LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Real Madrid can sweep away concerns they have lost
their edge when they square up to Monaco in the first leg of their Champions
League quarter-final on Wednesday.
Whichever club comes through the tie will have a trip to London to look
forward to in the semi-finals, with Arsenal taking on Chelsea on Wednesday in
the first instalment of a derby tie for the right to face them.
Real have had a miserable week after a dramatic extra-time defeat by Real
Zaragoza in the final of the King's Cup last Wednesday robbed the nine-times
European champions of the chance of an historic treble.
The exertions of that defeat, and the defensive frailties exposed during it,
were to blame for the 4-2 defeat at Athletic Bilbao which left the 'galacticos'
just a point ahead of Valencia in the primera liga after the weekend's action.
But if there is talk of crisis at the Bernabeu, Monaco too have been a pale
imitation of the side that sailed through the opening half of the season.
Europe was put on alert by their astonishing 8-3 destruction of Deportivo
Coruna in the Champions League in November and by January they held a 10-point
lead at the top of Ligue 1.
Last weekend's 1-1 draw at home to Sochaux, however, saw Didier Deschamps's
team overhauled at the top of the table by champions Olympique Lyon.
If domestic form is any indicator of European success then Arsenal should
have the measure of Chelsea.
Arsenal have played the best football in England this season and, unlike Real
or Monaco, have shown no signs of letting up as they chase a treble of their own.
Nine points ahead of Chelsea at the top of the league, Arsenal can set a
record of 30 successive top-flight matches unbeaten from the start of a season
against Manchester United on Sunday. The following weekend, they face United
again as the holders bid to reach a record fourth straight FA Cup final.
At Chelsea, the Roman Abramovich revolution has yet to fully iron out the
inconsistency that has driven their supporters mad for generations and the
Champions League is their last realistic chance of a trophy this year.
Add in the instability created by the constant swirl of rumours about the
departure of coach Claudio Ranieri, and the fact that Chelsea have already lost
three times to Arsenal this season and things look pretty bleak for the west
Londoners.
But the faustian pact Chelsea fans sign up to trades defeats on wet
Wednesdays to mid-table strugglers for the occasional glorious victory against
all the odds -- like beating Arsenal for the first time in 16 games and more
than five years.