A Corporate Footballer

Thirteen whole days and no Chelsea game - yes there were International games but somehow they just didn't seem to fill the void....  You know that feeling when you are really hungry and nothing you eat seems to hit the spot - and now having had almost a fortnight of Chelsea fasting, I am preparing for a contrasting week of binging - four games in eight days to gorge myself on - don't expect a post for a while as I may just be too full to get finger to keyboard....

During this barren couple of weeks the story of Michael Owen retiring at the end of the season has caught my eye.  I watched him interviewed on Football Focus and felt myself  experiencing a mixture of emotions - I couldn't decide if I liked him or not - if I felt sorry for him or not - and if he deserved my sympathy or not.  Through the years I had never taken the time to formulate any real feelings about him other than he had been an incredibly talented and injury stricken player who had fallen from grace in the footballing community and most importantly, was easy on the eyes!  I had been fortunate enough to see him play in a Liverpool shirt on a rare visit to Craven Cottage back in the day and remember being quite moved by his physicality!!

So much has been said about the struggling striker and much of it has been criticism.... Criticism for his seemingly selfish, cold, detached and ruthless attitude to football - for his ability to treat football as a 'job' as opposed to a lifestyle - for never showing true passion for his club and often appearing to put Country over Club by cynically and prematurely finding fitness just in time for England campaigns resulting in more long term injury and club absence.  He has never been the badge kissing type.  You could argue that at least he wasn't being fake.  Yes there are some club die-hards in the footballing world like JT and Gerrard but there are also the likes of Van-Persie, who swapped an eight year old Arsenal shirt for a Manchester United one with the ease of a playground Pokemon swap.

In his glory days, Owen scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for Liverpool.  In 2001, after helping Liverpool achieve the treble, he was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or making him Europe's player of the year.  The last English player to have won the prize was Kevin Keegan, back in 1978 and 1979 - No English footballer has been awarded the prize since Owen.  During the course of 89 England caps he scored 40 goals and he became the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.  Looking back at his achievements it is difficult to understand why Owen is treated more like a deserting soldier than a sporting hero.


Even commentators have stooped low enough to disregard his achievements by calling him a 'one trick pony' and attributing all his talent to his amazing pace, which when lost through injury cost him his career. Owen himself has accused Liverpool of not looking out for him as a youngster and compromising his health by overplaying him.  Perhaps fans find such open hostility towards their club too much to bear on top of the player's arrogant and aloof demeanor whilst sporting the Liverpool shirt and obviously preferring the England shirt.  It has been suggested Owen's major career goal was to eclipse Bobby Charlton's international goal scoring record of 49.

Michael Owen's time at Newcastle isn't fondly remembered by many Magpies either.  Newcastle United fans felt short changed by the £16 million pound striker during his four years at the club. One positive I found about Owen's time at Newcastle was a quote from Kevin Keegan which contradicts the views that Owen's only talent was his pace.  As England coach Keegan had seemed to prefer Andy Cole up front but at Newcastle he turned Owen into an attacking midfielder with considerable success. Compensating for the striker's loss of pace, Keegan cleverly utilised Owen's brain and undervalued technical abilities.

"Michael can keep the ball all day, sees a pass and knows when to release it, he'll score lots of goals from deep and, if he can stay fit, he'll play on in midfield until 36 or 37," he said. "I didn't realise what a good footballer Michael was before."

Owen's move to Manchester United, on the back of Newcastle's relegation in 2009 was not only extremely unpopular but also doomed through injury.  In his last season at Old Trafford, Owen only made 4 first team appearances. He also found himself on the bench the majority of the time even if he was fit to play.  This pattern continued after his move to Stoke City. In a blog on his decision to hang up his boots, Owen said this about his time at Stoke:

 "I signed for Stoke with every intention of playing more football than in recent seasons. It hasn't transpired. Yes, I've had a couple of small muscle injuries but it would be wrong to blame my lack of action on fitness. I have been available for a higher percentage of games this season than in my previous two. It just hasn't happened and the simple fact is, it is either the manager's opinion that I am not good enough to get into the team or that I don't fit into the system that we adopt. That is an opinion that I accepted a long time ago and I totally respect."

I am still undecided as to whether Michael Owen has a strategic football mind or his success did just stem form his incredible pace.  The proof may lie in his future management potential. The retiring 33 year old striker says he is open to moving into coaching or management.

I find myself far too invested in the unresolved tale of this sporting hero who is possibly more hated than revered.  Perhaps it has struck a chord because of the similarities to the on going 'Fernando Torres' dilemma.  Liverpool superstar turned laughing stock...

Is Liverpool responsible for what happened to Owen?  I can't answer that question but annoyingly find myself needing to use the 'F' word - would things have been different if Alex Ferguson was in charge?  It is strange how most quandaries lead back to the age old 'Nature v Nurture' argument.  Was Owen born with an injury prone body or was he mismanaged?  Does Cristiano Ronaldo owe Fergie a debt of gratitude for his injury free career or was he born a gladiator?

All I know is that I am left with an overwhelming sadness when thinking about Michael Owen's career.

"I retire in the knowledge that everybody knows where they were when 'That Goal' nestled into the top corner of the Argentinians' net!"

It really doesn't seem like a fitting end for a footballer who showed so much promise.

I haven't mentioned anything Chelsea for far too long - so congratulations to Lampard, Oscar and Hazard scoring in their International games - I know Oscar only scored in a friendly but it was a great ball which he slipped past Italy's Buffon.  Also congratulations to Petr Cech for winning his 100th cap for the Czech Republic in the same season that he played his 400th Chelsea game.

I would like to end by wishing Michael Owen well with his future endeavours, whatever they may be...

Silver Linings Playbook

Perhaps there is a silver lining to what has been a turbulent season for Chelsea:

As you know (and I probably over emphasised in my last post!) we managed to stay in the FA Cup last eight by coming from behind to draw with Manchester United.  The replay on Easter Monday at the Bridge will decide our fate in the competition.

Last Thursday evening we also managed to book our place in the last eight of the Europa League competition by converting a 1-0 deficit against Steaua Bucharest into a 3-2 victory.

On Sunday afternoon we beat West Ham 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to move back into third position in the Barclays Premier League.  (Remember we squandered an early lead at Upton Park back in December in one of Rafa's early matches in charge of Chelsea and the Hammers won 3-1.)

And last but by no means least, Frank Lampard managed to break the deadlock and score his 200th Chelsea goal by heading in a well placed cross from Eden Hazard, in our match against the Hammers.  Yaaaay Frank!

So things are looking up for Chelsea.... I hope they manage to maintain their momentum when they return after the International break - although they will be returning to an even more cramped schedule: 4 matches in 8 days...

Looking back to last weeks action, our Thursday evening second leg match against Steaua Bucharest was my first time back at Stamford Bridge since my back operation last month.  Although initially it was exhilarating to be back at the Bridge, with hindsight it was probably a little premature of me to anticipate lasting the match on very uncomfortable seating (am not being precious - just relative to my back problem the seating is almost toxic).  On top of my physical limitations the atmosphere from the extremely vocal away fans seemed more threatening than usual.  When a Chelsea fan ran onto the pitch and taunted the raucous Romanian rabble, they morphed into a giant rabid dog, foaming at the mouth, trying to clamber over the barriers to rip apart the interrupting foolish fan. I have to be honest and say this was probably my own distorted view as I felt the vulnerability of a wounded animal in sight of its predator.  To add to my anxiety I discovered most of the seating behind me was occupied by Romanians making a rather feeble attempt to pass as Chelsea fans and when Bucharest scored their first away goal, just before half time, it became more than clear that not only were the fans directly behind me from the enemy camp, so were a multitude of others scattered all around the ground in the 'blue' stands.  Most of these intruders didn't even bother disguise their allegiance to the visiting team.  My daughter E, who had accompanied me, did her best to normalise my concerns but even she wasn't thrilled by feeling surrounded by Romanian fans.  (Perhaps pathetically) we decided to watch the second half in the comfort of our house away from the threat of the enemy and close to the bulging, but by no means bothering, refrigerator full of food! I feel blessed to live close enough to my team's ground to enable such decision making - although I would rather be 'man' enough to have lasted the length of the match... (Also have to thank my daughter for bringing the 'Hailo' app into my physically challenged life: the best and most reliable way of catching a cab in a hurry!)

Once home we were relieved to see Chelsea come out fighting in the second half.  Juan Mata's early lead had been neutralised by the away goal just before the break and we needed at least two more goals and a clean sheet in the second half to win.  I was thrilled to see John Terry score one of his usual potent headers from a free kick - maybe he will earn more playing time from Rafa now.  Shockingly, Fernando Torres scored the third and winning goal of the night.  He could have made it four as he unusually stepped up to take on the challenge of a penalty awarded for a bad foul on the amazing attacking force of Eden Hazard.  As he lined up to take the penalty the television camera showed a close up of his face.... he had incurred a bloody nose from an 'inadvertent' kick in the face by a Romanian defender while he was lying prostate in the box protesting what he thought had been a penalty shout.  Not unusually, he was ignored by the ref who turned the same shade of red as the blood pouring from the Spaniards nose, when confronted by the wounded Torres.  Watching the close up of his bloodied and hyper ventilating face, every inch of my body was shouting out 'don't do it' - everything about his demeanor was saying he would miss.... one ball thumping off the cross bar later and I felt tears stinging my eyes in sympathy for a player I have come to criticise regularly.  Perhaps my own, still fresh in the mind, experience of 'losing my bottle' had brought on the sympathy or even his bloody nose may have put him in the 'wounded animal' category - a class which I felt more than a part of that evening.  Either way I dispensed with some negative disappointment towards the flailing striker and really from the bottom of my heart wish he finds his way - be it on or off the pitch...

Talking of negative disappointment... although this should be a very positive post, considering our exploits this last week, I am disappointed - no, not in Chelsea but in the behaviour of some fans of West Ham United on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.  Early in the game, just before Lampard gave Chelsea the lead, jeering West Ham fans threw coins at John Terry as he warmed up on the side lines.  Although JT responded quite eloquently by bending over and stretching with his back turned to the hostile fans, displaying his smiling cheeks, Lampard's goal seemed a much more fitting response!  Frank, having spotted Terry on the sidelines, veered in his direction to celebrate and the two were then pelted with more coins and dangerous missiles by the rowdy Hammers.  I have since learnt that two West Ham supporters have been arrested for a racially aggravated public order offence and one for criminal damage (for theft of a chair - hope he wasn't intending on throwing that..!!).  I know I am probably sensitive to 'health and safety' issues at the moment but I really hope we are not returning to the times when the words 'football fan' and 'violent thug' were synonymous.

I want to end on a positive - a quick shout out for my recently elected favourite player, Eden Hazard, who I thought was brilliant most of the match on Sunday and danced his way into the box and scored another sublime goal giving us a 2-0 lead.  I know you should not have favourites and I want to reassure my daughters I have never had favourites at home!! I genuinely admire all the players in the squad but there are times when I watch Hazard when I forget I am watching football - it is more reminiscent of the sensations I feel when watching a breathtaking act in Cirque de Soleil - it is art...

A quick congratulations to Wigan firstly for their convincing win over Everton to get into the semi-finals of the FA Cup... a great victory.  Secondly for their somewhat controversial win against Newcastle United on Sunday bringing hope to Latic fans that they may be looking at yet another season saved from relegation.  Newcastle substitute Haidara was rushed to hospital after a horrific tackle by 21 year old Wigan forward Callum McManaman making his full 90 minute debut, who went unpunished. A much aggrieved Alan Pardew admitted after the match that referee Mark Halsey apologised for missing the challenge at half-time. The forever calm and positive Roberto Martinez refuted the notion of the challenge being malicious and blamed the exuberance of youth.  He also said Wigan deserved being on the right side of some contentious decisions and all teams at times are beneficiaries of luck and chance.... It's not just because I like Martinez and his managerial qualities that I find myself agreeing with him!

A quick thank you to Fulham for beating Tottenham in the other London Derby on Sunday... Another silver lining.... Berbatov scored for Fulham against his old team, giving Fulham manager Martin Jol an ironic win over Tottenham.  When he was manager for Tottenham, Jol had signed Berbatov and Gareth Bale amongst others.

Finally I actually got round to watching 'Silver Linings Playbook' this week... A great script and cast, just got a bit too Hollywood sickly sweet at the end but I guess it had to live up to its title!   Let's hope Chelsea can live up to the same title and no ending will be too sickly sweet for me when it comes to the blues!

Man Who???

Ok it probably is a way too premature and cheeky title but just couldn't help myself and if we end up losing the replay at the Bridge I would never have been able to say it - so for now let it stand even if temporarily!!

It was almost the perfect Mother's Day: Lunch with my family in the country (although the pub was freezing - my blood still hasn't thickened to the level of a true Englishman/woman!!); an almost perfect afternoon of football (again in the bosom of my family - cosy but noisy!) followed by an incredible outing to the newly opened viewing platform of the Shard......... I was thinking how appropriate it was to go from watching Chelsea to the Shard as both invoke similar feelings at various times: amazement, awe, wonderment, fear, sickness, panic, excitement, despair, more amazement, more fear, more despair.... but in the case of the Shard I think the overwhelming feeling is a positive one.... I can't say the same about Chelsea always, although Sunday afternoon was one of those games which had everything and ended on a high note.

After Manchester United's controversial exit from Champion's League midweek, I was dreading our visit to Old Trafford for the 6th round FA cup tie against Fergie's men who felt robbed of their place in Europe and their chance at the treble this season.  Rooney and Hernandez (who has a good scoring record against Chelsea) headed up a strong but Van Persie-less Manchester side.  Demba Ba, Oscar and Mata started for Chelsea while Torres and Eden Hazard were on the bench.  I am quite happy when Fernando is not in the starting line up but feel quite strongly that Hazard is an essential part of our (sometimes wanting) firing power. 

Even before my 'warm chocolate fudge cake and cream' from my lunch had had a chance to exit my stomach Manchester United had scored.  In fact within eleven minutes of the kick off they were leading 2-0.  Their first goal was the result of a perfectly judged and unexpected long ball from Michael Carrick which found the head of Hernandez and lobbed over an unusually badly placed Petr Cech into the goal.  The second was a result of a Rooney free kick and also found its way past a helpless and seemingly unaware Petr Cech - I would like to think his view had been blocked by the heaving mass of bodies in the box.  I had a moment of panic and distress thinking it's all over... I know 'It's never over till it's over' but when faced with Manchester United, they will more often than not be the side to benefit from the saying. 

The 'Rafa bashing' amongst both sets of supporters began to gather momentum: "sacked in the morning..."

After Chelsea's rather dismal and limp performance against Steaua Bucharest on Thursday evening the writing seemed to be on the wall.  Before half time Petr Cech made a crucial save denying Rooney, which rebounded and was in danger of finding the back of the net off the head of David Luiz for an own goal, but Cech had found his form and was quick in reacting to make it a double save.

Oh I almost forgot, the other excitement of the afternoon which was going on almost simultaneously was the premiership clash between Liverpool and Tottenham (or should I say between Suarez and Gareth Bale), at Anfield.  Obviously I couldn't watch the match but the changing scoreline was of significance as I have been hoping for a team to stop the recent surge of Spurs under AVB and more importantly they are ahead of us in the league by 2 points so any Tottenham defeat is more than welcome.  Suarez opened the scoring for Liverpool and by half time Bale had assisted Jan Vertonghen to equalise.  This match had begun 30 minutes before ours so as we went into half time Bale had again been instrumental to Jan Vertonghen scoring his second goal and Spurs took the lead at the beginning of the second half. (Congratulations to Vertonghen - he scored last time out for Spurs as well in their 3-0 win over Inter Milan - ArseneWenger will be gutted to have missed out on him: the defender had the opportunity to sign for Arsenal in the summer of last year and he might have taken it were it not for Thomas Vermaelen, the club's captain, who he counts as one of his closest friends in the game). I am a little superstitious and always look for signs (usually of doom and gloom!) and Spurs leading seemed the perfect opportunity for me to decide the day was going to be a wash out for Chelsea and that not only would we be out of the FA Cup but we would also be trailing Tottenham by 5 points putting more pressure on our premiership clash with West Ham - a fixture which we lost at the beginning of the season.  As you can see I am a bit of a glass half empty person!!

Going back to Man U and Chelsea, Benitez started the second half making me re evaluate my judgement of his managerial skills.  Within six minutes of coming back onto the pitch he made a double substitution (one of the earliest substitutions he has ever made..)

I'm losing my flow as I can hear the UEFA Champion's League Anthem in the background heralding the start of the second leg match between Barcelona and AC Milan at the Nou Camp.  Milan won the first leg 2-0 leaving Barcelona with a lot to do.  This means I may have to take a break for 90 minutes before finishing this post!!

Half time at the Nou Camp - the score 2-0 (both Messi - first one sublime in 5th minute, second amazing in the 40th minute - can't help spotting a symmetry of scoring 5 minutes into and 5 minutes before the end of a half).  Barcelona are on a mission.... quote of the week from the match commentator about playing Barca at the Nou Camp:

"You gotta bring your own ball when you come here cos they don't let you play with theirs!"

Full time, two more goals for Barca (David Villa and Jordi Alba) and they win 4-0 (4-2 on aggregate), the first team ever to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the second leg of a Champions League match.  I felt for AC Milan who never really got into the game.... Also Galatasaray beat Schalke with a 3-2 win (4-3 on aggregate) - great news for Didier Drogba who took the last kick of the 2012 Champion's League competition - he may end up in two consecutive finals - a long shot but an interesting thought.

Ok enough Champion's League and back to Chelsea at Old Trafford in the 6th round of the FA cup - apologies to those of you who struggle with so much chopping and changing - I feel like this is a bit of a 'Love Actually' style post and I know not everyone manages to follow different threads at the same time...

As I was saying Benitez made a double and early substitution bringing on John Mikel Obi and Eden Hazard for Lampard and Moses.  I am sorry that Lamp's 200 goal is eluding him and appreciate why fans got angry with Rafa for the substitution in principle - but in practice I have to be honest and say Frank has not been at his best the last few games.  As it happened it was a great call from Rafa.  Six minutes after coming on, Hazard curled in a stunning shot into goal, revitalising the Blues.  Juan Mata continued to work his magic and even the introduction of Van Persie and Danny Wellbeck did not dampen the Chelsea spirit or their obvious dominance which led to the second and equalising goal from the less favoured left foot of Ramires who was freed to go forward more by the arrival of Mikel in midfield. 

It was so exhilarating to watch us play so well against a formidable opponent.  We kept pushing till the dying minutes and should have won the game but for David De Gea's foot keeping out a Juan Mata goal by a whisker... Fergie said his team (specifically full backs and central midfield players) were exhausted and lost their legs... Chelsea were the team who got back from a trip to Steaua Bucharest in the early hours of Friday.... enough said.

Now going back to Tottenham and my doom and gloom scenario - sorry for chopping and changing again but have decided this is the style of this post and I rather like it...

Just as Ramires scored our equaliser at Old Trafford I remembered to check the score at Anfield and realised it was Mothering Sunday after all... Liverpool had come back to beat Spurs 3-2. Thank you Liverpool...

I am going to Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening for the second leg of our Europa League game against Steaua Bucharest. I hope we can keep up our revitalised form to keep us in Europe and then we have the challenge of getting back to third place in the Premiership by winning our next game as well as somehow coming back to beat Manchester United as and when the FA Cup return match takes place at Stamford Bridge.

Enough of football - I just briefly want to share with you the last part of my Mothering Sunday - which was even more exhilarating and emotional than the afternoon of football - 'the view from the Shard' - as organised by my beautiful daughters...  The view was breathtaking but more than that it was the architecture of the building which lent itself to the magnificence of the experience.  I have been to the top of many tall buildings but none gave me the same sensation of free falling into the skyline as did the Shard - the floor to infinity glass panels maximising the sensation.  It's a must see...

"I'm not going to kick anyone when they're lying down, it's not my style!"

So said Alex Ferguson when asked about his teams imminent FA Cup clash with Chelsea and their 'interim' manager Rafa Benitez.  I wish I could believe him....

It's been a crazy ten days since my last post -  there has been an almost continuous feast of games (leaving me too full to have the energy to write!) I feel like I have been attending a football banquet:

• An amuse-bouche of a tasty but forgettable Chelsea victory in the fifth round of the FA Cup
• A colourful 'buffet' of Premiership starters
• The main course of Champions League action
• A slightly wilting salad of Europa League games (not so wilting if you are a Spurs fan!)
• The sweet anticipation of the sixth round of the FA Cup

...and all accompanied by the effervescent and refreshing knowledge that Manchester United can not achieve the Treble Fergie had claimed his team were capable of this season!

Starting at the beginning:
Our 2-0 win over Middlesbrough which resulted in  our progression into the sixth round of the FA Cup was not the greatest of watches. The first half was slow and uneventful.  A few minutes into the second half  Ramires gave us the lead (with a goal which brushed Fernando Torres on the shoulder before hitting the back of the net: the closest Torres came all match to scoring! ), and Moses scored the second from a clever pass by the substituted Eden Hazard.  The highlight of the game was Rafa's post match rant, assuring disgruntled Chelsea supporters he was leaving in May and urging them to stop wasting their energies on banners and songs criticising his presence and asking them to get behind their team.  He also said whoever gave him the title 'interim' manager had made a big mistake and had left him fighting from a position of weakness.  He is not my favourite person at the moment but I thought he had a point especially about the fans getting behind the team.  I also felt sorry for him reading some of the banners.....

Looking back to the Premiership last weekend, Chelsea managed to 'Bagg' three points after their 1-0 win over West Brom.  Fortunately for us, Romelu Lukaku, who is the Baggies top scorer, was unavailable due to the terms of his loan from Chelsea.  It is ironic that whilst our wounded and seemingly 'bleeding out' striker, Fernando Torres, is struggling to find a second goal in 17 games, Chelsea have loaned out the young and hugely talented Belgian striker who is helping keep West Brom in the top half of the Premier League table by scoring almost every game.   The 1-0 score line is not a fair depiction of a game where the Blues were totally comfortable and in control.  They played with a renewed vigour and hunger.  Had Rafa's post Middlesbrough rant had a positive effect on the team performance after all?  Well the banners were still out at Stamford Bridge and the songs were being sung but the fans did seem to get behind the team more than they had done in the last few weeks.  It's a bit of a 'chicken and egg' quandary - did the fans respond positively because the team was playing well or did the team play well because they felt supported?  We wouldn't need to ask or try to answer these or a myriad of other questions if our team's performance had not been more than inexplicably erratic this season.

I suppose erratic is better than dismal, which brings me to QPR!  Having said that, they managed to win their third game of the season against Southampton on Saturday and scored two goals taking their total number of goals scored this season to 21 - one more than Derby County's record of fewest goals scored in a season by a Premier League side (2007-2008) - so even if they are still relegated they won't have the worst scoring record in the Premiership! So Harry has two reasons to be grateful for Saturday's win over the Saints.  It was a great present for Redknapp who was celebrating his birthday on match day, as was the Southampton manager Pochettino - alas no cake for him!!

I feel like I am going from one extreme to another but I did warn you it was a colourful 'buffet' of games - from dismal to dynamic - and sadly I am not talking about Chelsea but Tottenham and yes the 'Bane' of my life Gareth Bale was back in action for Spurs against Arsenal at White Hart Lane in the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon.  It was an important game for all three mentioned teams and their positioning in the top five of the League.  I was hoping Wenger's faltering Arsenal would come fully armed and ready to Crush AVB's seemingly invincible team, after all historically Arsenal have dominated this meeting.  It is a sad state of affairs which sees us having to rely on other teams to do our dirty work.  Here I was again cheering on yet another 'not Chelsea' team (if you remember it was West Ham last time out!) to get them to deprive Spurs of three points which would keep them ahead of us in the top of the table.  Well my support was rendered as useless as it had the previous time by a super charged Bale doing what he does best.  If I admit defeat and concede to agreeing with AVB when he compares Bale to Messi and Ronaldo, perhaps the young Welshman may stop showing off so much....  Either way Tottenham beat Arsenal 2-1 and stayed third in the table leading Arsenal by 7 points and us by 2.  What struck me about the match was the extent of support given to their team by the Tottenham fans - the noise at White Hart Lane was deafening for the entire 90+ minutes of the match - at no point did they tire or falter... Chelsea fans are you listening??? Going back to the 'chicken and egg' dilemma, perhaps if our team shone as brightly our fans would sing as loudly....

Now to the juicy main course of Manchester United v Real Madrid in the Champion's League...  a hugely anticipated deciding second leg.  Ferguson shocked us all by leaving Rooney on the bench and the returning Cristiano Ronaldo seemed a little choked by being back at Old Trafford where he spent his formative years.  Huge controversy surrounded the match caused by the Turkish referee, Cuneyt Cakir, showing Nani a red card in the 56th minute of the game.   At the time of the sending off Manchester United were leading 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate).  The substituted Luka Modric (ex Tottenham player - feeling like Spurs are taking over the world!!) scored an equaliser for Real within minutes of being introduced on the pitch and three minutes later Cristiano Ronaldo athletically stretched and found what should have been an unreachable cross to put Madrid ahead and through to the quarter finals of the Champions League.  A 'distraught' Alex Ferguson refused to attend the post match press conference and his team failed to supply the obligatory two players for interview after the match as required by UEFA leading to a fine being imposed on the club.  Is it me being old fashioned but what happened to 'sportsmanship'?

After all Man U are not the first to be at the wrong end of a questionable red card decision.  Or is it just that Alex Ferguson's bullying tactics have saved them from being subjected to as many questionable decisions as other clubs.  Personally I thought it was a red card - but as most of you know and I openly admit, I am rather biased when it comes to Man U - but on the night Roy Keane also felt it was a red card and for me that is as impartial as you can get.  Also I think it is a bit much for Fergie to blame the ref for losing the game.  Remember the same referee red carded John Terry in the second leg of Chelsea's Champion's League semi-final against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in 2012.  Chelsea played over 50 minutes with ten men (as opposed to 34 minutes played by Man U) and still managed to beat the so called 'best team in the world'.


I rate Jose Mourinho as a manager and looked forward to his post match interview - especially as he was the only manager who bothered to give one - but was rather disappointed by what felt like a PR exercise to guarantee his smooth take over form Sir Alex at the helm of Manchester United.  Saying 'The best team lost' was not something I would expect a winning manager to say, especially at the cost of his own team.  I gather his interview with Spanish TV was less biased to his wanting of the Manchester job.   Talking of Spanish TV, I have to commiserate with my potential future son-in-law, who is a dedicated Valencia fan - they were unable to hold out against PSG even in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was on a two match ban as a result of being sent off in the first leg.  Note to Alex Ferguson: other teams who have suffered sending off still go on to win.... sorry couldn't resist!

I am going on and time is running out.  Now to the wilting salad leaves of the Europa League: Our first leg against Steaua Bucuresti in Romania.... I don't really want to say much because it was one of the most demoralising games I have had to endure in the recent run of half hearted Chelsea games.  I can't think of one blue player who played well.... except maybe Petr Cech but even that is questionable as he was never tested other than the penalty given away by Bertrand which Cech didn't manage to save.  We lost 1-0, no away goal and renewed pessimism about our future.

In contrast Tottenham came out of the gates running, scoring two goals (yes, Bale's name is on the score sheet - but won't be in the second leg as he will miss the game after being penalised for diving) within 18 minutes and a third to emphatically beat InterMilan.  Also in the Europa League I was pleased to see Newcastle managed a scoreless draw against their Russian rivals, Anzhi Makhachkala, boding well for their second leg.  I was sorry they lost in the Premiership at the weekend to Swansea as they had  a lot of chances but at least Laudrup's men were worthy victors.

Finally, going full circle, looking at our 6th round FA Cup tie with Manchester United on Mothering Sunday (best Mother's day gift - thanks to those who arranged it!! I know I am sad...).  I had hoped that Madrid beating Man U mid week would play into our hands for this fixture, but sadly I think the manner in which they lost may make them hungry for some one's blood - if no one of Turkish origin is available they may settle for anyone dressed in blue!!