After seeing the damage done by their coach, Cluj were quick to fire him and apologize “sincerely to UEFA, Basel, the fans, and everyone involved in football”. I don’t think anyone would have thought badly of the club as a whole, but the Romanians seemed very quick to separate their image from the uncontrollable Cartu, who had only been at charge of the club since September.

An overreaction from both sides? Possibly. Smashing up the home team’s dugout certainly isn’t becoming of any professional, let alone one that is supposed to represent the club. But getting fired simply for that? One thinks there must have been other incidents or circumstances that played a factor in this decision, and maybe this was simply the last straw. Cluj have had a mixed season in the Romanian league, and after winning the double last time around, maybe the president’s patience was wearing thin in terms of results too.

I think the draw for the group stages of this season’s Champions League produced some rather tame fixtures, where there are clear favorites to win each group, and you don’t see many surprises being produced. However, Group G certainly sounds like the group of death, with Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Auxerre all battling it out for those top two places.

AC Milan and Real Madrid will be the favorites, but in the past couple of seasons they have had big problems and have not reached as high as they should have. Arguably the two most successful teams in the continent should produce some very exciting games between each other, however, and whoever comes up on top will have the wind in their sails.

Defending champions Inter Milan, on the other hand, will have to look out for a few surprises. Their toughest games will be against Werder Bremen, but they also have newcomers Tottenham and Twente to deal with. Both of these clubs had two of their beast seasons of their decade last time around, and they will be more than excited taking on the champions. It will also put new manager Rafa Benitez to the test, and we’ll see if he can emulate the success of his predecessor.

Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal are the three other English clubs that will be hoping to make it to the final, which will be staged at the new Wembley Stadium.

Israel side Hapoel Tel Aviv beat Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 away in the first leg of their Champions League tie, which was a big surprise. However, another surprising thing is that the goalscorer of Hapoel’s 3rd goal, Itay Schecter, was given a yellow card for his celebration, which involved putting a Jewish skullcap and going down on his knees for prayer.

He neither pulled off his shirt nor appeared to be wasting any time, but still the Portuguese referee saw it fit to give him a booking. In the video you can see Schecter ask the ref for an explanation, but wasn’t really given one. You often see other short religious celebrations on the football pitch, like Christians crossing themselves or Muslims bowing down in prayer, and that hasn’t been a problem before. We even saw it as recently as at the World Cup. So unless FIFA/UEFA have introduced stricter “political correctness” rules for referees to follow, this is an inexplicable decision.

Hopefully, he was just in a bad mood in that game, and the decision wasn’t fueled by other motives. Still, it’s not the end of the world, and the way things are going on, Schecter will be able to continue with his celebrations in the group stages of the Champions League. It’s been a long time since an Isreali side has been doing so well, and they really have a chance of going through now.

The football season draws to a close this week in Europe, and all eyes are going to be on the big game on Saturday between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. My Champions League final prediction is that this is going to be a very close match, with Inter just edging it 1-0.

Both teams have achieved some truly grand feats in order to get here. Bayern have been on the verge of going out on a number of occasions, but some late goals, mostly from their star player Robben, have saved them each time. Most notably, they were 3-0 down to Manchester United in the second leg of the quarter final, but managed to fight back to 3-2 defeat and progress on away goals. That’s the thing about Bayern – you just can’t rule them out this season, and they can always produce something out of nothing.

Inter, however, managed to do the impossible by eliminating Barcelona, who were firm favorites to win the competition. It was all down to their manager Jose Mourinho, who organized an unshakable defense that only allowed two goals in total against the Spanish side, allowing inter to progress 3-2 on aggregate.

So it all depends on who can score the first goal. My Champions League final prediction is that Inter will keep it tight, allow Bayern more of the ball, and look to hit them on the counter. If Mourinho’s side do take the lead, they will shut up shop and not make the same mistake Bayern’s previous opponents did, while the Germans will once again have to rely on a moment of individual brilliance.

It doesn’t seem like Barcelona will be making any official statements about the little “accident” that happened at the end of the 2nd leg between the Spanish side and Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final, which shouldn’t be too surprising. The incident speaks for itself really.

After the final whistle, which saw Inter lose 1-0 but qualify 3-2 on aggregate, Jose Mourinho charged the pitch in celebration, only to find himself soaked in water soon after. In fact, the sprinklers conveniently went off right at the visitor’s section where Inter were celebrating, and it’s obvious to anyone that this was no accident. It was perhaps a little bit of spite by a nameless Barca worker who couldn’t stand “the Special One” parading around in victory, but the prank was hardly enough to stop the visitor’s celebrations. Victor Valdez also got into a scuffle with the Portuguese manager, and had to be held back by officials.

It ends, at least for this season, a very touchy rivalry between Barca and Inter, who played each other no less than four times in Europe’s top competition. The boiling point came before the return game at the Nou Camp, with Barca’s president calling Mourinho a “second-rate psychologist”, after the latter had said Barca had an unhealthy obsession with reaching the final.

The Special One might have the last laugh this season, but he must know Barca will come back next year with more than just sprinklers.

Who will emerge victorious? Here are our predictions:

Arsenal vs. Barcelona

Defending champion Barcelona is probably seen by most observers as the CL favourite but with Arsenal not far behind. The two were matched against each other in the 2006 Champions League final. Arsenal had a great game against Porto and really looks like the team that can take down vaunted Barcelona. They have the speed and passing game to get the job done, but they will need to reign in Lionel Messi who was spectacular in Barcelona’s win over VfB Stuttgart. Thierry Henry is surely eager to get a shot at his former team that lost to Barcelona in 2006, but we pick Arsenal to win.

Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich

Bayern beat United earlier this year in pre-season on penalties, and the two teams met in the 1999 Champions League final with Manchester taking home the championship. In fact, that was the only time that United has beaten the Germans. These teams are very closely matched so it could go either way. United will likely have a hard night against Chelsea on April 3, but they benefit from having the second leg at Old Trafford. A slight edge to United to progress.

Bordeaux vs. Lyon

An all French matchup that will see the first French club to make the CL semifinals since Monaco in 2004. Bordeaux became French champions last year and they have not lost in Champions League play this season. However, they may be a bit overmatched against Lyon, which has performed mightily in Champions League matches this season. Lyon’s strong defence and their brilliant goalkeeper Hugo Lloris should allow them to advance against Bordeaux and their star forward Marouane Chamakh.

CSKA Moscow vs. Inter Milan

CSKA Moscow looked impressive beating Sevilla in Round of 16, but they will have a difficult time against Jose Mourinho, who may be looking ahead to the semifinals. CSKA’s Leonid Slutsky will have to hope that his team will be better rested and that Inter will be worn down by the time of the second leg at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Inter Milan to progress.

It has been two months and a week since the last Champions League games, and finally, we are back. A lot of things have happened since the biggest competition in Europe held it’s last group games, namely the January transfer window and the 2010 African Cup of Nations. Some big players have moved clubs; some have suffered long-term injures, while youngsters have emerged from the ranks, but all the dust has now settled and we are ready to find out who is the best team in Europe.

The upcoming round of 16 offers some of the most mouth-watering ties in recent years. Current Premiership and Serie A leaders Chelsea and Inter Milan clash for a place in the quarter-finals, knowing one of these top-class teams will have to suffer an early exit. David Beckham will make a return with Milan to Manchester United, the club where he made his name, in what is sure to be an emotional match. Real Madrid vs. Lyon is another juggernaut match, while Porto continue their seemingly endless duos with English opponents, this time in the face of Arsenal.

Elsewhere, Barcelona and Bayern Munich should be the favorites in their clashes with Stuttgart and Fiorentina respectively, but Olympiakos vs. Bordeaux and CSKA Moscow vs. Sevilla should be lower-profile but very tight encounters.

All in all, it is shaping up to be one of the most exciting competitions of the new millennium, as there are many clubs that stand a solid chance of taking the crown off Barcelona.

Let’s face it. Most people would have predicted that Barca would have been victorious at the end of this match but few would have predicted that they would do it so easily. The Spaniards were so comfortable keeping pocession of the ball all over the park that Man U players seemed to run around like chicken with no heads for most of the game.

Then again, this is the same team that dominated Real Madrid in their home scoring a massive 6 goals having captured the Spanish title realistically since January. I think Man U should consider themselves fortunate that the boys from Spain stopped only at 2 goals because I have the feeling that if they wanted they could have scored many more. Messi was dominant on the pitch and so was Eto’o. Cristiano Ronaldo tried hard especially early in the game but the rest of his team seemed lost. Substitute Tevez was probably the only other Man U player who played his heart out but it was not enough.

Messi is going to win all the awards next year and he deserves all of them. He plays well with little arrogance and he doesn’t bitch as much as the other phenomenom Ronaldo. Rumors that the latter might be making a move to Real Madrid are once again making the rounds. Of course, he can always move to Madrid so he can continue to be second to the all might Barcelona.

Ole!

In conclusion, below is a video of the game highlights including the goals and some of the controversial moments. The only thing missing is Drogba swearing at the referee and all the cameras.