Barcelona vs Man U.... just can't wait for it!!!

Finally, the match of the season is here!If you're a soccer buff..or even if you're remotely interested in soccer... or(worst) you don't like soccer at all, I'd suggest you stay glued to ten sports tonight at 00.15am,IST.Its the Champions League semi final(first leg) and the teams involved are considered Giants in their respective countries,and even around Europe.

Starting with my favourites,Manchester United, it's a moment of reckoning for them. They have been considered the best in Europe and fairly, they've had critics playing them down, saying they're not strong enough to score against Spanish and the Italian giants. Over the past few seasons, they've been knocked out by the Italian powerhouse A.C. Milan but this time, our arch rivals Arsenal have done us a huge favour by sending them out of the competition fairly early. We're returning to the Nou Camp after 9 years,and the last time we were there, we scored twice in dying minutes to overturn a 0-1 deficit to win the Champions League. It was our treble year(1999) and though this time we're in the hunt for the Premiereship apart from the UEFA Champions League, we're strong enough to bring both the trophies to the Theatre of Dreams(the name given to our home stadium at Old Trafford by Sir Alex Fergusson). In my opinion, we're favourites because for a change, we've a fully fit squad to choose from at the closing end of the season, which is something we've never had in the previous few years.If I start describing the quality of players on both the sides, the blog would become too boring for those who don't follow soccer but still, Rooney and Ronaldo are worth mentioning.

A brief glance at Barcelona's season lately suggests that they're not quite at their peak,as they've not won a single match in the last four games.They'll be missing the services of superstar midfielder Ronaldinho and Messi's not fully fit, though he will take part in the match for sure but most probably he'll be substituted at some stage. Eto'o, Henry, Puyol, Valdes... the list goes on and on..

Just can't wait for the kick-off,which is about 170 minutes from now and I'll sign out on this note, and expect the few people who read it to experience the thrill of soccer themselves.