It’s down to the last 8 of the UEFA Champions League and
it’s time for the Europe’s best to make one step closer to that finale in
Munich.
THE GOLIATH VS DAVID
APOEL vs. REAL MADRID
(G S Pancypria Stadium)
Tuesday 27 March
2012: 20:45 CAT
After destroying Real Socieded 5-1 over the weekend, the
nine-time European champions head to Cyprus oozing with confidence for their
Champions League first league quarter final match against Apoel. One has to wonder how Apoel are doing it
considering that they have only scored 8 goals in the competition, thus a
strike rate of one goal per match. On the other hand the visitors have racked
the net 24 times up to this stage. The odds are in favour of the Los Blancos to
progress but could the Cypriots upset the odds one more time?
THE UNPREDICTABLE
CLASH
BENFICA vs. CHELSEA
(Estadio da Luz)
Tuesday 27 March
2012: 20:25 CAT
This is one of those unpredictable clashes in this stage
of the competition, it could go either way. When the Blues lost to Napoli in
the first leg of the last 16, many thought that they were done even some of
their fans didn’t see their team turning the tie. To make things worse AVB was
sacked before the 2nd leg and exit was certain. In came RDM with new optimism
and they managed to things around at home with an emphatic 4-1 win. Benfica
also had to do it the hard way to force their way to the quarters, they lost
3-2 to Zenith st Petersburg but only to turn things around in the 2nd leg,
defeating Zenith 2-0 at home. I heard a couple of lads saying “Why start
Torres? He’s already scored his two goals per manager allocation for Di
Matteo.”
THE CLASSIC ENCOUNTER
AC MILAN vs. FC
BARCELONA (San Siro)
28 March 2012: 20:45
CAT
This quarter final is a classic European encounter, the
Italian champions meet the Spanish champions and something has to give. Zlatan
Ibrahimovic will get the chance to face Pep Guardiola one more time having met
in the group stages but this time they won’t 2nd spot or Europa League spot for
the losers someone has to go down. Both clubs go in a high after winning their
domestic matches over the weekend. But the seven time European Champions will
be missing the services of their Brazilian defender, Thiago Silva and that
could have serious implication on the day.
Curiously enough these two teams are widely considered to have created the
two best club side of all-time, with Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan side of the 1990’s
surpassed only by Pep Guardiola’s current side, or vice versa depending on your
viewpoint.
THE HOPEFUL AND THE AMBITIOUS
Marseille vs. Bayern
Munich (Stade Velodrome)
28 March 2012: 20:25
CAT
Bayern Munich breathe a sigh of relief when they avoided
the Spanish giants and everyone was talking about a decent draw for the
Bavarians but Marseille won’t be pushovers. It’s no doubt that the 2010
finalists are on a quest to play a home final but that won’t be easy. The
French outfit saw off Inter Milan in the previous round, the same team that
defeated Munich in the 2010 final in Madrid. (By the way Claudio Raneiri was sacked
last night). Despite Bayern’s ambitions to progress to the semis, on the other
hand Didier Deschamps’s men are in the quarter finals for the first time since
lifting the tournament’s in 1993. There is desire in both camps; it’s now a
case of who wants it the most.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE QUARTER FINALS SHAPING
OUT?
By Terence Mthembu
Twitter: @Terrypedia
+ comments + 1 comments
The tab hanging off the edge of the table with the rest of the four parts of it to try to come across as the table (pictured) triangular "football" get. After scoring a team created by fingers "rules" of the opponent, as it rises on the ball with a flick of a project becomes an "extra points" you can try.