007 - License To March….[contd]….

By: Adam | March 8th, 2008

My apologies for being late in reviewing Wednesday’s matches. We have reviewed Tuesday’s matches. And just like Tuesday it was again surprising Wednesday. Most successful team in the history of CL is out of it. Chelsea marched with a aggression which was missing out of them for past few weeks. Lets see how the 6 teams of the day fared.

Chelsea vs Olympiakos - [3-0]
Grant was under tremendous pressure for this match after recent failures (notably against Tottenham). And he did deliver this time. Chelsea were playing as a strong unit against Olympiakos which was reminiscent of Mourinho Days. Selection was a big headache for Grant and he didn’t mess up this time. Midfield was in fine touch for Chelsea. Ballack and Lampard linked up very well due to fine acnhoring by Makalele. I think Lampard’s and Ballack’s linkup has proved many critics wrong who had raised questions when Ballack was signed. On the other hand it was too big for Olympiakos when Ballack headed in one on superb ball by Lampard in first few minutes. Cheslea were always attacking in numbers. Second goal was a simple tap in for Lampard followed by Kalou’s third. Drogba was pretty ineffective and looked totally lost on the pitch.
Moment of Truth: Lampard’s superb ball to Ballack which put Chelsea ahead within first 5 minutes.
Man of the Match: Claude Makalele. Call him a old wine that gets better with the time or strong tea that never lets you down.

Real Madrid vs Roma - [1-2]
I think its one more shock of tournament. Real hardly looked like a team. They were disjointed unit unlike Roma. Ref once again messed up this time. Pepe’s sending off was pretty harsh. Ref also showed too many yellow cards. Pressure has piled on Schuster this time with manager like Mourinho sitting jobless. It will be interesting to see if Real sack one more manager. 9th in 6-7 years. On the other hand Roma march on to quarters in second successive season.
Moment of Truth: Pepe’s sending off. That surely changed the game.
Man of the Match:Aquilani. He was simply too good.

Porto vs Schalke - [1-0]
Couldn’t watch the game but I was able to catch the highlights. Second shootout in in round of 16. Its very rare for round of 16. Just like Sevilla where their star player Danni Alves missed the penalty, Quaresma also missed one. Schalke for sure are in a dreamland now.
Moment of Truth: I don’t think there was any interesting moment which can be termed as the most important one.
Man of the Match: Since I didn’t watch the match I won’t pick one. May be you can pick on your opinion.

Now we are waiting for either Liverpool or Inter to join the party. They will be playing second leg on 11th March . I hope there won’t be any more surprises at San Siro this time.