Champions League Quarterfinals: Your Running Commentary

Good afternoon folks. Today is the day. Arsenal vs. Liverpool and Chelsea vs. Fenerbahce.

Arsenal travels to Anfield needing a win or tie of 2-2 or greater to advance and a 1-1 tie to force overtime against Liverpool. Chelsea plays host to the Turkish club down 2-1 from the first leg, but holding a valuable away goal.

ESPN2 is showing Arsenal-Liverpool while you can follow Chelsea-Fenerbahce on ESPN360.com. If you plan on following the matches and will be online, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and some play by play in the comments section below.

My picks are Liverpool to win 2-1 and Fenerbahce to tie 1-1 and advance. I called Fenerbahce as an upset pick a while back and am sticking with it.

Enjoy the matches.

Comments

[ed-]

let's go liverpool

[eric]

Aw man, ESPN cuts off a stirring rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone". I'll defend Hick's no show, but no way I'd miss this if they were my teams.

Fascinating line up by Benetiz! Just might be the Best. Rotation. Ever.

[Louis]

I know this is unrelated but I can't find a answer anywhere. I'm doing MLS Fantasy in Ives league but I noticed NE and KC play two games this week(Wed and Sat). Does that mean players playing in both games can get double points for my team?

[Dominick]

I came in late, what was the moment of silence for?

[Steve-O]

Would it kill ESPN or FIFA to bring some HD cameras for the broadcast? I guess they're saving them for the women"s NCAA game.

[eric]

What a front 6 for both!!!

Liverpool:

Crouch Torres

Gerrard Alonso Mashcherano Kuyt

Arsenal:

Adebuyor
Diaby

Hleb Eboue Fabregas Flamini

[eric]

Hleb! Down!

[Spencer]

Aresnal is dominating early one. Liverpool needs to pick it up.

[eric]

Hypia with a terrible give away at the top of the box, but Adebuyor is offsides

[eric]

Gerrard is all over the place, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. He lined up on the left wing, but that's the 2nd time in the first 9 mins that both he and Kuyt ended up on right at the same time.

Then he went scurrying back to the left wing. If Arse can break faster, they might have a ton of space over there.

[Spencer]

Arsenal up 1-0. Liverpool is getting trashed.

[Adam]

anyone with a link?

[eric]

Arsenal goal scored when Diaby released Adebuyor, who takes an extra touch and loses his angle. But Liverpool fail to clear, and Alonso spends his time appealing for a hand ball instead of closing down the man with the ball, and Arsenal get way to much time to regroup.

Diaby is released and shoots instead of dribbling, and beats Reina.

[Ryan S.]

This is going to be a tough game for Liverpool. Arsenal are just handing Liverpool there butts in the first 20.

I see a few more goals coming out of this game.

[eric]

Now Gerrard is in the center of the field. One might say that Liverpool is a disorganized mess, but I'm sure all of it is part of Reina's long term strategy.

[eric]

Karma comes around as Kuyt gets knocked flat in the box going for a cross, no call and it's cleared.

Then Liverpool races back and Crouch releases Torres, who takes a bad touch and loses it over the line, and looks like he really wants that one back.

I bet it wakes him up, Torres will get one back, the question being if it'll tie up the game or decrease an even larger deficit.

[Spencer]

1-1 Hyypia with an amazing header.

[eric]

Hyppia with a great header off a Gerrard corner to tie it 1 - 1! Amazing stuff end to end.

[starks]

Great header. Couldn't have put it to a better spot.

[starks]

And pool pushes again. Both teams looking very dangerous.

[eric]

Like the galaxy's forming out of primordial chaos, Liverpool suddenly look like they're playing a daring brand of total football with waves of overlapping runs.

But I still don't trust that it won't collapse again into the mess that was the first 20 mins.

[Spencer]

Anyone feeling a shoot out coming?

[eric]

Arsenal sub in Gilberto for Flamini, who had a clearly accidental clip from Gerrard and has his ankle end his day.

[eric]

Spencer - I hope not, but it could happen. Flamini going down but the brakes on the game, and I hope it gets up to speed again, but both teams could dig in now that the momentum changed up.

[Spencer]

The first 45 mins was very fast pace for a champions league game.

[eric]

Half ends with the brakes coming off the roller coaster again, and it's mostly Liverpool running at the Arsenal goal. Best chance comes when Arsenal snuff out a Gerrard led break, but Gilberto shows why he lost his spot.

His clearance bounces off of Kuyt and he makes no effort to get the ball as Couch runs by him and sets up a couple of swipes at goal.

When Liverpool are clicking, Gerrard and Kuyt are doing this nice constant switching sides on the left and right and Arsenal get confused. It's exactly the way I'd love to see Beasley and Holden play the wings for the 'Nats.

[eric]

2nd Half starts with Liverpool pressing again, surprisingly led by some great play by Crouch.

Torres never has done much this game yet.

[eric]

Kuyt kicked in the face, he'll be fine. It's been a good day for Kuyt supporters.

[brant]

Tommy Smythe made it sound like Gilberto just whacked Kuyt, when it looked like Kuyt was the one who ran into Gilberto and just got the worse end of it. Certainly no foul there, but I'm not sure Gilberto had a clue what was going on.

[Spencer]

Anyone see an injury happening for the pace of the play with a collision?

[eric]

Arsenal bing around some pretty triangle passes then roar down field and get the proverbial one pass away. 57th, btw

[eric]

Arse pick out Hleb 10 yds out, but his shot is blocked

[eric]

It happened after Kuyt got a little too rah-rah with Anfield singing loud and made a rash slide for a tackle around midfield, and Arsenal just ran for goal

[eric]

Sensing the wrath of Benitez, Pool put 8 men behind the ball next time Arse come down. None of that now, we were having a great game.

[brant]

Now that the Texas Rangers are down 6-0 in their home opener, you think Hicks would rather be in Liverpool than Dallas?

[eric]

The crowd sing a happy little song about Rafa Benitez as he runs out to the touch line. Can't make out the other words besides his name.

I hate they sing it, though, as Liverpool start to get more and more packed in at the back and less of the free flowing stuff.

[eric]

Free kick Arse, horrible tackle from Mascherano.

Cleared out though, bad ball by Cesc

[brant]

GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLL

[brant]

Best striker in England?

[eric]

Goat of the game so far, Senderos, loses a long pass into the box and lets Torres get to it. He wakes up from his slumber, turns left, and fires a bullet into the upper left.

No more penalties! If Arse tie, they win on away goals

[eric]

Torres taking at Arsenal again and again. Doesn't come together, but plenty of pressure.

Someone should tell Adebuyor that the African Cup of Nations is going on right now, and he wasn't invited. That was the last time that Torres had a real rival for best striker in the EPL.

[eric]

Crouch releases Torres, who makes a mess of the break away, has to stop and get the ball, then makes a bad cross to Crouch on the run.

Babel in for Crouch. We knew he could do the robot, but Crouchigol's been a machine all day. He made Liverpool a lot of money with his impending transfer fee.

[eric]

Walcot to Adebuyor! Goal!

[Adebayor]

Glory glory Arsenal!

[brant]

Walcott is the hero now. Who's up next? You know Liverpool still has some tricks up their sleeve.

[eric]

Penalty Liverpool!!!

[WTF???]

Penalty?

[kpugs]

Toure is a moron...where are all the Gooners about to tell us that Toure should be allowed to pull players down in the box?

[eric]

The knife twists again! Toure pulls down Babel on the restart -

Gerrard scores the penalty

3-2, 86th

[brant]

Of course - as I was typing that, Liverpool was earning a PK.

[Adebayor]

There was no way Gerrard was going to miss. Arsenal could have put shackles on his legs and he would have found a way to convert.

But that was some serious crap...

[eric]

Madness on the pitch! It was all great play, and zero controversy on the penalty.

Risse in for Torres, 88th

[eric]

Lost in it all was the amazing run by Walcott. He picked up the ball, outran the whole Liverpool side, and correctly picked out Adebuyor instead of an offside teammate.

BTW, it was all so fast that when the penalty is analyzed it might be not so clear...

[Adebayor]

O controversy???

3 minutes to get justice.

[eric]

That's zero controversy! Babel on the break, 4 - 2 Liverpool

[brant]

It would've been nice if all 3 of their games this past week had been this exciting, rather than making us watch 180 minutes of crap to get to one good game.

[brentmcd]

arsenal got jobbed. the penalty was soft. sucks!

[gaucho]

Chelsea advance: 2-0, 3-2 aggregate.

[Seisco]

Lost in all this is Walcott's great run and assist. Now we'll have to witness another Liverpool-Chelsea snooze-fest.

[hokiegooner]

i cant believe the ref gave that penalty..... if there was any contact(and thats a big if) it was outside of the box, and at best a free kick..... i usually don't complain about penalties, but after the ref looked the other way last week at the emirates, there is no way that penalty should have been given.

[Ted]

I don't think the penalty was that soft. Situations like that go either way.

Thinks to take away from the game:
-Tommy Smyth hates Liverpool (but we all knew that anyway)
-Crouch and Torres can play together. Every time they do, Crouch creates a goal for Torres. Happened today.
-Senderos is a duck. He's been shite all year , and today, he was responsible for two of Liverpool's goals. And he drew a card.
-Again, something we knew going into this match: Arsenal will not win a trophy this season.

[Dwayne]

Gunners misfire at Anfield!!!

[eric]

Wow, that was something, with goals in the 84th, 85th, and 90th mins. Walcott was about to be the biggest story in England with his run, but Liverpool finish it off.

Great show, I'm turning the channel before I catch the Chelsea score, but I'll be curious to see the penalty again.

For some reason, I like the Liverpool midfield and attackers as soon as I saw it, with Gerrard and Kuyt on the wings. Strangely with a Liverpool team, it was the defensive line that was a mess early, and it's not clear they ever figured it out, Liverpool only stopped Arsenal when they attacked.

Mascherano was probably the Man o' Match, he was imperial playing the tough midfielder who shuts you down (yes you, Fabregas) and makes the perfect pass out to the wings and forwards running out.

The scary thing about the game was how bad Torres was most of the time. He had the same kind of day as Chad Barrett, screwed up most of his attacks, but got it right a couple of times and produced a few goals.

[Dave]

That was no penalty. This is particularly hard to swallow considering the foul on Hleb wasn't called in the first game.

[Reid]

Tough loss, any jumpers off the arsenal bandwagon??

[Dave]

Reid,
I'd like to jump on Ryan Babel's knee. Damn diver.

[frank]

HOLYSH!t, i'm not a arsenal fan but that's 2wks. in a row. Ted you didn't think the penalty was soft? WOW!.

[Ted]

Babel in no way dived. There was contact, and thats what put him down.

I don't think it was soft at all. I think it was borderline, but not soft. Toure rampaged into Babel's back, so no, I don't think it was soft. Borderline, but not soft.

[Chase]

Are you kidding me??? Diver??? Toure basically tackled him, American football style, it was a desperate play from Toure, who was obviously beaten by Babel and caught out still celebrating the goal...and for those who call it soft or shout bias, you so quickly forget Kuyt being taken out in the penalty box early in the game...all the gooner whinging isn't going to change anything...YNWA!!!!

[hokiegooner]

for all those level headed fans, you have to remember that these liverpool fans do have their red tinted glasses on. These are the same people who last week claimed it was not a penalty at the Emirates, when Kuyt actually made contact with Hleb. So let them bask in their glory, with their YNWA's, and their champions of Europe, and how they are going to win it all, because THEY HAVE THE HISTORY.

Arsenal went to "Fortress" Anfield today, and got the job done. (What an amazing run by Walcott). Too bad the ref decided otherwise.

[span]

from a neutral perspective (don't care for either team really) the penalty was a bit soft. To me, contact was outside the box and Toure attempted to avoid further contact after that contact.

[dano]

As an Arsenal fan, it is tough to swallow after the non-call last week on Helb. I understand why the ref gave it, whenever a defender makes any contact from behind in the box, it's playing with fire. I thought Toure was trying to avoid contact after they entered the box, but intent doesn't always matter to the referee. But that's football. Sometimes the calls go for you, sometimes they go against you.

[Erik]

All of the Aresenal fans will whine and cry about the penalty as they do EVERY time something goes against them. Wenger is notorious for being a cry baby and it rubs off on his players and the fans.

While it was a borderline penalty call, it looked to me that Babel was run over BEFORE Toure got near him and he tried to stay on his feet. We all know what a "dive" looks like and I can guarantee Babel didn't dive.

As for the Hleb penalty the week before, I am glad they didn't call it. Players are always going down soft in the box or anywhere else on the pitch these days. For once it SHOULD go against them.

As for Aresenal... great style, no substance. Liverpool is a class team in the UCL these days and know how to win. They didn't hang their head, they went straight forward like they should have to win.

[inkedAG]

Erik, if that penalty was called against Liverpool, you know you'd be crying!!

I'm not gonna cry about it, but it was SOFT. World Cup 2006 worthy...

However, Arsenal has been running on fumes for a bit now and Liverpool took it to them. Congrats. Another Chelsea-Liverpool snoozefest. Lovely.

[Erik]

inkedAG,

I wouldn't be crying - they should have had a penalty called against them last week. To be honest, how many people think that call was made last night BECAUSE of what happened the week before with all of the whining and crying?

That being said, I am NOT looking forward to Chelsea-Liverpool... AGAIN.