So near...Yet so far

The day ends on a sad note, with a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp, Milan are out of the champions League and Barca go through to the finals where they face Arsenal - who have made it this far for the first time. Barcelona started stronger, with Dida needing to be at his best to keep Ronaldino and co. at bay. Later on, Shevchenko had a goal ruled out for a foul, much to the dismay of the Milan bench, as the pressure slowly mounted on Milan to get the breakthrough. But unfortunately, it never did happen and the game ended in a draw and handed over the aggregate win to the Catalan giants. If we were not able to win with Shevchenko, Inzaghi, Gilardino and Kaka, then should I say that Barca deserved the win?
All I can do now is, wait for next year and hope for the best!

Gunners gunning on

Arsenal are in the Champions League final for the first time ever and they would be really hoping that they go on till the end - as it would solve a lot of their current problems! - Henry might stay on longer, they might make it to the CL next year as Liverpool did last year (even after finishing out of the CL qualifying place in the EPL).
Last night, Arsenal held on for a 0-0 draw which put them in the finals where they will meet either Barcelona or AC Milan. The first leg goal - by Toure - was enough to put then through, though they needed a dramatic last minute penalty saved from Riquelme. The decision was rather debatable but in the end did not matter much for them. Lehmann proved to be the hero for the gunners and was deservedly mobbed by the entire squad after the final whistle.
Earlier, the second half started in bizarre fashion as one fan tried to drape a Barcelona shirt over Henry and he had to be pulled away. Apart from this, the game was a rather nervy one for Arsenal as the Spaniards sent wave after wave of attacks

Gunners on the war path

Arsenal have a strong foot in the Finals of the CL now after the 1-0 win over Villareal at Highbury.Toure's first half goal was enough to see victory for the Gunners and maintain their record clean sheets as well. Earlier Henry had given the breakthrough after just 11 minutes, only to be adjudged offside. Villareal did have a penalty appeal turned down when Giberto brought down Jose Mari in the box and they have to be rather fortunate not have conceded a penalty. So as it stands, both the semi finals have resulted in a 1-0 win - one for the away team and the other for the home team. Arsenal and Barca need just a draw, whereas Villareal need to win at home and Milan have the un enviable task of upsetting Barca at the Nou Camp, just to stay in the fight!

A mountain to climb.

Last night was not particularly a good one, if you are a Milan fan. Having started the game matching possession with Barca, Milan ended the game losing 1-0 in front of their home crowd. Giuly was creating lotsa problems for the Rossoneri defence and he got a deserved goal later in the second half. Milan had a great chance when Gilardino fired at the goal, only to be denied by the post. Though it was a loss for Milan, credit has to be given where it is due. Barca were outstanding on the field and came out victorious. Now Milan have an uphill task to turn their 1-0 deficit at the Nou camp, where as the Catalan giants have a foot in the finals already!

If Milan can get their act together, it will be another memorable night for them, or else it will be so near yet so far again.

Customer Support

Just wanted to put this up here so that if someone from HSBC reads...they will be delighted!!

Here I am sitting at my desk punching number after number on my phone to get to some bloke at HSBC who can give me a phone banking password or atleast the outstanding balance on my CC. All I want is 'numbers' to write down a cheque but alas, that seems to be a daunting task - if it is HSBC. I have had CC's from SBI and SC, and so far (atleast!) their service seems to be a lot (I mean a LOT) better than HSBC!

You have to stay online for around 20 mins to get to someone on the other end, who eventually transfers you to someone else and then all you can do is hope there is some Executive to answer your queries. This maybe just me, but this is my blog, so I have the righ to rant and rave about the service that I get! LOL! I got off the phone just now after listening to some girl say "All our executives are busy...blah..blah...your call is important to us...blah blah" - important, my A**! They either need to get more people or do something about it!!! And mind you, this does not happen once...it happens most of the time - atlast to me!

All I wanna do is get my outstanding amount, pay them and cut my HSBC CC into two and hand it neatly over to them for safe keeping! I never wanted one in the first place, but one bloke comes over and says "please sir, do you want a CC..." and that sorta thing!.
Anyway, let me get back to the phone to try and get someone who can help me out!

Another day...Another week...

Another day...Another week, but in the end it all comes down to the work that's been done. Right now am stuck in a bugging issue which seems to lead me to one dead end after another. Anyway, forget about that, or else I'll probably be cribbing about it all day until I solve it.

Ok...On to better things...This week is a short week - with Good Friday and Easter around the bend - and am planning to make it even more shorter by -if possible - taking the latter half of Thursday off and Monday as well. It looks promising, I must say, and with a long weekend on the cards, my mind wanders to all the places that the 'E street band' can visit! Have to start searching the net to find a list of all the suitable places - preferably the mountains - for us to leave our footprints. Come to think of it, I would love to go on a trek deep into the jungle or climb a ragged cliff all weekend and relax a bit on Monday and get back once again to the regular drone of work. But, I have to say, my idea has to sound appealing to atleast one of the E street band to take any effect.

Anyhow, whether we go out or not, or whether I go out or not, the weekend looks inviting and am gonna welcome it with open arms!

Barca and Gunners on track

With the 4 semi finalists decided for this year's Champions League, my guess is that Arsenal would be happy with this tie as they have avoided the 'big guns'. The gunners traveled to Italy with a 2-0 lead over Juve but on their day, The Old Lady can be devastating with its fire power. After the 2-0 defeat in the first leg, they needed something close to a miracle to keep progressing, but sadly, that miracle never did happen. del Piero, who had been their star in recent weeks was out injured and that added to their poor show on the field. There was a certain spark missing in their play and del Piero could have put that in - had he been there. And Nedved's late red card compounded the misery. But, excuses aside, Arsenal put in two fantastic performances - one at Highbury and the other at the Delle Alpi - and have made it through after the second leg 0-0 draw and now they face face Villareal, who have been the surprise package, in the semi's.

Barcelona needed a win after the first leg draw and after 90 minutes, they had a comfortable lead though Ronaldinho missed a penalty early on. He soon made ammeds by firing them ahead and then producing a controlled display to ensure the Catalan giants safe passage. Eto'o completed the win with an injury time goal to give them a convincing win over Benfica. Now they have the daunting task of facing the Italian giants and last year's runner up, AC Milan, which is a fitting final! A Milan-Barca semi was on the cards after the draw and now they have to battle it out for a grueling 180 minutes (possibly more!) to get to the final battle against Arsenal or Villareal. Barcelona have the stars and the team, but so do Milan. It will be an intriguing man to man battle but I hope Shevchenko puts at least one in and Milan romp home with the Cup.

Kotagiri

This weekend - being another long one - we decided to go out somewhere for a cup of tea...Well, that's how all of our trips start! After having decided to go to Burliar for a cup of tea (sigh! Another!), we - the E street band and pollachi - headed out on this lazy Sunday afternoon and by the time we reached Mettupalayam, we had a thought of going up on the Kotagiri road (Shriram was the driving force behind it) and were soon going up on the very same road. Although there were protests from a few that we will not be able to find a tea stall, I had to re-assure them we had atleast one on this road - remember the herbal tea stall!, mentioned in one of my earlier posts. After driving for a while we came up to the above mentioned tea stall, but to our dismay found that it was closed for the day! God!, they have holidays up here as well :). Since we had come up for a cup of tea, we did not intend to leave without having one so up we went again and soon reached kunchappannai were there was indeed one. Ahh...the taste of Nilgiri (or Kotagiri for that matter) tea filled us all up and after a few more entertaining discussions, we continued on our way to Kotagiri. Yes, I know this was not what we had planned, but then again, we never do anything according to plan, do we? Off to Kotagiri, we go!

Another cup of tea at Kotagiri gave us more energy and we decided to take the route which links Kotagiri directly to Coonoor. A point to note here is that none of us had ever taken this route before (yes, even me - as the guys kept asking!) so was an adventure in a way. The road was just like the normal Kotagiri road with narrow turns and bumpy tracks here and there and ofcourse the scenic view of the tea estates. At Coonoor, Pollachi had a sudden bright idea (all of his ideas are sudden indeed!) of going to Ooty to see his sis, so we dropped him there (Bloke ditched us halfway through! - will remember that) and headed back home on the normal Ooty-Mettupalayam highway. And after another cup of tea at the regular tea stall - between the 13th and 14th HP - we had to reach home in a jiffy as Shriram had a train at half past 10! A bit of tricky driving and jokes from Anand kept us going till we reached home safely to end yet another fantastic adventure!

Some of the pictures are at Kotagiri

Milan...for the Gold

What a night it was! The game at the San Siro seemed to be heading for a 1-1 draw which would send Milan crashing out of the CL on the away goals rule and put Lyon in the Semi's to face either Benfica or the mighty Barcelona. Inzaghi had given the lead with a header early on in the game but Diarra's strike put Lyon firmly in command. Just when things seemed bleak for the Rossoneri, they proved that they never say die till the final whistle. On the 88th minute, Inzaghi strikes again to give Milan the lead and possibly send them to the Semi's. Milan's fightback into the game stunned the traveling French and even before they realized, Shevchenko completes the come back much to the delight of the Italian fans. The entire stadium erupts as the final whistle blows and Milan are through to the semi's!!!. Shev's goal puts him on top of the leader board as well! Now, We wait...For Barcelona!

Villareal continue their fantastic run in the CL edging out Inter 1-0 to scrape through on the away goals rule. Inter were in a good position after the first leg with a 2-1 advantage but Villareal scored the important opener and held on for the win. The away goal in the first leg proved decisive for them and was the head nail in Inter's coffin. On a night when Milan made it through with a hard fought win, their cross town rivals bowed down to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Villareal. Inter with their stars were just not able to break the well organized Spanish defence. Arruabarrena's 58 minute header handed the win for the Spanish side in front of their home crowd. Villareal will face either the Italian giants, Juve, or the sole English team in the running - Arsenal!

A tame draw

Milan had to accept a 0-0 draw in Lyon, leaving the second leg wide open for either team. Though they had several attempts, they were not able to finish accurately. The Lyon back four did an excellent job to hold Milan off, and now if they can get just one goal at the San Siro, Milan could be in a host of trouble! But, the Rossoneri do know that and will be keen to kick start and get the game under their control rather than let Lyon dictate. The first leg is always a touch-me-not affair and Milan will certainly be ruing their missed chances. Even with the talismanic Shevchenko was unable to get the game going in their favour and missed a couple of chances - which he normally scores! Gilardino, Kaka and Inzaghi (who came late on) were sailing in the same boat that Shev was. They just couldn't finish the moves! Now all eyes are on the second leg - with Milan having the home advantage - were they draw swords again for one final time this season.

Elsewhere, Inter came from 1-0 down to edge out Villareal 2-1 in the first leg, thanks to Adriano and Martins who brought Inter back into the game. Forlan gave Villareal an ecstatic first minute lead when he side footed Toldo's save but Inter came back strongly and equalized through Adriano after 7 more minutes. The game started at an amazing pace but soon calmed down a bit with both sides providing some entertaining football. Riquelme was at the heart of the Villareal attack and he was outstanding in the midfield. Soon after the break, Martins completed the Inter comeback by scoring in the winner to give Villareal their first loss in the CL this season. Inter have the advantage going into the second leg but Villareal will not give up without a fight and it promises to be an entertaining encounter.