Champions League Promises More Fun

There are just 8 teams left in the uefa champions league race out of the 32 that started.The Road to the final in Moscow is getting clearer by the day.The road promises to be fun and tough with four games coming up in April alone.

Yes, for the first time, both quarter-finals and both semi-finals will take place in one month, thanks largely to the looming European Championships.

As such, the importance of having a squad, and the effect of telling engagements in domestic competitions threatens to be greater than ever.

The Draw has paired Arsenal against Liverpool,Manchester Against Roma in a game that Roma will definitely want to win in search of revenge of last season's 7-1 defeat to Manchester United,Barcelona will be Up against Schalke In a tricky match that Barca is expected to win without much problems,Chelsea got their prayers answered when they were paired against Fenerbahce in a game that chelsea will must definitely win

Admittedly, Schalke and Fenerbahce are being considered relative outsiders, but the Germans progressed from a group containing Chelsea and Valencia, while the Turks dealt with Inter and PSV in proud fashion. Then, the steel shown to hold their own and win penalty shoot-outs on away turf can not be ignored either.

Barcelona and Roma, meanwhile, won both home and away, and showed that they can be unstoppable on their day.

It is also the right time to remember some of the legendary clubs that will not be here, talking about the likes of Nine time champions Real Madrid and the defending champions Ac Milan. Bernd Schuster's and Carlo Ancelotti's sides were sent out by two young and energetic sides that proved to Europe that football is not all about the big bucks. Roma and Arsenal, as such, will be very difficult to eliminate, for sheer ebullience if nothing else.

Then we have Chelsea and Liverpool, two sides that have been humiliated in the FA Cup this season (Barnsley take a bow), but who will prove to be an entirely different proposition over two legs. Absolutely nobody will be rested, and there is no chance they will be complacent, for both managers need silverware to secure their respective positions.

And finally, we have Manchester United, who have been installed as favourites for the competition by 90% of the bookmakers, due largely to the fact that they are a lot stronger than the side that looked lost at San Siro last April.

Of course, there is the individual angle as well. The likes of Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the running for the Ballon d'Or, and can silence any doubters by guiding their team to glory. Lionel Messi is unlikely to be fit for the quarter-finals, but even he remains in the fray, along with new entrant Fernando Torres.

The Spaniard has not been mentioned as a candidate yet, but with 26 goals already, if he can guide Liverpool to the Champions League and score a few for Spain this summer, he will probably have 40 for the season. Francesco Totti is another player who has always been overlooked for major awards largely because of lack of silverware. Could European glory offer just the excuse to the jury?

Much will depend on the path that is laid out in front of them - whom they face, whether they play home or away first - and it will all be unveiled on Friday afternoon.

Updates:

1. The 8-0 hammering of Besiktas makes Liverpool the team with the most goals in the competition - 21 from eight games.

Barcelona and Arsenal come in second with 16, while Schalke are last, with just six in eight games. Meawhile, Barcelona are runaway leaders in terms of total shots on target - a mammoth 66.

Team Goals scored in 8 games Liverpool 21 Barcelona 16 Arsenal 16 Roma 15 Manchester United 14 = Chelsea 14 Fenerbahce 13 Schalke 6

2. On the defensive front, Chelsea have been the most miserly, having conceded just the two in eight games, which is what makes them one of the most difficult to knock-out.

Attack-minded Arsenal are the surprise second placed team with four, just ahead of Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Schalke. Fenerbahce conceded five at the last 16 stage to ensure they bring up the rear.

The list, more than anything, indicates just how mean you have to be to win this trophy in the modern era.

Team Goals conceded in 8 games Chelsea 2 Arsenal 4 Liverpool 5 = Barcelona 5 = Manchester United 5 = Schalke 5 Roma 8 Fenerbahce 11

3. Finally, if we measure success as the number of points picked up from eight games (allocating points even for the two knock-out games for the sake of analysis), we find Barcelona at the top of the pile, being chased down by Arsenal, Roma and Manchester United.

As an aside, Barcelona, Man Utd and Chelsea are the only unbeaten teams in the competition. Schalke bring up the rear after having practically squeezed through at every stage thus far.

Team Points from 8 games Barcelona 20 Arsenal 17 =Roma 17 = Manchester United 17 Liverpool 16 = Chelsea 16 Fenerbahce 14 Schalke 11

The Quarter finals promise to be full of intrigues,goals ,tackles and so much surprises.I just can't wait to see the games

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Champions League Draw

Arsenal has been drawn against Liverpool in the champions league quarter finals Arsenal came out of the bowl first, and they got Liverpool. The Reds will have the luxury of playing the second leg at home.

Incidential the champions league feature will collide with a premier league fiture which makes it 3 games in just 8 days!

In the Other draws Roma will be playing Manchester united ,yet again in a repeat of last year's quartfer which ended in favor 7-1 in favor of the English side.The second leg comes up in old Trafford,this fixture promises to be interesting and full of drama.It may sound controversial but I predict a win for Roma this time around.

The only German team left will be playing former champions Barcelona in what seems to be a easy draw for the la liga outfit.The second leg comes up in Spain.

The Last game will be between Fenerbahce and Chelsea.The second leg comes up in stamford Bridge.This is fixture will hat will involve Mateja Kezman and Nicolas Anelka facing their former clubs.

The semi-finals will see the winners of Arsenal-Liverpool play the winners of Fenerbahce-Chelsea. In what could Yet be another Liverpool-Chelsea semi-final?

The other clas would potentially see Manchester United and Barcelona clash expect if one of Schalke and Roma pulls a surprise as I already predicted.

In general ,the draw seem to be a good draw for chelsea,Barcelona ,manchester united and Liverpool since they all will be playing their last matches at their stadia.

But then again, Arsenal and Roma won in Milan and Madrid respectively, just a few weeks ago, and will back themselves to produce something similar again!

Manchester Or Madrid? A Question Of Culture

The English Premier League touts itself as the greatest in the world. It’s certainly up there. It’s the most watched domestic championship globally and few teams anywhere can better the big four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.


The Premiership is a major success story, a true money spinner and has attracted some classy individuals. There’s just one problem with it: it’s in England.

I love watching the Premier League. I enjoy the coverage of the games, I think the stadia are terrific (far better than you’ll see in either Italy or Spain) and for me there’s no finer city in the world than London. But I’m an Englishman, not a South American superstar.


A comment from Bayern Munich defender Lucio got me thinking: The Brazil captain has played in the Bundesliga for many years and enjoyed enormous success there, but Germany will never be his true aim.


“I dream of playing in Spain or Italy,” he admitted. “It’s almost impossible to convince Brazilian stars playing in Serie A or La Liga to move to the Bundesliga. It’s not to do with Bayern, but the country. In Italy and Spain, the culture, the habits and the language are much more similar to Brazil. Bayern can’t compare to that.”


Swap ‘Munich’ for ‘Manchester’ and you get my point. In a climate where so many of the game’s greatest players are of Latin origin, English football will find it hard to compete for the top players. For the Portuguese or the South Americans, top Spanish and Italian sides are the pinnacle. Once there, not even whopping great bundles of English cash are likely to force their hands unless, like former Barcelona man Juliano Belletti, they are told it’s time to go.


This doesn’t mean Latin talents won’t ever come to England and succeed (Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best player in the world at the moment, proves they do and can), but it does mean that Premiership sides must act swiftly to beat their Spanish and Italian cousins to emerging talents. England is a step up for a player at a club in South America, Portugal, France or Eastern Europe. But if he’s a Spanish, Italian or Portuguese speaker, it’s likely he considers the Premier League a poor relation to Serie A or La Liga for cultural rather than footballing reasons. United beats Parma, Liverpool beats Atlético (as we saw with Fernando Torres) but neither beats Real Madrid.


A look at the most successful Latin players in the Premiership illustrates this: Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano reached the north west via West Ham and the Brazilian league; Anderson left Porto; Elano came to City via Shakhtar Donetsk; Xabi Alonso to Liverpool from a smaller Spanish side. Even Cesc Fabregas was tempted by London because he feared for his chances at Camp Nou. Those who do move from Real, Barcelona or Milan to England were usually outcasts or, like Andriy Shevchenko, from an entirely different culture altogether.


Just like we never got to see Diego Maradona, French legend Zinedine Zidane or Brazilian duo Ronaldo and Rivaldo in England, the likelihood is that we have now also missed the boat on Lionel Messi, Kaká and Alexander Pato, who already play at top Spanish or Italian sides. Even Ronaldinho appears to favour Serie A over the Premier League should he leave Barcelona in the summer.


Yet, like Lucio at Bayern, the threat always exists that one day stars such as Tevez, Torres or Cristiano Ronaldo will head south to seek new challenges in a country that tugs more forcefully on their emotional heartstrings. And while it might be frustrating for fans to see these players leave, there’s little we English can do about it short of turning Manchester into a continental metropolis (and who among us would want that anyway?). In terms of bringing Latin talents to our league, English football’s task remains to discover promising individuals before rival clubs in Spain or Italy do.


Of course, the cultural divide has its advantages, too: Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs or Steven Gerrard are unlikely to ever trade their respective red shirts for the white of Madrid or the black and blue of Inter. And northern European stars like Petr Cech, Michael Ballack and Alexander Hleb could probably remain happily in England for the rest of their careers.


But for as long as southern Europe and South America continue to produce many of the best players, the world’s top stars will continue to consider the Premier League second best, even if the football is first class.

Source Goal.com