Don't Quit Your Day Job

Only one thing matters today:
Liverpool v. Inter Milan.

It’s a Champions League Tuesday, the last of the round of 16. The Reds will make the trip from England to Italy to face Serie A leaders Inter Milan at the San Siro. The match was delayed a week, because of Premiership side Arsenal’s trip to the San Siro last week. Italian police were concerned they couldn’t handle two matches in two days. Italy has become one of the more violence prone countries in football, though after the weekend it looks like Columbia might be giving them a run for the money.

Liverpool will be boosted with the return of Javier Mascherano in Italy, after he took a knock during their 4-0 thumping of West Ham last week. It would be easy to assume that Liverpool will go through with a two goal lead on the aggregate, however, anything can happen in football. Inter Milan is a very strong side at home and will look to over turn the two point deficit. Inter will be without Marco Materazzi who received a red card last time to two sides met at Anfield. If Liverpool can get even one away goal it will pretty much mean they will go through to the next round but that won’t be an easy task.

One other factor at play here will be the future of the club, as things on the pitch and in the office have been anything but stable this year for the Reds. The American owners, who took over the club last year, have been a poison amongst supporters, management, and players. If Liverpool does not continue to succeed in the Champions League, the only competition they are still contending in, it could mean the end of coach Rafael Benitez. It is no secret that the American owners have not been supportive of the Spaniard, and have admitted to talking Jürgen Klinsmann about the position. It seems the two Americans, herefore refered to as “the Two Idiots”, were not happy with the slow start to the season. “The Two Idiots” seem to believe fool heartedly that their success with baseball and hockey in America is the perfect recipe for success in European football. I wonder if they even realized there was more than one competition in European footballing before they bought the club?