Football

Swiss Super League match in 'interrupted by vicious pine marten' shocker.

Champions League quarter-final draw

Malaga v Borussia Dortmund

Real Madrid v Galatasaray

Paris St-Germain v Barcelona

Bayern Munich v Juventus

While I respect Malaga and the manner in which they've advanced through the competition, you'd have to say its the optimum draw for us.

Europa League quarter-final draw

Chelsea v Rubin Kazan

Tottenham Hotspur v FC Basel

Fenerbahce v Lazio

Benfica v Newcastle United

What a tremendous draw for Dortmund. The Malaga game will be a cracker, as will Bayern-Juve. The PSG-Barca tie will be billed as Beckham vs. Barca by the English media and Zlatan vs. Barca by sensible people, but either way it's one to look forward to.

Last night's game at the San Siro really served to highlight the ridiculousness of the away goals system. If and when a game heads into extra time, the advantage swings so heavily in the away team's favour that I would actually go so far as to say it's unfair. Surely to goodness the rule should be changed so that away goals only count as double in normal time.

Last night's game at the San Siro really served to highlight the ridiculousness of the away goals system. If and when a game heads into extra time, the advantage swings so heavily in the away team's favour that I would actually go so far as to say it's unfair. Surely to goodness the rule should be changed so that away goals only count as double in normal time.

Completely agree with this. But hey, had a cheeky couple of quid on Inter to be 3-0 up after 90 minutes when Ray Winstone popped up at half-time offering 14-1, which I thought was more than generous. Good job too because I almost went with Inter to win the tie overall at 12-1. Gambling is of course inherently evil and nobody should do it. Except me. If I win.

Benfica-Newcastle in the Europa, eh? I've always dreamed of seeing the black and whites dismantled at the Stadium of Light, but I must say, this isn't quite what I had in mind. Better than nothing though.

A 1-0 lead, nearly six minutes of stoppage time and the unwavering love and support of Fleet Street and yet poor ol' Harold Redknapp still came up a loser. Fantastic second half performance today, ran around like manic street preachers, particularly Weimann who's really grown into a man these past few months. Typical to type the minute you want a favour from Liverpool they promptly go rubbish again. Is it 2nd, 4th, 5th or 8th they're going for this season, I can never remember.

Benteke with 8 goals in 10 games, where is his Bale-like hype? Oh, he's not British! Never mind...

Benteke with 8 goals in 10 games, where is his Bale-like hype? Oh, he's not British! Never mind...

We can't even win when a game is handed to us on a plate. Gifted a numerical advantage for over an hour, gifted a penalty and a let-off for the Rose handball and we still conspire to only draw, barely even troubling the Norwich keeper along the way. I'm seriously beginning to think we might've had it. We're absolutely dire, we deserve everything we get and if we do end up going down, we'll be missed by precisely no-one.

I even cheered a Newcastle goal this afternoon in the vain hope that they might do us a favour against Wigan. Urgh, I feel dirty. :yuckky:

I think the derby game against Newcastle and its outcome may come to define Sunderland's season (though when does it not? Heh). A win there and you've got your tails up heading into three home games,out of the next four, two of which seem very winnable, plus of course a trip to Villa. But I agree, from what I saw of yesterday they looked shockingly rudderless despite being 10 vs. 11.

The next four games in particular will be such formidable challenges, I'm hoping against hope that there'll still be a way back by the time we get through them all. If there is one slight ray of hope, it's that United are playing Chelsea in the FA Cup replay just a couple of days after our game with them. They're thousands of points clear of Man City so perhaps Fergie will rest a few of the usual first eleven. I wouldn't exactly be confident of getting a result against the reserves either, but it's better than facing Fatman & Robin.

For some considerable time now (even when we were mid-table) O'Neill has been repeating his mantra that we're fighting relegation, and his cautiousness seems to bleed into the way we play - so lacking in belief, craft and ambition, and no plan on how to improve. I think if we survive now (barring some miraculous improvement coming out of the blue) it'll be by the skin of our teeth and by virtue of others' misfortune.

End of the road for Michael Owen, apparently. What year is it again?

Remembering how unmotivated Owen looked shuffling around the pitch (okay, fine, six yard area) against Villa in the game that relegated Newcastle four years ago says a lot to me about the man. Guess he has more time for blogging and Twitter 'banter' with Piers Moron now.

Remembering how unmotivated Owen looked shuffling around the pitch (okay, fine, six yard area) against Villa in the game that relegated Newcastle four years ago says a lot to me about the man. Guess he has more time for blogging and Twitter 'banter' with Piers Moron now.

Cue the inevitable appointment to the MOTD team. I can hardly wait.

Hazard was absolutely brilliant against West Sam.

Hazard was absolutely brilliant against West Sam.

A superb talent. He may have a way to go before fully deserving the current comparisons with Zola, Ronaldo and Messi, but he, Mata and Oscar could run riot in the Premier League for many years to come.

Note to self: it could be worse, you could be a Blackburn fan.

Someone was pretty excited at the news that the U.S. has a 65% chance of qualifying for the World Cup. I guess even if I were new to Earth, it would go without saying that less than 70% chance of qualifying is the equivalent of less than 1% chance of winning . Of course, stranger things have happened in other sports although I wouldn't hold my breath. Its always great just to be there though .