Now There Are Eight

Very enjoyable set of games we had this week in the Champion's League. Can't wait to see what the matchups are for the quarters. A lot of the teams with elite European pedigree are out and for what feels like the first time in forever we don't have three English teams still alive at this stage of the tournament. Although I don't think there is much to it this is a pretty diverse field heading into the quarters. 2 English, 2 French (!), 1 German, 1 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 Russian.


Tuesday

As I wrote on Monday night I thought Inter would go through. But I have to admit I envisioned it the result of a draw, likely 1-1, not an outright win at Stamford Bridge. It is easy to get carried away but the truth is that Mourinho's mastery put Inter over the top. There were many possible approaches he could take but starting 3 forwards with a 2-1 lead, on the road, was not near the top of the list. He took a gamble and by using this formation kept the Chelsea fullbacks out of the game and left it to his midfield, anchored by Cambiasso, to hold their own against Chelsea's. And it worked. The first half saw some dangerous chances for Chelsea but Lucio and Walter Samuel cleared some threatening balls. In the second half Chelsea looked frustrated and almost resigned to going out. When the game ended I was surprised to see Inter actually had the advantage in most statistical categories. Posession, shots on goal, goals (obviously), and almost half the fouls committed that Chelsea had. Very impressive performance.

CSKA winning in Andalucia was the shock of the round for me, even bigger than the "Lyonazo" in Madrid last week. They are a team I see as objectively inferior to Sevilla, even now, and they were going on the road having conceded an away goal. Palop made an absolute meal of the second goal and Perotti missed a pretty easy chance with the score 1-1, but even those things Sevilla should have been able to overcome. The CSKA backline are not very quick and with the firepower Sevilla have they should have exploited them. Shocking.

For me there was no question Barcelona would go through. Today's 4-0 thrashing sent a message they intend to defend the title. Doing so without Xavi and with Ibra on the bench speaks to the fundamental core strength of the team. No surprise here.

Bordeaux beat Olympiakos 2-1 to make their first appearance in the quarters since before it was called the Champion's League. This team is airtight in defense and I am almost a little surprised they gave up a goal, but the outcome was never in doubt.