Do You Have A Flag?

If you are from Spain it is flying at half-mast.

If you are from Italy the answer is no.

Tonight the English Premier League confirmed once again that it is the dominant league in the world.  Serie A and La Liga have a huge distance to make up.  

Do not let the Barcelona result at Camp Nou over French champion Lyon fool you.  The Catalan club is the best of an average bunch.  Real Madrid were thrashed by the "Red Hurricane" at Anfield while Atletico Madrid could not get past Porto.  Only Villareal will go forward along with Barca to the quarterfinal draw.  

And every team will be hoping they draw the Yellow Submarines.

Inter Milan were outclassed over two legs against Manchester United.  The gulf in talent was so obvious that Jose Mourinho must have been toasting Sir Alex after the match for not drubbing them by 5 or 6 goals.  The supposed "best player in the world" Zlatan Ibrahimovic was invisible.  The Inter defense were in shambles for most of the match as Ryan Giggs ran through them.  Not Ronaldo or Rooney - both were excellent as well - but the 36 year old Giggs!

Chelsea are reborn under Guus Hiddink and Juventus looked a side that knew it was a matter of time before the wheels came off.  Even when Del Piero netted the penalty you never believed Juve were going to pull it off.  Chelsea looked like the squad of a few years ago when they could just turn on the championship form whenever it was needed.  They did so again on Tuesday and earned their spot.

Finally, Arsenal knocked off Roma in Rome on penalties.  Vein of Form felt the most likely of the English sides to go would be Arsenal.   This was an even match-up.  Both sides in a fight to qualify for next season's Champions League right now and not a great deal between them after the first leg.  But the English came through again when needed.  

And there is the difference.  When the English clubs saw the moment called for a bit of greatness they were capable of rising to the occasion.  The Italian clubs could not.  They wilted under the pressure and it was evident they don't have the talent or the coaching to overcome the Big 4 from England.

Detractors will say the Champions League is boring.  I think the best football teams on the planet are still in the competition so it is anything but boring.

Throw in Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona and you have a very interesting mix.  Even Villareal could surprise someone in the quarters.  We just don't know who will be healthy when the next matches kick off.

We do know that after tonight no one can doubt where the best football in Europe is being played.

Weekend Football Preview

Couple of things that I feel the need to point out: First, the Carling Cup is a more important trophy than the UEFA Cup. This only supports my post from yesterday that the UEFA Cup is a meaningless competition that would take years of white-boarding from the footballing world's finest think takes to reimagine in a meaningful way. Don't agree? Take a look at the lineup Harry Redknapp put out yesterday and tell me he was not terrified of suffering an injury going into Sunday's final against Man United.

I fully expect Man United to thump Spurs on Sunday. Sir Alex Ferguson is seeing his career coming to an end in the next 3-4 seasons. If he wins the league this year and the following year and collects another Champions League trophy during that time - all highly reasonable predictions - he could leave even sooner. So, he wants to collect as many trophies in the coming years and will put out a side well capable of beating a Spurs side that should at this point be more focused on remaining in the Premier League rather than winning the Carling Cup.

Second, Rick Parry is resigning his post at Liverpool Football Club. This is either because the club approached Parry and stated that they will fire him if it means keeping Rafa Benitez so he could save face and resign before it comes to that.

Or Parry actually loves the club so much that he was willing to give up this fight, reflect on his career and accept he has been an abject failure. Either way, I see this as the groundwork - in combination with the win at Madrid - to giving Benitez the control he wants over transfers and the youth system and a contract to keep him at the club for the next 10 seasons. To give Benitez that type of control is a bit dangerous. I don't think he has been correct on enough of his transfers to deserve that much control. But his record in Europe is undeniable. His trophy haul with Liverpool and Valencia this decade is top class.

To be fair, were Liverpool to award him the deal he wants, it could be said it is as forward looking and progressive a contract as President Barack Obama's recently announced budget. Not even joking.

Now, to the weekend's football which is not offering up mouth watering fixtures in England. On Saturday I could see myself tuning into the early match of Everton vs. West Brom. But more than likely I'll choose to only watch the second half. I'll of course tune into relegation battling Middlesbrough taking on Liverpool. Liverpool will know that over the next few days they will gain two games on Man United and can close the gap to a single point. The league leaders will have two games in hand, true, but psychologically they will know they must win those games.

I think the best match in England this weekend is Hull City against Blackburn. I don't believe Blackburn will go down. Not with Sam Allardyce in charge. And I don't believe Hull are as good as their early season form indicated. All three promoted sides will be relegated. I firmly believe that.

And interesting match in Germany this weekend: Bayern Munich vs. Werder Bremen. Both sides had great victories in Europe this week (Bayern Munich scoring 5 away goals against Sporting Lisbon & Bremen knocking out AC Milan in the UEFA Cup).

I don't think Bayern Munich can win the Bundesliga. A league that is the most exciting in Europe this season. When sixth place Wolfsburg are only seven points behind leader Hamburg you know we're set for an exciting finish.

I also find it amazing that the loan of Landon Donovan could lead to the end of Jurgen Klinsmann as manager at Bayern. Donovan hasn't a great deal of minutes but he's gotten enough where it should be proof enough that he just isn't a good enough player for Europe. He's the best player in CONCACAF region. Which means he is maybe good enough to get a game with a mid-table Dutch club or a club in Serie B.

Sunday features Inter Milan vs. Roma in Serie A. I think Roma believe they can get something out of this match. Both clubs had terrible mid-week Champions League performances. The difference being Roma get to play host to Arsenal in the return leg and Inter know they must score at Old Trafford. I don't think either will go through. But what I am saying is that Roma will feel better about the mid-week result and know they need these points more than Inter.

Finally, it will be extremely interesting to watch Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona on Sunday. The reason being Barca have slipped - just slightly - in the league and did not boss Lyon the way many expected in the Champions League. Atletico meanwhile played well enough for a draw against Porto. Lots of pressure on Barca to right the ship this week. Atletico have zero defense. This could get ugly if Barca are in the mood.