Team of the week

Special mentions all round for European teams. Aston Villa held off Arsenal and almost got the result before an equaliser with 2 seconds of stoppage time remaining. Atletico Madrid were in destructive mood beating Barcelona convincingly and Everton overcame a tricky Portsmouth team to presently occupy the final English champions league spot ahead of Liverpool.

The team of the week for me though would have to be Napoli. The little Italian club made famous by the brilliant Maradona. Whilst beating a team 1-0 is nothing earth shattering, the fact that the team beaten was Inter Milan makes the story a little more fairy-tale like. Inter had not lost once in the league all season and were flying very high in Italy, almost untouchable. Napoli fought hard and were deserved winners of the weekly accolade.

Player of the week

Argentina is a football barracks, spitting young talent out on a daily basis. This week the only 19 year old Argentine on the pitch in the Barcelona game was Sergio Aguero. The youngster has been attracting praise for sometime now and on Saturday he took the fight to Barca. He scored the first goal, set the second up, won the penalty for the third and Scored and Excellent fourth. He commented

“My favourite was the second goal when I gave Maxi a good pass that he put away very well. It was a nice move and Maxi needed this goal. It turned the game and gave us a 2-1 lead just before halftime. I think it was the key moment.”

An Excellent display against no ordinary team, Ladies and Gentleman, Sergio Aguero.

Moment of the week

Special mention to Ronaldinho for scoring a cracking overhead goal. Lets hope that the troubled genius can start finding those moments of brilliance again.

Not for the first time this year a young Arsenal side have found themselves on the brink of losing vital ground in the premiership title race and not for the first time they respond emphatically. Nicklas Bendtner was able to snatch a late goal and keep the gunners at the top of the league. We have 10 games left in the Premiership and six points separating an extremely talented top three.

Manager of the week

Brazilian starlet Robinho played his first 29 seconds of competitive football before scoring his first goal following an injury induced spell on the sidelines. Berndt Schuster will have smiled secretly as the young talent went on to seal the game with a delightful chip to round the game off 3-2 to Real Madrid. It was a game of high emotion as studs and fists were flying at all times and the timing of the substitution was spot on. He might have dodged the post match press conference but the Real coach will breathe a little easier knowing that Barca are currently back to 5 points off the pace.

Still to come

This week sees the second league of the first knockout stage in the champions league, expect the usual drama and make sure you make yourself available for the vital showdowns happening.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE VENUE
21:45 SA AC Milan v Arsenal Round of 16 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
21:45 SA Barcelona v Celtic Round of 16 Estadio Camp Nou
21:45 SA Sevilla FC v Fenerbahce Round of 16 Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan
21:45 SA Man Utd v Lyon Round of 16 Old Trafford

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE VENUE
21:45 SA FC Porto v Schalke 04 Round of 16 Estadio do Dragao
21:45 SA Real Madrid v Roma Round of 16 Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
21:45 SA Chelsea v Olympiacos Round of 16 Stamford Bridge

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE
21:45 SA Inter Milan v Liverpool Round of 16

(Image credit : Getty)