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Soccer Scene Italian job semi-complete for United

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Dermot Clarke

Manchester United are headed for a semifinal date with Juventus, having overcome the other Italian team in the Champions League, Inter Milan, in the Round of Eight.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg, United were under the cosh for much of the first half. It was a half that they would survive, though, courtesy of a post and an inane penalty refusal. Zanetti’s curling shot struck the woodwork after 21 minutes, but the real talking point of the period came when Peter Schmeichel upended Zamorano in the area, it looked a certain penalty, but to the dismay of the Inter connections the referee waved play on. Ferguson’s "home-town referee" question settled right there.

United settled down in the second half somewhat and looked to be cruising through to the last four. But it was only when the half-fit Ronaldo left the field that Juventus began to pressure again. They got one back when Roy Keane failed to get a touch on a cross and it fell to Ventoli, who slipped it past a helpless Schmeichel to bring the game to fever pitch level. Alex Ferguson didn’t panic. He brought Paul Scholes into the game and his equalizer on 88 sealed the tie. The away goal meant that Inter would have to score three goals in as many minutes to go through. Even with a fit Ronaldo, the task would have been impossible.

Inter’s season appears to be falling apart. The injury to Ronaldo is probably the main reason. They were beaten 4-0 on Sunday by lowly Sampdoria, a defeat that caused their Romanian coach Lucescu to resign. Juventus, however, seem to be getting things together under new coach Carlo Ancelotti. They’ve yet to taste defeat under him. They’ve sneaked into the last four this year having been on the verge of expulsion on a couple of occasions, but now only United can stop them from contesting their fourth Champions final in as many years.

Their latest great escape came versus Olympiakos. Tied at 2-2 on aggregate, the Greeks were five minutes from victory by virtue of the away goal they had scored in Turin. Antonio Conte equalized in that 85th minute to stun the partisan crowd and send his team through. Bayern Munich meet the dangerous Dynamo Kiev in the other semi.

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Chelsea took another step toward defending their Cup-winners Cup title when they finished off Valerenga of Norway with a 3-2 win, giving them a 6-2 aggregate and a trip to Majorca, where they meet Real Mallorca. Lazio and Spartak of Moscow is the other semifinal.

While Europe’s giants were involved in the latter stages of competition, Gerard Houllier had his Liverpool squad on what I can only presume to be a confidence-building mission in France. Gerard pitted his warriors against the mighty Bolougne from the French fourth division. Bolougne are celebrating their centenary. It doesn’t seem like a hundred years does it? The Reds looked like taking it when they went a goal up through Patrick Berger, but the French came back and snatched it 2-1 at the death. A dismal spell for the once mighty Liverpool, rumor has it that Don King has been approached to promote their games, as they search for a victory from somewhere.

United and Chelsea came back to the bread and butter at the weekend and they both won. United beating Everton 3-1, and Chelsea went to Villa Park and took the points from former table-toppers Aston Villa, winning 3-0. Arsenal kept in contention also, with a 2-0 victory over Coventry. Sunderland are ensured of at least a playoff berth at the end of the season. The 3-1 victory over Bolton gave them enough points but Niall Quinn and his teammates will be hoping not to have to go through that again, so I’m sure they’ll clinch the title and so go straight up in the coming weeks.

The big game in England was Sunday’s Worthington Cup final. The former League cup offers the winners the added bonus of automatic entry into Europe and neither Spurs nor Leicester looked like they could afford the trip. The game was no Wembley Classic. We were spared an added 30 minutes when Scandinavians Iversen and Neilsen combined to clinch it for Spurs in the final minute.

Rangers slipped up at home to Dundee United on Saturday to give Celtic a glimmer of hope in their quest to retain the title they won last year, but, as has so often happened in the past the bhoys failed to take the chance. On Sunday all they could manage to take from Kilmarnock was a single point in a scoreless tie. Craig Burley had a couple of chances to win it for Celtic, Mark Viduka too, Larsson had an understandable off day but it looks like this might have been the final chance, or maybe it was too late already.

At time of going to press we are not sure if the game away to Macedonia will go ahead. Should it go ahead, Damien Duff has promised there will be no repeat of our last trip to Skopje. If the game is played I would hope that the Irish players would honor the memory of one of Ireland’s greats, Peter Farrell, who passed away last week. Farrell played on one of the great Shamrock Rovers teams, alongside Paddy Coad, Tommy Eglington and sometimes even Jackie Carey. He left for Everton and Goodison Park in ’46 and it was on that pitch in 1949 that he helped Ireland become the first foreign side to defeat England on their own soil. Farrell scored one of the goals in a 2-0 victory. He finished his career in England with Tranmere, but his name will live forever in Goodison.

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