With the quarter-final return legs in two weeks time, it seems that the Arsenal-Chelsea game is the only one which could still go either way. Milan are almost certainly through with their 4-1 win over Depor, while Porto's 2-0 win against Lyon should see them through too. Although Monaco grabbed two away goals last night, it seems unlikely that they'll be able to keep a clean sheet against Madrid, so the latter should also make it through.

At the moment the favourites are still Milan, Madrid and Arsenal, however although the former undoubtably played well one shouldn't forget that Depor's defence is still resembles a Swiss cheese (in Europe at least). Remember that 8-2 thrashing by Monaco earlier this season? I suspect that both Milan and Madrid will have problems with the quick counter-attacks and neat interplay that Arsenal are so fond of.

Of course, that will only be the case if the Gooners get through. Last night was close, although Arsenal edged it. Nevertheless, Rainieri did his homework and nullified the Henry threat by sticking Gallas out at rightback. Unfortunately, due to Desailly's moment of handball madness and with Glen Johnson still out, Gallas is likely to move back infield to partner Terry, leaving Melchiot do handle Henry, something I don't think he's capable of. In any case, Chelsea really need to go out and score goals and considering that they've only scored one goal in three games that will be a hard task.

Let's face it, that's what this week is all about. With the various European leagues pretty much decided, everybody's focus is on the Champion's League and more to the point on the Arsenal v Chelsea tie. Although the other ties certainly merit our attention, matches with two national rivals always get everybody excited. Whether the game itself will be any good remains to be seen, but it will surely be more exciting than last year's drab final.

On a related note, it has to be said that Claudio Ranieri is showing remarkable restraint given the situation he is in. Especially considering that Peter Kenyon is not exactly backing him up. Arguably this is hard to do, as Chelsea clearly have plans for a new manager, but given the importance of Wednesday night's match, you'd think that a bit of clarification would do the team a world of good.

John Magnier, the racing magnate and Manchester United shareholder has just bought two new foals and is said to have named them after two popular Manchester call-girls.

Surely this bizarre gesture can't be in any way connected with his recent campaign to embarrass Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson? (via PopBitch)

Blackburn's Lucas Neill, Jamie Carregher's favourite opponent, has once again opened the abuse floodgates by subtly saying that the town is "a bit of a shithole. The last one out at night has to turn off the lights." We'll see what the townspeople will have to say about that, but let's face it, he's hardly endeared himself has he?

In any case, yet another Blackburn player has gone in with a two-footed tackle. On his manager. Now, this would be foolish behaviour at most clubs, but the fact that it was Graham Souness must mean that Dwight Yorke has some sort of death-wish. In any case, I thought he had already left (for Qatar?), something that now appears to be a foregone conclusion. The incident occured during a training match, and once again a manager has criticised Yorke's "playboy lifestyle". So nothing new there.

And in a move that is sure to set the Sepp Blatter's blood rushing, the G-14* clubs have decided to boycott that FIFA World Club Championships. There's no word on Sepp's reaction yet, but it's unlikely that he'll take it lying down.

*Actually 18 clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille, Paris St Germain, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and FC Porto, Valencia, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Lyon.

And so Round and White returns. Despite the various Champions League results from last week, the events in Madrid overshadowed what is “the beautiful game”, hence the lack of posts.

Unsurprisingly, Arsenal, along with Milan won convincingly on Wednesday to see them through to the quarter-finals, where the former will meet Chelsea, the result of which would appear to be a foregone conclusion. Arsenal are officially disappointed with the draw, but one suspects that Arsene Wenger is more than happy to be facing a team he has beaten twice this season already, rather than a previously unknown opponent such as Lyon or Monaco, or Milan and Real Madrid the other bookies’ favourites.

The midweek games also saw the departure of the recent winners: Bayern Munich and Manchester United. Both looked distinctly average in their respective games and both have seemingly lost any realistic chance of winning their respective leagues (I write this just after Citeh’s 4-1 derby win). There’s no doubt that both will bounce back, but it seems that their domestic dominance has come to an end for the time being. Man Utd have lost too much ground to an Arsenal who this season are playing with outstanding flair. At the same time Bayern have seen their season grind to a halt with their 3-3 draw at home against Hansa Rostock, while Bremen speed off into the distance, largely thanks to the irrepressible Ailton who notched the 22nd league goal of his season.

Obviously it is unreasonable to draw too many comparisons between the Bundesliga and the Premiership. The latter is one of the top leagues in Europe, while the other is distinctly mediocre in terms of recent European success. Although Bremen are dominating this season, the fact that they will be bidding farewell to a number of their best players means that Bayern’s overall dominance is likely to continue, something doesn’t apply to Man U, given Chelsea’s millions and the excellent team that has built by Wenger. With Ferdinand back for the beginning of next season, probably with new defender to partner him, their defence should return to its previous strength, but even with that Man Utd have to accept the state of play at the top of the English league.

Man U are out and despite Paul Scholes' goal unluckily being flagged for offside, they shouldn't really have any complaints. Roy Keane will be kicking himself for kicking Baia in the last game and one suspects that if Rio hadn't buggered off to go shopping back in September, then the defence would've looked a lot more stable. And once again Phil Neville demonstated his propensity for rash challenges in the final minute of a game. At least they took the loss well though, with Sir Alex effectively burying the hatchet with Jose Mourinho and various players swapping shirts at the end.

Chelsea, however, are through to the next round with thanks to the luck that Man U were missing. In all of my years of watching European football, I can't remember a team going through due to a single own goal scored by their opponents. Stuttgart once again dominated for long periods of the match, but didn't seem to be able to open up the Chelsea defence and so were forced to resort to long shot. The only consolation for the Blues was that while VfB threw everything at them, they still looked as if they had the potential to step up their game. The fact that over the two legs they didn't do so, must be somewhat of a worry to Tinkerman and is certainly something that will have to be rectified in time for the quarter-finals, where they'll be joined by Deportivo and Lyon who respectively deservedly beat Juve and Real Sociedad.

Oh dear, once again Leicester City players have gone on a bit of a rampage in La Manga. Whether or not there is any substance to the accusations remains to be seen, but the fact that the Spanish judge has seen fit to keep 3 players in for further questioning speaks for itself. It may well be the case that the accusations are completely unfounded, but unfortunately it can't be denied that some footballers were once again drawn into a situation such as this. It must come as a real smack in the face for Leicester City fans who are contemplating relegation, while the players are raising Cain (in Spain). I'll stop now, before this veers off into a tabloid-style rant.

*or is it 8?

Yep, it would appear that the pressure is really starting to get to Fergie. Rumours about a bust-up between Ruud and Sir Alex are spreading like wildfire and for once they may well be true.

Apparently Ruud was on the bench against Fulham because of his remarks about Man U missing Beckham. Leaving aside the truth of his words for now, there's little doubt that leaving Van Nistelrooy/Nistelrooij on the sideline fits into his pattern of previous behaviour (leaving Beckham on the bench in the past and so on). Discipline is certainly an important aspect of a manager's job (hello the Leicester City Eight), but leaving your best forward out because he stated his opinion is foolish to say the least, particularly as it wasn't a decision that was favourably received by the rest of the squad.

In any case Ruud is right to express his opinion. He, for one, is missing the service that Beckham provided and the various players that Fergie bought this season still haven't settled into the squad. Having said that, this is about Man United, so why do we actually care?...

A couple of thousand Saints fans breathe a collective sigh of relief as Glenn pulls out of the manager's job, as feels he does not have the full backing of the Southampton board. The fact that there have been vehement protests by the fans would have nothing to do with it then?

Chelsea fans also have something to celebrate as Sir Richard Attenborough's evil twin Ken Bates has resigned from his role as club chairmen and, praise the footballing god, we don't have to listen to him spouting rubbish footballing proposals anymore. After all, that's what Sepp Blatter is for.

Despite what we've had to say about Gerard Houllier's tactical nous in the past, it's still an absolute disgrace that he's being subjected to death threats. So what if Liverpool are playing mediocre football at the moment, Graham Souness never had to face this sort of opposition when he was manager there and if my memory serves me correctly he won sweet f.a. It seems likely that Hula-Hoop will leave at the end of the season anyway, but it would be better if it wasn't down to one idiot's appalling behaviour.

Talking of idiots, Stan Collymore has been caught barking up the wrong tree. As it were.

Ronaldinho has only gone and broken a broken a window in the centuries-old cathedral of Santiago de Compostela while filming a television advert. He did the damage after being asked to try a scissor-kick beneath the cathedral's 12th century Portico de la Gloria (Portal of Glory). "I asked Ronaldinho to hit the ball as hard as he could and he had the bad luck to hit the window," local newspaper La Voz de Galicia quoted the advert's director Emil Samper as saying. "It was my fault." Now, we're not saying he did it on purpose, but if he can pick out the top-left hand corner of David Seaman's goal from 35 yards, then you'd think he might be able to avoid smashing a glass window.

Elsewhere, Chelsea have no doubt been permanently struck off Sir Alex's Christmas card list for snapping up Arjen Robben from under Man U's collective noses. It's not some conspiracy though Fergie, it's more down to the fact that Roman has simply got the bigger chequebook.
At the same time, the rumours surrounding the list of players soon to leave Stamford bridge is also increasing...Joey Cole is apparently upset about not being able to play without the 4th official's say-so. Bless him.

News for Wolves fans that they probably didn't want to hear.

And finally, congratulations to Boro, for winning their first ever proper trophy (it says here).