Olympique Lyon- AC Milan

Olympique Lyon and AC Milan tied 0-0 in the first leg match of the Champions League Quarterfinal in Lyon. I had the pleasure to watch the game in a good old bar in Copenhagen with a good friend. In spite of this, the game was a bore. Lyon is not the same without Juninho, although they did play a fine game. In spite of Juninho being back for the next match, Lyon will have a really difficult time in Milan.

Great Arsenal

I have never been much of an Arsenal fan. But I am full of admiration of the new Arsenal team Arsene Wenger is putting together. Although they have had a bad season in the Premier League, they are doing well in the Champions League, where success has escaped Arsenal for years.

After defeating Real Madrid in the last round, tonight Arsenal defeated the Italian Serie A leaders of Juventus 2-0 in the first leg of the quarterfinals. On goals by a splendid Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry, Arsenal now has one foot in the semifinal.

The way they have been playing, they might finally go all the way!

Ole Madsen

One of the most legendary players of Danish football just passed away at the age of 71. Ole Madsen was a great Danish player in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He is still today one of the most scoring players in the Danish national football team (42 goals in 51 matches).
Because of the strange amateur rules Denmark's football federation had in those days, Denmark was not a power to be reckoned with in international football. The major rivalry was with the Swedes, who had one of the best teams in the world in those days (World cup finalists in 1958). In 1965, Denmark defeated Sweden for the first time in 14 years. The 2-1 win is mostly remembered for Ole Madsen's goal with his heel - one of the most famous goals in Danish football history.
Ole Madsen only played as professional for one year in the Netherlands. Otherwise, he was always attached to a second division team, HIK, at the same time as he worked as a truck-driver. Mr. Madsen was a great player from a time where football was innocent.

Bad weekend

This could have been a great weekend! But no, my teams had to disappoint me.

The Spring season of the Danish Super-League started last week by Brøndby defeating league leaders FC Copenhagen 3-0. Thereby, the defending champions showed that they are still serious contenders to the title. But this weekend, Brøndby were facing the modest Jutland team from Silkeborg IF. Brøndby should win these kind of matches to be champions. Instead, they played a pathetic match and lost 2-0, and are again trailing Copenhagen.

It has always been a problem for Brøndby that the players think they are the best in the world when they win a big match, only to be outperformed by a small team in the next...

My other favourites from Valencia had a tuff away match against Racing Santander. Last week's tie with Real Madrid meant that Valencia had to have a win to keep up with Barcelona. But they lost 2-1, and the Championship is certainly gone now. Valencia is now even trailing Real Madrid on second spot by one point. I would hope that they would at least be able to regain the second spot, and get the direct qualification for next season's Champions League.

Bad weekend...

Rafa Benitez and Liverpool

Liverpool's coach Rafa Benitez is one of the best coaches in the world. So it is not surprising that many of Europe's leading clubs (most notably Real Madrid), have been trying to recruit him from his current employer in the Beatles' home town.

However, it seems Mr. Benitez is very happy and comfortable in Liverpool, and will be staying for a long time. That is a great achievement by the club. The harmony between the coach, team, leadership and fans is very important for a football club, and I think that over the long-run, Liverpool will benefit greatly from this. In his first season in Liverpool Mr. Benitez won the Champions League and he has the ambition to win many more titles with Liverpool.

Lucky Liverpool!