Barca Blitz Lyon, Ferguson Finally Puts One Over Mourinho, My Dumbass Predictions, And Much More

Lots to discuss, let's get right to it.
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The Barca-Lyon game was a joy to watch. It started scrappily, ended in a bad spirit, and yet was thoroughly captivating in the intervening 70 minutes. In about a quarter of an hour, Barca -- through the prolific trio of Henry, Eto'o and Messi -- put four past Lyon, before allowing one back just before halftime. Immediately after the break, Lyon added another to make it interesting before Barca slowly but surely ground them down.

Chasing shadows obviously had an adverse effect on Lyon's collective mood because challenge after surly challenge followed in the second half, with a host of yellow cards and Juninho getting sent off just before the final whistle. Keita added a fifth from practically the last kick of the game, and sent a message to the rest of Europe: Barca are back. Don't say you weren't warned. They have put that temporary blip of two losses (Espanyol, Atletico) and two draws (Betis and Lyon) behind. Even the goals they conceded were more as a result of a little conceit and a loss of concentration than anything major. Are they playing as well as they did between September and December? No, but no one in Europe is, or can.

Three trophies are there for the taking. How badly do they want them?

One final note: I really would like to see guys like Hleb, Gudjohnsen, Bojan, and Keita getting more of a go in the next two or three games. People like Xavi and the three up front need a break if they're going to be effective toward the crucial part of the season (May). Guardiola, if there's one criticism of him, has been relucant to rotate regularly, even when it's been clear the team needed a spark. Let's hope that changes now that Barca don't have any midweek games for the three weeks after playing 18 games in the last 70 days.
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Football is, more than any other sport, a game of inches. Around the 25-30 minute mark in their game against Man U, Inter finally hit their stride. Needing just one goal to gain the ascendancy, they saw Ibrahimovic hit the cross-bar with a nodded header, sent an angled shot just wide off the post after he had Van der Sar beaten, and Stankovic just missed with an audacious shot from the outside of his right boot. With a 15 minute period of sustained pressure, they had to score. I remember thinking that if they didn't score then, they'd get punished, and sure enough, Ronaldo's goal in the second half settled the tie.

The point is this: Inter were this close to getting a foot in the door. They didn't, and ultimately, looking at the 2-0 scoreline, no one can say it wasn't a fair reflection of the two teams on the night. The United juggernaut rolls on, Ferguson gets to enjoy his £300 bottle of wine, and Inter have to face uncomfortable questions about whether or not they can actually cut it at this level as presently constituted.
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So in my Champions League picks made about three weeks ago, I predicted (a) three out of four English teams getting booted, with only Arsenal getting through (all four English teams got through); and (b) Villareal getting through over Panathinakos, based on the idea that "it's crazy hard to get a result there [in Greece] for a visiting team (Villareal won away after drawing at home). In all, I enjoyed a 50% success rate, and really, Bayern-Sporting shouldn't even count as a correct prediction. In other words, don't ever listen to anything I say. Actually, now that I think about it, you people probably find that advice redundant.
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Some quick awards:

Most impressive performance:

I'm tempted to go with Bayern, but given they put twelve friggin goals past Sporting, I'm inclined to think the latter didn't show up. At the end of the day, you have to tip your hat to Livepool, who outmaneuvered Real at the Bernabeu, and then ran them ragged and made them look amateur at Anfield. Every time they rumors and doubts swirl about Rafa, his team puts in a monster performance in Europe. I have learned the hard way that you doubt them at your own peril.

Most pathetic performance:

Sporting. Again, twelve goals.

Darkhorse for the next round:

In this roller-coaster season of theirs, it is crazy to think that Chelsea have suddenly found the spirit and steel that has always made them so dangerous. I don't think anyone would consider them favorites or anything, but I think they're just fine with that -- many times, being an underdog can have a galvanizing effect on a team.

Most giddy:

The English press tomorrow. Get your puke-buckets ready.

Biggest question mark:

Real Madrid, no question. At least Inter and Lyon, two other teams who seem to find the last 16 an insurmountable obstacle in the last half decade, can be content with winning their domestic leagues. Real, barring a collapse by Barca, are going to be shut out for trophies this season. In addition, their club is in turmoil yet again, with another election for President soon to come, no doubt followed by (yet) another manager, no doubt concomitant with some combination of Ronaldo/Kaka/Messi speculation (they're unlikely to get any of those guys, but who cares about facts?). Keep your eye on this team; a severe implosion could lie ahead.
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The draw for the last eight is on Friday. Here are my rankings for teams in descending order for teams the average fan would want to see.

1. Porto
2. Villareal
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Barcelona
6. Bayern
7. Liverpool
8. Man U

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Comment of the day from a Guardian reader:

Well, at least the Gunners have shown they can spank Roma and score 7 against them as good as United.

UPDATE II: Man, I love the commenters on the Guardian. Here's one from Sid Lowe's piece on Barca being the only team capable of stopping the English teams:

I, for, one prefer Barcelona win the Champions League like Spain did at Euro 2008. For that matter, Iraq's win in the Asian Cup did dissipate some of the dark clouds over Iraq. Who remembers Greece's abject win in 2004? Greek nationalists, Republicans, Puritans and fiscal conservatives. Who remembers Spain's win in 2008? Pentecostals, Guardian readers, hedonists, Jazz musicians, fat chefs and rambunctious dogs. Barcelona winning will be for the good of the game.