Another Red Letter Day

Many Reds had their fingers crossed for a tie against Schalke or Fernebahce, as any of our Premiership rivals, Barcelona or Roma would have all been tough asks.
I think I prefer Arsenal, to Chelsea or the mancs. If we're going to have to play Fergie's lot I'd want them at a later stage than the quarters.
Obviously we seem to have the edge on the Blue Russians in Europe over the last three years, but there's always that sneaking suspicion that they owe us one big time.
Don't get me wrong, Arsenal is going to be a huge test, but I get the feeling they maybe lack that nouse in Europe that we've built up over the years.
Getting the second leg back at Anfield is always a big boost for us, and to know we have a roaring bouncing Kop for the return fills me with confidence.
Last time we played Arsenal they played us off the park a bit at Anfield, but I think the forms of the two teams has changed a lot since that day (their Milan display aside)
We are playing a lot better and now have an on song midfield that will more than compete with Fabregas, Hleb, and Flamini.
Our current line up of Torres, Gerrard, Masch, Lucas, Babel and Kuyt/Pennant has us set-up far more impressively than earlier in the season.
And it seems that the Gooners are slightly on the slide compared to some of the wonder stuff they were knocking out earlier this campaign.

Despite, Roma's 7-1 mauling at Old Trafford last year, they still would have been very tough, their comfortable win over Real Madrid showed that.
And Barcelona still have enough world class players to beat anyone in this competition.
As far a possible semi final link up with Chelsea goes, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, but if nothing else, it would be plain boring.
Don't UEFA want some sort of a spectacle for their showpiece event? Oh that's right, the draw is random isn't it.....

I've not a had a chance to blog about our victory in the San Siro on Tuesday night.
The overriding feeling though was that we achieved our 3-0 aggregate win with a bit too spare.
If donkey Cruz had buried that early chance, things might have been different, but there was no chair gripping or biting of nails from where I was sitting.
If that's the best the runaway leaders of Serie A can manage maybe that league isn't all its cracked up to be.
Our defending and midfield cover was once again superb, notable mentions to Mascherano, Skrtel (one gaffe aside) and Aurelio.
And as for Ibrahimovic....it was the same when we played Juve on the road to Istanbul in 2005.
He was being lauded as the league's most dangerous marksman...but once again all he produced was wild aimless swipes over the bar and plenty of nark and attitude.
Anyway, bring on the Gooners. All in all, a tough draw, but plenty of of grounds for optimism.