I watched the Athletico/Barca game also and opted for Dortmund/Real over the English games. Well glad I did as they were both awesome matches. I've not seen Barca reeling that badly since our comeback at the Emirates. In the first 20 minutes Athletico had them bent over a barrel and were going at it. Left post, right post, cross bar repeatedly! Honestly they were so unlucky not to score more than they did. Likewise Dortmund were so unlucky to go out as they battered Real and saw at least 4 glorious chances wasted. I appreciated Ronaldo wasn't playing but still...!
Utd don't play tomorrow, there next fixture is against Everton on the 20th. Everton are away to Sunderland tomorrow and then play palace during the week before the utd game.
Sunderland have been terrible recently and i can't see them taking anything from Everton, but then they are in the relegation fight and need some results if they are going to stay up so we might see some fight from them. Still think Everton will win but hoping Sunderland manage a draw.
Chelsea: Atletico keeper Thibaut Courtois cleared to play in semi Atletico Madrid's on-loan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois can play against parent club Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals, Uefa has said. Under the terms of the loan, Atletico would have to pay a fee to allow the Belgium international to face Chelsea. Atletico president Enrique Cerezo had said the club could not afford to pay the fee Chelsea wanted for the two games, reportedly around £5m. What a bunch of con artists!
Over on the Chelsea board the general mood seems to be that he won't be able to play. Chelsea have made a statement about it saying they will look into the statement. Theyve confirmed he is eligable to play but have said nothing about the fee afaik.
To be honest, I'm with Wenger when he says that loanees should be able to face their parent clubs. Although I don't blame teams like Everton for taking up loans, as it's clearly given them a big boost, but these same players should be able to face their own clubs. For example, Lukaku had a decisive hand at giving Everton victory against us. Is it fair that a player of his class is allowed to face Chelsea's opponents but not them? I'm sure a player of his quality would give Chelsea plenty of problems. So basically their players can take points from opposing teams by proxy, but at the same time not hurt them. Its a win win situation for them but not fair for anybody else.
I think the reasoning behind it goes the other way, if a player did play against his own club he could be inclined (instructed) to give a poor performance or even make a costly mistake (or at least some may think this if a mistake happened).
I'm hopeful, but I can't see it happening, Sunderland sit bottom of the table because they've been ****, maybe they will play for some pride but I think Everton will have too much for them.
