Terry proud of unbreached Chelsea

John Terry (Chelsea captain) with Daniel Alves

John Terry hailed Chelsea FC's 0-0 draw away to FC Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final as a near flawless defensive display which he hopes has laid the foundations for a second successive appearance in the final.

Team effort
"That was an almost perfect performance which did the manager, the club and ourselves proud," Terry said. "It's definitely up there with all the best games I've been involved in. The work our midfield did was incredible but we defended as a team all night. Barça kept coming at us and coming at us and everyone is feeling it a bit in their legs at the moment. But even if the job is still only half done, I think we can be delighted to take a team like this one back to Stamford Bridge at only 0-0."

Dogged work
Terry, who missed what would have been a match-winning penalty in the Moscow final defeat by Manchester United FC a year ago, thrived on the pressure and typified his team's dogged, intelligent work. Keeping Barcelona scoreless at the Camp Nou for the first time in any competition since United did so at this stage last season clearly gives the 28-year-old great pride and the belief that the momentum is with Chelsea. "They are such a good side that this counts as an achievement," said the England captain.

Defensive problems
The Spanish Liga leaders will travel to Stamford Bridge without the suspended Carles Puyol and his fellow centre-back Rafael Márquez, who suffered a serious knee injury on Tuesday, giving Terry hope that striker "Didier [Drogba] will cause them problems in London". He continued: "In fact, it will be a different game at our place. Credit to Barcelona, they stopped us playing, but now we're going to have our fans roaring us on and it's definitely game on."

Čech boost
As far as Terry was concerned, Chelsea's leading light on a night of joint heroics was Petr Čech. Judged to have had an inconsistent time in the 4-4 draw against Liverpool FC in the previous round, the goalkeeper is evidently back to his best. "It's great to see him in tip-top form," said Terry. "He was brilliant for us at the weekend and his form has been coming back to its very best for a couple of weeks now, which is a massive boost for us at this stage of the season."

Mathijsen calls on Hamburg to bounce back

The Defender Joris Mathijsen believes Hamburger SV's German Cup defeat at the hands of local rivals Werder Bremen will serve as added motivation ahead of their UEFA Cup semi-final first leg at the Weserstadion on Thursday.

Motivation
Hamburg were knocked out on penalties in the semi-finals of the German Cup, the first match in a sequence of four meetings between the Hanseatic rivals in 19 days. Mathijsen, though, is expecting a positive reaction from his side in round two. "We lost the cup game last week and now we are extra motivated for the match tomorrow," said the 29-year-old.

'Good chance'
The UEFA Cup ties come in the thick of the Bundesliga race as Hamburg, three points off the top, chase their first title since 1983 and Mathijsen called on his side to ensure an excellent season ends on a high. "A lot of the younger players think these kind of chances come often, but when you are older you realise that it might only come once and I try to explain this to them. The fact is we want this title. A chance like this might not come again."

Mertesacker confident
It is the 27th all-German UEFA Cup tie and both sides have met domestic opposition in this competition before. Bremen indeed have lost at this stage to German rivals, falling in the last four in 1987/88 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen who also knocked out Hamburg, finalists in 1982, in the last 16 last season. Bremen have reached the UEFA Cup semi-final on three previous occasions without reaching a final, but defender Per Mertesacker is confident this time they are ready to go one step further.

Second step
"It has not been a great season for us and it is not enough to be in tenth place, but I hope we can take motivation from the German Cup and maybe win the UEFA Cup," he said. Bremen seem to have the momentum in their favour having followed up that victory in Hamburg last Wednesday with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over VfL Bochum 1848 on Saturday. "It was important for us to take the first step in the German Cup, but it is up to us now to take the second step in the UEFA Cup," Mertesacker added. "This second match will be important for us but we have to take it game by game and then we will see. The players on each team know each other and it will be very interesting."

Focus
Seven Bremen players are within one booking of a one-match and three from Hamburg, but Mertesacker does not believe it will affect the way they approach Thursday's game. "I don't think about that and t

Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal F.C

Having watched Manchester United FC edge a step closer to the UEFA Champions League final with a 1-0 victory over Arsenal FC on Wednesday, the press across Europe agreed that the Red Devils fully deserved their advantage. In fact, the overwhelming consensus was that Arsène Wenger's visitors are fortunate to still be in the semi-final tie, with goalkeeper Manuel Almunia singled out for praise ahead of next Tuesday's decisive return game. We review some of the opinions being voiced across the continent.

Sir Alex Ferguson set for sleepless nights after team cannot put tie to bed
The Times, England
Sitting in the Europa Suite at Old Trafford on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by reminders of his club's long history in this competition, Sir Alex Ferguson had expressed his belief that this would be a "fantastic" scoreline at the halfway point in the Champions League semi-final. However, by the end of last night, the manager's satisfaction at a dominant Manchester United performance was tempered by a nagging regret that they had let Arsenal off the hook.

O'Shea shoots winner, but Almunia keeps Gunners alive
Irish Examiner, Republic of Ireland
Both Kieran Gibbs and Mikaël Silvestre may have passed late fitness tests but neither were anywhere in sight when [Michael] Carrick cleverly turned a corner back into the box and [John] O'Shea, totally unmarked, rifled a shot high into the net. The Waterford man had already been a menace down the right flank, where young Gibbs is still learning his trade and was perhaps understandably distracted by the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Almunia keeps Gunners' hopes alive
Marca, Spain
Almunia kept Arsenal alive in the first leg at Old Trafford. Only O'Shea was capable of beating the giant between the Gunners' posts. With his team-mates tormented and flabbergasted by the fury of the Red Devils, the man from Navarra and his gloves had to work extra hard. The goalkeeper had already done 'too much' when O'Shea blasted his cannon at Arsène Wenger's team. In less than a week at the Emirates, the first finalist for the Rome showpiece will be known and Arsenal, led by Cesc Fàbregas, have Almunia to thank for the fact they are still in the tie.

Undaunted Wenger keeps faith in Arsenal's Champions League destiny
Guardian, England
For all Wenger's homespun wisdom about teaching impressionable youngsters to play the London Colney way, Tuesday's return leg will answer a brutally simple question: are all these Arsenal players gifted enough to form a team good enough to win Arsenal and Wenger a first European Cup? For much of this season, Emirates regulars have doubted that. With the cup-tied Andrei Arshavin and the injured Robin van Persie they would be closer to nirvana than they seemed for long periods last night. Wenger's fall-back, though, is the increasing psychological toughness of his young ensemble.

ManU poorly compensated for their domination
Le Soir, Belgium
Every Anderlecht and Standard supporter, not to mention the two clubs' officials, awaited the result of this semi-final first leg with impatience. Why? Because a victory for Arsenal in the Champions League would deprive the Belgian champions of an automatic place in next season's group stage. After 90 minutes at Old Trafford, that still remains a possibility. After a slender but deserved victory, Manchester United have taken just a small step towards qualification by avoiding the away goal that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger had been counting on.

Manchester, unfinished symphony
L'Equipe, France
Aside perhaps from a slightly more convincing attempt at pressing their opponents shortly after the break, Arsenal suffered waves of pressure. From the opening minutes, Manchester United got to all the balls faster, started moves quicker and had much more dynamism, speed and impact in the tackle. Either as cause or consequence, Arsenal singled themselves out by lax, almost symbolic, marking and an uncertainty on the ball. Goalkeeper Almunia was by far the best performer for the Londoners.

O'Shea decides round one in United's favour against Arsenal
Corriere della Sera, Italy
This 1-0 scoreline does not mean much for the future. Arsenal are thinking in terms of the full 180 minutes. United knew that and had to chew bitter grass, because in the first half Almunia managed to keep out everything.

Pepe punished with ten-match ban:

Real Madrid CF centre-back Pepe has been banned for ten matches by the competition committee of the Spanish Football Federation following his red card against Getafe CF on Tuesday night.

Lengthy ban
The Portuguese international defender was dismissed three minutes from time at the Santiago Bernabéu following an incident involving Francisco Javier Casquero and Juan Ángel Albín, although his side subsequently went on to win the Liga match 3-2. The 26-year-old will miss Madrid's final six league matches of the current campaign – including Sunday's trip to third-placed Sevilla FC and the home game against Liga leaders FC Barcelona next weekend – and is also set to sit out the first four domestic games of 2009/10.

UEFA Champions League 2008-2009

Eighths of Final:
Atlético Madrid	(2-2)	FC Porto	2-2		0-0
Chelsea	(3-2)	Juventus	1-0		2-2
Sporting	(1-12)	Bayern Munich	0-5		1-7
Real Madrid	(0-5)	Liverpool	0-1		0-4
Internazionale	(0-2)	Man. United	0-0		0-2
Villarreal	(3-2)	Panathinaikos	1-1		2-1
Lyon	(3-6)	Barcelona	1-1		2-5
Arsenal	(1-1) (7-6)g.p.	Roma	1-0		0-1

Quarters-Final:

1	Villarreal	1-4	Arsenal	07/04	h2h	15/04	h2h
2	Man. United	3-2	FC Porto	07/04	h2h	15/04	h2h
3	Liverpool	5-7	Chelsea	08/04	h2h	14/04	h2h
4	Barcelona	5-1	Bayern Munich	08/04	h2h	14/04	h2h

Semi-finals:
5	Man. United	1-0	Arsenal	28/04	h2h	05/05	h2h
6	Barcelona	0-0	Chelsea	29/04	h2h	06/05	h2h

UEFA Cup

Quarter-finals:

Date	Home	Score	Away
16/04/09	Dynamo Kyiv	3-0	PSG
Valeri Lobanovskiy, Kiev, (UKR) - Referee:Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)
16/04/09	Marseille	1-2	Shakhtar
Vélodrome, Marseille, (FRA) - Referee:Manuel Enrique (ESP)
16/04/09	Man. City	2-1	Hamburg
City of Manchester, Manchester, (ENG) - Referee:Nicola Rizzoli (ITA)
16/04/09	Udinese	3-3	Bremen
Friuli, Udine, (ITA) - Referee:Martin Hansson (SWE)
09/04/09	Shakhtar	2-0	Marseille
RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk, (UKR) - Referee:Felix Brych (GER)
09/04/09	PSG	0-0	Dynamo Kyiv
Parc des Princes, Paris, (FRA) - Referee:Pieter Vink (NED)
09/04/09	Hamburg	3-1	Man. City
Arena Hamburg, Hamburg, (GER) - Referee:Olegário Benquerença (POR)
09/04/09	Bremen	3-1	Udinese
Weserstadion, Bremen, (GER) - Referee:Laurent Duhamel (FRA) Semi-finals: Date Home Score Away 07/05/09 Shakhtar 18:30 Dynamo Kyiv RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk, (UKR) 07/05/09 Hamburg 20:45 Bremen Arena Hamburg, Hamburg, (GER) 30/04/09 Dynamo Kyiv 18:30 Shakhtar Valeri Lobanovskiy, Kiev, (UKR) 30/04/09 Bremen 20:45 Hamburg Weserstadion, Bremen, (GER) Semi-finals Bremen Dynamo Kyiv Hamburg Shakhtar Clubs eliminated in quarter-finals Man. City Marseille PSG Udinese Clubs eliminated in Round of 16 AaB Ajax Braga CSKA Moskva Galatasaray Metalist St-Etienne Zenit Clubs eliminated in Round of 32 Aston Villa Bordeaux Deportivo Fiorentina København Lech Milan NEC Olympiacos Sampdoria Standard Stuttgart Tottenham Twente Valencia Wolfsburg