Pennant Fever

On Saturday, Arsenal beat Newcastle United, while Manchester City won its semi-final match in the F.A. Cup.  Man City advances to the F.A. Cup final, where they will play Chelsea on Saturday, May 16.  Meanwhile, the top of the English Premier League looks like this:

1.  Arsenal:  22-5-7 (73 points)

2.  Manchester City:  21-5-7 (70)

In Scotland, Heart of Midlothian won at Hibernian 2-1, Rangers lost at home to Motherwell, and Celtic defeated Falkirk 3-1.  So with four games left in the season, the top of the Scottish Premier League looks like this:

1.  Heart of Midlothian:  22-5-7 (73 points)

2.  Celtic:  22-8-4 (70)

3.  Rangers:  19-3-12 (69)

I can't remember another season where both countries had such exciting pennant races.  Hearts will host Rangers on Monday, May 4 in the biggest game played in Edinburgh in many years.

The Scottish F.A. Cup Final will feature Celtic and Dunfermline Athletic.  It will take place on Saturday, May 23.

Meanwhile, and most important of all, the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League start this week.  The quarter-finals (played over two legs) went like this:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 4 - 0 Liverpool (ENG)

Real Madrid (ESP) 4 - 6 Bayern Munich (GER)

Barcelona (ESP) 2 - 3 Atletico Madrid (ESP)

Sporting CP (POR) 0 - 1 Arsenal (ENG)

It's pretty rare to see both Real Madrid and Barcelona eliminated before the semi-finals.  Anyway, here are the semi-finalists:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v. Bayern Munich (GER)

Atletico Madrid (ESP) v. Arsenal (ENG)