Summary: Robbie Earle joins the show late on Valentines Day to cover the four UEFA Champions League fixtures midweek after the first leg to examine the key talking points in each match and there were many on display. At the core of this discussion is the draw at the Santiago Bernabeu between Real Madrid and Manchester United and we dig into this contest to determine if Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho really could be faulted for being as confident as they are heading off to Old Trafford for the return leg even if Sir Alex Ferguson holds a slight advantage by means of a critical away goal. We examine the performance of the United defence who were just as valiant as young David De Gea was throughout the night, but openly consider whether Manchester United has enough in that midfield to do much more than establish counter-attacks with a bit of speed advantage over that Real Madrid defence. Also in focus here is the truly clinical performance turned in by Juventus over Celtic and whether The Old Lady might be emerging as a dark horse because of that defensive unit and one goalkeeper for the ages in Gigi Buffon. We also examine the Zlatan Ibrahimovic red card away at Valencia, the emergence of Lucas Moura on the biggest stage and if Valencia has enough to combat the embarrassment of riches at PSG. We also look into the most entertaining of all the matches between Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund where even the sale of Willian did not feature prominently, but whether there could be an emerging concern in the Dortmund defence as the competition becomes more fierce with each passing round. For the in-focus segment, we examine all of the controversy in the Celtic-Juventus first leg around physical play in the box and whether this only serves to paper over some major cracks in the Celtic defence who were perfectly cut open by a tactically superior team who were smart to establish what the match official would permit in the contest.
