Henrik Larsson produced a fairytale end to his brief but eventful Manchester United career as the Swedish legend scored to give the Red Devils a 1-0 win over Lille to put them into the Champions League quarter finals. United clinched the last 16 clash 2-0 on aggregate yesterday. Larsson could hardly have scripted it better as making his last home appearance for United before returning to Helsingborg, he headed home after fine work by Cristiano Ronaldo to put the tie beyond a brave but limited Lille side. The Swede, who also scored at Old Trafford on his home debut in the FA Cup, said there was no going back on his return home despite United suffering a striker crisis at the moment. United’s joy, slightly marred by an injury to French defender Mikael Silvestre, was not mirrored by Premiership rivals Arsenal, whose season slid into crisis mode when they saw their last chances of silverware dissolve after PSV Eindhoven drew 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium. The Dutch went through 2-1 on aggregate.PSV defender Alex scored an own goal but redeemed himself with a towering header late on. To make matters worse, star striker Thierry Henry appears set for several weeks on the sidelines after apparently tearing stomach and groin muscles.But if Wenger thought he had problems then they are nothing on Real Madrid’s Fabio Capello, whose previous club Midas touch has apparently deserted him, as his nine-time European champions slid out of the competition going down 2-1 to Bayern Munich in Germany and exiting on the away goal rule as the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.Capello’s mood was hardly improved with Real giving away the quickest goal in Champions League history as Dutchman Roy Makaay scored within 11 seconds.It took rather longer than that for one of Capello’s former clubs, AC Milan, to finally break the determined resistance of Scottish champions Celtic as Kaka eventually broke the deadlock in the 93rd minute for Milan to run out 1-0 winners after extra-time.Capello is as experienced in taking the highs and lows of management and the no-nonsense Italian was not about to throw in the white towel even though, his hopes of silverware this season are about as realistic as Wenger’s.
