The quarter final draw for the 2011 UEFA Champions league is over and we are left with some very interesting pairings. While traditional power-houses like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Internazionale and Chelsea have made their presence felt, the surprise inclusions have been in the form of Tottenham Hotspur, Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04. The notable exceptions from this year’s last eight are Milan, Bayern Munich and Arsenal.

Let us analyze the pre-quarter final victories of the 8 winners and their chances for the future –

Manchester United:- Though nowhere near the consistency that is usually expected from ManU, they were clinical enough to book a place in the last eight. It needed a magical display from Javier Hernandez to pull United back from a goal down against Marseille and take them to victory at the Old Trafford after the first leg was goalless at Marseille. United badly missed the services of their talismanic winger Nani, who was out injured, and lacked the usual creativity in their midfield. The team is heavily dependant on the defensive prowess of Nemanja Vidic, their captain, who has been a rock in front of Edwin Van Der Sar and whenever Vidic has been absent (most notably against Liverpool), United has suffered. Wayne Rooney is also still not near his best form but he is a big match player and always rises to the occasion when needed. United will go as favourites against Chelsea in their quarter final outing.

Chelsea FC:- Chelsea needed a brilliant brace from Nicholas Anelka in their first leg game against FC Copenhagen to see them through the pre-quarters as their home match was tied goalless after an insipid display from both teams. With their new sensation David Luiz being cup-tied with Benfica and unable to play in the UCL this year, and new signing Fernando Torres having completely lost his ability to score, Chelsea will need to pull a special trick or two and a good performance from their old war-horses Lampard and Terry to overcome Manchester United in the quarter finals.

Real Madrid CF:- Real Madrid have been on a roll since Jose Mourinho took over and they finally broke their jinx of not being able to cross the last 16 stage of the UCL. Karim Benzema did justice to his talents by scoring in both the legs as Real overcame their bogey team, Lyon. In the absence of Gonzalo Higuian, Benzema is trying hard to fit in the shoes of the No.9, but they still need Cristiano Ronaldo to be at his best if they want to go all the way. Mesut Oezil is another player to watch as Real will be termed favourites against Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur:- The sensation of this year’s event, Tottenham have the credit of conquering both the Milanese giants this year. The world has watched Gareth Bale turn from a talented youngster to a superstar and combined with two brilliant attacking midfielders in Luka Modric and Rafael Van der Vaart, has turned Tottenham into a team to beat. Lack of a world class striker and shaky defense will affect Tottenham’s chances against Real in the quarters though.

FC Barcelona:- As always, Barcelona played some scintillating soccer to dismiss Arsenal in the pre-quarters, even after losing the first leg. Even in the absence of their main central defenders, Puyol and Pique, Barcelona showed no dis-comfiture against Arsenal in the second leg and the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta ripped through the Arsenal defenses. Barcelona are again firm favourites to life the title this year although they have a possible showdown with Real in the semis and a certain Jose Mourinho may have other plans.

Shakhtar Donetsk:- Shakhtar took the advantage of a positive pre-quarterfinal draw and a dis-arrayed Roma to advance to the quarter finals. Even though the likes of Darijo Srna and Eduardo have put on a superlative performance till now, they will find it extremely difficult to beat FC Barcelona in the quarter finals. They might draw inspiration from their neighbours Rubin Kazan though, who have had a positive record against Barca in the recent past.

Inter Milan:- Inter caused a sensation by becoming only the second club in the history of the champions league to win a round after losing the first leg. Incidentally, they beat Bayern Munich, whose coach Louis Van Gaal was the head coach of Ajax when the dutch club became the first to achieve the feat. With the likes of Wesley Sneijder, the sensational Samuel Eto’o and Lucio, Inter are slowly getting back to their top form under Leonardo and should be able to beat Schalke, their next German opponents.

Schalke 04:- Putting their disastrous domestic season behind, Schalke are on a golden run in Europe. Inspired by Raul and a favourable draw, Schalke is the sole German representative in the quarters, ahead of the more fancied Bayern Munich. If Raul can continue his good European form, Schalke will give Inter a run for their money in the quarters.

1': Match started.

After the disappointment in the IFA shield this was a perfect response from the Red and Yellow brigade as they crushed Air India in an enthralling away fixture. After the solid start to the I league campaign looking like the Invincibles East Bengal started to drop points towards the end of the first half of the league which gave the driving seat to Salgaocar to be the new pace setters of the I league.

With the return of the I league and Dempo winning against Chirag United yesterday it was pressure on Trevor Morgan and his young brigade to win in order to consolidate their third place and fight for the title.The match started with a corner for East Bengal in 3mins but Tolgey was offside.East Bengal was looking desperate to take the lead but the defenders of Air India kept Tolgay at bay playing with a man to man marking basis.

A Mehtab free kick failed to give East Bengal the lead in 20mins.Air India wanted to break their nerves also when they set up their first attack in 23mins when Allen beat Vasum in the box but Okpara was rock solid in the defence.Mehtab looked the most active player for East Bengal unleashing a powerful shot in 25mins but Eric cleared it finally.The rest of the first half was goalless and proved the dip in confidence suffered by the high flying East Bengal who couldn’t break the defence of Air India.The second half started with two quick chances for East Bengal.

Penn Orji’s shot missed the target in 48 mins while the pass of Tolgay was unable to reach Vasum as he missed a good chance to score and settle some nerves.In 60mins a Ravinder shot was well saved by Santosh and still the scoreline was goalless.But the complexion of the match changed in 68mins when Tolgay finally scored to give East bengal the lead. Finally East Bengal were looking a team with an intent creating more quick chances looking for the second goal that will settle tie while Air India was defending with their full might in order to salvage a point.

But the match was settled with two more goals by the same man who gave East Bengal the lead, Tolgay who struck his quick fire brace in 87mins and 90mins to add to the one scored earlier and complete a personal hattrick thus helping East Bengal to earn the important three points.The team which was looking shaky in the Ifa shield showed glimpses of teamwork that looked missing and Tolgay was looking like the hungry Australian who has arrived in the Indian football scene to score goals. This victory was a trigger of spirit that East Bengal needed to perform with a lot more vigour in their remaining I league ties.

LIVE PLAY BY PLAY UPDATES - Suresh Ambuskar.

04.04.2011: Air India   0 - 3   East Bengal

KEB: Tolgay 68', 87', 90'

MOM: Tolgey( KEB)

AIR INDIA: Souvik, Eric, Bijoy, Dhanachandra, Santosh, Rahul(Praise), Manjit( Soccor), Sukhbinder(Collin), Allen, Darren, Ibrahim.

EAST BENGAL: Sandip, Naoba, Nirmal, Okpara, Soumik, Vasum, Mehtab, Penn(Alexandra), Sushant( Ravinder), Baljit( Sushil), Tolgey.

FT: East Bengal beat AIR India 3-0. Tolgey got man of the match award.
90': Referee added 4 minutes as injury time.
90': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL..Hattrick of Tolgey. Mehtab crossed from right and Tolgey header beat Souvik.
88': East Bengal is leading 2-0.
87':GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Tolgey scored another for KEB. Tolgey beat Santosh Koli in AIR box beafore scoring.

85': Again missed of Tolgey. He should pass the ball towards unmarked Sushil.
84':PLAYER CHANGING for KEB. Alexendro came and Penn out.
82': Souvik saved a shot of Ravinder from left.
81': PLAYER CHANGING for AIR. Manjit out and Soccor came.
79': PLAYER CHANGING of EAST Bengal. Baljit out and Sushil Singh came.
78': Again chance missed of KEB, Penn passed to Baljit in an open area but missed the target. aljit shot deflected Souvik body.

75': Eric is playing well in AIR defence who saved two positive chances of East Bengal from Goalline.
72': PLAYER CHANGING for AIR. Collin Abranches came and Sukhbinder out.
71': Yellow card to KEB Gk- Sandip for wsting time.
70': Again chance missed of KEB. Goalline saved by Eric. Baljit took the shot who got pass from Naoba in right.
69': East Bengal is leading 1-0.
68': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL..Tolgey scored for KEB. Ravinder crossed from left which went to Tolgy, Eric was beaten for bounce of Ball. Tolgey's low header beat Souvik.
64': Again chance missed by KEB, Vasum to Tolgey but goalline saved of Eric this time.
60': East Bengal got a fine chance. Goalline save of Santosh Kohli, Soumik crossed from left, GK saved but ball deflected, which went to Ravinder and his shot saved by Santosh.
57': Ravinder crossed from left and Nirmal header saved by GK. of Air India, ball went to Corner in right side. Mehtab's corner but No effect.
52': PLAYER CHANGEING for Air India. Rahul out and Okorogor Praise came in.
50': Tolgey well crossed from left but Vasum was unable to touch the ball with his head. Chance missed.
48': Penn shot missed the target. KEB is attacking.
46': 2nd half match starts.
HT: It's half time now in the match. No score.
45': Referee added 2 minutes as injury time.
42': Still no score. Huge miss pass by KEB, Eric headed out Mehtab's cross.
40': Dhanachandra, Eric of AIR is playing well in defence while Darren and Ibharim duo attacked.
38': Corner for KEB from left side of AIR box, Ravinder kick headed out by Dhanachandra which came to Mehtab but his shot missed the target. Tolgey caught offside.
36': No score yet in the match.
32': PLAYER CHANGE of East Bengal. Ravinder came and Sushant out.
29': Yellow card to Sushant of KEB who fouled Manjit Singh of AIR from behind.
27': Still no score in the match.
25': 18 yards punch of Mehtab deflected from AIR gk but Eric cleared finally.
24': Naoba crossed and Vasum header missed the target.
23': AIR Attacked through Allen from left, beat Vasum but Okpara cleared in KEB box.
21': Mehtab took the corner. Cleared.
20': East Bengal fot Free Kick. Mehtab kick cleared by corner.
18': Eric guarded Tolgey all time.
18': East Bengal is Pressurising but no positive chance they got.
16': Mehtab passed towards Tolgey in AIR box, but wrong chest tram by Tolgey which went to Goalkeeper.
13': East Bengal is attacking more and more.
11': Tolgey passed towards Baljit in AIR Box but Baljit was in offside.
10': Still no score in the match.
8': Okpara cleared out a throw in in KEB box.
6': Tolgey attacked from penn pass, AIR GK Souvik cleared.
5': East Bengal is attacking now.

3': Corner for KEB. Soumik shot went wide, Ball went to Tolgey but he was offside.
1': Match started.

Finally the moment of the season came for the Fulham fans. It was not breaking into the top four, it was not winning with their arch rivals Tottenham or Arsenal but the day arrived when the owner of Fulham Fc Al Fayed unveiled the statue of the King Of Pop “Michael Jackson” outside the home turf of the club Craven Cottage. The statue, believed to be cost around the region of a staggering 100,000 was finally unveiled to the media and the Fulham fans.

The original plan of Al fayed was to showcase the statue in the Harrods but having sold the store the decorated owner decided to put up the statue in front of the home ground instead. It is 7ft 6inches tall , made of a special plaster and resin coated twice with all weather varnish. The decision to unveil the statue of Michael Jackson came as a surprise to the Fulham fans because legends says that the King of Pop was not a Fulham fan and only watched a match of Fulham back in 1999 with AL Fayed.

There is a heritage among the British clubs to put up a statue of their legendary players or managers outside their home ground which portrays the immortality of the player in serving the club. But to unveil a legendary musicians statue received a mixed reaction among the Fulham faithfuls. Many fans thought this decision to be personally triggered by the owner without knowing the consent of the fans as Michael Jackson was neither a Fulham fan nor a football fanatic.

But Al Fayed have defending his decision because he feels that this was to immortalize the legend who has given his all to entertain the people so Michael Jackson was a global figure before his sad demise on 25th June 2009 brought an end to an Era of Greatness. The players of Fulham have also supported the decision of their owner and they also feel the unveiling of the statue to be a fitting tribute to a legendary man himself . Thus from now onwards the Fulham fans and also the supporters of the away team will have a Thriller of a time when they will visit Craven Cottage.