By RYAN TOLMICH
Two of the world’s most powerful clubs collide in Champions League action Wednesday, as Chelsea plays host to Paris-Saint Germain following a 1-1 draw in the first leg (3:45 p.m., Fox Sports 1).
The series is a rematch of last season’s Champions League quarterfinal that saw Chelsea advance via away goals. The two sides met in a fierce opening leg in Paris on Feb. 17, and both teams have made their disdain for one another known via off-the-field comments in the buildup to Wednesday’s clash.
In Wednesday’s other match, German powerhouses Bayern Munich host Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk in the aftermath of a 0-0 draw last time out. Bayern Munich has the opportunity to reach the club’s fourth straight quarterfinal, while Shakhtar seeks an upset that would send the team to only the second final eight appearance in the club’s history.
SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s action so please feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s SBI Live Commentary is after the jump):
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a commenter said during the OCFC v NYCFC game that there was too much diving going on…. i hope that person watched this CL game and saw how much diving is way worse in europe.
English soccer remains second-rate these days. Chelsea managed to sneak a title in 2012 that masked the fact that there would’ve been zero English teams in the CL QF’s had CFC not miraculously fought back against Napoli. Given the predicaments facing Arsenal and MC (not to mention the inept performance from Liverpool in the one of the competition’s easiest groups), probably this is the year this happens.
Can’t say I feel sorry for them. They have all the resources they need to fix their own problem.
coming into this game i was pretty neutral but after seeing Zlatan get a straight red for what should have been a yellow made me root for PSG. Had he led studs up then sure, straight red, but he pulled back and both were going for ball, no harmful intent. I’d like to see Zlatan finally get his CL title.
karma? lol
t silva get open for consecutive headers, cortois couldn’t save the second one. brilliant
i feel this was exactly why the manager got Luiz, to make the opponents worry about him to allow silva to get headers. luis and silva are two of the best CBs at scoring on corners. having them on the same team is HUGE.
what in the hell, thiago?
never mind, thiago. you do whatever the hell you want.
hahaha right?
That header from David Luiz was a dead ringer for Drogba’s equalizer against Bayern in the CL final a few years ago. Same score.. almost the same minute.
this has been one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. both teams are fouling too much but Chelsea is getting away with everything. Zlatan’s Red was a terrible call. if that was a red then Diego should have 3 reds by now, he just (89′) threw a player to the ground after a no-call. luckily the ref had his back turned (another sign of a bad ref)
agreed on the incompetent ref (he also missed a diego costa penalty in the first half). disagree on him “throwing a player to the ground”. that was the lightest “shove” i’ve ever seen, and marquinhos looked ridiculous going to ground on that.
and yes, if zlatan’s was a red, then costa’s tackle on costa was absolutely a red. i feel like verratti also should’ve gotten a red at some point, but that’s probably cause he was just running around tackling people like a crazy person. 🙂
re “throwing a player to the ground” sure it was light but still, the play was over, no need to even lightly shove someone, if i punch you in the face and it’s a “light” punch, pretty sure I’m still getting a card….. lol heII if i even swing at someone on a pitch pretty sure I’m getting a card. he only didn’t because the ref wasn’t looking (which was weird in itself).
and i don’t know about this overtime handball by T silva…… -___-……..
both players had their hands up (for leverage) and it MAY have grazed Silva’s on the way down. that’s a no-call to me (I’m not a ref….)
a punch is inherently different than a push, so they’re punished differently.
and silva’s handball was the right call (so the ref did something right, i guess). his arm hit the ball–however lightly–in an “unnatural” position.
re handball: it didn’t even change the trajectory of the ball tho, that’s my thing, it’s so slight that to me it’s a no-call. 6 in one hand, half dozen in the other, lol
re push down: fair enough, bad analogy on my part but the spirit is still there, if a player intentionally makes contact with another player while not going for the ball, its at least a foul.i truly feel had the ref been looking he would have blown his whistle. who knows tho 🙂
I really dislike Zlatan, but he got done wrong. If he deserved the red, then so did Oscar. They both went in hard at the same time, and Zlatan def made the effort to pull his feet away. More English teams getting the benefit of the doubt with refs.
A statement with zero basis in fact. English teams have been screwed plenty of times.
If there is a bias in this competition, it is for Barcelona, who have been beneficiaries of so many absurd calls over the years one can scarcely describe.
Terrible red card though, yes.
A statement with zero basis in fact.Barcelona teams have been screwed plenty of times.
Name one. Because I will name three right now that involve Barcelona getting a ridiuclous advantage from nothing:
Barca-Chelsea 2009- A legendary joke of a performance from the Norwegian ref, who later admitted openly he had made multimple errors in the game that cost Chelsea advancement
Barca-Arsenal- CL final 2006. Ref sends of Lehmann, later admitting it should’ve been a yellow.
Barca-Arsenal 2011: Van Persie sent off for a second yellow for kicking the ball away, in spite of copious noise in the Camp Nou. Even Arsenal’s rivals cry foul… but at least the referee doesn’t actually admit it this time.
So there’s three. Your move, smart-@ss. Didn’t see that sh*t coming, did you?
generally your statement would be stronger if you left out comments like this: “So there’s three. Your move, smart-@ss. Didn’t see that sh*t coming, did you?”
Can’t you see I’m trying to bait him. Sheesh!
I’m pretty sure the facts alone baited him successfully, that was my only point.
In hindsight, you are probably right DLOA
https://www.facebook.com/FCBloveRs.hAs/posts/529432277144188
took to seconds to google.
Wrong, wrong wrong and wrong.
No referee ever admitted to those things.
You are full of it.
Go ahead and google it if you like. Here’s a start on the first one, aptly titled “My errors cost Chelsea in 2009″…. I guess you could read a lot of things into a vague, non-explicit statement like that
Don’t mess with the big dog. Big dog is always right….
http://www.espnfc.com/story/1050513/tom-henning-ovrebo-my-refereeing-errors-cost-chelsea-in-2009
https://www.facebook.com/FCBloveRs.hAs/posts/529432277144188
I did. Get a life.
Ha. Did you even read this nonsense you plagiarized? An opinionated joke from a Barca fan. Referee admissions? Zero.
Beat it, pal. I have a life And I do my own homework.
I wish the example of Barca-Chelsea 2009 would stop coming up — easily the most egregious refereeing error in that came was the red card given to Abidal when there was no contact, putting Barca down to 10 men. When you start with that game as an example of bias for Barca, you are already swimming up stream.