A couple firsts, the Third El Clasico, and a Master Class

So, we saw a couple firsts this weekend that recently past. We saw Edin Dzeko's 1st goal for the millionaires in Manchester after 10 league appearances. He is a good player and I am sure he will be a much better player and score a lot more goals for City next season after a pre season. He has really struggled to adapt to the pace and power of the premier league. Lets hope he continues to show the touch of an angry rhino and Man City win nothing.

Then there was the Torres goal after 732 minutes of football (if you can call his performances that). It makes me sad because the joke is over. I am sure he will be a great player for them next season, and possibly still even score a couple in Chelsea's remaining games this season. Just like Mr. Dzeko, Torres is good, and will possibly be great again. I am going to predict that he will be in the top 3 goal scorers next season, scoring  over 20 goals. I have a feeling that when he gets his confidence back and stops whining he will score plenty goals. But in an ideal world, that will be Torres' only goal, Chelsea waste 50 million and finish mid table.

The 3rd El Clasico proved to be one of the biggest let downs in football for me. Everyone expected a great contest after Real won the Copa Del Rey, but we got a soup opera instead. Players were crying, fighting, pretending to act and there was no shortage of drama with 3 red cards. Mourinho's tactics lost him the game for Real Madrid if you ask me. Had Real come out to attack and make a game of it, we would of seen football, not an awful episode of Days of our Lives.

It is rather humerous that Mourinho cannot finish a game of football with 11 men against Barcelona. I am thinking that it might have something to do with the fact that he may as well have given his troops weapons to play with because tried to bully the Barce team instead of trying to play football (easier said than done, but Real beat them a couple days before). Real got what they deserved in this home tie. They deserved to lose, and now they might as well not show for the return leg. Its done.
Messi once again showed his class with an unbelievable solo effort to score his 52nd goal of the season. He is the best in the world, and maybe we should stop the argument of Messi vs Ronaldo, because if you ask me, the humble Messi with the heart of a lion and the touch and control of a footballing god leaves the sulking ego maniac Ronaldo in his shadow.

Well, that leaves me with the Master Class.

I didn't know whether to cry tears of joy or frustration when I watched Man United vs Schalke 04 on Tuesday. Man United were absolutely unbelievable on the night. Admittedly, Schalke looked a shade of the team that thumped Inter in the quarters. Manuel Nauer was unbelievable in goal. Sir Fergi said it was the best goal keeping performance he had ever seen against his Man United. In truth, it had to be because had it not been for Nauer, the score would have been 4 or 5 nil at half time. Oh i hope he sees the light and joins the Red Devils next season when Van der Sar retires.
Man united were absolutely breath taking to watch. They finished the game with 16 attempts on goal and 65% possession. The midfield with Michael Carrick and the evergreen Ryan Giggs were fantastic with their movement and passing. Carrick has been fantastic in the 2nd half of the season with his positioning, anticipation and passing. Wayne Rooney and Chicharito were unplayable up front and Man United won 2-0. This result in Germany leaves them with a perfect record of not conceding away from home throughout the champions league season. Gorgeous. That is what champion teams are built on.

That performance tells me 3 things; 1) Inter are absolutely awful, and not even a shade of the team that played under Mourinho. 2) Schalke are well out of their depth at that level of competition. They didnt show up. Or was Man united THAT good on the night...
3) Lastly, Man united are peaking at the right time to win trophies. Their experience, composure and class could well see them winning the competition. They have all their players back fit, playing and focused. They were absolutely fantastic against Schalke, and they were equally as good against Chelsea away. Maybe all is coming together at the right time for a team that most people wrote off a couple months ago. It was said they "didn't play their best football" and "were not exciting". Anyone who watched the match against Schalke would and should agree that Man United were just about perfect on the night.

Don't be too hasty about giving Barcelona the Champions League trophy yet...

Next stop, The Emirates... I Cant wait!