Mehhhh United had a fan charged with racially abusing Kenwyn Jones last week.

Happens all the time, the idiot is from Durham, hardly one of us

Chelsea quite fortunate today, didn't turn up and Benfica bossed them throughout the game even with 10 men. Just lacked that bit of quality in front of goal, but they play some good stuff.

Chelsea in for a hammering if they play like that against Barce.

Did you forget how many chances Chelsea had? They should of finished the game early on in my opinion, but yeah Benfica played very well with 10 men and had there fair share of chances as well in the end, saying Benfica bossed them throughout the game tho sounds as if you were watching a different match. It was end to end great game to watch.

Brilliant goal by the ex Liverpool man..

I was slagging Miereles off again wasn't I... Lol.

All my mates slag off Torres... then the rebound off Mata's shot, Torres couldnt convert it... I was about to go "Torres what?"... But then as soon as I slag Raul off he pulls that out the bag.

Think it was a mistake shooting though technically and Ramieres made so much room for Raul... great shot, great goal though must be said.

Hmmm, I dunno I dont think Benfica were really dangerous. Cardoza etc, are all pretty rubbish. Chelsea were a bit complacent and luthargic and the goal Benfica actually scored was terrible keeping. Its 2.7 yards off the goal line and Cech is on his line... he could extend his arm that far out lol.

Kalou was really good but I wanted him off for Sturridge. Danny would have anhiliated them! We had no real counter attack apart from Ramieres because he sprints for laughs lol.

Extremely happy to be the best English team by miles though. Carrying the flag and proving all of you so so wrong. Milan destroyed Arsenal, Basle, Benfica destroyed Man Utd, Lisbon destroyed City... meanwhile Chelsea have smashed Napoli, easily beat Benfica, knocked off Valencia and are going to make Barca look stupid then beat Munich in the final (in Munich?).

Di Matteo get the job if he won the CL?

Interestingly they polled... 12% of the neutral English public want Chelsea to win. 88% of English people want Barca... thats disgusting tbh.

It would be nice to see Chelsea win, but if I'm been honest i think it will be a walk over for barca..

Barca vs Real in the final. It will be close but i think Barca will just edge it.

Well Chelsea are currently the 5th best English team and we are the 8th best. The League is the measuring stick.

At home against 10 men I would have expected Chelsea to pin back Benfica in their half and dominate them, but it was Benfica who were the aggressors and Chelsea who were playing on the counter. When you have fast players and are up against 10 men and a team is trying to score twice you will always 'create' chances. Very little was truly created though most of the chances just exploiting space on the field. Torres and Kalou were useless in front of goal.

Benfica wasted a great chance just before Raul scored and if they had've it would have been curtains. A better player would have scored, or had the awareness to pass.

Still it is a good achievement for Chelsea to get this far, no other English club has been capable. They should beat Napoli and Benfica and they did. Now they face Barca who will be massive favourites, they are a little bit open at the back this season, but if they play to 80% capacity they have the game in the bag, if they play at 100% it could get nasty. Chelsea need to improve, I can't see them beating Wigan at weekend if they play like that again, let alone Barca.

Edited at 22:36 Thu 05/04/12 (BST)

Benfica dominated the game. I haven't looked at posession but it was Benfica who passed the ball better, they had better movement and were better technically, also better set out on the pitch.

Also I didn't like the ref last night very much. Fussy and had a poor manner about him. Much prefer a referee who keeps his cards in his pocket and lets the game flow.

-----------

Barca, Madrid, Valencia, Atletico, Athlitic Bilbao all through to European Semi finals.

The domination continues.

Edited at 22:38 Thu 05/04/12 (BST)

Hard not to like Papis Cisse. Wish more footballers would play with his attitude.

They are being paid millions and millions a year, what is there not to smile about!?

Feel a bit sorry for Swansea there. If they can sign a top class striker they are in business. Sigurdsson is a great player if they can buy him in the Summer, they also need a new right back. Angel Rangel really is grim.

Battered but not defeated !

I know everyone says Swansea are a great team playing great football, but I think they made today the most boring game ever... They passed it round and round and we were quite happy to just stand and watch them as they weren't really a threat at all..

Great result for us, but I was literally nearly falling asleep towards the end of the first half.

Cisse is on fire, his second goal was quality!!

It is only boring if you go into a game of football with a basket ball mentality of wanting to see goals.

The way they pass and move is great to watch, very much like Barcelona and Atletic Bilbao. In England (well Wales) it is very rare a side will play like that because the crowd get onto the players backs to play direct after about 5 passes.

Tbh the only thing that makes these sides boring to watch is the opposition who put 10 men behind the ball to negate the fact they are being outplayed and outclassed.

In football though you are not scored on points, and you need to have a cutting edge. Newcastle have better players than Swansea and that is what won you the game.

Swansea have the right ideas about football, and Brendan Rodgers is a fantastic manager, I look forward to seeing him managing a side with money.

I also love Gylfi Siggurdsson the midfielder on loan from Hoffenheim. That guy is a great player and so to is Papis Cisse and Johan Cabaye. Players I wanted Liverpool to sign but we opted to fund you lot instead.

Did you watch todays game? Yes they passed and moved it very well, but they hardly even attacked..
It's great to watch teams like Barca because they pass loads, and then one magical moment see's them through on goal.
Swansea just seemed to pass all game with no benefit at all.

We weren't outplayed or outclassed lol. If you saw a bunch of players kicking a ball around but not actually causing any threat, you'd naturally just stand and watch them do there thing until they gave the ball away, which is what happened.
They never looked like scoring.
They played as if they were 3-0 up trying to run down the clock.
Not hating on Swansea, I'm just confused as to why everyone thinks they're a breath of fresh air, and a brilliant team to watch, when really they're extremely boring & hardly ever score.

The 2 most boring games I've watched us play this season were both against Swansea.

As I said, it was only boring because of the wall of Newcastle players around the box. Swansea don't pass around all game to annoy you, they do it because they are looking for a gap and it is hard to find one when playing against 10 defenders.

Swansea play a style of football where they don't want to give possession away, they pass the ball around to try and find a gap in the defence. Trust me after about 70 minutes of chasing shadows defences get tired and gaps start to to appear more regularly naturally.

I find with those sort of teams that they need a player who can take players out the game with dribbling skill as well to help find a gap and exploit it. You are right they didn't have an end product, but you have to admire a team who comes up who are willing to play the game. Much rather see that than the dirge teams like Bolton, Blackburn, Stoke, West Ham etc... throw us up. At times it is like they are playing with a bomb watching them play kick and chase.

This is a side who were in the football conference 7 years ago and in danger of relegation from that division too. To be where they are now is brilliant to see. They will play like that for some time as well, because once a club has a blue print like that not even Sam Allerdyce could come in and ruin it.

I wouldn't want every side in the league to play like that but it throws out a challenge we rarely see in the premier league and hopefully other sides will take bits of it for their own.

Just to add on to what I was saying about Swansea needing a player who can beat a man to open up 10 man defences I thought they looked a lot more threatening when Scott Sinclair came onto the pitch because he looks to commit defenders and skip past them, whereas Nathan Dyer was looking to join in with the passing.

Barcelona without Messi, Iniesta, Alexis would also struggle to break teams down but those are players who can dribble past men and take them out of the game. Swansea need a few more of those type of players (of course they won't be as good) and they will be a very good side.

Not sure about their budget though, their stadium only holds about 20,000 and players of that ilk do not come cheap.

They are an interesting side though I think. Leon Brittain and Joe Allan are very good footballers and Sigurdsson has the drive in midfield to compliment them.

Edit: To sum up, in their current state they perhaps become a bit predictable, but if they can sign one or two players with a cutting edge then they will be fantastic to watch!

Edited at 04:18 Sat 07/04/12 (BST)

Well so far in 10 minutes we've had a goal not given despite the ball being over the line, they then went down the other end of the pitch and scored.

Now we have a blatant handball turned down.

Boring me now.

I hope Kenny is your manager next year we might actually see Liverpool in a religation fight.

He will stand down at the end of the season, he is Liverpool through n through but I don't care who they are or WHAT they have done it's the fact he can't handle it! The fans will start to get annoyed they will eventually turn on their old 'King' and nobody wants that! Football is amazing for the bonds it creates 100,000+ people love Kenny neither him or them want that to change but aslong as you keep showing him love he has no reason to go?

Also on this Swansea thing I got to agree with Jack I watched them at Stoke and OMG they played so beautiful I loved to watch them pass and move it was quite amazing actually but your watching them pass the ball in their own half and in the middle as they don't seem to produce anything in that final 3rd also Dyer is amazing!

I actually want to kill myself. Kuyt missed a sitter from 3 yards.

For me, good football is all about how enjoyable the game is to watch, and I find Swansea incredibly boring to watch. Maybe that's just me but if I wanted to see players kicking the ball around for 90 minutes and nothing else I could go and watch a kids training session.

They had about 70% of possession yesterday, and the majority of that 70% was in their own half, passing it side to side and back to their keeper. Yes they do play a little bit like Barcelona in that they like to keep possession, but as was proven yesterday, possession doesn't = goals, or at least with Swansea it doesn't.

I just can't understand why people seem to be raving on about them so much like they're amazing to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mnJNcRCGnGg#t=69s

No way Chelsea should have won that. Ref was there 12th man.

Jesus, we are a very unlucky side. Even our goals have to hit the bar first!

A much better second half, hopefully we can keep that up as at times we have overplayed.

Second half we basically willed the ball over the line and used the wings far more effectively.