I think the average United fan has a pretty high opinion of Pirlo too, and given the current fondness for 'value' he & Del Piero are probably on the radar!

Surprisingly? They've not lost all season.

Surprisingly because I really felt they'd got themselves in a bit of a rut over the past few years that they were struggling to get out of. After a couple of seventh place finishes and the rise of sides like Napoli, Udinese and Roma looking stronger, I thought they would struggle to get back to the top but they're back this year. I'm also surprised because I wasn't sure if their recruitment would really make that much difference, as I said, I felt like Pirlo was finished, Vucinic is a decent player who I really rated in his Lecce days, but didn't think he was the type of player that would change their fortunes dramatically. The biggest surprise is their turnaround defensively, I've always rated Chiellini but I never thought they'd be this solid.

I think with Pirlo it was a case of a change being as good as a rest. Also, Conté's coaching has been refreshing, albeit with too many draws. Vucinic offers something different, more dynamic certainly than they were ever going to get out of Amauri who was an unmitigated disaster. And Derek Piero.... still got it.

Ahem... some of us tipped Juve to win Serie A

Despite being unbeaten, Milan have got this in the bag

I wonder how much the ref got bunged not to give a penalty for Fulham last night ?

Apart from the penalty that Newcastle got at OT early in the season?

How much did the ref get bunged for GIVING Newcastle one at OT? Or how much the ref got bunged when City got one a few weeks back when Barry basically kicked a defender and went down and got a pen? Just sayin'...

I believe only WBA have had more penalties given against them at their own ground than United at Old Trafford this season.



Not sure if that works for the corruption conspiracy theorist though

I'm sure whoever it was doing the bunging took a substantial amount off it for not giving united a penalty for the handball earlier in the game.

What were your views on Howard Webb (Man U fan) 'bottling' the stonewall penalty for Stoke on Saturday vs city?

What a complete and utter bell Lee Catermole is. Bardsley as well, running across the entire pitch to bang his chest because Phil Neville shoulder barged Maclean.

Everton have been utterly superb here again. Is there a better defender in the Premier League than Silvain Distain? He's a rock. Fellaini is getting back to his dominating best in midfield and Everton have thoroughly dominated two of the form Premier League teams in that regard over the last few days in Swansea. Jelavic is looking good as well and another tidy display from Magaye Gueye. Still unbeaten with the mighty Darren Gibson in the side.



As for Sunderland it's hard to see where they've been doing well under O'Neil. They have nothing at all up front and their midfield is terrible. Is there a worse player in the Premier League than Lee Catermole? Utterly talentless.

So City fans, what is Mario Balotelli up to now? He apparently turned up to the unveiling of the new Inter Milan manager and interrupted the press conference to shake everyone's hand before departing.



Visiting old friends maybe? Or there for negotiations? Or is he just mentally unhinged?

cattermole has always been a knob, as for bardsley... he obviously got taught well by keane back at united.



there will be some amount of comings and goings in liverpool on the 14th, fans making their way to wembley and the x thousands going to aintree for the national. might even be as busy in the pubs at night time as paddy's night was

.

Visiting old friends, apparently.

John Terry, looking like the Angel of the North, handballs it in the box yet Ratboy leaps to his defence. I don't give a hoot how long he had to react, you can't go to close somebody down with your arms spread eagle then expect leniency. Other than that, decent win for Chelsea, if Benfica had a decent striker they'd have probably scored two or three, but they don't so they ended up scoring none. Gaitan looked good for any United fans watching.

I didn't realise JT and Suárez were friendly.

who's he biting this time?

I agree. On the first showing, with my blue bias, my instant reaction was that he was too close to give it. But every single replay it looked a definite pen. You just can't have your arms up like that. We were very lucky.

It was a decent performance from your lot. Considering it's a tough ground to go to, you didn't give them an awful lot on the counter, which is where the Portuguese sides thrive. What was all the Meireles stuff about? I didn't pay too much attention to the commentary in the first half, but he was getting a lot of grief from the Benfica fans (I know he was a Porto player, but it's not like Torres gets hounded out of the ground at Old Trafford, is it?) and I don't recall him doing too much wrong, other than the yellow card tackle. I still think Chelsea will have a pretty tough game at home, but their confidence seems to be high so they should be able to put them to the sword. Still, I can see Benfica getting a goal, but I can't see them keeping a clean sheet. I reckon it will finish 4-1 on agg to Chelsea.

I thought it was an excellent performance. The contrast with Saturday, which was an even bigger "must win" game, was amazing.



We were the counter attacking side last night. Benfica had the balance of possession, shots, corners etc, but we had the best chances. Mata really should have us in the semi's already with the gilt-edged chances he had.



I think Meireles got more abuse mainly because we have so many players with Portuguese influence. We got Ramires and Luiz from them so they were returning to their old club, but there is also Ferreira, Bosingwa and Meireles who are Portuguese. I think that all added to them going a bit overboard against Meireles.

Good luck to Benfica at Stamford Bridge.

Just watched the Bayern highlights. Gomez's goal certainly wasn't a tap in, but I bet Mandanda must be feeling sick seeing that go in.