Champions League 2008

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Gingerbread Lesbian

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

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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.
:wink:
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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.
 
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.
 
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".
 
It's gonna be an all red final. I'd like to say that I don't mind who wins it, but I've always had a liking for Liverpool.

The final is just one game, 11 men against 11. Anyone can win it. If Ronaldo plays half as well as he can, then Man Utd have won it.
 
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.
 
Cecily said:
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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Indeed, one player doesn't make a team...but Messi is one hell of a player:neomon:
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.:)
 
Mercurial said:
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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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.
 
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.
 
You didn't have to take me so literally about the scoreline thing and research it up, I was referring more to the match quality doesn't live up to the hype. I just think that the atmosphere will be greater than the actual game itself.

And to be fair despite the hate on Chelsea for being a boring club (which is something I don't particularly like about them either) they weren't made to be as fancy as Barca or Arsenal in the first place.
 
I didn't research them I watched all of the games anyway, but the atmosphere should be better than game anyway.
I'm not saying that Chelsea are supposed to be fancy (though neither are Barca), but there should be at least some sort of entertainment from a team that costs over 100mil+
 
I know and I do agree with you about that, they just prefer getting the results first and the performance a distant second. It would be a win for football in general if United do win it since they have at times just been out of this World.

I can't see them not winning it but I just don't want to jinx it.
 
Scrutator said:
I know and I do agree with you about that, they just prefer getting the results first and the performance a distant second. It would be a win for football in general if United do win it since they have at times just been out of this World.

I can't see them not winning it but I just don't want to jinx it.
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I know what you mean with Chelsea :)...though it will change if Rijkaard goes to them :monster:
I agree with the Man Utd comment, albeit I think Man Utd play far much better when he's at his best they would still have enough fire power and a strong back four to beat any team left if he wasn't at his best.
 
The depth that United in their have is one of their biggest strengths, of course they have key players like in Ronaldo and Rooney but the players they have on the bench are arguably of a better quality than the rest of the top 4.

Has there been talk of Rijkaard going over to Chelsea? That would be interesting to see.
 
I've heard Rijkaard's going to Chelsea and Jose Mourinho's going to AC Milan.

Matchdays coming up this week! I'll be able to see all of Liverpool v. Chelsea, but I have class during the first half of Barcelona v. Manchester United. Maybe I can look up the live scores in class.
 
Carlos Tevez is priceless in the dying minutes of a match. Saving us a point yesterday against Blackburn Rovers is a prime example.
 
i haven't really payed much attention to this years champions league as i am a newcastle fan and we never make it into the champions league...anyway i think that liverpool will win as they have Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard who link up Extremely well as they proved in the second leg against Arsnel. i onlly want Liverpool to win because they are kind of the underdogs i mean look at the other teams who are left Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona
 
Normally I would consider Liverpool to be the underdogs in that group of clubs, too, but in Bizarro Europe World I think they're always expected to win. They just always come up big in European competition somehow. Maybe it's Rafael Benitez's tactics or something.
 
hmm they do always seem to preform better in Europe they have been kings of Europe many times, but i can't remember them being kings of England. lol Weird
 
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