Magic Lamps

??? They will be focal points unless Schürrle will come so good to replace them, which is improbable cos he is a different player type. Either way we win. Btw. strong rumours in germany that Andre Schürrle is gay. Just for info as its such a big taboo in football.

This guy is average. He will never be ready for the Premier league let alone Chelsea.

No, losing a semifinal spares you a game, hence is better. Schedule will not be strained even more. 2nd places are the worst thing ever. Better not even get to a final than lose one.

We need to have some huge bit of luck to win this. They are better than us in nearly every department, our maestros are almost useless against them due to their defenders' strength and pace. They got quite a number of players that can change a game on their own such as Nasri, Yaya, Tevez, Agüero. They got more rest than us and as already said they will be more motivated. Only aspects in our favour are the Wembley factor and the absence of David Silva.

we will get past Basel anyway. We will rather lose to Benfica in the final, cos a defeat in a final does suit our season better than a semifinal exit, which wuold at least spare us a silver medal.

comfortable game, just the ref made this needlessly tense. Shame Lamps did not score. Games are slowly running out for him, but he'll make it.

has the ref made one single decision in our favour today? I mean he is not even giving us the most obvious fouls or corners

That was nothing, the ref's been shit and against us all night long, just as last week

the ref is once again making this difficult for us.

when we deal that bad with headers vs City, they will screw us

Lamps's pass for Torres was a masterpiece, first touch, inch-perfect sending Torres through. He has played passes like these often but usually our strikers were too wasteful to convert them.

love it how the goalref frenzily awaits Torres lob to bubble over the line. Everyone could see after his touch the ball would go in, but an official UEFA goal ref needs to concentrate to the last second not to make a wrong call there. Great reflection of the mental and visual capacities of refs in the modern game.

I feel the floodgates will open sooner rather than later

But why are we playing such a strong team? rest Cesar and Rami

Late for the game, just saw the Torres goal. WTF has happened here?

don't fool yourself. No doubt Real ist the best team in the world atm but they were going out against Utd before nani got that red card. And being the best team does not mean you can win every game. Barca also needed some massive help from the refs in 2009 and 2011, still they were the best team then.

Real will win this, it was clear from the moment the ref gifted them the win against Utd. They already showed they are better than Barcelona in their last 3 encounters and a more concentrated display against Bayern or Dortmund surely will do. BVBs match today was once again a display of the awful standards of refereeing in modern football. IMO refereeing is the most decisive factor in the game right now, which is a shame. Not because of the offsides, when in doubt you have to give it to the attacker and boh were close, so leave it at that, but fouls, throw-ins, corners and some decision before Malaga's third goal were so crap, it inlfuenced the game just because of the amount of bad decisions.

He looked fine today, but he always used to have a spell of good performances every once in a while. In these games he is a very decent striker but they are the exception. But the major part of the season he is the worst striker in the league. He has always relied on his pace and confidence, he has lost the former, so he is still technically good but mentally so fragile that he can't show this all the time. All in all he is not Chelsea quality, no matter his few good performances.

I have seen players like Ballack, Vieira, Gerrard, Drogba and other great leaders do that, too. A true leader chooses his battles wisely. The very big games are yet to come. Judge him after these. He has been there for us in the big game his entire carreer. One should not doubt s.o.s leadership qualities only because he got missing in some bad but not necessarily decisive games.

Not even Rafa is mad enough to play our strongest Team against Rubin IMO. he surely will start either Yossi or Marin, Moses for sure and one of the maestros, probably Oscar. Which makes Btw is Cahill fit? ---------------Cech----- Ferreira-Cahill-Terry-Bert ---------Lamps--Mikel------ --Moses----Oscar----Marin -------------Torres------------ Of course we will take Hazard and Mata with us to be able to react in case things go wrong.

So what? No leader can turn his team's spirit around in every game, leadership is no guarantee, but you can't tell from our results that his leadership has not been a factor at all. I am glad to answer your question. No i would not start him any game. but I also would not play 4-2-3-1 in any game. He would not start against Utd but be a sub. We always get most chances vs Utd late in the game and I'd rather have him fresh and at the end of a chance then than a tired Mata or Oscar. I'd probably also not start him against City cos we have to be very strong in mdifield esp defensively. But he should start any or most of the other games, cos he is still good enough to run the midfield the entire game against most oppositions and is a goal threat in every game.

It all depends on whether Mou comes here or not. I am convinced Mourinho will try everything to ensure Lamps stays and he surely will find a way to fit in Lamps again. Surely there are some reasons against keeping him but he has made clear he will take massive cutbacks which makes the board's decision that his departure is not to be negotiated ridiculous. He is our best scorer in the league despite having missed a big part of the season. Many of his goal have been of great importance and quality. Us using a 4-2-3-1 is only a result of a dysbalance within our squad, so we should not use the formation as argument. Also one can't say his eadership did not have any impact. U can't always quantify that in results. Leaders instill believe and fighting spirit into the team, they help younger players in difficult moments. That does not always reflect in results. We can't look into the players minds to assess whether it has helped them or not. But I can imagine a lot of situations where that might have played a role. Vs. Everton, Wigan, Bucharest (home) after their equalizer, Arsenal, Wigan, The media always make that story up with Lampard pressurizing or even intrigueing against managers. He is a professional, he won't let personal sentiments conflict with the team's interest. he worked under so many managers and all of them except one got along with him brillantly. Do you really think Lamps had anything to do with the misfortune of any manager except AVB? Shit happens, but i think Lamps is the last to single out as an example of "player power" or other shit. Above all he saved AVBs ass multiple times with last minute goals, so he can not be made responsible.

Ivanovic with the Kalou window wiper celebration

I think it is Iva's goal, his touchy - if intended was brillant

now that was lucky again