The north London club was beaten 3-1 in the European Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday evening.

Suleiman Omondi, 29, who was watching in a bar in the capital, Nairobi, was incensed by the club’s poor showing.

He left at half-time after arguing with a Manchester United fan and was found hanging from a rope in his house, still dressed in an Arsenal shirt.

‘Broke down’

The BBC’s Josphat Makori in Nairobi says the unprecedented incident has shocked football fans in Kenya.

According to his friends, Mr Omondi was in good spirits at the beginning of the match and even when Arsenal conceded the first goal, he did not seem to be affected.But things changed when the team conceded a second goal 11 minutes into the game.

A woman, who sat next to him in the bar, said Mr Omondi was so disappointed by Arsenal’s poor performance that he broke down during half-time.

Another eyewitness told journalists that it was at this point that a Manchester United fan started taunting him.

“Suleiman got hold of him angrily by the neck and started pressing him so hard,” he said.

“We quickly intervened and asked him to stop. Suleiman then stopped but he was so angry that he left in a rage.”

His body was found on Wednesday morning.

Police officer David Bunei told the BBC the incident was being investigated.

Source:BBC

A fortuitous opener from Park Ji-sung was followed by a thunderous 40-yard free-kick from Cristiano Ronaldo to effectively book a final date with Chelsea or Barcelona on May 27 after only 11 minutes.

Ronaldo capped a fine performance by sliding home a third goal, his 25th of the season. It was not quite a perfect night for United as Darren Fletcher ended it in disbelief at a red card for a tackle on Cesc Fabregas – which will rule him out of the Italian job.

After just eight minutes, Arsenal’ Kieran Gibbs lost his footing and hit the ground with a thump. Like lightning, Park seized on the loose ball, delicately lifting it over goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, whose arrival came just too late.

But if United’s opener came courtesy of good fortune, their next was the result of audacity, mixed with high ability. As Ronaldo took a free-kick – following a foul by Robin Van Persie – the United star stepped back and waited from 35 yards out, ready to unleash his missile and Almunia knew what to expect.

Indeed, it could be argued that from such distances, not goalkeeper should be beaten. But as Ronaldo let fly, with venom, and watched his shot dip and flicker, Almunia was powerless to prevent it ripping into the net.

In fairness, Arsenal tried to rally, but there was nothing the Spanish stopper could do when United attacked again, Ronaldo supplying the finish to Wayne Rooney’s cross.

For Fletcher there was a nasty sting in the tail. The Scot got studs on the ball before sending Fabregas flying in the penalty area, earning him a red card which will rule him out of the final.

Van Persie impressively converted the spot-kick – but it was little consolation for Arsenal.

Source: AOL

The hosts went ahead of Manchester United on goal difference having come from behind three times, starting with Arshavin’s first in the 36th minute.

Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun scored soon after the interval but three further goals from the Russian Gunner piled the pressure back on Rafael Benitez’s side and even a second from Torres and an injury-time equaliser from Benayoun were not enough.

After dominating for large periods of the first half, Liverpool were struck with a sucker punch in the 36th minute. Javier Mascherano lost the ball on the edge of the penalty area and Cesc Fabregas exchanged passes with Samir Nasri before crossing for Arshavin to fire home off the underside of the crossbar.

Liverpool realistically had 45 minutes to keep their season alive and that realisation brought the equaliser within four minutes of the restart. Alvaro Arbeloa’s cross was poorly dealt with by Bacary Sagna and Dirk Kuyt collected the ball, got to the byline and crossed for Torres to head low into the left corner of Lucasz Fabianski’s goal.

Seven minutes later they were ahead. Fabianski and Kieren Gibbs both messed up their clearances and Kuyt crossed to the far post where Benayoun headed in. The goalkeeper claimed to have clawed the ball out but it was clearly over the line.

In the 65th minute Arsene Wenger brought on Theo Walcott for Denilson to try to get back in the game but it was another mistake which brought their equaliser. Arbeloa could not control Jamie Carragher’s downward defensive header and Arshavin nipped in to fire past Reina’s outstretched left hand.

Incredibly for a team which had conceded just eight goals in 16 home league matches a third error handed Arsenal the lead again. Fabio Aurelio played a left-wing cross straight to Arshavin 10 yards out and he drilled a shot under Reina for his hat-trick in the 70th minute.

Amazingly Liverpool were level again two minutes later when Torres controlled Riera’s cross, turned Mikael Silvestre and fired past Fabianski.

Substitute Theo Walcott then broke from a corner and played in Arshavin to score his fourth in injury time. Benayoun bundled home an equaliser even later on but it was too late to force a victory.

Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal:

Source: AOL

Theo Walcott put the Gunners ahead after 18 minutes when his volley took a deflection off Ashley Cole and beat Petr Cech.

Chelsea fought back and levelled through Florent Malouda, and sealed a return to Wembley when Didier Drogba latched on to a long ball ahead of the on-rushing Fabianski, and slotted into a empty net in the 84th minute.

Although substitute Andrey Arshavin went close in stoppage time, there was no way back for Arsenal, allowing Chelsea to claim capital dominance, while also quietly keeping themselves on track for the treble.

Source: AOL

MAN UTD. 1 – PORTO FC 0

It is now Arsenal versus Man United and Chelsea versus Barcelona in the semi finals of the European Champions League.

Picture from AOL.

Defending champions Manchester United will play Portuguese champions Porto, while Arsenal were paired with Spanish side Villarreal. Barcelona will meet Bayern Munich in the other match. The quarter-finals will take place on April 7-8, with the return legs the following week.

The battle of Britain again pits old European adversaries Liverpool and Chelsea against each other.

Liverpool reached the final in 2005 at the expense of the Stamford Bridge club, with then Blues boss Jose Mourinho left seething as Luis Garcia’s goal at Anfield, which decided the tie, was deemed to have crossed the line in front of the Kop.

The Reds again prevailed two years ago, winning a penalty shoot-out to make sure of a place in the final, which they lost to AC Milan – the team they had beaten on penalties to win the competition two years previously.

United’s match against Porto brings back memories of 2004, when then Porto boss Mourinho charged up the Old Trafford touchline in delight after a 90th-minute Costinha goal took the Portuguese side through at the expense of the English team.

The draw for the semi-finals was also made. The winners of Liverpool’s match against Chelsea will face the winners of Barcelona’s match against Bayern for a place in the final.

United will take on Arsenal for a place in the Rome showdown – assuming both Barclays Premier League teams win their quarter-final ties.

The first leg of the semis is due to take place on April 28-29, with the return matches going ahead the following week.

Champions League quarter-final draw

Villarreal v Arsenal

Manchester United v FC Porto

Liverpool v Chelsea

Barcelona v Bayern Munich

Semi-final draw:

Manchester United/FC Porto v Villarreal/Arsenal

Barcelona/Bayern Munich v Liverpool/Chelsea

The midfielder has been out of action since rupturing knee ligaments against Liverpool in December.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger confirmed that the 21-year-old had joined in with training but is still some weeks away from a return to first-team action.

“It is the first time training for Cesc,” said Wenger. “He is physically fit, but he needs a few sessions.”

The Spaniard suffered the injury going for a 50-50 challenge with Xabi Alonso in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool at the Emirates on 21 December 2008.

In Fabregas’ absence, the Gunners have struggled at times this season as Wenger opted to resist the temptation to recruit another central midfielder in the January transfer window and instead kept faith with inexperienced youngsters such as Denilson and Alexander Song.

606: DEBATE
Give your reaction to Fabregas’ return

However, they have recently returned to the automatic Champions League places and have advanced to the Champions League quarter-final and FA Cup semi-final.

Fabregas was recently embroiled in controversy during the 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final victory over Hull where he was accused by Tigers’ boss Phil Brown of spitting at assistant manager Brian Horton.

Arsenal have also received further good news for their season run-in with the return of Eduardo da Silva and Mikael Silvestre to training.

Croatian striker Eduardo returned in February after being out for almost a year with a broken leg, but seen his comeback interrupted by hamstring injuries.

French defender Silvestre has been out for 10 weeks with a calf problem.

Credit: BBC

The teams will reconvene at the Stadio Olimpico on March 11 and each will take a positive spin on an eventful first leg at Emirates Stadium. The Giallorossi will claim they were let off the hook after Arsenal failed to add to Robin van Persie’s first-half penalty. But for all the Gunners’ profligacy, they proved they have enough quality to score a potentially decisive away goal in Italy.

The Arsenal manager would have preferred to see his players put the tie to bed on Tuesday night. But Wenger is positive they can prevail – especially if they don’t add to a six-strong injury list before travelling to Rome.

“I am happy with the performance but there was room to score more goals tonight,” said the Frenchman. “That is a regret we have.
 
“From Tuesday night we know that we can create chances and you never know what the right result is in this competition.

“One of the positives was that we didn’t concede a goal. We are in a position where we can’t just defend, we want to attack and score goals [in Rome].
 
“The next game will of course be an interesting one because they will throw a lot more forward. We have three more games between that tie and the next leg. At the speed we are losing players it might be a difficulty for us.”

Source: Arsenal.com
By Chris Harris
[Wednesday, February 25, 2009]