Into the Quarters....

What a relief! I have to admit that I was not too confident of Manchester United's chance of going past Inter Milan in the knock-out stage of the Champions League, especially failing to score any goals at San Siro two weeks ago. With a lot chances gone unconverted, I thought that Manchester United might have to settle with the domestic trophies this season.

Alas, Manchester United beat Inter 2-0 at home last evening with headed goals from Vidic and Ronaldo in the early minutes of each half. Even when Manchester United leading 1-0 at half-time, there was this lingering feeling that they might concede a goal and lost to the away goals rule. As described by Sir Alex Ferguson, there were times when Manchester United looked as if they were playing suicide football. With stray passes and flicks, possessions were lost quite easily. A single mistake could have cost dearly, but thanks to the Footballer of the Year, the match was almost settled early in the second half.

The English Barclays Premier League remains a league to be reckoned with and the league with the most teams in the Quarter Finals. The quartet of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea joined Barcelona, Villareal, Porto and Bayern Munich in the last eight. The draw for the Quarter-finals will take place on 20 March and I hope none of the English teams meet each other.

The biggest game in this weekend's round of Barclays Premier League matches is the Manchester United against Liverpool match at Old Trafford on Saturday, 14 March. It would be interesting to see how these teams react to reaching the Quarter-finals of the Champions League.