A few days after tipping Real Madrid for the Champions League, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as Real Madrid were sensationally knocked out of the competition for the (if memory serves) sixth successive season at the knockout stage, this time by Lyon.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Real were fully expected to overturn that deficit with ease and cruise through to the next stage.

When Ronaldo scored after just six minutes, the deficit was overturned and everyone expected the rout to continue from there but it just didn’t happen.

Higuain continues to suffer the kind of luck that makes you wonder if he has been smashing mirrors as a hobby recently and hit the post yet again.

However, when Lyon scored in the 75th minute, it was all but over. In fact, it WAS over. The final score was 1-1 and Real Madrid were out of the Champions League.

Lyon are one of those teams that have given a few teams a torrid time in the CL over recent seasons but would hardly be anybody’s first choice to actually win it but you have to give them immense credit. They beat Real at home and drew with them away. The perfect recipe for Champions League success.

And so, despite spending the equivalent of small country’s national debt, Real have left the Champions League at almost the earliest possible stage.

A penny for Ronaldo’s thoughts right now… the lessons were there to be learned… he followed his dream.

He’ll be having nightmares tonight.

Many years ago when I was just 19 years old. I was working with an insurance company in North Wales. As part of my training, I was told that I had to go to Head Office in Liverpool.

I was young and naive and tried my best to get out of it. A Mancunian in Liverpool just didn’t sound healthy to me.

I arrived on the train and put my head down as I walked through the streets, head down,  towards my destination as fast as my legs could carry me. That is when I heard running footsteps behind me.

“Hey!”, came a call.

It can’t be me. No one knows me here. How can anyone be calling me? I don’t have Manchester United tattooed on my forehead.

But the footsteps got closer. “Hey you!”

Eventually and to my sheer horror, a hand clamped on my shoulder. Was it the police? Do they behead wandering Mancunians in Liverpool? Is he going to ask me for money to fund his drug habit and pummel me to death with a lifesize bronze bust of John Lennon if I refuse?

It was a middle aged man and he was holding out a five pound note.

“You dropped this up there”, he nodded his head in the direction I had come from as he offered it to me.

I was dumbstruck. I managed to say “thank you” and then proceeded to feel extremely ashamed of myself.

That was my first impression of Liverpool and it has stuck with me ever since.

As a result of me going there, I struck up a friendship with a lad there called Steve who was as big a Liverpool supporter as I have ever met. It was an unlikely friendship but he was posted in the same North Wales branch as me shortly afterwards and I was about the only guy he knew in the area, we started to hang out a bit.

I was living in a beautiful Welsh village called Benllech at the time which is directly beside the seaside. One night, after a few too many drinks, Steve asked on our way home if we could walk down to the sea as he had something he had to do.

We walked down to the sea and he waded into it, shoes, trousers and all and began singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at the top of his voice. I can’t remember now but I think I joined him. Partly because I was drunk and partly because I didn’t know what else to do.

He told me that he had a friend who had died in the Heysel Stadium disaster and that they had come to Benllech Beach as kids and he wanted to do it to remember his lost friend.

Steve once asked me to go to Liverpool with him and he showed me around the town one night. He took me to some cracking pubs, live music and plenty of banter. As the “Novelty Manc” I was the butt of many jokes but it was all friendly enough and on the way back to his parent’s house (where we were crashing for the night) he took me to an Indian takeaway and we enjoyed Onion Bhaji’s and Donner Kebabs (classy stuff). It was the first time I had ever been in an Indian Takeaway (I must admit, the look of them always scared me before that) but there has rarely been a week since that I have not had an Indian Takeaway. I love the stuff!

He was eventually promoted and moved away from his post in Wales and I got a new job and we just sort of lost contact but I always think about him and those Liverpudlians I met all those years ago whenever Liverpool get a great result.

Sometimes, like tonight, I wonder just how low he is feeling as he sees his beloved Liverpool humbled by Wigan.

Liverpool now find themselves losing sight of that coveted fourth spot. They could still do it but there are teams above and just below them who have played less games and have as much if not more chance of clinching it.

Rafa has let the Liverpool fans down badly this season. He can point to the injuries of Torres and Gerrard all he likes but it isn’t like they came out of the blue. The pair of them (especially Torres) have been seemingly injury prone for the last three years and that Rafa didn’t invest in a top class striker in the summer and let one of their best midfielders (Alonso) go is bad management, pure and simple.

It’s not supposed to be that a Manchester United fan should feel anything but delight at their predicament but this little Red Devil is feeling a bit sad tonight. My mate Steve and that chap who chased me 100 yards to return my fiver deserve better than this.

I appreciate that this post is going to sound like a Manchester United fan trying to change the rules at the last minute because he’s starting to get a bit worried that he might have to eat his hat but this season, but La Liga will be decided based on the head-to-heads of the teams concerned should two teams end the season on the same points (as opposed to goal difference).

It probably won’t come to it but I wonder if this might be a better method than goal difference and should be adopted here in England?

The reason I suggest it is obviously because Arsenal are still in with a chance of winning the League this season and if they do then they will probably be the most undeserving Champions for a long time.

A few weeks ago, they were all but written off (I think they were something like eight points behind Chelsea at the time) and had just been royally stuffed by us AND Chelsea.

However, I think they have benefited from being written off so early. It has become like a horse race where two horses are running neck and neck on the stands side in the final furlong and all eyes are focused on those two, no one notices the horse on the far side coming from behind with an almighty sprint towards the line.

When we dropped points, we looked at Chelsea and were happy when they also slipped up and vice versa. Meanwhile Arsenal were helping themselves to three points and so the gap has been closed. The two horse race is now very much a three horse race.

However, when you consider that we have beaten Arsenal home and away and Chelsea have beaten them home and away, can Arsenal truly be considered the best team in England?

Our own victory against them at Old Trafford was perhaps a little fortunate but our away win wasn’t. We slaughtered them and made them look lightweight. When Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-1 home and away, the difference between the two teams was almost tangible. Arsenal looked like a kitten attempting to kill a lion.

I still don’t think Arsenal will win the League and as the weeks go by and Chelsea’s problems seem to grow, I think we are looking more and more likely. We have the tougher fixtures on paper but Arsenal won’t find playing against teams threatened with relegation particularly easy either. As for Chelsea, the longer Cech is injured, the more beatable they look.

When Vidic hauled down Agbonlahor in the penalty area today, it looked for all the world like it was a penalty and as Vidic was clearly the last defender, a red card should have followed.

All eyes went towards Phil Dowd. What was he going to do?

He immediately pointed to the spot (revealing that he obviously saw the incident and was in no doubt that a foul was committed) but bizarrely and inexplicably kept his cards in his pocket.

Vidic had escaped the early bath although Villa had won a penalty.

Technically, the ref got it wrong. For a moment there, he took the rulebook and, I think, made a conscious decision to throw it out of the window.

This was Wembley, this was a Cup Final and I truly believe that he took the law into his own hands and decided that no one wants to see ten against eleven for eighty-five minutes of a Cup Final.

I must admit, I am not quite sure why this “last man, red card” rule should always be applied. I am fully aware that it was brought in because a striker could be through on goal and the defender could chop him down from behind – a “professional foul”. No one wants to see that, especially if the offence is committed outside the area (because there is absolutely no reward for the victims – not even a penalty) but sometimes I don’t think both punishments are necessary.

Today, had Vidic not brought Agbonlahor down then maybe, just maybe, Agbonlahor would have scored (he still would have had a bit to do, Evra was getting back and Kuzscak was well positioned). He may have dragged his shot wide, he may have blasted over the bar, Kuzscak may have saved his effort.

All this is speculation and irrelevant. What happened was that Villa were given a penalty kick which was duly scored and so they came out of the incident in as good a position as they could have hoped for had Vidic not brought down Agbonlahor in the first place.

Five minutes gone and one goal to the good. That’s a one goal start in anyone’s book.

However, the talk coming from Martin O’Neill after the match was that Vidic should have been sent off too as if the whole match hinged on this one thing.

Sure enough, ten against eleven on the heavy Wembley surface would have given Villa a tremendous advantage but call me old fashioned here but isn’t it considered pretty unprofessional to want to see players sent off?

As a result of the offence, Villa were gifted a goal start. United roared back, scored twice and hit the woodwork twice whilst Villa never gave Kuszcak much to do at all.

I can fully understand O’Neill’s disappointment at reaching a Cup Final only to come away with nothing but a loser’s medal but for the good of the game (on the level of this individual match and on the greater level) I am delighted that Phil Dowd got it wrong. If United had had to play with just ten men and finished the game 2-0 losers and dead on their feet, that wouldn’t have been much of a spectacle or an occasion would it?

It would have been a massive anti-climax for United, a hollow victory for Villa and a poor advert for one of the showpiece occasions in the English game.

Would I be saying this if it was a Villa player who had dragged a United player down in the box?

Well, if we got a penalty and scored from it for a 1-0 lead, then yes, I think I would.

I was as sickened as anybody who saw the injury sustained by Aaron Ramsey yesterday. It is sad beyond words that such a fine young player now finds his career hanging in the balance because of such a terrible injury. I do hope that he makes a full recovery although use of the word “speedy” seems a bit pointless… I cannot see him playing again until 2011.

However, I have watched replays of the incident and I have seen photos of the point of impact and nothing has totally convinced me yet that it was Shawcross who actually broke Ramsey’s leg.

I am almost certain that Ramsey had gone over on his ankle before Shawcross even made contact.

Obviously contact was made which meant that Ramsey was then flung through the air but was Ramsey’s ankle already broken?

Let me just make one point abundantly clear. The way Shawcross went for the ball is the way players go for the ball all the time. It was not a studs up “stamp” type of tackle and it was not a two footed lunge with the player flying 12 inches above the ground to hit Ramsey full force on the shin. It was a sideways sweeping tackle and in another scenario, it could well have been Shawcross who came off worse.

Perhaps when Ramsey is on the mend, he can clarify what exactly happened from his point of view but until that time, I think we should all reserve judgement on Shawcross who was clearly distraught at what had happened.

Hot on the heels of losing Ashley Cole for the rest of the season, Petr Cech tonight had to be substituted with what appeared to be a pretty serious injury.

It looked innocuous enough as he jumped to catch a harmless ball but immediately on landing, he signalled to the bench with a sort of pulling motion as if something had pulled and snapped.

We probably won’t find out until tomorrow the extent of the injury but it could keep him out for at least four weeks and if it is a serious muscle strain or ligament damage then his absence will be even greater.

Whilst I don’t like to make a big deal about injuries to our rivals, we have had to struggle through a complete nightmare in terms of injuries to our defence for much of this season (and it continues to this day with Rio Ferdinand now apparently injured again) so we’ll now see how Chelsea cope with a John Terry who appears out of sorts and two of their most important defensive players out for a lengthy spell.

Incidentally, Inter Milan beat Chelsea 2-1 tonight and I would have thought Chelsea have enough to turn that around in the return leg.

I certainly hope so. I don’t want to see Chelsea win the Champions League but I do want to see them stay in the competition a little longer than this or they’ll be in a position to give the Premier League their 100% focus and attention which wouldn’t be good news for us.

A week ago, I recommended backing Manchester United to win the Champions League at around 10.0 with most bookies.

I said that we would get through against AC Milan and that our price would come down to around 5.5.

Well, having beaten AC Milan tonight, our price is now around the 6.5 mark and there is undoubtedly more to come from that.

We will finish AC Milan off in the second leg but just in case you’re a bit wobbly about it, lay Manchester United off right now for 7.00 at Betfair (assuming, of course, that you backed us at 10.0) for a nice profit come what may.

I do think however that our price can come down a bit further to my predicted 5.5 once we complete the job against AC Milan so you might want to hold your position for a few weeks and see what happens after the return leg against AC Milan.

Real Madrid have drifted a bit because of their defeat away to Lyon tonight but I do expect they will overcome that deficit in the return leg which might just put them above us again in the betting.

However, if they mess up and go out then our price is likely to come in even further.

My advice is to hold the position. We will go through to the quarter final so your bet will not be lost whatever happens.

See what happens after the second leg of the Real/Lyon tie.

Cheer up Arsene, there's always next season...

The wheels finally fell off the Arsenal Title Challenge today after they were soundly beaten 2-0 by Chelsea who now go top of the League again by two points.

I don’t know what madness of optimism came over me that I thought that a team who were hammered 3-1 by us last weekend at The Emirates and demolished 3-0 by Chelsea at The Emirates earlier in the season could somehow transform themselves into a team capable of getting any kind of result at Stamford Bridge but hope springs eternal here in The Red Devil’s humble abode.

Arsenal now have to face Liverpool who seem to be back on track a bit themselves and then they have to play Porto in the Champions League. Neutrals and Gunners can only hope that their season isn’t all over by March (again).

A couple of weeks ago, Rio Ferdinand appeared to hit Chris Fagan of Hull on the back of the head. It wasn’t seen by the referee at the time but was picked up on video after the game.

This resulted in a three match ban.

United appealed the ban and Rio was subsequently hit by a further one game ban for the “frivolous” nature of the appeal.

United are now apparently about to appeal this further one game ban… a decision which, should it backfire, could see Rio banned for yet another game.

I must admit, I do not follow every incident concerning every team in all the divisions of the football league and as far as I am aware, the first and only time this sort of situation has occured was in 2008 when Jeremie Aliadiere of Middlesbrough appealed a red card only to see his ban increased for a “frivolous” appeal.

At the time, this caused shockwaves amongst the footballing world because no one had ever been subject to this treatment before (there was even some talk that it had only happened to Boro because they weren’t one of the ‘big’ teams and were being hit so hard because they were less likely to fight back).

What it suggested to me at the time though was that the FA were perhaps being a little too big for their boots. There’s an arrogance to it all. It is like they were saying, “Our time is very important. We have FAR more pressing matters to attend to than listen to your appeals.”

The fact is, listening to appeals is one of their main roles. They are the governing body. If a club has an issue with a decision made by one of THEIR appointed officials then the proper course of action (as laid down by the FA themselves) is for the club to go to the FA and ask them to have another look at the situation. The FA should only be too happy to do this and ensure that the rules of the game are being implemented correctly and that should a mistake be made, they will rectify it without question or hesitation.

If it is found that the original decision was correct… fine. The Club concerned must accept this and we all get on with it.

To start imposing extra punishment on top of the original punishment simply for making an appeal seems to go against not only the rules of the game but against the whole point of having an appeals process in situ in the first place.

A sending off offence is a three game ban, no more, no less and even if an appeal is deemed “frivolous” in private, such words should never be used by the Governing Body in public.

A three game ban for a player is never a small issue in the eyes of the club or the player and if the club considers the ban worthy of appeal then the FA should treat it with the utmost respect and seriousness.

In what other area of “law” does a person find their punishment increased for appealing the original penalty?

Clubs need to know that they can appeal without fear of further punishment. To frighten people into NOT appealing by using the prospect of further, enhanced punishment is a perversion of all known justice and a blatant abuse of power.

To change the rules of the game on a whim as they did when Boro were first subject to this was also a blatant abuse of power. It was also arrogant, slightly despotic, in fact.

If Manchester United are successful in appealing this extra game ban then it could mean the end of it which would be a great thing for ALL clubs at all levels.

Whoever decided to start this “frivolous” thing two years ago should hang their heads in shame. By going away, having a word with themselves and admitting that it is wrong would go a long way towards their redemption.

You might say that I am only writing this because it concerns Manchester United but, in my defence, I was not writing this blog two years ago but I doubt very much that I would have written anything different. I remember my feelings at the time. I was pretty outraged at the arrogance then. The intervening couple of years have done nothing to quell my feelings of injustice on the issue.

A bit of a shock in the Premier League tonight as Hull managed to hold Chelsea to a 1-1 draw (they briefly led 1-0 during the first half).

This now means that for the first time in quite a while, the League table looks reasonably “true” in that no teams at the top have games in hand on one another.

We are now just two points behind Chelsea who are just five points ahead of Arsenal.

We all expected Chelsea to sweep Hull aside and hoped that perhaps Arsenal could do us a favour on Sunday.

Suddenly it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we could take top spot on Saturday and stay there.

We still need to beat Portsmouth of course and a decent win could remove Chelsea’s goal difference advantage but if Arsenal can get at least a draw then we could be top of the League for “real” by Sunday evening.

However, Arsenal now really do have everything to play for when they take on Chelsea on Sunday. A win for them would put them just three or four points behind the leaders (depending on how we do against Portsmouth).

Good stuff!