Champions League review England in extasy as Milan and Real fall It looks like three English teams will make it to the semifinals of the Champions League, just like they did last season. Arsenal or Liverpool are sure to be there while Manchester United and specially Chelsea are favourits against Roma and Fenerbahce, respectively. We may well see a repetition of last year's semifinals setup with Liverpool, United and Chelsea, with Barcelona instead of Milan this time. Well, last year Milan defeated the English competitions, United by a 5-3 aggregate in the semis and Liverpool by 2-1 in the finals, but Milan is out, after being well defeated by Arsenal in the eight-finals. Milan: End of an era The Gunners cut short the magnificent Milan's European run since the 2001/02 season. In the last six campaigns, Red and Blacks made it at least to the quarterfinals, in fact playing five times in the semifinals. Such balance made the Italians the most successful European side in the said period. Since 2002, when they were stopped in the UEFA Cup semis by Borussia Dortmund until last season's grand finale in Athens against Liverpool, Milan failed to make the last four just in 2003/04. On that occasion it took a magnificent performance by Deportivo to kick Silvio Berlusconi's boy out of the competition. Apart from that incident, Milan won the Champions League in 2003 and 2007, got narrowly beaten by Liverpool in 2005 and eliminated in the semis of 2006 by eventual winners Barcelona. Arsenal have thus made history as the team that ended the latest era of Milan's continental domination, but making it past Liverpool will take an extra effort. The Champions League is Rafael Benítez's lucky ground and the Reds in Europe regularly look quite a different side, significantly superior to the one seen in the Premiership. Prediction: Liverpool to progress Manchester United last year demolished Roma by 7-1, the heaviest defeat in the club's European history. This season in the group stage the Devils won by a mere 1-0, salvaging a draw in Rome. Francesco Totti and the rest of the ragazzi may be closing on United, but they are not matching them yet. Prediction: Manchester United by a narrower margin this time Of all English sides, Chelsea should have the easiest task against the ferocious Turks from Fenerbahce. The Canaries from Istambul boast a reported army of 20 million fans, but Roman Abramovich's invested millions will count far more on the pitch. Prediction: Chelsea absolutely must go through In the remaining tie, the mighty Barcelona's squad face Schalke, theoretically the weakest side left in the competition. The Germans are struggling even in the Bundesliga, where they have practically surrendered all chances of winning the title (the fans are accustomed to them doing that, by all means). But, this is a spirited, fighting German team which will engage Barca stars in a pitched battle with some, not many, hopes of pulling a stunning upset. Prediction: Barcelona is so much more talented Round of sixteen 1st 2nd Schalke 04 vs Porto 1-0 0-1 (4-1 pen) Arsenal vs Milan 0-0 2-0 Roma vs Real Madrid 2-1 2-1 Liverpool vs Inter 2-0 0-1 Olympiacos vs Chelsea 0-0 0-3 Celtic vs Barcelona 2-3 0-1 Fenerbahce vs Sevilla 3-2 2-3 (3-2 pen) Lyon vs Manchester Utd. 1-1 0-1 Quarterfinals (1/2nd and 8/9th April) Arsenal vs Liverpool Roma vs Manchester Utd. Schalke 04 vs Barcelona Fenerbahce vs Chelsea Copyright: Ozren Podnar & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

UEFA Cup Tottenham and Everton go out with a drama The English contingent in the UEFA Cup put up a good fight but still went out, albeit in the most dramatic fashion. Penalties, the disease that usually afflicts the national team, were fatal for Tottenham and Everton, who bravely equalized the aggregate score against PSV Eindhoven and Fiorentina in the return leg before it came to spot kicks. Bolton came tantalizingly close against the 2005 finalists Sporting Lisbon, but it will be the Portuguese who will take on Rangers, the last British representatives in the quarterfinals. Rangers, who have had a dream season so far, are chasing four trophies but the strain could prove too much in the final stage of the campaign against Sporting, who are now fully concentrated on the European stage. The last time that a Scottish club made a continental finals was in 2003 when Celtic lost to Porto by 2-3 in Seville. Elsewhere, Bayern will try and confirm their status of the team to beat when they face the Spanish surprise package in Getafe. In the previous round, the Bavarians got rid of Anderlecht in a bizarre replica of their 1987 encounter in the European Cup. On that occasion, Bayern beat the Belgians 5-0 at home and drew 2-2 in Brussels in a game which Anderlecht were winning by 2-1 until the 90th minute. This time, Bayern ran riot in the first leg in Belgium scoring an amazing 5-0 win but suffered a 1-2 defeat at home. Round of thirty two 1st 2nd Zenit vs Villarreal 1-0 1-2 Marseille vs Spartak 3-0 0-2 Galatasaray vs Bayer 0-0 1-5 AEK vs Getafe 1-1 0-3 Bordeaux vs Anderlecht 1-1 1-2 PSV vs Helsingborgs 2-0 2-1 Rangers vs Panathinaikos 0-0 1-1 Brann vs Everton 0-2 1-6 Werder vs Sporting Braga 3-0 1-0 Sporting Lisabon vs Basel 2-0 3-0 Aberdeen vs Bayern 2-2 1-5 Zürich vs Hamburger SV 1-3 0-0 Rosenborg vs Fiorentina 0-1 1-2 Bolton vs Atletico Madrid 1-0 0-0 Slavia vs Tottenham 1-2 1-1 Benfica vs Nürnberg 1-0 2-2 Round of sixteen 1st 2nd Anderlecht vs Bayern 0-5 2-1 Fiorentina vs Everton 2-0 0-2 (4-2 pen) Benfica vs Getafe 1-2 0-1 Rangers vs Werder 2-0 0-1 Bolton vs Sporting L. 1-1 0-1 Bayer vs Hamburger SV 1-0 2-3 Tottenham vs PSV 0-1 1-0 (5-6 pen) Marseille vs Zenit 3-1 0-2 Quarterfinals (3rd and 10th of April) Bayer vs Zenit Rangers vs Sporting (L) Bayern vs Getafe Fiorentina vs PSV Copyright Ozren Podnar & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

When it comes to international football, it’s very hard to be neutral. But we’re going to ask you to try anyway. With a whole world of international matches (friendlies, Asian World Cup qualifiers, CONCACAF qualifiers, Olymic qualifiers) taking place today, which game - other than the one involving your own nation - are you most interested [...]

Latest links from around World Cup Blog ahead of all today’s games (some of which have already happened)… Pharaohs vs Albiceleste preview (Egypt Blog And live updates of the same game (Argentina Blog) Big Phil Scolari vs John Travolta (Portugal Blog) Big day for Ali Daei (Iran Blog) Robin van Persie starting against Austria (Netherlands Blog) La Furia Roja vs [...]

Yes, it’s David Beckham’s 100th Cap Day. Check your calendar. But while GoldenBalls’ spell of standing out on England’s right hand touchline reaches three figures, there are all kinds of other player worth keeping an eye on. Here’s a quick guide to who to watch today, in no particular order: 1. Alexander Frei The Swiss striker has [...]

Alexandre Pato made his international debut for Brazil with the usual hype (guilty here) and pressure on him to perform. And as usual he delivered. Just eleven minutes after coming on as a second half sub, the 18 year old blocked a clearance from Swedish keeper Andreas Isaksson near the corner, and then lobbed Isaksson as [...]