or 
Only One Winner as the Dust Settles | 
As the first installment of the round of sixteen games came to an end in four different venues across Europe, Arsenal stood out as the only winner on the night. One may argue that away goals for F.C. Porto and Barcelona, at Atletico and Lyon respectively, also make them winners in terms of morale going into the second leg. However, as far as winning the game went, the Gunners’ narrow win over AS Roma turned out to be the only one Tuesday night.
A Robin van Persie penalty eased the nerves at the Emirates Stadium in the latter stages of the first half as the Gunners went into half-time with something to cheer about. However, as expected, the side from the Eternal City came out firing on all cylinders as the North London giants had to fight the entire second half to ensure that they carry the 1-0 lead into the Stadio Olimpico in a fortnight’s time.
At the Calderon, it was a story of goalkeeping nightmares at both ends as Lisandro Lopez twice managed to pull F.C. Porto back into the tie against Atletico Madrid. The 2004 Champions League winners now travel back to the Estadio Dragao with two potentially decisive away goals already in the bag.
At the Stade de Gerland, Lyon surprisingly dominated Barcelona for long intervals before Juninho’s fortunate early goal was cancelled out by Thierry Henry’s 67th minute strike to give Barca their much needed away goal against the run of play. This means that Olympique Lyonnais will now travel to the massive Camp Nou with a requirement to score at least once if they are to proceed to the quarterfinals.
The most disappointing result of the night came in what was billed as one of the most anticipated games of the entire year as Manchester United played to a goalless draw away to Inter. In a tale of two halves, the visitors dominated and showed every bit why they are the defending champions, even with a much depleted squad. However, the hosts came back strongly in the second half and will have themselves to blame for their horrendous finishing on at least a couple of occasions.
Nevertheless, it now turns out that at least three teams will need to score in the decisive second leg if they are to overturn the disappointing result suffered in tonight’s first leg. That leaves Manchester United and Inter Milan as the only battle where no clear favorite has emerged so far, leading to yet another mouth-watering clash at Old Trafford in a couple of weeks. This time, we can only hope that it turns out to be more entertaining.
Who do you think will win the Champions League? Have your say in the comments section below or head on over to the Premiership Talk Forum!
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Well I never explicitly accuse the game of lacking entertainment…I just call it a disappointment because even though both teams fought intensely like you guys mention, the shooting (particularly from Inter) was outright unacceptable.
Other than a lack of goals, the Inter-United game was intense for all 90 minutes. I kept thinking something was going to hit the back of the net, but to no avail. A fantastic match to watch…as well as the Lyon-Barca game, which I watched at the same time. haha
I don’t think anyone who watched the United game can say it wasn’t entertaining. Attacking football from both sides led to many great chances, and some spectacular goalkeeping.