United to face Barca as Champions League Semis are decided
10th April, 2008
Manchester United and Barcelona both progressed from their Champions League quarter-final ties and will meet in the semis. They join Chelsea and Liverpool to make the final four, where at least one Premier League side will be at the final in Moscow.
Manchester United won 1-0 on the night, 3-0 on aggregate, against a Roma side who will be disappointed with the result having given the English side a run for their money. Roma were given a penalty in the first half, which was blasted over the bar by De Rossi to the relief of the home faithful. Had it been converted Roma would surely have continued to threaten and could have easily changed the game around.
United rode the pressure and managed to bag a goal in the 70th minute, Tevez converting a great cross from Hargreaves with his head. Ferguson had even decided to rest Ronaldo and Rooney for the game, but managed to introduce Gary Neville late on in the game to play his first competitive football in over a year.
Barca beat Schalke 1-0, making it 2-0 on aggregate, in an unconvincing win over the lesser-fancied side. Yaya Toure’s 43rd minute strike was enough to put the Catalan giants through to face Manchester United in the semi finals, with the first leg played at Camp Nou in two weeks’ time.
Now that we are down to four teams, United have emerged as the clear favourites at 7/4 with Betfred. The other three sides are all so close in odds (3/1 at a majority of bookmakers), that you need to look at the exchanges such as Betfair for more accurate odds. Chelsea are 3.4/1, Barcelona 3.5/1 and Liverpool 3.9/1. Use our odds comparison service to find the best Champions League odds.
By Chris M
