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.