Barcelona hold AC Milan to a goal less draw

Barcelona progress to the Finals by holding off a late and determined challenge by AC Milan in a goal less draw played in Spain

Barcelona in the first half missed chances galore and they had the better of the play but the determined Rosssonerri came back and piled the pressure on the Spaniards during the later stages of the game.

Barcelona now meet Arsenals in the Finals to be played in Paris in twenty days time

Arsenals progress to the Champions League Finals

Jens Lehmann was just magnificent today and he was at his best in keeping the 10th consecutive clean sheet in the competition. Two minutes from time, he saved a Juan Riquelme penalty ensuring the platform for Arsenals in the finals on the 17 May in Paris.

Villareal had the better of play in the first half and had to face a resilient Gunner defence which prevented them from scoring in the first half.

Wegner introduced Pires which helped to stop the flow of the Spaniards who were really mounting up the pressure but just could not score this evening.

The Young Gunners now progress to the finals to play against the winners of the Barcelona AC Milan match

Villareal host Arsenal in second leg encounter

Villareal host Arsenals for the second leg encounter and the winner will decide who goes forward to the finals in Paris. High stakes for both teams, Villareal havent lost a game at home in this competition and Arsenals are in the semi's for the first time and have broken the record for the highest number of clean sheets in the competition

The captain, Thierry Henry is confident that the one goal advantage would suit the Young Gunners well and they would take the game to the Spaniards.

The Gunners will be without Phillipe Senderos who injured his knee during th encounter with Spurs over the weekend.

Gael Cichy and Sol Campbell return to the team and there is a likelyhood that Campbell will be in the starting lineup.

Villareal lost their home game against Real Sociedad over the weekend and will have to ensure that they score quickly in order to unsettle the gunners.

Riquelme is confident that his team mates will hold off the challenge from the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger is a master tactician and will surely plays his trump card .

Arsenals to win the encounter a goal

Arsenal win at Highbury

Kolo Toure gave Arsenal's a slight edge over Villareal at Highbury by scoring a goal from a pass that he received from Hleb in the 41 st minute.

The young Gunners now have a previous slender advantage which they take with them when they meet Villareal in Spain next week Tuesday.

The Spaniards are unbeated at home in the competition and Arsenal's will have to be at their best in order to progress to the finals.

Arsenals to host Villareal in the semi finals

Thierry Henry and his merry young Gunners will be making history when they take the field against Villareal for the first leg of their semi final clash.
They are priced as second favourites to win the Champions League but they will first have to contend with the Spaniards playing in their semi final as well

Cesc Fabergas will most probably play with Henry and the Gunners will be all fired up to score two or more goals and keep a clean sheet.

Arsene Wengner will be planning to take the game to the Spaniards by playing a Premiership type of game and the home ground advantage will surely be in his favour.

Barcelona win away from home

A second half goal by Ludovic Giuly gave Barcelona the edge over AC MIlan in an entertaining game at San Siro.
The win by Barcelona now places tremendous pressure of Ancellotti's team whom have not lost a semi finals and the danger is looming for them now since they do not travel so well.
Rijkaard now has a home ground advantage over his loong time friend Ancellotti and they have a strong chance on progressing to the finals in Paris.
Barca are worthy favourites of winning the Champions League this year.

AC Milan vs Barcelona - clash of the two great teams

AC Milan and Barcelona play a similar type of football and the clash at San Siro will determine the progress of the teams to the finals.

Carlo Ancelloti will attempting to outsmart his great friend Frank Rijkaard and these two have the gretest respect and regard for each other. Rijkaard will be planning to field a strong squad and both Eto' and Ronaldinho will be plotting to get on target .

Shevenchenko who will be without his strike partner Inzaghi, will be aiming to score first and and get the Rossonerri into a nice position for the second leg.

AC Milan should win this encounter by a small margin


Arsenals take on Villareal and Henry will be marshalling his young team mates to get s strong edge ove the visiting Spaniards

Uefa Champions League Semi Finals

Its now the semi finals stage of the competition and from the four teams, only two will progress to the finals in May which will be held in Paris.

18 April 2006 AC Milan host Barcelona

19 April 2006 Arsenal play Villareal

25 April 2006 Villareal host Arsenal

26 April 2006 Barcelona take on AC Milan


Barcelona and Arsenals are the favourites to progress to the finals , however Villareal and AC Milan will be fighting all the way.

Arsenal and Barcelona progress to the semi finals

Arsenal progress to the semi finals after keeping their unbeaten run of eight games without conceding any goals in the competition.
Juventus piled on the pressure and after Nedved was red carded, they could not penetrate the defence of of the Gunners.
A great achievement for Arsene Wenger and his young players.

Ronaldinho missed a penalty five minutes into the first half and the Portuguese were much relieved, however he made amends for the penalty when he finally scored in the 19 minute.
Barca had most of the play and Benfica defended well.
Samuel Eto sealed the game in the 88th minute when he scored the second for Barca.
Villareal will meet Arsenal in the first semi final and Benfica will play against AC Milan in the others semi final

The Young gunners tipped to progress to the semi final

rsenal travel to Turin to take on Juventus who would be without three key player, however Pavol Nedved will be back in the squad and together with Trezeguet and Ibrahamnovic wil trouble the Gunners defensive.
Henry will be on target this evening in order to celebrate his 100th game in the UEFA club competition.
Cesc Fabergas and Eboue together with Sol Campbell and Ljunberg have been included in the squad
My prediction , the young Gunners will extend their lead and if Arsenal gets the early goal, the pressure will be on Juventus.

Barca host Benfica at home and both the Dutch coaches Rijkaard and koemen will be plotting that early goal to give their respective teams the edge.
A good game is anticipated and if Benfica can get an early goal, they would be able to defend against Barca
A close call, I would go for a draw and if Ronaldinho is on fire a Barcelona win

AC Milan and Villareal progress to the semi finals

Roberto Arruabarenna headed the crucial goal in the second half that knocked Inter Milan out of the competition. The Spaniards move forward on the away goal advantage and will meet winners of the Arsenal-Juventus match for the first of the semi finals.

Lyon's hopes of progressing wre dashed in the last five minutes of the game by the dangerman himself. Shevchenko shot hit the both ends of the goal post finally slotted in by Inzaghi.

The third goal scored by Shevchenko paved the way for AC Milan to meet the winners of the Barcelona- Benifica match for the other semi finals.

Inter Milan to progress to the next round

QUARTER FINALS RETURN LEG
Mancini will be looking at this encounter very closely and both coaches are of the opinion that whichever teams commits the first mistake, will be the one most likely to be knocked out of the competition.
The Italians go into the match with and 2-1 advantage , however the Spaniards are unbeaten at home in the competition and do have an edge.
Adriano will be all fired up to get the most important goal in order to ensure that Inter progresses to the next round. Maartins will also make a contribution and i predict that inter will win this encounter by two goals to one.

Gregory Coupet will surely be the obstacle in AC Milan's progress to the next round of the competition, however Shevchenko feels that his fortunes will change and that he will be on the score to defeat the Houllier's merry Frenchmen.
Lyon need only to draw this encounter in order to progress and the my predictions for this game would be a draw with a slight advantage to the visitors winning the encounter by two goals one.