Contenders stretched in warm-ups for semis
Monday, April 27, 2009
Article summary
While Arsenal FC geared up for this week's UEFA Champions League semi-final first legs with a fairly comfortable victory, Manchester United FC, Chelsea FC and FC Barcelona were all given severe tests at the weekend.
Article top media content
Article body
While Arsenal FC warmed up for this week's UEFA Champions League semi-final first legs with a fairly comfortable victory, Manchester United FC, Chelsea FC and FC Barcelona were all given severe examinations at the weekend.
Late equaliser
Barcelona were staring at a first defeat in 12 matches in all competitions with four minutes remaining at in-form Valencia CF. Thierry Henry came to the rescue, however, capitalising on a mistake by goalkeeper César, though it was not enough to prevent Liga title rivals Real Madrid CF reducing a lead that once stood at 12 points to just four. Tuesday's opponents Chelsea conceded the battle for Premier League honours after their midweek draw against Everton FC, yet returned to winning ways at West Ham United FC thanks in no small part to a penalty save from Petr Čech with 20 minutes to go. The result kept Guus Hiddink's side six points clear of Arsenal, 2-0 victors at home to Middlesbrough FC. Manchester United stayed clear of the pack after recovering from 2-0 down at half-time against Tottenham Hotspur FC to win 5-2.
| FC Barcelona v Chelsea FC |
| Valencia CF 2-2 FC Barcelona (Maduro 43, Pablo 45; Messi 24, Henry 86) Josep Guardiola: "We finished the match like bulls; we're like a machine at the moment. We'll arrive home late tonight and we must sleep well, eat well and recover well. We were fully focused on the match with Valencia and now we'll see what happens against Chelsea." |
| West Ham United FC 0-1 Chelsea FC (Kalou 55) Guus Hiddink: "[Looking ahead to Barcelona] it's not chess. With that, you have systems to attack or defend. Football is more complicated. We should not go there and drop back, wait and wait until the storm is coming. We must take what is in our team and do some harm as well." |
| Manchester United FC v Arsenal FC |
| Manchester United FC 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur FC (Ronaldo 57pen 68, Rooney 67 71, Berbatov 79; Bent 29, Modrić 32) Sir Alex Ferguson: "We were too slow, too casual in the first half. We needed to speed up and [half-time substitute Carlos] Tévez was responsible for that. He got the rest of the team playing. We had to get the first goal quite early. It wasn't a foregone conclusion after that by any means but it gave us impetus." |
| Arsenal FC 2-0 Middlesbrough FC (Fàbregas 26 67) Arsène Wenger: "Overall it was a very good game against a Middlesbrough team who played in a very positive way. We dominated and made some brilliant passing today, some brilliant combinations. The first goal was absolutely outstanding and you could see that the team enjoy the way we play and loved the game." |
