I watched an entire season of soccer for this?

Inter Milan won this year's Coppa Italia (goal by Milito). They won the Scudetto on the final day (goal by Milito). Then they won the Champions League final (2-0, goals by Milito-- when I wrote that Milito was a player to watch out for, I didn't mean latter that same day). The only remaining question was how quickly Jose Mourinho would announce that he is leaving Inter Milan. The only bright spot for AC Milan fans is that Inter's win means that that Serie A will still have four Champions League slots instead of three (at least for the next couple of years). I am not sure why anyone would want to watch the highlights, but here they are.

Champions League Update: Semifinals are set

Above: Arjen Robben celebrates the winning goal

Below: Seconds earlier, the Manchester United players watch Robben's goal go in the net

All four Champions League quarterfinal ties are over, and here are the results:

• Barcelona defeated Arsenal
• Inter Milan beat CSKA Moscow
• Olympique Lyon beat Girondins Bordeaux
• Bayern Munich defeated Manchester United

Below: Messi scores one of his four goals against Arsenal on Tuesday

In the Bayern-Man Utd. match on Wednesday, Bayern arrived at Old Trafford with a 2-1 lead and hopes that Wayne Rooney would be unable to play due to injury. Rooney did start, however, and United quickly built up a 3-0 lead. Bayern scored at the end of the first half (on a goal by Olic), and then, in the second half, Manchester United's Rafael was sent off with his second yellow card, and Rooney had to leave due to a re-aggravation of his ankle injury. Arjen Robben then scored a pretty astounding goal to pull Bayern level 4-4 over the two legs of the tie. Due to the away-goals rule, Bayern advance.

After the match, United coach Alex Ferguson denounced the Bayern players for being "typical Germans."

For highlights, watch this:

When You Tube takes this video down, try this link instead.

The semifinals will see Barca play Inter and Lyon versus Bayern.

Champions League update: Bayern Munich 2 - Manchester United 1 (First leg)

Above: Wayne Rooney lies injured while Bayern Munich celebrates their last second goal.

When You Tube takes down the above video, try this link.

Update 3/31/10: Yesterday I was too lazy to actually write anything about this match, but a number of things happened which certainly deserve to be written about-- Wayne Rooney's ridiculously easy goal at the 1:04 minute mark; Ribery's free kick goal that ricocheted in off Rooney; Olic's stoppage time goal which came right after Rooney's ankle injury (which could cause Rooney to miss the end of Man Utd.'s season, the Champion's League, and possibly even the World Cup). Somebody else is just going to have to write about these things, however. I am not up to the task.

Champions League update: Mind-boggling mistakes lead to mind-boggling goals

Porto 2 - Arsenal 1

Porto's first goal was nothing more than a single mistake by the goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski. Porto's second goal was a bit more complicated, because it involved multiple mistakes. Arsenal defender Sol Campbell's back pass to the keeper was picked up by Fabianski (one mistake), which resulted in an indirect free kick for Porto. Fabianski then handed the ball directly to the referee (yet another mistake) who allowed Porto to quickly restart the game and score.

Bayern Munich 2 - Fiorentina 1

In the Bayern Munich-Fiorentina match, the mistakes all belong to the referee and linesman. On Bayern Munich's first goal, the referee had called a penalty before the ball went in the net, so he disallowed the initial goal. Luckily for everyone involved, the subsequent penalty was made, so the score turned out 1-0 as it should have. Bayern Munich's second goal is even simpler-- the fault lies completely with the linesman, who failed to call Klose offside.

Match report: Zurich 1 - Milan 1

• Goals scored: Gajic 30', Ronaldinho 64' (penalty)
• What happened: Milan looked mediocre and were lucky to get a draw. Real Madrid beat Marseille 3-1, however, so Milan advance to the knockout round of the Champions League.
• Potentially bad news: Thiago Silva had to leave the game early with a calf injury.
• Startling news: Bayern Munich defeated Juventus. (See photo below) Bayern Munich advance and Juventus are out.
• What this match teaches us: Cristiano Ronaldo is not all bad-- his two goals for Real Madrid helped ensure that Milan advance to the next round.