Hala Madrid

It looked like Liverpool had built up an unstoppable momentum. Chelsea, the arch-pragmatists, had other ideas and upset them & the romantics who thought the Reds deserved it this year, ensuring the title race will go right down to the wire.  

Other things that have caught my eye these past two months

Real will go for La Decima in an all-Madrid final, while their biggest rivals, Barca, failed to make the semis for the first time in seven years.

Bayern won the Bundesliga with seven games to spare, but have since lost focus & were humiliated by Real in the UCL semi-final.

Man City picked up the first piece of major silverware, the League Cup.

BOD retired in style as Ireland won the 6 Nations.

Djokovic did the Indian Wells/ Miami double for the 2^nd time. Rafa has proved to be fallible on clay, losing twice to fellow Spaniards. The resurgence of Federer continues, reaching the finals of Monaco & Indian Wells. Wawrinka, the surprise package of the year, won again in Monaco & he tops the YTD rankings.

British hopes in the Davis Cup were ended by Italy in the QFs.

The ageless Bernard Hopkins who won another title belt at the age of 49.

It's All Over Now

Liverpool's chances of the Premiership were surely finished by the 2-0 defeat at Boro yesterday. Man U still have to play them & Arsenal, & maybe Man City could pull off a shock in the derby game. But it would take one of the biggest chokes in sporting history for Fergie's team to blow it now. Benitez's rant (about officials supposedly favouring Fergie & Utd) seems to have backfired spectacularly. Apart from the fortunate win over Chelsea, their league form since his outburst has been mediocre. So now, for another season, Liverpool have all their eggs in the Champions League basket. Another team who have lost the plot in the league, with their only chance of silverware in the cup competitions, is Arsenal. Early in the season they beat Everton 3-0, & no-one could imagine they would finish below Everton in the league. But after five consecutive league draws, the Gunners are now only two points ahead of them.
I expect Arsenal, Chelsea & Liverpool will all hold their fist leg leads & progress to the Champions League QFs. Man U battered Inter in the first half of the 1st leg & Inter did well to get a scoreless draw. Surely United, with so many match winners in Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov etc will join their Premiership counterparts in the next round.But Mourinho has pulled off upsets in the UCL, & at Old Trafford, before...

Six Nations

I had expected the title would be decided by the final round of matches. But now (assuming Ireland defeat the Scots) it will be an Irish, not a Welsh, Grand Slam on the line. It is surely no coincidence that Brian O'Driscoll has rediscovered his best form. He scored a try & drop goal yesterday, & made a great burst for his try in the upset win over the French. Ireland famously have done the Grand Slam only once (1948). France though still have an outside chance of the title after their win over Wales on Friday. Ireland must be favourites, but it could all come down to points difference, & Wales, who have home advantage in the last game against the Irish, can spoil the Irish party..