont have anyone there to get him and Drogba the ball. People are going to blame Ancelotti and forget that Ranieri, Mourinho, Grant, Scolari, Hiddink have also fallen short coaching Chelsea in the same competition. This team simply is not good enough. Blow it up and get some new players if you really want to compete for the Champions League title.

P.S. Frank Lampard is honestly one of the most over-rated players on the planet. All this guy does is pad his stats in meaningless matches. He doesnt perform in big matches and more importantly; he doesnt make his team mates better. The guy is a waste for Chelsea and for England. Andy Gray was like "Who is Ancelotti going to take off...obviously you cant take Lampard off" as if this dude is untouchable or something. Essien + Drogba are the best players on Chelsea but the English media will have you believe that it's Terry and Lampard
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Edit: One more thing...Gray pointed out Chelsea only had 1 player under 25 on the pitch today (Obi Mikel). This team is obviously too old.
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Not really sure what I can be "dead wrong" about, since all I really stated was their record, but I guess some like to have strong opinions. In my opinion, a team that has been in the final four of a competition three years running, losing twice on penalties, is probably doing something right. Their style may not be blowing people away, but they're putting themselves in position to win consistently, and not too many teams can say that. Look at Madrid. 
I would personally keep at it for a couple of years with the current lineup before blowing it up and starting over. The Colts lost like 4 times before winning, and they didn't have to destroy and rebuild. 

Your arguments would be much more compelling if the team hadn't lost at such late stages of the competition and on such close scorelines/penalties. We're talking about the Champions League here, not the Carling Cup. 
 
7 years running and you dont see anything wrong with the team?

Getting close is impressive if your a team like Villareal but if you're a huge club like Chelsea, getting close 5 times in the last 7 years is not good enough. You dont understand my criticism of their ugly play. My point is that their ugly style has not worked for them (i.e. achieving their goal of winning the UCL). You think that Abrahamovic's goal each season is to simply make the UCL semis? The guy has spent all that money and lost money on the team because he just cares about winning trophies. It's one thing to play ugly and succeed but all its done for Chelsea is cost them important match after important match against other elite teams.

You stick with this same team next season and I guarantee you'll get the same result.

Chelsea's European motto should be "Close but no cigar" (which incidentally is Arsenal's domestic motto).
 
I missed the game, but glad as can be to hear my boys the Nero Azzuri beat Chelsea at the Bridge.

Tomorrow's barca game should be interesting. I would be torn between Inter and Barca if they played in the next stage.
 
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@ Chelsea choking like Lebron in the playoffs. This is really funny, Chelsea and Real both out before the semis. Drogba is one dirty #$! *$$+ too...I really hope they ban him for a couple games for next years CL after that stomp on Mottas ankle, dude had the nerve to look around like he didn't do anything.

I was suprised to see CSKA go into Spain and beat Sevilla, I thought Sevilla would defintely handle it at home, oh well...definitely a team that will be out in the semi's no matter who they are matched up with.

Arsenal
Man Utd
Bayern
CSKA
Inter
Lyon

So far, 6 very teams in the bunch but I think we can handle whoever we get matched up with. Expecting Barca to go through tomorrow and Bordeaux as well being at home and having the away goal in their favor. I sure would like to see us get CSKA or Bordeaux in the semi's, cause they would be the easier team, but I do think no matter who we play we have a good chance of beating them.
 
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

7 years running and you dont see anything wrong with the team?

Getting close is impressive if your a team like Villareal but if you're a huge club like Chelsea, getting close 5 times in the last 7 years is not good enough. You dont understand my criticism of their ugly play. My point is that their ugly style has not worked for them (i.e. achieving their goal of winning the UCL). You think that Abrahamovic's goal each season is to simply make the UCL semis? The guy has spent all that money and lost money on the team because he just cares about winning trophies. It's one thing to play ugly and succeed but all its done for Chelsea is cost them important match after important match against other elite teams.

You stick with this same team next season and I guarantee you'll get the same result.

Chelsea's European motto should be "Close but no cigar" (which incidentally is Arsenal's domestic motto).
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I do see your point. And I agree about Lampard, although I do think Anelka is a bad fit for that team.
I guess my question to you is this: how can you be confident that making changes to a team that consistently competes for the cup will improve the team? I think the CL is so competitive that you have to be firing on all cylinders to even get to the semis. A couple of bad moves can create weaknesses that could be exploited by stronger teams (see Real, AC Milan). Because of this, and more importantly because I think Chelsea was truly in position to win the CL 3 years in a row, I think you stay with what you have for the most part. It would be a different story if Chelsea was getting blown out at the last stage, but they lost on penalties and then a last minute goal. It would be IDEAL if they could have that extra spark and finish teams off instead, but who wouldn't like that? In the last stages of the CL, teams fight for every inch, and I guess I find it hard to criticize a team that would have won a cup already had Terry converted a penalty, and could have easily made three finals in a row. Yeah, close but no cigar, but it's soccer, and until we find a better solution than penalties, a lot of teams will be close without the cigar. 
 
Thanks for the money Ibra
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Really happy that Eto scored, and Wesley must be glad he left Madrid
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On to the next round
 
Messi is a level above any other player in the world right now, and he's the best player since Zidane, right now better than the two Ronaldos and Ronaldinho have ever been.
 
That was a great pass to setup that second goal...

That Messi kid... he ain't half-bad.
 
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