For the first time in seven years, there will be no English representation in the last four of the UEFA Champions League.

To say that an era has ended would be excessive, but it is certainly notable that none of the established ‘Big Four’ have reached their usual positioning amongst Europe’s elite.

You only need to look at each side’s individual demises to know that the margins are small in these knockout battles. United go out to on away goals to a wonder strike from Arjen Robben.

Chelsea were guilty of a slight lack of energy and guile in attempting to break down the brick wall that is the Inter defence whereas Arsenal were, wholly reasonably, outclassed by a player who operates on a different planet. Only Liverpool can be seen to have seriously regressed from past endeavours, having been eliminated at the group stages.

If we go looking for wider influences behind a poor year for the English sides, can one be found in the emergence of Manchester City as a spending powerhouse?

In the summer, they swooped to relieve Arsene Wenger of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor; they enticed long-term Liverpool target Gareth Barry to Eastlands; and perhaps most significantly of all, they convinced Carlos Tevez to move from the red to blue side of Manchester.

Most pundits point to Xavi Alonso’s departure as a key influence in Liverpool’s fall from grace. Would Barry have proved a more able replacement than the brittle and under-used Alberto Aquilani?

In the face of a central defensive crisis, Arsene Wenger could have done with Kolo Toure in the Nou Camp in place of the creaking Mikael Silvestre. And surely Adebayor would have proved a more dangerous threat to the Barcelona defence than Nicklas Bendtner?

Lastly, Sir Alex Ferguson took a chance last night on a clearly under-par Wayne Rooney, not least due to the lack of dynamism offered by £30m alternative Dimitar Berbatov. How he would love to have called upon an on-fire Tevez.

As I say, the margins are small. At the business end of a season, squad depth is vital. Thanks to Man City’s mega bucks, their Premier League rivals have been weakened and now exposed by Europe’s best.

Fittingly considering the last article was about lazy journalism this is the first thing I’ve written in a week. And even more aptly, it’s not even mine, but lifted from the Guardian. But it’s a fantastic piece by Dr Sid Lowe, who you will be familiar with from the site and from Football Weekly, the excellent Guardian Football Podcast. In case the title doesn’t give it away (in which case you are probably retarded) it’s about the sheer brilliance of Leo Messi…

Leo Messi did something impossible last night. He got even better. He had scored in the Champions League final, the Copa del Rey final and the World Club Cup final, emulated that goal from Diego Maradona, hit three in the clasico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, two at the Santiago Bernabéu, and scored two hat-tricks in a row. But he’d never scored four before. Until last night. Last night, even Marca and AS, the myopic leaders of the Madrid media dropped to their knees; last night, so did the English. They could ignore him no more. Last night, as El PaÌs, put it, “Messi ate Arsenal”.

AS has long been proud of its cagumetro – literally, crapping-yourself-o-meter – the tool used to ‘measure’ the fear they claim grips Barcelona fans every time Real Madrid rear into view, its needle furiously twitching before shooting up towards a million cagahertz. This morning, three days from the clasico, they’re applying it to themselves. “Messi,” declares the cover of AS, “is frightening”. Inside, their headline chanted: “Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi!”, while the inventor of this delightful device, Barça-baiter-in-chief Tomas Guasch, was busy saying a prayer: “Ay Manuel Pellegrini, may God guide you!” As for Marca, their cover asks: “And how do we stop this guy?”

It is a pertinent question. Booting him about doesn’t seem to work; he just gets even more determined. And besides, it is easier said than done. A few weeks ago, the Mallorca manager Gregorio Manzano insisted that the only way was with a rifle.Last night, Arsene Wenger described him as “a PlayStation footballer”. The Catalan daily Sport calls him “football’s Picasso”, insisting: “We’re going to have to expand the dictionary to find new adjectives for him, because majestic, lethal, magic, incomparable and divine have all been used up.” Its website implored fans: “Don’t say football, say Messi.” El Mundo Deportivo went for “mythical, universal, the Lord’s anointed one.” But most cut out the middle man. “There is,” said El Mundo, “only one God: Messi”.

But all that’s not entirely new. It’s less than two weeks since Spain’s severe superlatives shortage was reported on these pages. Uncovering new adjectives is an impossible task. Victor Valdés was only the latest person to admit defeat, shrugging: “I can’t find the words to define him – I’m just very proud that he’s on my team.” What was new was seeing Marca and AS lead with him on the cover, and Marca’s cartoonist depicting Messi as a little green man with antenna on his head and long, horn-shaped ears under the caption: “From another planet”.

So was the reaction from England, the unanimous acclaim. “Messi,” said Wenger, “is the best player in the world – by a distance.” At last everyone seemed to agree; 90 minutes against Arsenal had done the trick. Even Phil Thompson must have given in, despite recently declaring: “Wayne Rooney is streets ahead of Messi.” (Which streets, Phil, which bloody streets?!)

Watching the game on Sky, browsing blogs, reading reports, it’s tempting to conclude that England discovered Leo Messi last night. What took you? A match against an English club, that’s what. As if that’s the only measure of greatness. It shouldn’t have done. They shouldn’t have discovered him against Arsenal; he has hardly been hidden away.

“I really don’t want to compare Leo with any other player in the world because that other player would come off so badly – he’s just so far ahead.” That’s what Xavi Hernandez said. A year ago. Yesterday he added: “A player like this only comes along every 30 years or so.” Rafa Marquez said: “Messi has proven once again that he is the best in the world.” The key words were ‘once’ and ‘again’. They would say that of course. But does anyone doubt that they are right?

This is not the place to go over Messi’s extraordinary qualities again, that’s been done before. It is the place, though, to point something out…

What Messi did last night was brilliant. In fact, it was more brilliant that the goals alone suggest. Just look at the two he didn’t score – the curler that clipped the top of the goal, the scamper through that ended with him hitting it into the side-netting. Look at the fact that he didn’t just score the first two; it was his passes that made them as well. But, ridiculous though this sounds, last night’s performance was not unusual. In fact, it is precisely the consistency of his brilliance that has seen it become almost mundane; he makes the ridiculous routine.

When he scored a hat-trick against Zaragoza a fortnight ago, one fan started shouting something about how brilliant he is. Pep Guardiola approached the fan and replied: “If it wasn’t for him, I’d be a third division coach.” Last night he became their all-time top scorer in the Champions League. He is top scorer in this season’s La Liga. He has provided more assists than anyone else, too. Yesterday was his fourth hat-trick of the season. He has scored 119 goals for Barcelona and he’s still only 22.

It is not just about the spectacular. Earlier this season, asked about the pressure on Messi after a ‘poor’ game, Guardiola insisted: “Messi can play badly as often as he likes.” Thing is, Messi never plays badly, even when he plays ‘badly’. Sometimes he is not spectacular, sure, but he is never poor. Take the first leg against Arsenal: most people will tell you that Messi did little, but he had more than twice as many shots on target than anyone else and played more passes than any Arsenal player. He even answers the cliché about tracking back and work-rate: Messi has committed more fouls than any Barcelona defender.

One former Barcelona and Real Madrid player makes the point that when Ronaldo plays a pass, the first thing he does is demand it back. Messi is happy just to play, to keep it simple, to keep it moving. At the Camp Nou only one Arsenal player completed as many passes. Increasingly, Messi is not just scoring but – with Xavi, surely the finest midfielder Spain has ever produced – running games too. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he was “surprised” to see Messi play centrally in Rome last season but he shouldn’t have been. As one opponent puts it: “Messi is the best striker for his goals, the best winger for his dribbling, the best midfielder for his passes.” That night in Rome Messi did what Messi always does: answered the questions asked of him. There is just one question left – the Argentina one. And on the evidence so far, he will end up answering that too.

They said he didn’t do it in big games – although goodness knows how they had the cheek to say that; did the clasico and the cup final not count? – so he did it in the Champions League final. They said he had never scored against an English team, and after a game in Santander it had been noted that he could not head a ball. Guardiola replied: “I advise you not to question Leo. One day, he’s going to score a great header and shut you all up.” Everyone laughed. He scored with a towering header, outjumping Rio Ferdinand.

But still they wanted more, and more, and more. There seemed to be a strange, bloody-minded determination not to recognise him. So Messi provided it. He started racking up goal after goal but they said that anyone could score goals in Spain. So last night he became top scorer in the Champions League. For the second successive season. And, for those who had forgotten Rome, he obliterated Arsenal into the bargain. Now they’re saying Messi is the best player in the world. It shouldn’t have taken last night to realise it.

The original article can be found here – and I was alerted to it by The Fiver, the Guardian’s excellent tea-time email which you can sign up for on their site.

This is the offending paragraph:

Some players and coaches believe that the man who wins the penalty should not take the consequent kick. Not Fábregas. Not on this night. Not against this opposition. Although clearly hurt in the challenge, he prepared himself carefully, waited for the referee to give the signal, and struck a perfect effort low and hard into the left-hand corner of the net. Víctor Valdés guessed wrong, but would have been helpless in any case.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/01/cesc-fabregas-arsenal-barcelona

Now I have several issues with this.

Fabregas always takes Arsenal’s penalties and has done before after winning it himself (most recently against West Ham, a mere eleven days ago). The whole ‘not on this night, not against this oppostion’ sounds like the end of Titanic. But most importantly, the last bit. The penalty definitely wasn’t perfect. It didn’t go into the corner. But far more pressingly, had Victor Valdes gone the right way, he would have saved it with ease.

Why lie? The penalty was a foot off the ground and slightly left of middle. It wasn’t a good penalty, Fabregas just got lucky as Valdes went the wrong way. Yes he did well to score under pressure and whilst injured, and that is more than enough to gloss the drama of the incident. You don’t need to make obvious factual inaccuracies in search of manufactured catharsis.

Of course Richard Williams is an infinitely better writer than me; but I don’t get paid by a major news corporation or have hundreds of thousands of people reading my posts (I doubt, anyway) – but were that the case, I would at least make sure I described correctly where a penalty went.

Lazy.

Name six players who have played for at least two of the following four English clubs: Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United (The Big Four, you could say…)

AND

Real Madrid or Barcelona

Email us for the answers… contact@footballsup.com

Here is the Champions League last 8 draw in full:

Inter Milan v CSKA Moscow
Arsenal v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Manchester United
Lyon v Bordeaux

And the resultant semi final draw:

Inter/CSKA Moscow v Arsenal/Barcelona
Bayern/Man United v Lyon/Bordeaux

A few observations:

• A dream draw for Man United. There are no easy games at this stage but an eminently winnable tie against Bayern followed by a French side is about as good as it gets

• Arsenal on the other hand have undoubtedly the toughest game in Barcelona, and even if they do win will in all probability face Inter. As tough a double header as you can imagine.

• Good that the two English sides have been kept apart but the chances of them meeting, considering Arsenal’s draw, is slim

• Man Utd are arguably the new favourites for the cup.

• The quarter-final first legs will be played on 30 and 31 March with the returns on 6 and 7 April.
  

Now we’re getting to the business end of the season, a few players who could make the difference…

1. Mikel Arteta

Recently back from injury, Arteta has looked like he’s never been away. One of the most naturally gifted players in the league, he seems to have taken up a position off the striker which offers even more points potential. He takes penalties and direct free kicks too, and with Everton’s favourable run-in and impending double gameweek he is a stand out selection.

2. Alexandre Song

Arsenal also have an easy run-in, making them many peoples’ favourites for the title (we tipped them at the start of the season…). Song, after the ACN and then injury and suspension, is now fit to slot back into the holding midfield role – and he’s registered as a defender, always a good thing. Cheap too.

3. James Milner

The fantasy football form player, Milner has been consistently excellent for Villa this season, contributing goals, assists, and bonus points. Villa again have a decent last few games and like Everton begin with a double gameweek.

In fact, you could do a lot worse than load your team with players from those three sides – other appealing options are Bendtner (cheap, and playing and scoring points in the absence of Van Persie), Sylain Distin (Everton have nice fixtures plus he is cheap), Steven Pienaar (probably Everton’s best player this season) and James Collins (by a margin Villa’s cheapest defender).

Here it is in full:

1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, £11.3million)
2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona, £10.4million)
3 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, £9.1million)
4 Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale, £9.1million)
5 Kaka (Real Madrid, £8.7million)
6 Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City, £7.4million)
7 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, £7.4million)
8 Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, £7million)
9 John Terry (Chelsea, £6.5million)
10 Frank Lampard (Chelsea, £6.5million)

11 Thierry Henry (Barcelona, £6.5million)
12 Xavi (Barcelona, £6.5million)
13 Ronaldinho (AC Milan, £6.5million)
14 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, £6.5million)
15 Daniel Alves (Barcelona, £6.1million)
16 Michael Ballack (Chelsea, £5.6million)
17 Raul (Real Madrid, £5.6million)
18 Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United, £5.6million)
19 Kolo Toure (Manchester City, £5.6million)
20 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, £5.2million)

21 Robinho (Manchester City, £5.2million)
22 Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, £5.2million)
23 Victor Valdez (Barcelona, £5.2million)
24 Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla, £5.2million)
25 Deco (Chelsea, £5.2million)
26 Didier Drogba (Chelsea, £4.8million)
27 Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, £4.8million)
28 Francesco Totti (Roma, £4.8million)
29 Luca Toni (Roma, £4.8million)
30 David Villa (Valencia, £4.8million)

31 Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, £4.8million)
32 Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, £4.8million)
33 Ashley Cole (Chelsea, £4.8million)
34 Fernando Torres (Liverpool, £4.8million)
35 Gareth Barry (Manchester City, £4.8million)
36 Patrick Vieira (Internazionale, £4.8million)
37 Charles Puyol (Barcelona, £4.3million)
38 Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, £4.3million)
39 Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, £4.3million)
40 Andreas Pirlo (AC Milan, £4.3million)

41 Phillipe Lahm (Bayern Munich, £4.3million)
42 Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich, £4.3million)
43 David Beckham (AC Milan, £4.3million)
44 Wayne Bridge (Manchester City, £4.3million)
45 Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid, £4.3million)
46 Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United £4.1million)
47 Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal, £4.1million)
48 Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea, £4.1million)
49 Ryan Giggs (Manchester United £4.1million)
50 Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus, £4.1million)

Ummm…. where to start? The very inclusion of Wayne Bridge? The fact Gareth Barry is higher than Iniesta? The fact Cesc Fabregas doesn’t appear on the list? The fact Del Piero and Giggs are 49th and 50th, with such dross above them? The fact Ronaldo earns more than twice as much as Rooney? I could go on. But I’ll let you find/draw your own fantastic conclusions…

Notes:

(1) The figures are the result of research carried out in more than 30 publications worldwide that specialize in football. Of which, the major newspapers and magazines of the top leagues in the world.

(2) The figures are unofficial and approximate, and depend on new hires, or renewals of each contract.

(3) Figures refer to gross wages of the players (before tax), which of course does not include advertising contracts, gaming awards, signing bonuses, or other extra pay.

(4) There may from time to time differences with the figures, due to exchange rate in relation to players do not receive their salaries in euros. You can read the original article in full here.

Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Everton (not to mention their recent draw with Hull) coupled with United only getting a point against Villa means Arsenal are only six points behind Ancelloti’s men, and five points behind Fergusons. Here is how the top of the table looks:

Even this unpredictable season, I think we can rule out Liverpool. And prior to last night, it was arguable that you could rule out Arsenal, too. Not any more… look at this run in:

Away games to Stoke and Spurs, and a home game to Man City, are the only games against sides in the top half of the table! (Assuming Birmingham will slip to their rightful place). It’s not inconceivable (although is unlikely) that Arsenal could win every single one of those games. And if they do, you have to fancy them making up six points on Chelsea. And five on United. It’s a big if, but Arsenal’s title challenge is back on track…

Fancy it?

It is an old football adage that a great team is built around a great spine. With that in mind, Arsene Wenger is in big trouble.

In two home games against their two main rivals, Arsenal have been totally overrun, registering comprehensive defeats to Chelsea (0-3) and Manchester United (1-3). In both games, the Gunners have been outmuscled and outthought in every department.

It is worth breaking this down into each individual third of the pitch:

Central defence – the best defensive pairings have at least one commanding, non-nonsense defender in the mould of Terry or Vidic. A classier, quicker partner compliments this well.

Neither Gallas nor Vermealen quite cut the figure of a commanding leader of a centre back. This results in a perceived weakness & disorganisation which spreads throughout the whole team. Didier Drogba has taken great joy in tormenting Arsenal for the last four years and the superlative Wayne Rooney was equally devastating on Sunday.

Central midfield – Cesc Fabregas must be one of the finest talents in Europe. Unfortunately his impact is being blunted in the big games by central midfield partners lacking in presence and influence. Let’s face it – Denilson is never going to be the next Keane or Vieira. Chelsea and Man Utd both possess phenomenal strength and quality in midfield, and Wenger’s team have lost those vital midfield battles spectacularly.

Up front – Arsenal miss Robin van Persie massively, as Wenger’s other strike options are lightweight, aside from Bendtner, who does not seem to be good enough at this level. With the likes of Rooney, Drogba & Anelka, the top two have a decisive edge to their play, particularly on the counter attack, where as Arsenal find themselves too reliant on executing a wonder-pass. It has been noticeable, too, to observe how ineffective Arsenal are from wide positions. With no striking presence, they score few goals from wide in open play or set pieces.

If Arsenal’s outfield issues were not enough, the position of goalkeeper must be questioned. If you were to put the 20 first-choice keepers in order, would Manuel Almunia make your Top 10? Nani has rightly been praised for creating United’s first goal. However, his fantastic skill has diverted attention from the absolute horlicks that Almunia made of the cross. Goalkeeping errors undermine all the outfield efforts, and affect the team’s overall confidence.

Although he might not admit it, Wenger must be aware of these issues. However no signings of note have arrived at the Emirates in the January transfer window. You must fear for their season with tricky games against Chelsea and Liverpool on the horizon.

I never thought Nani would feature here, because he’s shit. But today (and in fairness in the last couple of games) he has actually looked good. And he capped those good performances with a spectacular goal against Arsenal. Whether the finish was deliberate is debatable (actually it’s not, it wasn’t) but the turn that beat two men out wide was genuine class. A moment of genius, you could say…

As Jamie Redknapp just said, kids will go out and try that tomorrow. One of those rare moments that are talked about in the playground. Admittedly I’ve seen him try that trick a number of times before, but the position and timing – and execution – of this iteration was just perfect, taking two defenders out of the game. And allowing him to attack and beat a third at pace. The finish was fortuitous but the build up was breathtaking.

I’m not quite sure when Nani became good – or even if he is – but that was certainly impressive. He set up Rooney’s goal too (United’s second). Could he finally be stepping up to the plate…? Or is this just a slightly extended flash in the pan. Time will tell.

Incidentally that video came from 101greatgoals, who we harp on about endlessly – but there really is no better nor more comprehensive source of highlights.