Henrik Larsson produced a fairytale end to his brief but
eventful Manchester United career on Wednesday as the Swedish
legend scored to give the Red Devils a 1-0 win over Lille to put
them into the Champions League quarterfinals.
United clinched the last 16 clash 2-0 on aggregate.
United's joy, slightly marred by a season-ending injury to
French defender Mikael Silvestre, was not mirrored by Premiership
rivals Arsenal, whose season slid into crisis mode as they saw
their last chances of silverware ended as PSV Eindhoven drew 1-1 at
the Emirates Stadium.
The Dutch side went through 2-1 on aggregate.
PSV defender Alex scored an own goal but redeemed himself with a
towering header late on to perhaps give Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger his worst fortnight at the helm, having seen his side beaten
in a tempestuous League Cup final to Chelsea and eliminated in the
FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers.
Worse still his star striker Thierry Henry appears set for
several weeks on the sidelines after apparently tearing stomach and
groin muscles after coming on as a substitute.
But if Wenger thought he had problems then they are nothing on
Real Madrid's Fabio Capello, whose previous club Midas touch has
apparently deserted him in his second spell at 'the meringues', as
his nine-time European champions slid out of the competition going
down 2-1 to Bayern Munich in Germany and exiting on the away goal
rule as the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.
Capello's mood was hardly improved with Real giving away the
quickest goal in Champions League history as Dutchman Roy Makaay
scored within 11 seconds.
It took rather longer than that for one of Capello's former club
AC Milan to finally break the determined resistance of Scottish
champions Celtic - for whom Larsson starred for several years - as
Kaka eventually broke the deadlock in the 93rd minute for Milan to
run out 1-0 winners after extra-time both on the night and on
aggregate.
Larsson could hardly have scripted it better as making his last
home appearance for United before returning to Helsingborg he
headed home after fine work by Cristiano Ronaldo to put the tie
beyond a brave but limited Lille side.
Larsson, who also scored at Old Trafford on his home debut in
the FA Cup, said there was no going back on his return to Sweden
despite United suffering a striker crisis at the moment.
"It's been great here for me," said Larsson.
"But what you have to remember is the Swedish season begins in
April and it doesn't give them (Helsingborg) time to get another
striker.
"I have been proud to have been part of this team."
Wenger tried to put a brave face on what is becoming an
increasingly catastrophic season despite his faith in the talented
youngsters that make up his squad.
"It is a big disappointment," said Wenger
"It's cruel but you have to be strong enough to take it."
Capello is as experienced in taking the highs and lows of
management and the no-nonsense Italian was not about to throw in
the white towel even, though, his hopes of silverware this season
are about as realistic as Wenger's - though defeating arch-rivals
Barcelona this weekend could change all that.
"My future depends on the chairman," said Capello, who received
the dreaded short term vote of confidence from sporting director
Predrag Mijatovic.
Celtic boss Gordon Strachan unlike Wenger and Capello is all but
certain of winning the title this season - though admittedly in a
much weaker league than the Premiership or the Spanish championship
- so his thrust on being eliminated was rather more upbeat.
"If there was a Champions League trophy for sheer guts and
determination, we'd win it," he said.
"The tournament has been a great experience for us and we will
learn from it."
How Wenger must hope his youngsters will as well - alternatively
he could have done with the old head of a Larsson.
(China Daily via AFP?March 9, 2007)