Mind Games

I woke up early to watch Man U play Inter in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. It was an even match, although I feel that we deserved to win as we had the better chances. Still, it was good that we managed not to concede despite our make-shift defence that was missing Vidic and Neville/Rafael. Once again, van der Sar did a great job. I think van der Sar only needs to play when Vidic is not around. lol

Well the defence and goalkeeping was good in general, the same cannot be said for the players at the other end. You can applaud van der Sar's counterpart, Julio Cesar, for his brilliance in keeping a clean sheet, but this stalemate can be attributed to a lack of desire and a lack of fire on our side. Park Ji Sung was full of running but was always an inch too short or a second too late. Ronaldo is still not back to his phenomenal form of last season, while Berbatov was a little too languid. He was caught offside more than once. Giggs had a decent game, but his shot was saved and his corners were not as dangerous as they usually are. Perhaps if Vidic was around, then things might have been different?

One thing I was not happy about was the substitution of Park for Rooney. Why did Sir Alex not bring on Rooney earlier? He scored in his previous two games, and he showed again how much influence he has on our game despite only having about ten minutes of gametime. Bringing him on maybe around the hour mark would have been better, as it would give him time to settle and also add pace and invention to our attack without diminishing the running back to tackle and defend that was a characteristic of Park.

In the end, it was a case of too little, too late as Inter held on for a precious clean sheet and we did not leave with the priceless away goal that we coveted. Sir Alex said that he was okay with the result, but was he really okay, or was it another of his mind games? In contrast, Mourinho said that a draw was a good result and it was 50-50 now for both Inter and Man U. Again, another mind game by the Special One?

Mind games are part and parcel of football; if you are not strong enough to withstand them, then you do not deserve to be on the Champions League stage. While the final verdict is still undecided, I believe that we have a great chance of progressing since we play in a fortnight at the fortress that is Old Trafford. Hopefully, Rafael and Neville will be back, and hopefully, Vidic will score with a header. We have so many other potential scorers that I don't think it matters who scores the winner for us. Personally though, I would root for Giggs, although Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Tevez(if he starts), are all good bets too.

As for the other three games, Arsenal have the advantage over Roma after winning 1-0 at home, Barcelona have one foot in the doorway to the next stage after coming back from a goal down away at Lyon, and Porto scored two precious away goals that will make them undoubtedly leave Atletico fans in a rage at their team's inability to defend a lead twice.

Still, I believe in the resilience of English and Spanish teams and so I pick the 4 teams to go through as follows:
Man U, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.

As for tomorrow, I pick Real Madrid(home), Juventus(away), Villareal(home) and Bayern Munich(away) to win the first leg. The reasons are simple : Gerrard is not fully fit, Chelsea play better away, Villareal are regaining their form after a horrific slump, and Bayern Munich are stronger in Europe than they are in the Bundesliga.