Reuters Soccer Blog

Istanbul heads list of Games of the Decade

Here’s a total random idea: go and choose the best five matches of the last 10 years – a lot easier said than done.

Where do you begin? Do you only pick matches you have seen yourself ? As I am based in England, do I pick only matches played in England, or as I am lucky enough to travel round the world and watch football, do I go for international matches too?

Do you allow your personal preferences to come into it? After all, any fan could easily pick five great victories achieved by the team they support.

Well, I’ve weighed it up and gone for the bigger picture: any match played anywhere. It’s a totally subjective list with no “right” or “wrong” choices so here goes: Mike Collett’s Best Five Matches of the last decade:

Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3: The epic 2005 Champions League final which Liverpool won on penalties after fighting back from a 3-0 halftime deficit. Milan thought they had won the title — Liverpool, inspired by Steven Gerrard, proved them wrong.

AS Monaco 8 Deportivo Coruna 3: An extraordinary match which set a Champions League scoring record in November 2003 and included four goals from striker Dado Prso on his 29th birthday.

Champions League draw … Kaka, Ibrahimovic back to Milan

The draw for the group phase of the 2009-10 Champions League has just finished in Monaco and it’s thrown up a couple of groups to savour especially.

Real Madrid getting drawn in Group C means they will face AC Milan … and that means a return to the San Siro for Kaka, who made the switch over the close season. Likewise, Barcelona’s big signing Zlatan ibrahimovic will be on his way back to Milan, after Inter joined the holders in Group F.

Plenty of other intriguing match-ups … Any of them catch your eye?

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Girondins Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa

Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, VfL Wolfsburg

Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Olympique Marseille, FC Zurich

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL