The Champions League resumes this week and that will come as a relief to many fans for at least three reasons.
Firstly, the hysteria surrounding England coach Steve McClaren should finally subside after two weeks of media overkill.
It should also mean a halt to the overhyped transfer stories we’ve seen of late: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka to Real Madrid, Eto’o to Liverpool, Ronaldinho to AC Milan, etc, etc. There has been no real movement on these supposed operations but sports newspapers in Spain and Italy have to keep filling all those pages somehow.
More importantly, the Champions League quarter-finals provide the last chance to see attacking football at the highest level. It’s pretty well accepted that the Champions League, with all those expensively assembled international stars, showcases the sport at its highest level, over and above even the World Cup.
We should enjoy it while we can. Last season’s semi-finals produced just two goals in four matches as tension got the better of whatever attacking instincts the remaining teams had. The quarter-finals gave us a relatively healthy 12 goals in eight games.
Bayern Munich are away to AC Milan and Liverpool travel to PSV Eindhoven in the two ties on Tuesday, while Chelsea host Valencia and Manchester United travel to AS Roma on Wednesday.
So which teams do you think will win through? Can the English sides take three of the four semi-finals places, just as Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona did for Spain in 2000. And what about the heavyweight tie between Milan and Bayern, who have won the European Cup 10 times between them?
Who do you see in the semi-finals?
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8 comments so far
Liverpool should prevail over the dutch side iven that they beat them in the group stages and Eindhoven have injury worries.
Valencia will shock Chel$ki. Chel$ki are a side of highly skilled individuals who perform consistently in the league but falter against good disciplined sides over two legs.
Munich to beat the Italians.
and the Italians to beat Man U in a high scoring game - Man U will leak goals in the absence of Vidic.
- Posted by Vitas Gerulaitis…..forgot to add…..the Liverpool/Valencia/Munich/Roma prediction would net me a measly 22 to 1…… Now where is the daughters money box.
- Posted by Vitas Gerulaitis.
I think it’s going to be tougher than people imagine for all three English sides. Valencia are formidable at home and Chelsea have to go there for the second leg, so unless they’re leading 3-0…
- Posted by LondonRoma were great against Lyon and I only fancy Liverpool when they’re the underdogs. Look at Benfica (a Koeman team) last year. Mind you, if Crouchibald plays like he did against the Arse…
Liverpool v PSV: Got to be Liverpool. Trouble free against them earlier in the season.
- Posted by RafaChelsea v Valencia: Chelski. They just got too much quality this year, with Ballack and Shev set to come good at the right time.
Man Utd v Roma: Roma, just. Rooney, Ronaldo don’t do the business in the Champs Lg as a rule.
Bayern v AC Milan: Milan, but no real idea, just like them better.
PSV’s coach is a white fox, but Liverpool have the funs. Valencia will loose both matches. Bayern will qualify.
- Posted by arcticIt looks like Liverpool winning it again this year, doesn’t it? I mean, they’re not playing well or anything but look very hard to beat, like a couple of years ago. If Luis Garcia was fit I’d be really confident.
- Posted by Red SpainVitas, your predictions are looking pretty handy. And that sounds like good news for your daughter’s savings account…
- Posted by Kevin FylanI take back all the stuff about “last chance to see”. The Man Utd v AC Milan semi-final first leg was a gripping game of football. The late goal wasn’t that much of a surprise, though. United were so much sharper than Milan in the second half, so much fitter, that you could see it coming.
- Posted by Kevin Fylan