Lets have a brief roundup of this week's Champions' League action.

Sir Alex Ferguson must be thankful that Manchester United came away with a draw from Lyon. As usual when United are away from home, Sir Alex started with a defensive 4-5-1 formation, with Hargreaves, Scholes, Anderson, Ronaldo and Giggs manning the midfield and Rooney playing a lone strikers role. Consequently United posed little threat going forward and it was Lyon who got the bulk of chances. But they were unable to take the lead until Benzema scored out of nowhere However, Ferguson did realise his mistake, sending on Tevez and Nani on for Scholes and Giggs on the 65 minutes mark. Instantly, United team showed much more desire and urgency. And they deservedly equalised when Nani's cross caused mayhem in Lyon's penalty area and Tevez stuck the into the back of the net to United a definite advantage ahead of the return leg.

Now, Sir Alex must accept the fact that Giggs and Scholes are no longer good enough to be automatic first-choice players. Moreover, the players are not comfortable in a defensive system. Even away from Old Trafford, Sir Alex should play our usual attacking game. Benzema's goal was exceptional, and Sir Alex especially congratulated the talented striker after the game. It now looks as if Ferguson has made up his mind to go after Benzema in the summer.

Rafael Benitez's job was on the line against Inter Milan, and he got the referee to thank who controversially dismissed Marco Materazzi early on in the game. But even then, Liverpool failed to convert their dominance into goals. The real turning-point of the game came when Ivan Cordoba was stretchered off 15 minutes from time. Without both of their first choice central defenders, the Inter Milan defence looked shaky and Kuyt and Gerrard took full advantage to score 2 goals in the last 5 minutes to make Liverpool the favourites to go through.

Another team that needed to fight back from a poor result at the weekend was Arsenal, but they failed to do so against a resilient AC Milan side. After a poor performance in the first half, the Gunners picked up a gear in the second to launch numerous attacks on the Milan goal but to no avail. Arsenal's best chance fell to Adebayor right at the end, but he failed to score from a header, with the goal gaping at his mercy. Now, Wenger must conjure up something extraordinary from his side to have any chance of going through to the quarter-finals as AC Milan have an impeccable record at the San Siro.

Chelsea were away at Olympiakos and the Blues manger labelled his side's performance as the worst since he took over. He was quite correct as Chelsea looked far from threatening and seemed content so soak-up pressure. In the end, they manged to escape with 0-0 draw and they were must fancy their chances against the Greeks at Stamford Bridge.

Celtic are proud owners of a very good European home record, but this time they were undone by Barcelona's brilliant attacking game. Credit must be given to Celtic for grabbing the lead twice, but two goals from Messi (how fabulous is he?) and an amazing curing strike by Henry (reminiscent of his Arsenal days) set up a great result for the Catalan giants to virtually seal their passage into the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, all the home sides were in ascendancy. Fenerbahce performed well again to beat Sevilla 3-2, Roma overcame Real Madrid despite going a goal down Kuranyi handed his side Schalke a narrow, but crucial advantage against FC Porto.

Results:

Schalke - Porto 1-0

Roma - Real Madrid 2-1

Olympiacos - Chelsea 0-0

Liverpool - Internazionale 2-0

Celtic - Barcelona 2-3

Lyon - Man. United 1-1

Fenerbache - Sevilla 3-2

Arsenal - Milan 0-0

There have been persistent rumours flying around in various tabloids for over three months now that Ronaldinho is looking to leave Barcelona and Chelsea and AC Milan are interested in signing him.Although Barca have not officially confirmed these reports,there is a feeling in the footballing world they might be willing to do business.

So, should Ronaldinho leave Barca? If he goes to Chelsea, I don't think he will be successful there. Premiership is much more fast-paced than La Liga, and he has never experienced anything like it before. I also doubt he will be able to handle the physical nature of the Premiership. Furthermore, Chelsea have failed to get the best out of International Superstars before (read Shevenko and Ballack). They have consistently under-performed and have failed to settle at all. The same fate could meet Ronaldinho at Stamford Bridge. If Ronaldinho does move to Chelsea,it is likely to be more of a marketing gimmick and less of a serious effort to improve the team by Roman Abramovich.

However,if Ronaldinho picks the San Siro as his next destination,he will be more likely to succeed. This is because the Serie A is slower-paced and technical in nature. Moreover, AC Milan already have a number of Brazilians in their ranks. Ronaldinho has a good understanding with them and they will help him to settle there. Also, Brazilians have usually found Serie A much more favourable than the Premiership.

But the main question is should Barcelona sell Ronaldinho? The fact is, Ronaldinho is past his peak. He has failed to recapture his best form of 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons (Barca's title winning campaigns). He is still capable of producing moments of magic every now and then, but his general play has slowed down considerably. By holding the ball too much, he hampers Barcelona's fast-paced attacks. In addition,his work-rate and team-ethic is not of the highest quality. Barca can afford to lose him because they already have Eto'o, Henry, Messi and up-coming youngsters Kirkic and Giovanni. If Barca offload him now, they will get at least £50 million in transfer fees. This is serious money, and Barca can reinvest it in their squad. But if Barca put off his transfer for a season or two , his value is likely to drop greatly. I think therefore,looking at the bigger picture,Barca SHOULD sell Ronaldinho, either in the January transfer window or in the summer.

So,what do YOU think? Should Barca stick with Ronaldinho? Or if a parting of the ways will be best for both parties?

A recent rumour has surfaced that Manchester United and Barcelona are in talks over a swap deal which would result in Sameul Eto'o coming to Man Utd and Louis Saha plus £5
million going the other way. Most people think this rumour is pure crap and I tend to agree with them. There are 3 reasons which make me think this.

1, It is unlikely that SAF would be interested in signing Samuel Eto'o. He is not the kind of striker United need. Moreover, he is known to be a player that undermines team spirit. United don't need such kind of influence on their team right now.

2, It is unlikely that Barca would want to add Saha to their squad. They already have Henry, Ronaldinho, Messi, Dos Santos, Kirkic and Gudjohnsen as their strikers. At best, Saha would be a regular on their bench. Why would Saha want to be used as a substitute continuously?

3.Swapping Eto'o for Saha and £5 million only sounds ridiculous.Eto'o should be valued around £30 million whereas Saha's maximum value should be approximately £8 million(as he is injury-prone).
So this deal sounds totally unrealistic.

I would be very surprised if this rumour turns out to be true.If the deal goes through,it will be one of the major surprises of the January transfer window.