Champions League - Team of the Week

Eurosport - Thu, 30 Apr 18:18:00 2009

Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs and Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United both make our Champions League Team of the Week.

Arsenal's Keiron Gibbs challenges Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United - 0

GK Manuel Almunia (Arsenal) - The Arsenal goalkeeper was largely responsible for keeping United's aggregate over his team down to one. He saved a Carlos Tevez shot at almost point blank range - his reward was the Argentine's boot in his face later in the game.

DF John O'Shea (Manchester United) - United's unlikely hero was hailed as a 'model pro' make manager Alex Ferguson. Could also have claimed an assist if Tevez had beaten Almunia from close range.

DF John Terry (Chelsea) - Apart from being outstripped for pace by Samuel Eto'o, the Chelsea skipper marshalled his players brilliantly in stifling free-scoring Barca.

DF Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) - The big Serb gets our nod over defensive partner Rio Ferdinand because he doesn't hoist himself up on team-mate's shoulders every time they score.

DF Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) - The teenage Arsenal left-back recovered from an early slip to produce an assured performance on an occasion that could so easily have overwhelmed him.

MF Michael Carrick (Manchester United) - His deft turn and inside the Arsenal area led to the United's goal. Another highly influential performance from the oft-overlooked midfielder.

MF Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) - They may not have been able to break down a stubborn Chelsea, but Iniesta still ensured that the visitors rarely saw the ball at the Nou Camp.

MF Xavi (Barcelona) - Barca's midfield lynchpin gave another masterclass in possession and distribution, and posed a danger from set pieces.

MF Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) - The Portuguese looked more fired up than we have seen him for a long time for the clash with Arsenal, causing fans to ask why he can't show that level of commitment every week.

FW Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - The England forward is enjoying one of his real patches of form. With his confidence high and a seemingly limitless amount of energy, he is irresistible at the moment.

FW Thierry Henry (Barcelona) - With Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi crowded out of the game, it was left to the former Arsenal man to pose the main threat against Chelsea.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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  1. barca_nr_1 barca may have scored many goals but­ remember that man utd have maintained 8 clean sheets­ this season of the possible 11 which your barca team­ can never achieve and remember that we are europeans­ champions...!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From ronaldo.rooney57, on Mon 4 May 1:07PM

  2. To "barca_nr_1" no honest and unbiased­ football fan can dispute how good Barcelona is as an­ attacking side. Yes we know they have scored 100 goals­ in La Liga & 29 in the Champions League which is­ quite an achievement; but then again teams in La Liga­ have never had good defenses like teams in Serie A;­ they are many good defenders playing in La Liga but are­ there aren't any good Back lines; defenses that­ work as a unit and not individuals...... Lets look at­ the CL what strong opposition have Barca faced there?­ Hmmmm the only one that comes to mind is Bayern who­ again are weak in center midfield and at the back which­ is why they are struggling so much in Bundesliga.­ Chelsea is probably the only real challenge Barca have­ faced in this seasons competition and Barca­ couldn''t score at home. Just like they did­ against Manchester United last season. No one thought­ Barca could be held for 180 minutes but look at what­ happened. Also I think more importantly its a case of­ which team has the better manager, Guus Hiddink as a­ tactician is better than Pep Guardiola and its tactics­ that will decide the next encounter. Having the most­ skilled players or the most technically gifted side­ does not guarantee victory in Europe; everyone always­ talks about Messi, Eto'o & Henry being the­ biggest threats but the truth is that players like Xavi­ & Iniesta are the real threats and need to be kept­ in check as they are the key to opening up defenses­ with their precision passing & distribution. If you­ cut the supply there won't be any goals.

    From Dex Genius, on Mon 4 May 1:05PM

  3. To "barca_nr_1" no honest and unbiased­ football fan can dispute how good Barcelona is an­ attacking side. Yes we know they have scored 100 goals­ in La Liga and 29 in the Champions League whci is quite­ an achievement; but then again Spanish teams in La Liga­ have never had good defences; they are good defenders­ playing in La Liga but are there any really good Back­ lines..... NO not really. Lets look at the CL what­ strong opposition have Barca faced there hmmmm the only­ one that comes to mind is Bayern who again are weak at­ the back which is why they are struggling so much in­ Bundesliga. Chelsea is probably the only real challenge­ Barca have faced in this seasons competition and Barca­ choked just like they did against Manchester United­ last season. Also I think more importantly its a case­ of which team has the better manager, Guus Hiddink as a­ tactician is better than Pep Guardiola and its is­ tactics that will decide the next encounter. Having the­ most skilled players or the most technically gifted­ side does not guarantee victory in Europe.

    From Dex Genius, on Mon 4 May 12:53PM

  4. Why can't the European Power Ranking be displayed? ­ We would like to see how our respective teams stand as­ far as Europe is concerned at the moment. This surely­ should see Liverpool going downwards as they have­ fallen in the Champions league. Viva Man Utd, soon we­ shall be european Champion for the second consecutive­ year, the first to make it in this modern era. Utd­ FOREVER!!

    From Lomoro, on Mon 4 May 12:32PM

  5. all this talk and for wat a english team will win cl­ cup barca are very ordinary outside of spain chelsea­ proved it and they are our 3rd best team.man u spanked­ barca last year here and there so watch it happen again­ only one team are europes finest and thts man u we­ just gave cup back to have it polished. english­ football rules and as long as you european teams dnt­ get it i am happy

    From arfat, on Mon 4 May 10:04AM

  6. with injury on messi or not, what i know is that­ england is not spain where they score 100 goals in one­ match. messi can't do nothing, chelsea game will­ always make him look like @#$% !!!

    From martinmyself15, on Mon 4 May 8:46AM

  7. barca_nr_1......Boooooo

    From raymand_78, on Mon 4 May 4:51AM

  8. barca,barcelona has already beaten by manchester­ united!1-0 scholes!

    From hoomalevickram, on Sun 3 May 4:16PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    For all you ManSHITster fagssssssssss, let's clear­ something out. Barca too won the double in 2006, and­ they ended up dominating their opponents in Champions­ League and La Liga, unlike ManSHITster, who hardly won­ CL against chelsea in penalties, and hardly won­ PremierSHIT on the last game. So don't go talking­ trash about Barca. And for you that say Barcas defence­ is bad, check the records, because Barca has conceded­ 12 goals in CL and scoring 29 goals, ManSHITster has­ conceded 5 goals, but only scored 15, and Chelsea, they­ conceded 12 goals, just as much as Barca, but only­ scored 19. So the facts show that Barca has conceded­ just as much as Chlsea, but has scored almost double of­ what chelsea and manSHITster has score, so quit talking­ about Barcas defence, because they have an attacking­ that makes up for everything. Henry Eto'o Messi,­ have scored 69 goals in La Liga, and 90 goals total in­ all competitions, More than manSHITster and chelsea as­ a­ team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!For all you ManSHITster­ fagssssssssss, let's clear something out. Barca too­ won the double in 2006, and they ended up dominating­ their opponents in Champions League and La Liga, unlike­ ManSHITster, who hardly won CL against chelsea in­ penalties, and hardly won PremierSHIT on the last game.­ So don't go talking trash about Barca. And for you­ that say Barcas defence is bad, check the records,­ because Barca has conceded 12 goals in CL and scoring­ 29 goals, ManSHITster has conceded 5 goals, but only­ scored 15, and Chelsea, they conceded 12 goals, just as­ much as Barca, but only scored 19. So the facts show­ that Barca has conceded just as much as Chlsea, but has­ scored almost double of what chelsea and manSHITster­ has score, so quit talking about Barcas defence,­ because they have an attacking that makes up for­ everythin

    From barca_nr_1, on Sun 3 May 4:01AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    For all you ManSHITster fagssssssssss, let's clear­ something out. Barca too won the double in 2006, and­ they ended up dominating their opponents in Champions­ League and La Liga, unlike ManSHITster, who hardly won­ CL against chelsea in penalties, and hardly won­ PremierSHIT on the last game. So don't go talking­ trash about Barca. And for you that say Barcas defence­ is bad, check the records, because Barca has conceded­ 12 goals in CL and scoring 29 goals, ManSHITster has­ conceded 5 goals, but only scored 15, and Chelsea, they­ conceded 12 goals, just as much as Barca, but only­ scored 19. So the facts show that Barca has conceded­ just as much as Chlsea, but has scored almost double of­ what chelsea and manSHITster has score, so quit talking­ about Barcas defence, because they have an attacking­ that makes up for everything. Henry Eto'o Messi,­ have scored 69 goals in La Liga, and 90 goals total in­ all competitions, More than manSHITster and chelsea as­ a­ team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!For all you ManSHITster­ fagssssssssss, let's clear something out. Barca too­ won the double in 2006, and they ended up dominating­ their opponents in Champions League and La Liga, unlike­ ManSHITster, who hardly won CL against chelsea in­ penalties, and hardly won PremierSHIT on the last game.­ So don't go talking trash about Barca. And for you­ that say Barcas defence is bad, check the records,­ because Barca has conceded 12 goals in CL and scoring­ 29 goals, ManSHITster has conceded 5 goals, but only­ scored 15, and Chelsea, they conceded 12 goals, just as­ much as Barca, but only scored 19. So the facts show­ that Barca has conceded just as much as Chlsea, but has­ scored almost double of what chelsea and manSHITster­ has score, so quit talking about Barcas defence,­ because they have an attacking that makes up for­ everythin

    From barca_nr_1, on Sun 3 May 4:01AM

  11. rajat_41 you idiot, why would someone wish someone else­ pain, fine if thats the case i hope you break­ you're leg tommorow.

    From skinnyboy007, on Sat 2 May 6:20PM

  12. meqo001, bosingwa over gibbs? dont think so i rate­ Bosingwa but he didn't do anything against messi,­ Messi just played really bad.

    From skinnyboy007, on Sat 2 May 6:18PM

  13. giggs didnt deserve the player of the year trophy­ someone like gerrard or messi or van der sar should­ have got it

    From kieran_flash, on Sat 2 May 12:20PM

  14. Guess who's not on the list?
    PFA Player of the Year­ Ryan Giggs.
    No offense to him, but htis year, he didnt­ have to win that.

    From Azlan, on Sat 2 May 11:23AM

  15. sarah-louise clearly knows zero about football!

    From jackie.harkin, on Fri 1 May 6:32PM

  16. MESSI SHOULD GET INJURED IN CHELSEA VS BARCA IN 10 MIN

    From rajat_41, on Fri 1 May 2:16PM

  17. Patrick Diblo, you just insensitive to have mentioned­ child traffiking, mention how many coach can do what­ LORD WENGER have been doing at the emirate even alex­ ferguson can not groom his team from the scratch so­ spare me that sentimental bulshit, gunner for life,­ gunners for ever

    From ucyeph, on Fri 1 May 1:59PM

  18. john terry played briliant

    From rajat_41, on Fri 1 May 1:47PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

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    From WWW.PREMIERSHIP.ALTERVISTA.ORG, on Fri 1 May 1:32PM

  20. ryan giggs had a goal but the referee had the wrong­ decision.

    From youngster, on Fri 1 May 11:40AM
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