Avoiding the Drop

What you missed while making the alphabet out of Lego spaceships…

• UEFA Champions League octofinal roundup (teams in bold advance): Manchester United 2-1 Marseille, Bayern Munich 2-3 Inter Milan.
• CONCACAF Champions League semifinal roundup: Real Salt Lake 2-0 Saprissa.
• MLS roundup: Seattle 0-1 Los Angeles.
• According to “The Knowledge”, Inter are only the fourth team in the history of the Champions League/Champions Cup to overturn a home deficit and advance (AC Milan in 1955, Ajax in 1969, Nottingham Forest in 1980, and Ajax again in 1996 being the others).
• Former Manchester United and England captain (and current Thailand manager) Bryan Robson had surgery on March 3rd to remove a tumor in his throat.
• Barcelona left back Eric Abidal will have surgery on a tumor in his liver on Thursday.
• Manchester United lost defenders John O’Shea and Rafael to hamstring injuries against Marseille.
• Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick hopes that the recent spate of defender injuries won’t force him into emergency defensive duty.
• Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has denied that Fernando Torres is unhappy in London, although Torres might become unhappy when he finds out that Ancelotti is thinking of dropping him due to poor form for Chelsea’s Champions League match against Copenhagen tonight.
• Arsenal have no idea when or if centerback Thomas Vermaelen will be able to play again.
• Tottenham have lost centerback William Gallas for a month to a hamstring injury.
• Sunderland manager Steve Bruce could have signed Andy Carroll for £4.5 million when he was Wigan’s manager a few seasons ago.
• Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole has had his pub ban extended through the end of 2012 after numerous breaches; Cattermole’s been on this pub ban since his 2008 arrest for disorder.
• Schalke have officially sacked manager Felix Magath; the move, while not unexpected, comes only a week after Schalke advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
• In spite of their early exit from the Champions League, Bayern Munich won’t sack manager Louis van Gaal until the end of the season.
• After being heckled by Inter defender Marco Materazzi from the bench, Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger totally understands why Zinedine Zidane headbutted him five years ago.
• Bayern Munich striker Deniz Yilmaz will move to Mainz in June.
• Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda isn’t interested in a move to Manchester United.
• Feyenoord general manager Eric Gudde has called the move of 16-year old wonderkid Karim Rekik to Manchester City “stupid for all involved.”
• Seattle surprisingly released Swiss striker Blaise Nkufo from their roster only 90 minutes before their home opener against Los Angeles yesterday evening.