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Don’t call it a dive, just faking a fall!

Champions league round one went as expected but for two surprises – Inter’s loss and Arsenal’s win. And Real Madrid’s loss was not quite a surprise, at least for me. Despite some of their recent wins and Ruud’s hattrick. Lyon just repeated their last european performance against Madrid. But you can’t write them off. They’ll com back strongly but I doubt if they can top the group. Having become the Serie A champions of the last year and making some big name signings, you don’t expect them to lose. Their situation is same as Real Madrid. I expect and want both these teams to progress to round two.

Arsenal scored their first goal courtesy another malicious dive by van Persie. The stand-in captain Gilberto scored a good penalty. For the ‘foul’ on van Persie the Hamburg goal keeper aslso got sent off and Arsenal was playing against a 10-men Hamburg for 80 minues! The second goal was a beauty by Rosicky. That must have been blasphemy of Arsene Wenger’s football philiosophy, when Rosicky shot from outside the box. In a team where half a dozen passes are made inside the box, Rosicky must be a rebel. If Arsenal should have any chance making any impact this season, they should encourage more such adventures from outside the box as well. AC Milan were back in their touch with a 3-0 win. The first two goals were brilliant Milan headers – first one coming from Inzaghi and the latter from the new kid Gourcuff.

42 goals in 16 matches. It’s been a festival so far of attacking football and playing for wins.

[tags] Champions League, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Liverpool, Hamburg, Inzaghi, Robin van Persie, Rosicky, Gourcuff, Inter Milan, Lyon [/tags]