This week in the Champions League: FC Barcelona VS Manchester United

Anyone who is a true fan of the beautiful game of football dreams of CL ties like this one. Manchester United VS FC Barcalona. The current leaders of the BPL against the 3rd place Spanish giants. This is the type of match fans of football dream of. The matchups of two of the greatest players on Earth in a 180 minutes of action. Messi VS Ronaldo, Etoo and Henry VS Rooney and Tevez. The critics predicted a storm of goals from the English side due to the fact that the Spanish side has been going through troubled times on and off the pitch while Ronaldo and company seem to be cruising to a double in the premiereship and CL.

This however was not what happened it the first leg at the Nou Camp. Instead of Man U dominating the attack, they pulled back and absorbed the onslaught of attacking options put before them in the likes of Messi, Etoo, Xavi and Iniesta. Messi recently returning from injury was given a start in the game and did not disappoint Bara fans and neutrals alike with his masterful control of the football. He constantly pressured Evra and the rest of the Man U defense back as he moved forward with awe inspiring dribbles and party tricks. Ronaldo also was not to be left out. Despite given the opportunity to gain a precious away goal from penalty given by Milito's hand touching the ball, Ronaldo shot the ball just wide of the far right goal post. He however did not make this mistake interfere with his game and made dashing moves down the wing, only to be fouled by Barca's defensive line.

This game was Barca's to win as they controlled the match with superb ball control and passing techinque. There only problem was failure to put on the finishing touch. The final pass seemed to always be too short or over kicked. In the second half Barca continued to dominate the game and in the closing 20 minutes the likes of Messi gave way to rising star Bojan Krikic who seemed to fit in almost seamlessly into the game however could not get that final touch on the ball to kill the game. Barca then made a mistake that left Carrick open on the right to push a ball across the goal to 4 awaiting team mates. Carrick decided to take a strike of goal instead only to see his shot end in the side netting. Rikaard then decided to bring on Thierry Henry who was slightly suffering from a fever. Henry insertion almost provided Barca with the final touch they so craved as he came of the left wing pushed the ball to the right and swung a deadly shot into Van De Sar's territory. Shots of his face showed great determination and a will to place the final blow. Henry soon had one more chance as Man U gave a free kick shooting distance for the french striker. This time he hit a wicked shot to the left post that was anticipated perfectly by the Dutch keeper ending the game in a stale mate.

This result now means that this tie will be determined at Old Trafford. My prediction is that Barcalona will go forward to Moscow because of Man U's premiereship title dreams. Manchester United face the likes of a defensive juggaernaut known as Chelsea FC at Stanford Bridge. Chelsea have an unbelievable record of over a 100 games unbeaten here and will not lose this record easily. Chelsea is also in 2nd position in the premiereship and have a chance of overtaking Man U on Saturday if the win the match. With this being said Sir Alex Fergurson cannot afford to rest his star players on Saturday. The likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Hargreaves, Ferdninand and Vidic will have to play. Chelsea is one of the most tenacious defensive minded teams known for passing out hard tackles when they need to and bring games down to a snail pace to fatigue opponents. Manchester United will have less than two days to get ready for the Spanish warriors.

Saturday's game may prove detrimental to Man United's chances against a lethal attacking force such as Barcalona. Sir Alex will need a goal to go through and will no longer be able to sit back and absorb pressure like his team did at the Nou Camp. Barcalona are no longer title contenders in the Primera and can afford to rest key players to ensure that they are fully rested on Tuesday. The likes of Messi, Henry, Krikic and Etoo give Frank Rikkard a number of options to attack and gain the precious away goal that has eluded the Red Devils in the opening leg.

My Prediction: 1-0 to Barcalona, Henry will return to England and score the goal to lead him to a second appearance in the CL Finals. The bottom line is at this time it comes down to experience which most of Barcalona players have and the majority of Man U players do not. There will be more psychological pressure on Man U players than on Barcalona's since almost their whole starting line up has experienced the CL's final right to passage. Most of them have also won the trophy.