The 2011 Champions League Winners

With the Quarter-Final first leg of the Champions League over. I'd say that 4 out of 4 games are over already. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we saw some great football, and some surprising results in the first leg.

Real Madrid came out easily in the first leg at the Bernabéu and deserved their win. They deserved it because they were better prepared. The quality showed through the whole 90 minutes of the game. Yes, Tottenham had a few chances but they didn't really threat, and it's because of stupid decisions like Crouch diving in twice to get himself sent off in the first 15 minutes. Real Madrid had some quality possession of football and some quality goals. Tottenham were maybe unfortunate with decisions, and the 4-0 maybe wasn't a deserved scoreline. Although Tottenham will fight with everything they have in the second leg, I just don't see them going through. Especially because they're playing Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho, which doesn't help the situation.

This result was very surprising and one that I wasn't expecting. I really thought Inter Milan would go on and reach the final stage just because of their fight back against Bayern Munich. Now they have to go back to Germany and have a repeat of that performance. Inter have made both of their last Champions League home games hard for themselves and although they did bring the comeback against Bayern, I don't see it happening a second time. Inter got off to a great start with a fantastic volley from Stankovic, but on the night, they were very poor defensively. Schalke on the other hand, were a joy to watch attacking wise. They had players who could make things happen, and I don't think Inter were aware of how good they really are. I do see Schalke going through to the next phase, but then they'll have to face an English side, and that'll be the biggest test in their recent history.

Barcelona winning 5-1 at home in the first leg, doesn't tell the story about the game. They were good, but they weren't 5-1 good. Shakhtar can feel unlucky because they did very little wrong on the night, and 5-1 isn't a fair result at all. Although this should see Barcelona go through, it will still be a hard test for them in Ukraine. Shakhtar always play great at home and I'll be expecting nothing less from them in the second leg. They are set up to attack every game, and they do it well. They have quality going forward, but maybe lack a little in defense. Barcelona however, have quality all over the pitch. Teams should fear Barcelona going forward and I'm not surprised that a lot of teams said they want to avoid them. Barcelona didn't get out of first gear in this first leg tie, and still come out 5-1 victors. It just shows how good they are. If they do have one weakness, it's at the back. With having Puyol out for quite a while, they've been fortunate that they haven't leaked in more goals than what they have. Puyol should be back in the second leg, so I'm sure they will be much more prepared come then.

I expected a lot more from Chelsea going into this game, especially with how it ended in Moscow in 2008. Though we didn't get that. We got a mediocre performance from them, just how they've been all season. We got the strikers misfiring again, and there is no excuses for that. Ancelotti doesn't have his first team down, and we're coming to the end of the season. He still is unclear on who to start, and which pair work better. For me, Torres needs the games. He is clearly lacking confidence and with Chelsea's season just about over, he should get that. Hopefully a goal or two will give him the confidence and bring him back to the player we all know he can be. Let's not overlook the performance from every player on the pitch for Man Utd. They simply outclassed Chelsea in all positions, and were far the better team. Defensively Rio and Vidic looked back to their best and going forward they were always a threat. The partnership of Rooney and Hernandez is growing with every game, and next season they could really hurt teams with that. I see Manchester United going through this tie with the vital away goal they got at Stamford Bridge and can see them also beating Schalke to reach the final.

So with that said, I see it being a repeat of the 2009 final with Barcelona and Manchester United. Also I think it will be a repeat of Barcelona getting the win.