Richard Lewington

Let me start this by saying that I expected Bayern to progress but not without a fight. My reasoning was that Zenit St Petersburg would be missing a number of key personnel including the suspended Andrei Arshavin, Radek Šírl and Fernando Ricksen, as well as Nicolas Lombaerts and Kim Dong Jin through injury. This left […]

Now that's what a semi-final should be! Chelsea finally achieved their dream of a place in the UEFA Champions League final by holding off Liverpool FC by an aggregate of 4-3, 3-2 in yesterday's match.

I had a crazy evening trying to get my new LCD TV delivered (long story short – it's still not there but should be by this evening) so I am a little behind on putting together my usual verbose preview. I think the lineups will look like this:

This was more of the game everyone wanted to see. Not loaded with chances but a very dramatic tilt as United clung to their one goal lead with some desperate defending as they dropped everyone into their own half to nullify the Barcelona attacks. Backed by one of the louder Old Trafford crowds in recent […]

This was more of the game everyone wanted to see. Not loaded with chances but a very dramatic tilt as United clung to their one goal lead with some desperate defending as they dropped everyone into their own half to nullify the Barcelona attacks. Backed by one of the louder Old Trafford crowds in recent […]

One moment of magic is all that seperates the sides at the half. A cracking goal from Paul Scholes has United in the lead 1-0. Scholes was gifted the chance after a poor clearance from Zambrotta fell at his feet and he cracked a half-volley into the top corner from about 25 yards out. The […]

I'll be on blogging live today so check back at the half for my comments. A few thoughts prior to kick-off: 1) Surprised to not see Rooney even make the bench and both Park & Nani starting. It points to a wide game from United as they'll hope to pressure the Barca fullbacks.

After a strangely defensive match at the Nou Camp in which they seemed to adopt a catenaccio mindset, United will look to get back to their usual attacking approach. At the Nou Camp, United appeared content to hope for something on the counter-attack often leaving Cristiano Ronaldo isolated alone up front with Rooney defending on […]

From ChampionsLeagueTalk.com After a strangely defensive match at the Nou Camp in which they seemed to adopt a catenaccio mindset, United will look to get back to their usual attacking approach. At the Nou Camp, United appeared content to hope for something on the counter-attack often leaving Cristiano Ronaldo isolated alone up front with Rooney […]

As I wrote previously, it looks like Manchester City are going to sack Sven-Goran Eriksson after just one season in charge. In that article, I outlined my reasoning for stating that this was a bad move.

FC Zenit St. Petersburg will look to reach their first major European final as they take on FC Bayern München at home next week. They now hold an all important away goal from the first leg in Germany played on Thursday. Zenit are the only side left in the UEFA Cup never to have won […]

Posted from ChampionsLeagueTalk.com: Unlike the comedy of errors that Chelsea and Liverpool managed to produce in their first leg match, I have sky-high expectations for the Barcelona – Manchester United match. Barca will look to salvage something from what has been a bit of a lost season for them while United will be looking to […]

Unlike the comedy of errors that Chelsea and Liverpool managed to produce in their first leg match, I have sky-high expectations for the Barcelona – Manchester United match. Barca will look to salvage something from what has been a bit of a lost season for them while United will be looking to overturn last year's […]

Posted from ChampionsLeagueTalk.com Most of you will be familiar with the history behind this matchup, if not check the feature over at the Telegraph, and more often than not the recent history has produced tight matches with little entertainment value though plenty of drama and hype. Jorge Valdano, former Real Madrid player and World Cup […]

Most of you will be familiar with the history behind this matchup, if not check the feature over at the Telegraph, and more often than not the recent history has produced tight matches with little entertainment value though plenty of drama and hype. Jorge Valdano, former Real Madrid player and World Cup winner with Argentina, […]