Kudos to Man U and Chelsea

I know it feels like I've been in mourning - after the Liverpool heartbreaker on Wednesday night - but that's not why you haven't read from me in two days. Just life getting in the way.

Kudos to Man U and Chelsea for making it through to Moscow. And don't forget Zenit St. Petersburg, who put the mighty Bayern Munich to the sword in the UEFA Cup. Tuesday night went as expected; Barca playing, Man U scoring. But Wednesday was something else. Great game that could have swung either way. In the end, the home team got the breaks but Liverpool gave as good as they got and contributed to a fantastic game.My extended thoughts on all these will come in a later post.

But wasn't it odd how injuries and substitutions setled this affair? Riise came in for the injured Fabio Aurelio in the 1st leg, and scored an own goal at the death. Then in the 2nd leg, Hyppia replaced Skrtel and gave away a sloppy penalty in extra time. Even on the Chelsea side, substitute Kalou provided the cross that led to Riise's blunder at Anfield, and subs Malouda and Anelka set up Drogba's ultimately decisive 3rd goal at the Bridge. C'est la vie.