It's time for this week's European Football Round-Up. We had a lot of action all over the continent, but let's start by looking in England.
It has to be tough being a Manchester City fan. Not only do you live under the constant shadow of neighbours United but all the talk of money in the bank has raised your previously limited expectations. So how do City put this newly found status to use? They grab a draw at Liverpool.
On the face of it it's an excellent result. For most of the season, Liverpool have been nagging away at the top of the Premier League and actually looked at one stage that they might be able to win it. City meanwhile, have spent most of the season in the bottom half of the table. In January they became embroiled in the rather ridiculous Kaka transfer saga and have since climbed to 10th in the league.
You just know that they are desperate to spend some more of that cash and finally get to challenge United. There's a slight problem, though; their draw at Liverpool effectively hands the Championship yet again to, of all people, United. So as the Premier League stands this morning after their Anfield heroics, United are now seven points clear of Liverpool, and ten ahead of Chelsea.
Meanwhile, City are a staggering 30 points behind United, proving that the suffering isn't over yet no matter how much you have under the mattress. Well, let's face it, you wouldn't trust a bank with that sort of money, would you?
Liverpool now have to go to Old Trafford on March 14th and win to stand even the faintest hopes of winning the title. So well done City, you appear to have helped the very club you want to catch up with.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's joy following their win at Aston Villa was also rather premature when United responded by beating Blackburn Rovers 2-1. Guus Hiddink, the new Chelsea manager (for this week at least) simply can't lose in this position. The gap is so great now that despite what he says he can't catch United and make up that ten-point gap. What he can win is the big one, the Champions League.
United are still in that too, and who can forget what happened in last years final on Hiddink's own doorstep in Russia? Step forward, John Terry, or should I fall forward? Cruel, I know, but that's how it ended and how fortunes can be won or lost in an instant. Had Terry not missed that penalty, would Chelsea have been daft enough to sack Avram Grant? If they hadn't sacked him would they be ten points adrift this year? Who knows.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
I imagine there would be some kind of agreement that Celtic B would not be allowed admission to the Premier League. That's the arrangement with the Real Madrid second string team, Castilla, who aren't allowed to be promoted to La Liga.
My main reservation about the idea is that Celtic B would almost certainly win Division 3 at a stroll, get rapidly promoted to Division 1 and then proceed to monopolize it in the same way the Old Firm dominates the Premier League.
And Castilla? They actually competed in Europe once, many years ago. They qualified by finishing as runners-up to their 'big brothers' in the King's Cup, and were knocked out by West Ham in an Upton Park stadium that was empty after UEFA ordered it closed to the public following crowd trouble. 1980 or '81, I seem to recall.