Buzzin Football

Last night Arsenal and Manchester United played Roma and Inter Milan, respectively.  While Chelsea play the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Anglo-Italian quarter-final tonight against former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri’s Juventus, at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal beat Roma 1-0 with a first-half Robin Van Persie penalty, while Man Utd drew 0-0 with Inter Milan in front of 80,000 supporters in the San Siro stadium.  But Arsene Wenger should be as concerned as Sir Alex Ferguson by the score line he takes into the second leg in 13 days time. Both Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue missed good chances to give The Gunners a more comfortable cushion to take to Italy.

Arsenal will find it difficult to defend a one goal lead in a staduim known for its hostile atmosphere.  Roma destroyed a shellshocked Chelsea in the group stage last November, and went on to win 3-1. Knowing Roma have to score, will allow space for Arsenal to attack.  But I think their defence is going to be very vunerable, and personally expect Roma to score on the night.

In the other Anglo-Italian showdown, Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd outplayed Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan for much of the game. Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick won the midfield battle and bossed the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo was a major threat and had several free kicks and two quality headers saved by Donny Osmond look-a-like Julio Caesar, who single handedly kept Inter Milan in the tie.  Apart from Esteban Cambiasso’s tireless running, Mourinho’s Inter Milan were very disappointing.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a poor game and certainly didn’t live up to Mourinho’s praise of being the best striker in the world; and as for Adriano, he was useless.  He reminded me of an overweight, bald, past his sell-by-date Brazilian – Ronaldo, in more ways than one.

Another player that failed to perform was Sulley Muntari. He scored a penalty for Portsmouth the last time he played against Manchester United, which knocked them out of the FA Cup last season. But yesterday he was very poor.

But even though they dominated the game, Man Utd will be concerned they did not score a vital away goal; and if Jose Mourinho can get Inter Milan to play the way they did for the first 15 minutes of the second half, when they visit Old Trafford on Tuesday week, then there is every chance that Inter Milan will beat Manchester United.

My prediction is for Roma to beat Arsenal 2-0, and that Inter Milan and Manchester United will be decided on penalties.

Just as a footnote, Michel Platini was in the San Siro yesterday watching Inter Milan with only two Italians in their starting eleven. I wonder if this statistic concerns him as much as the amount of money, foreign ownership  and dominance of English Premier League clubs in European football.