Champions League Update

Barcelona finally brought the Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk back down to earth thrashing them 5-1 on Wednesday in the first leg of their quartfinal showdown. Andres Iniesta needed just 99 seconds to put Barcelona in the lead and they never looked back. Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Seydou Keita and Xavi all scored as a semifinal showdown between Real Madrid and Barca seems more and more likely. Shakhtar did manage a goal when Yaroslav Rakitskiy got them on the board in the 58th minute, and they nearly made it really interesting in the 81st minute when Luiz Adriano's blast struck the post, but the ball stayed out and Xavi tallied the final dagger 5 minutes later.

Photo Courtesy: zimbio.com

Manchester United was outshot 21-8 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday but still managed to come away victorious beating their English rivals 1-0. Wayne Rooney beat Petr Cech in the 24th meeting set up by 37 Welshman Ryan Giggs. Chelsea is still very much alive in this one though having beaten Man U at Old Trafford 2-1 on their last trip there. A 2-1 win would be enough to send them through in this one. Chelsea will need to get more out of their 50 million pound striker (pounds as in English currency, not as in weight) Fernando Torres, who was largely ineffective in the first leg getting shutout and taking a yellow card for diving late in the match.

Photo Courtesy: zimbio.com