The UEFA Champions League this year has been truly surprising and extremely saddening for many (including me). The three teams which were expected to arrive to the finals, or at least semi-finals, were eliminated!
Real Madrid
Chelsea
Milan
Olympique de Lyon beat Real Madrid in a disgusting match which has scarredme for life, given that the team I die for (Real Madrid) hasn't reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in over 6 years. Which is weird since Real Madrid is the team with the most Champions League titles and the only team to have won this title 5times in a row.
Chesea, on the other hand, has never won a Champions League title, but has always reached very far in the last 3 years, although they haven't been able to complete the roll, they have always proven to be a strong team and they are always favorite in these tournaments. They lost against Inter Milan which played fantastically and I think have potential of conquering the title.
Milan which has an amazing past also got eliminated by the hard rivals: Manchester United. Milan was completely powerless and Man Utd scored 4 goals in their last game which immediatly knocked Milan out! So we have yet to see the outcome of this tournament, it's getting good!
Although I am a crazy Real Madrid fan, I must acknowledge the team's biggest problem: Consistency, they have none!!!
Real Madrid last saturday knocked one out of the park by defeating a long time rival Sevilla. Real Madrid started losing 2-0, and it stayed that way until Cr9 (Cristiano Ronaldo) scored a goal around minute 60. Then after a powerful long-range shot from Guti, a corner was conceived. The corner was taken into action and the powerful right field defender Sergio Ramos scored a beatiful head goal. The game was 2-2 and I couldn't have been more excited (you can ask my friend Alex who was watching the game with me) and in extra time in minute 94 van der vaart saved the day with a mistake made by Palop after Higuain's header, and scored an easy yet important goal, which led Real to win the match 3-2!!!
With this result Real stands at the top with it's rival F.C Barcelona and fight for "la liga" which is Spain's soccer cup. Just look at the excitement of the players!!!
What followed was truly saddening. Real Madrid had already lost to Olympique de Lyon in France 1-0 and looked for a win in Santiago Bernabeu which would place them in the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League. The agg (aggregate) was 1-0 in favor of Lyon, which meant that Real had to win 2-0 or more in order to win directly and go on to the next rounf, a task many people thought would be "like taking candy from a baby", but they couldn't be more wrong.
Today Real Madrid started an incredible game with an amazing chance for Kaka in the first 40 sec and they looked like they were going to kick some serious ass. Cristiano Ronaldo Scored a splendid goal in the 6th minute of the first half and it seemed like they were ready for action, but a missed opportunity that followed alarmed Real Madrid fans everywhere. Gonzalo Higuain recieved a remarkable pass into the open and he ran for the ball eager to score, he got to the ball a second earlier than Hugo Lloris (Lyon Goalkeeper) and managed to elude him and come face-to-face with the net. When Higuain took the strike we were all shouting for the goal whe suddenly.......the ball strikes the right post and bounces off, leaving Gonxalo Higuain helpless and netless. The miutes that followed were't to exciting, some chances here and there but nothing too exciting. But, in the second half at approximately 70 min, Panjevic scores a goal to Iker casillas which leaves Real hopeless, anf without chance to pass on to quarter-finals. Since Lyon scored a goal as visitants they left the agg at 2-1 which meant they moved on and Real didn't (that would be the 6th consecutive time Real doesn't make it past Quarter-finals). You can just see the players sad faces, not at all like their face aainst Sevilla.
My blog, soccer frenzy is living up to it's name, following the frenzy involving the world cup in South Africa. South Africans are celebrating and are ecstatic since from today there are only 100 more days to go until the first match, the kickoff between the hosting team (South Africa) and Mexico. The streets are full of people, anxious to be hosting the world cup. A world cup which experts say may be the most exciting in history.
To demonstrate their gratefulness, south africans already have many advertisements and commercial promoting the most exciting competition in the world, even bigger than the Olympics.
