Catching UEFA Footy

A quick catch-up before the weekend…

Manchester United 2 - 0 Inter Milan

Manchester United will take place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the third season in a row, but Inter Milan actually had United's Nemanja Vidic concerned for a moment.

He was the successful and magical first goal of the night's game, making a powerful header into the net that set the tone of the game, and took United into an early lead. Inter Milan put up a good fight until Cristiano Ronaldo slicked the second goal five minutes into the second half.

We'll find out who the Red Devils are up against next when the draw for the last eight is made on March 20.

And as for Serie A…Well, it's not been a good year for the Italians. For the first time in seven years no Italian teams will play in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Yikes! It's hard to believe that all three Italian sides have been completely snuffed out by Premier League clubs. I say it with pride of course but I wouldn't have minded seeing Chelsea lose to Juventus and have at least one Serie A team in the quarter-finals.
ACF Fiorentina were the first out, unable to get past the group stage, Roma tied with Arsenal, which wasn't enough to get them the points needed to get into the quarter finals, either. Serie A is having a hard time the last few years and it's a sad thing. I remember seeing them win the FIFA World Cup in 2006, which was when I was really starting to get into Footy. That was when I first "met" Gilardino and Zinédine "Zi-Zi" Zidane, and began to learn the game.

I'm happy to know that most likely, an England Premiership team will win (oh, come on! Let's be realistic, here.) and that most likely, it will be Manchester United (oh, come on! Let's be realistic, here.) once again taking the cup. However, I can see English Premiership teams play each other all the time in the Barclay's Premiership. The UEFA needs to be more diverse, like the FIFA was. I am hopeful the other three of the Big Four will be eliminated quickly so there is a more international flavor to the last legs of the competition. I'll be keeping you posted…