by Khilen Mehta

The first legs of the quarter final stages of the Champions League were completed last night, and it is Liverpool who came away with a slight advantage over rivals Arsenal.

In the first of three games in a row against the Gunners, this result was always going to have a psychological sting and Liverpool will be the happier team, after coming away from the Emirates Stadium with an away goal.

Adebayor gave Arsenal a deserved lead from a Robin Van Persie corner, but three minutes later Liverpool were level following some fantastic play by their own captain fantastic, Steven Gerrard, who ghosted past the Arsenal defence and layed the ball for Dirka Dirka Kuyt to slot in.

Arsenal were the better side throughout, but just couldn’t convert their chances. They were not helped by a terrible refereeing decision, when Kuyt clearly dragged Hleb back by the arm as he raced into the area. Arsenal were understandably furious when Dutch referee Pieter Vink ignored their appeals.

It was clearly not Arsenal’s night, especially when a goalbound shot by Fabregas was cleared off the line by Nicolas Bendtner: their own player!! So the two teams meet again at Anfield next Tuesday with the tie still open but Liverpool the slight bookmakers’ favourites.

The other game of the night involved Chelsea travelling to Istanbul to take on Fenerbache in what was guaranteed to be an intimidating and daunting atmosphere. In a one sided first half, Chelsea took the lead when Deived inadvertently turned a Florent Malouda cross into his own net. However, in the second half, Fenerbache levelled through Colin Kazim Richards, once of Bury and Brighton, and Chelsea were soon silenced when Deived made amends for his early error to win the game with a superb 30-yard strike into the top corner.

This tie is also far from over yet, but Chelsea have a lot of work to do to stay in the competition.

by Khilen Mehta

A mature and confident performance from Manchester United saw them overcome Roma away at the Stadio Olimpico with a clinical 2-0 victory. United always looked threatening without creating too many chances, but they took the ones that came their way.

They took the lead when Cristiano Ronaldo headed home a rare goal from Paul Scholes’ cross six minutes before half-time. Roma looked to go forward at every opportunity and spurned a great chance to equalise through defender Christian Panucci, who somehow found himself the furthest man up the pitch! It left Spaletti fuming. They kept pressing and were only denied by a fine save from Edwin Van der Sar, who kept out a Mirko Vucinic header.
Five minutes later, Rooney bundled home a crucial second and the tie looked to be as good as over.

The only bad news on the night was an injury to Nemanja Vidic, whose injury could mean a recall to reserve team regular Gary Neville.

It looks likely that United will face Barcelona in the semi finals after they overcame Schalke O4 away, with Thierry Henry and teenage sensation Bojan Krkic combining to give Barcelona a one goal advantage going into the second leg at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

By Maja Gojkovic

Spanish Police have detained two men that are wanted by the Moroccan authorities in relation to the May 2003 suicide bombing in Casablanca. The two men were arrested in Melilla of Morocco’s North coast.

One of the men detained is Ali Aarass who is wanted over the attack in which 45 people were killed including 12 bombers. The second man Mohamed El Bay is wanted for his links to an extremist group.

Reports say the both of the mens homes in Melilla were searched during the operation and a number of documents were ceased. Neither of the suspects faces charges in Spain, extradition proceedings are being started, Spain’s Civil Guard said in a statement.

The attacks in May 2003 targeted a Jewish community centre, a Spanish restaurant & social club, a hotel and the Belgian consulate. There were five explosions that occurred within 30 minutes of each other. The blasts were triggered by suicide bombers carrying explosives.

Since the May 2003 bombings Moroccan authorities have said they disrupted an extremist group planning to carry out terror attacks, and arrested more than 30 people in an operation in February.

The network had plotted to assassinate Moroccan cabinet ministers and members of the North African kingdom’s Jewish community, the Associated Press (AP) reported. According to a Civil Guard, Mr El Bay was on a mission to forge links with traffickers in central Europe in order to gain access to weapons and explosives.