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Champions League 2008
Champions League Final 21st May 2008
With only 39 days left until the the final of the greatest club competition, all four teams left will be thinking "This our year", but who will triumph? Who knows, this is the Champions League, expect the unexpected, anything can happen. With many massive teams such as: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Ac Milan, Arsenal already knocked out it has left the door to the final left wide open with 3 of 4 semi-finalists (Liverpool, Chelsea & Manchester Untied) being English, the Premiership has again, for the second year running established itself to be the #1 footballing nation with, yet again, another chance of an ALL ENGLISH FINAL.
To win the Champions League Man Utd 7/4 - Favorites Barcelona 3/1 Chelsea 3/1 Liverpool 3/1
Albeit Manchester United are clear favorites nothing is certain with all teams having that one special player who could turn a game on its head in a matter of seconds...so to take a look of who's left.
Manchester United
After already establishing themselves as the #1 Premiership team this decade they have finally found the true combination of youth and experience with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney mixed with Man Utd loyalists Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Man Utd are the team to watch if you want goals with a massive goal difference of +53 this season and with hotshot and world's best player Cristiano Ronaldo (see above middle) already staking his claim of 37 goals so far this season and amongst that being one of Manchester United's all time greatest players.
One to watch!
Cristiano Ronaldo #7
"Right now, Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world." - Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster
“Cristiano Ronaldo is an excellent player. It is something that he has shown through his game. He is a very exuberant player and a very fair player. He is a very correct player. That's what he does on the pitch.”- AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti
Liverpool
Although struggling to come close to winning the Premiership over the past 18 years Liverpool are the last team you will want to overlook in the Champions League having won the CL in 2005 and also came runners-up in 2007 (in both years to Ac Milan) their team is stronger than ever with record signing Fernando Torres aka. El Nino (See above middle) from Athletico Madrid...and also one of the most prolific, if not the most, out-and-out striker in the Premiership having bagged 29 goals in his first season for Liverpool. Liverpool, however, have picked themselves up after almost being elimated from the Champions League having set a record amount of goals in one CL game by beating Besiktas 8-0 along with giants Inter Milan and Arsenal.
One to watch! Fernando Torres #9
"He is always thinking about the way he can score goals. His character is not to be a loser, he is a man who wants to win." - Alan Hansen, BBC Pundit and Liverpool Legend
"The players believe Fernando will score, always. They have trust that if they get the ball to him and create chances for him, he will score." - Rafael Benitez, Liverpool Manager.
Chelsea
Another side who had a bad season...at the beginning. The sacking of Jose Mourinho (The Special One) sent shockwaves through the footballing world and the media. With many players being linked away from Chelsea after the sacking of Mourinho they had a particular bad start to the season being in 5th after 13 games. However, after they equaled their run of 9 wins on the bounce and very few losses therefore after they have started an amazing comeback and now lie second in the Premiership - 3pts behind Manchester United, albeit Chelsea in particular play boring football it is very effective. However, the odds are against them beating Liverpool.
One to watch! No-one, thats right, nobody! Since Drogba has been injured and has had a bad season since coming back from injury Chelsea have been looking towards the midfield to grab the goals. Therefore, nobody this season has been outstanding.
Barcelona
Uncharacteristically, Barcelona are only sat 2nd in La Liga and could still drop to 3rd even though, with the likes of Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho and Eto'o make up one of the best striking forces in the world. However, with Messi only just coming back from injury and Ronaldinho being linked away from Camp Nou and also out for the season Barcelona's season could be at an end should they lose to Manchester United.
One to watch! Lionel Messi #19
“His speed is astonishing. It's amazing how he can go 1 to 100 in just one second. I'm constantly around great players like Cristiano and Rooney, But this guy is just a step up above every other great footballer out there at the moment, Not only is he quick, determined, and extremely intelligent on the ball, But his movement off the ball is just as fantastic, Unbelievable to sum it up in a word” - Manchester United's, Carlos Tevez
"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi." - All time great, Diego Maradona
------------------------------------------------------ Personal Predictions Semi-Finals
Liverpool 2 - 0 Chelsea (1st leg)
Chelsea 1 - 2 Liverpool (2nd leg) Liverpool win 4 - 1 on aggregate
Barcelona 1 - 1 Man Utd (1st leg)
Man Utd 3 - 1 Barcelona (2nd leg) Man Utd win 4 - 2 on aggregate
Final Manchester United 3 - 2 Liverpool
Anyway, discuss anything to do with the Champions League (albeit I think it will generally be the same posters), although the CL is known worldwide.
Predictions, comments on the thread itself etc are welcomed.
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Firstly nice with with the OP. Top class.
I think you're being very generous with the Liverpool/Chelsea scores, aren't their games always very low scoring affairs? I do agree with you that a Liverpool Vs United game is the most likely final where United should be the winners, no offense to Liverpool but they quite frankly don't have the same calibur or depth of players that United.
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A good thread for me! You should know I'm a complete Manchester United fan by now. With the likes of Ronaldo and Tevez, I really don't think we should lose. We're playing at a very good level of skill this time around and it looks set to be a double win this year.
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Barca look quite depressed. Ronaldinho doesn't want to be there, Rijkaard's leaving at the end of the season... As long as United can break Barca then they've got it. To hell with Liverpool's "5 times".
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That first post is awesome because it has United winning the final. I'm just worried about the semifinal, because as you said, Lionel Messi will probably be back in action by the time we play them. He's actually one of my favorite players, but one player does not a team make - the rest of Barcelona will either be depressed over handing away the Spanish title to Real Madrid or determined to win at least one trophy this season. With our luck we'll get the extra-determined Barcelona, but I still don't think they'll be able to overcome us.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecily
That first post is awesome because it has United winning the final. I'm just worried about the semifinal, because as you said, Lionel Messi will probably be back in action by the time we play them. He's actually one of my favorite players, but one player does not a team make - the rest of Barcelona will either be depressed over handing away the Spanish title to Real Madrid or determined to win at least one trophy this season. With our luck we'll get the extra-determined Barcelona, but I still don't think they'll be able to overcome us.
Indeed, one player doesn't make a team...but Messi is one hell of a player
I think that Liverpool will turn Chelsea over to be honest because after they slipped away from the top of the league and were knocked out of the FA/Carling Cup its all they've been playing for...for the last 6 months.
As for the final Man Utd vs Liverpool would be epic...pure rivalry...the greatest Premiership rivalry fighting for the biggest prize will create one hell of a game.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercurial
As for the final Man Utd vs Liverpool would be epic...pure rivalry...the greatest Premiership rivalry fighting for the biggest prize will create one hell of a game.
I've heard this sort of hype before this season with games between the top 4 and it almost always turns out to be a slightly boring 1-0 win. It'll be the same here with a goal scored in the 5th minute by Gary Neville.
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But it hasn't been like that this season:
Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea
Man Utd 2-2 Arsenal
Man Utd 1-0 Liverpool - Crap
Man Utd 3-0 Liverpool
Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal (Ferguson: "Best game you'll see all season")
Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal - Crap
Liverpool 0-2 Chelsea
Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea - Crap
Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal (Champions League) - Great game
Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal (Champions League)
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea - Crap
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
The games this season have been nowhere near as boring as other seasons, bar Chelsea, they could win 4-0 and it would still be boring.
Champions League 2008 
