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Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke Recap (2nd Leg)

1 – 2

Inter Milan vs Schalke

Raul scores the 1st goal
photo from uefa.com

Raul proves that he still got it, scoring the 1^st goal of the match. With brilliant ball control, he beat the goalkeeper and netted in his 71^st Champions League goal. Throughout the match, he posed quite a threat to Inter’s defense and goalie. He was either making shots or setting them up.

Inter equalized with a goal from Thiago Motta
photo from uefa.com

Inter's Lucio tried to convert with a header the corner kick from Sneijder. But the ball deflected onto a Schalke player (sorry, couldn't tell who it was) and Thiago Motta was just in the right place to give the ball a tap to score the equalizer.

Raul sets up Schalke's 2nd goal. He definitely is still an attacking force to reckon with.
photo from uefa.com

But then Schalke ended any of Inter’s hope of even just trying to salvage some pride from a 5-2 defeat in the 1^st leg when Raul, executed a clever move of chipping the ball forward, giving Howedes the chance to break away and score their 2^nd goal.

Schalke moves to next round and faces Manchester United. Speaking of Man U, Sir Alex Ferguson was seen watching the Inter Milan-Schalke game at the stands. I guess he we sizing up his next opponent.

Final Aggregate Score:
Inter Milan: 3

Schalke: 7

Here are the numbers:

Schalke		Internazionale
2	Goals scored	1
4	Attempts on target	5
2	Attempts off target	10
7	Corners	12
23' 48''	Possession (time)	34' 43''
40	Possession (%)	60
26	Fouls committed	13
3	Yellow cards	3
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

45^th minute – Raul Gonzales (Schalke)

49^th minute – Thiago Motta (Inter Milan)

81^st minute – Benedikt Howedes (Schalke)

Yellow Cards:

Lucio (Inter Milan)

Raul Gonzales (Schalke)

Thiago Motta (Inter Milan)

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Schalke)

Lukas Schmitz (Schalke)

Andrea Ranocchia (Inter Milan)

Read 1^st Leg Match Preview Here

Read 1^st Leg Match Recap Here

Read 2^nd Leg Match Preview Here

More great news articles on the match on these links:

Schalke send holders Inter tumbling

Schalke ousts Inter Milan, reaches CL semis

Real Madrid, Schalke advance to CL semifinals

Real Madrid, Schalke advance to Champions semis

Vintage Raul fires Schalke 04 into Champions League semis

Inter’s Yuto Nagatomo disappointed with Champions League exit

Inter's Andrea Ranocchia: First-leg loss to Schalke decided Champions League tie

Inter's Wesley Sneijder rues missed chances against Schalke

Raul is 'Mr. Champions League' - Schalke's Christoph Metzelder after Inter win

Inter's Javier Zanetti eager to forget Champions League exit to Schalke

Leonardo left bitter by Inter's Champions League defeat

Schalke 2-1 Inter (7-3 agg.): Raul & Howedes complete champions' misery

Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar Recap (1st Leg)

5 – 1

Barcelona vs Shakhtar

Again, another amazing attacking football from Barca. It was an example of Barca’s tiki-taka style of play that is just entertaining to watch. Imagine, Barca had 671 passes completed compared to Shakhtar’s 286. I love their quick one-two passes, building up the play, the ball zigzagging within Messi, David Villa, Iniesta and Alves, and out of nowhere a shot (mostly) on target surprising Shakhtar’s goalie and defence.

The first goal was a pass from Messi to David Villa where there was some sort of deflection and Iniesta was just in the right spot to beat the goalkeeper. Second goal was a long pass from Iniesta and Alves, out of nowhere, slotted the ball in. I think Shakhtar’s defense was caught flat footed. I mean, who was marking Alves? Third goal was from set play corner. Alves providing the cross and the player marking Pique didn’t notice him slip away and make the shot. Fourth goal was right after Shakhtar scored their only goal (from a free kick) where Barca countered right away (probably within a minute after). It was Keita scoring from “a beautiful pass” (according to the commentator) from Messi. And just when you thought Barca was finished with their attack, an unmarked Xavi converted the excellent cross from Alves to score the last goal of the match.

Shakhtar had some quick-counter attack moves, where Barca’s defense was caught off guard a couple of times. They infiltrated the holes of Barca defense, capitalizing on the defensive mistakes of Barca. Good thing they had some “awful finishing” (according tot the commentator) sometimes firing the shots too wide or hitting the post. There were also great saves by Valdez. In those instances, you would really feel the absence of Puyol and Abidal at the back.

Messi might not have scored in this match but he did make his presence felt. He had some pretty close chances with his shots. But more than anything, he has set up some of Barca’s goals and attempts, so his attacking creativity is not just for finding the back of the net but for creating chances for the team as well. Can I say he can be a good playmaker as well? Football experts out there, please enlighten me J

On a different note, Srna (I think) asked for Messi’s jersey during end of the 1^st half. I could just imagine that there are probably many players who ask for his jersey during games. Messi must, like, stock lots of jerseys in their dressing room. Does it happen where he’d run out of jerseys to give? Is there, like, a record for the most jerseys requested from a player? What does Messi do with all the jerseys he received? What do other players do with the jerseys they swapped from other teams? Do they hang it somewhere? Frame it?

*sigh* If I only lived in Europe, I’d be stalking my favourite players, and ask for autographed jerseys from them J

Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 5

Shakhtar: 1

Here are numbers:

Barcelona		Shakhtar
5	Goals scored	1
10	Attempts on target	2
7	Attempts off target	4
4	Corners	3
42' 37''	Possession (time)	23' 34''
64	Possession (%)	36
9	Fouls committed	20
1	Yellow cards	3
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

2nd minute – Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

34th minute – Daniel Alves (Barcelona)

53rd minute – Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

60th minute – Yaroslav Rakitskiy (Shakhtar)

61st minute – Seydou Keita (Barcelona)

86th minute – Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona)

Yellow Cards:

Razvan Rat (Shakhtar)

Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

Yaroslav Rakitskiy (Shakhtar)

Fernandinho (Shakhtar)

Great articles on the match here:

Bullish Barcelona make light work of Shakhtar

Five-goal Barcelona brush off Ukrainian champions in quarterfinal romp

Barcelona wins 5-1 win at home over Shakhtar

Guardiola: We are not thinking about Real Madrid yet (very humble, coming from a coach whose team won big, this is why I like him better the “special one”)

Barcelona’s Seydou Keita dedicates goal to Eric Abidal

Barcelona’s Gerard Pique looking ahead to Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid after Shakhtar mauling

Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk: Iniesta and Xavi help five-star Blaugrana sweep past Ukrainians

Player Ratings: Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Champions League QF: Chelsea vs Manchester United Recap (1st Leg)

0 – 1

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Must be frustrating for Chelsea because they had a lot of attempts, most of it on target, but they just could not covert them into goals. Man U’s organized defense and Van der Sar made sure of that. He had some pretty incredible saves.

The frustration must probably be more so for Fernando Torres who is still having a goal-drought since his signing to Chelsea. He could just not hit the back of the net.

Interesting to note, this is the only game in the 1^st leg that ended in low goal difference. Real Madrid has a 4 point advantage over Tottenham, Schalke has 3 over Inter and Barca has a cushy 4 point advantage over Shakhtar. So even if Manchester goes into the second leg with an away goal, Chelsea still has a big chance to turn things around and advance to the semis.

Aggregate Score:

Chelsea: 0

Manchester United: 1

Here are stats/numbers:

Chelsea		Man. United
0	Goals scored	1
7	Attempts on target	3
6	Attempts off target	0
3	Corners	5
31' 38''	Possession (time)	25' 56''
54	Possession (%)	46
15	Fouls committed	15
4	Yellow cards	2
0	Red cards	0

Goals:

24^th minute – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Yellow Cards:

Yuri Zhirkov (Chelsea)

Ramires (Chelsea)

Michael Essein (Chelsea)

Nemanja Vidic (Machester United)

Edwin Van der Sar (Machester United)

Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

Great articles on the match here:

Rooney helps Manchester United win at Chelsea

Ferguson heralds 'clever midfield' display

Man United beats Chelsea 1-0 in Champions League

Rooney gives Manchester United the edge in Chelsea quarterfinal

Man United, Barcelona win in Champions League

Cech on penalty claim: Everybody saw what happened

It's night and day between Torres and Rooney as Manchester United show Chelsea how it's done

Rooney returns to form just in time

Man United beats Chelsea 1-0 in Champions League

Chelsea needs to end dual-striker experiment; Inter's Leonardo naïve

Ferdinand: 'It was about time we got a bit of luck here’

Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke (1st Leg)

2 – 5

Inter Milan vs Schalke

Quite a stunning defeat of the defending champions! I am so bummed I overslept and missed this game L

Looking at the numbers, I think this was a very quick-paced game. Because I overslept and missed the match, I’m imagining that it was like the Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan game in the Round of 16. German-style football vs Italian style football, with the Germans winning this time.

Talk about fast-paced, Inter scored the 1^st goal just 1 minute into the game. How did that happen? Was Schalke caught off guard? But good thing they were able to equalize 16 minutes later.

With an “own goal” and a 2^nd-yellow-card-send-off in the second half, was this desperation on Inter’s part? It seems like they just caved in to the pressure. And even if Inter were down to 10 men I don’t think this was a factor as it happened at the 62^nd minute where all the goals were already scored. More than anything, it would seem that out of desperation, they made more and more mistakes (which maybe Schalke capitalized on).

I am definitely watching the replay of this game.

Aggregate Score:

Inter Milan: 2

Schalke: 5

Here are the numbers:

Internazionale		Schalke
2	Goals scored	5
7	Attempts on target	11
5	Attempts off target	5
4	Corners	4
35' 22''	Possession (time)	30' 52''
53	Possession (%)	47
8	Fouls committed	19
3	Yellow cards	4
1	Red cards	0