Champions League Tuesday Night Predictions
By Sam McPhee
Well, it’s the 1st deciding day of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 fixtures as Roma heads to the Ukraine to take on Shakhtar Donetsk down 3-2 on aggregate & the tie of the round again is Arsenal taking on Barcelona in the intimidating cauldron that is the Camp Nou.
Arsenal’s hopes were given a boost with the surprise inclusion of Robin van Persie in the traveling squad & Cesc Fàbregas will play as well after missing the last two Arsenal games for precautionary measures over a tweaked hamstring.
Barcelona v Arsenal (Arsenal lead 2-1 on aggregate)
Chad Barcelona 3-Arsenal 1
Since beating Barcelona in the comfort of the Emirates the Gunners are 2-1-2 with a disappointing loss in the Carling Cup and a frustrating tie to Sunderland in EPL play. These matches have been played without captain Cesc Fabregas who is expected to return to the starting line-up for the away tie in Barcelona. Having their captain will certainly help but Arsenal has an injury concern with their top goal scorer Robin van Persie who was ruled out of this match a few weeks ago with a knee injury but word is that he will give it a go. This Van Persie stuff is all smoke and mirrors to get the media and Barcelona wondering and talking and I don’t expect the Dutch International to play. The likes of Messi, Villa and Iniesta will be eager to score goals in front of the home crowd and without a healthy Van Persie I can’t see Arsenal winning. We all know Wegner will not try to grind out a win by parking the bus and he try to attack the Spanish giants in order to finish them off but will come up short.
Corey Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona
After being a bit pessimistic in the 1st leg, I’m going with the optimism for the return leg. Arsenal can’t win the Camp Nou. Blah blah blah. Everything is again stacked against us supposedly, so I’ll go contrarian & pick the Gunners. I guess we can’t win in the Camp Nou, just like we couldn’t win in the Bernabeu (before becoming the 1st English side to do it) & we couldn’t win in the Giuseppe Meazza (before trouncing an Inter side, 5-1 away). Yes, the home advantage should be enough to see Barca through but just because it hasn’t been done before (Arsenal beating Barca in the Camp Nou) doesn’t mean it can’t be done. We didn’t have Cesc in the return leg last year & hopefully having both Cesc & RVP in the side (though I think the latter will come off the bench) will be a big boost that we didn’t have last year. Barca has problems at the back just like we do; if you scared, say you scared & go watch the game while the men play it. Viva le delusional optimism!
Shakhtar Donetsk v AS Roma (Shakhtar lead 3-2 on aggregate)
Chad Shakhtar 2-Roma 1
Shakhtar defeated Roma 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico on the strength of 3 first half goals in the first leg. These 3 away goal will prove invaluable to the Ukrainian side as they return home for the second leg. The Ukrainian Premier League has started up again so Shakhtar has a league game under their belt unlike for the first leg where all they had was a few winter months friendlies to prepare for this important match-up. Roma will have to press forward to get at least two to move ahead on aggregate and the skill of the Shakhtar midfield who are mostly Brazilian lead by Costa and Jadson will be too much for the underachieving Italian side to progress.
Corey Shakhtar 2-0 Roma
As I type this post it’s a “chilly” 23° F in Donetsk right now. The temperature will only fall as kickoff approaches. I won’t say Roma can’t handle that kind of cold but I feel after coming out & after exerting themselves in search of an early goal, if they don’t get it, I think they’ll begin to shrink as the tackles & the cold sets in.