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Articles: Arsenal, Barcelona book place in semis

Posted by admin on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 08:53 AM

TURIN — Arsenal outplayed Italian champions Juventus for the second time last night to march into the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
And in Barcelona the Catalans reached the semifinals after goals from Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o saw the Spanish giants defeat Benfica 2-0. It may have finished goalless at the Stadio delle Alpi but by the time German referee Herbert Fandel blew the final whistle, Arsenal were comfortably ahead on points. Having racked up a record-breaking eighth consecutive clean sheet in the tournament, the Gunners thoroughly deserved to book an appointment in the semifinals. A miserable night for Juventus, who never seriously threatened to overturn the 2-0 deficit they had conceded in the first leg last week, was compounded when Pavel Nedved, the playmaker they had been counting on to pull off an extraordinary comeback, was sent off with 13 minutes left. Having already been booked, the former European Player of the Year was ordered off for a crude lunge at Emmanuel Eboue that summed up his frustration at having been shackled by the young right-back for most of the evening. Juventus had a goal from striker David Trezeguet disallowed in the 32nd when he tapped in a pass from Nedved because the Czech Republic midfielder was ruled offside. In the 49th, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon dived bravely at the feet of Henry to deny the France striker. In the other game last night, Ronaldhinho could even afford to squander a penalty early on before Barcelona finally subdued their Portuguese opponents and booked their place in the semis. Frank Rijkaard’s side looked edgy throughout but Benfica failed to take advantage and wasted their best chance of the match when Simao Sabrosa lashed wide with the goal at his mercy on the hour. Ronaldinho opened the scoring for Barcelona on 19 minutes, following superb approach work from Henrik Larsson and Cameroon international striker Eto’o who then calmed shredded home nerves with a second with a minute remaining to finish a job only half done following a 0-0 draw in Lisbon last week. Defeat marked a losing return to the Nou Camp for Benfica coach and former Barca star Ronald Koeman, the man whose goal in the 1992 final at Wembley gave the Catalan club their only European Cup success to date. In the semifinals, Barcelona meet six-time champions AC Milan and Arsenal play Spanish debutants Villarreal. Sapa-AFP

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