Wicked Wednesday - Quarterfinal Preview part II

By: Nathan | April 4th, 2007

Wednesday holds both marquee matchups to this hack. Valencia vs. Chelsea is a real cracker, should be up and down for 90 minutes. Roma and ManU the most intriguing match-up, then throw in Fergie and Totti in a mini-pissing match and you’ve got a chance for some real fireworks. The other sub-plot for all the quarter final match-ups is the potential for 3 English clubs in the semi’s….early thought, don’t hold your breath Cousteau. As Porto and Monaco showed us in 2004 the Champions League is more prone to the surprise than the expected. Onto news and notes for today.

First up Roma vs. Manchester United @ Stadio Olimpico - LIVE on ESPN2 2:30pm ET
Right off the bat, Fergie and Totti get their wankers out and start peeing more noise. Plus:
1 - Much like Bayern moaning pre-game about the ref - Roma is already moaning about Christiano diving. Totti is known to dip his toe in the pool too! Anyways between Ronaldo and Mancini we may see exactly 37 stepovers in 90 minutes.
2 - English fans and Italian Stadiums a recipe for…..
3 - Banged up ManU defense - Neville, Sivestre and now Vidic out. Wes Brown and Heinze…not much difference in my eyes.
4 - Spalletti is ready - I love the bald wizard.
5 - Giggsy still has the fire and desire for more medals..
6 - Check out the probable line-ups at the bottom of this article. Is it me or is that the slowest possible defense Fergie could’ve assembled? I know they are hurting, but damn watch out for Mancini tonight!
This is gonna be good….1-1 in Rome and back to Engerland we go., that was before I saw the ManU backline, I’m revising to 2-1 Roma…..

Chelsea vs. Valencia @ Stamford Bridge LIVE on Setanta Sports 2:30pm ET, or ESPN Classic 5pm ET.
The owner and the manager seem to be about done with each other…but for all intents and purposes of this season, who cares? Chelsea is doing enough to hang six points back in their domestic campaign. While Valencia deals with injuries and stupidity (see Navarro) for a place in next seasons CL. Should be a track meet today as we see a well defined team vs. individual moments of brilliance.
1 - Interesting comments about the state of Stamford Bridges visitor locker rooms. Does it come with cheese?
2 - Del Horno pipes up about the imbalance of Chelsea, a potent topic recently, this year’s team vs. the balance of last years team.
3 - Little Joey Cole back in action as Robben is shut down after going under the knife.
4 - Ranieri knows everyone in this one and has some decent insight on the differences in footie cultures.
5 - Marcel seems to like my theory of surprises over big boys.
6 - Last but not least I guess we have to mention the ridiculous rumours of Sparky taking over for Chelsea next year…..now that is cost cutting.