Champions League 2009

Those of us who were fortunate enough to watch the return quarter final leg between Liverpool and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (London) witnessed one of the greatest and most exciting football matches of the past 20 years. The 4-4 draw confirmed Liverpool as one of the most entertaining teams of all time. They produced a 5-4 win in teh UEFA Cup final against Alaves of Spain in 2001. Then in 2005 fell behind 3-0 in the first half against Milan in the CL Final, and came back to draw 3-3 and win on penalties, and now the 4-4 draw with Chelsea! To put the icing on the cake, a week later they drew 4-4 with Arsenal at Anfield in a EPL match!

However, sadly Liverpool were eliminated. The semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona should be a great encounter. But, let's hope Barcelona beat Chelsea and go all the way and win this year's CL final. That would be a victory for Football, how it should be played and how entertaining it is. Barcelona are simply the best team in the world at the moment.

On the other hand, I hope Manchester United lose to Arsenal in the other semi final. Whilst I admire the club, Sir Alex and what they have achieved during his long reign, I can not believe how lucky they have been along the way! Look at their two CL triumphs! In 2001, Bayern were 1-0 up, hit both Man Utd's post and bar, and Man Utd won by scoring two goals in the 92nd and 93rd minutes of the added time at the end of the match. Then last year, John Terry, normally the most reliable player around had to score his penalty and win the CL for Chelsea in the final, and he slipped and missed!! man Utd went on to win the Cl on penalties in that match.

My prediction:

Manchester Utd vs Barcelona final

and Barcelona will give Man Utd a footballing lesson of a life time and crush them 3-1. That would make up for all their previous lucky wins!

Rick

Bayern may be able to salvage some pride

Thank God Bayern pulled themselves together and beat Frankfurt 4-0 on Saturday! After the disastrous (both tactical and team) performance at Nu Camp against Barcelona, only an emphatic win would have saved Klinsman.They now need to have a face saving (2-1 would do!) win on Tues night in the return leg against Barcelona in the Alianz Stadion in Munich, and then concentrate on finishing first or second in the Bundesliga.In the off season, they need to sort out their defence, hope their new Russian signing can fortify the midfield, and bring one or two more super stars to match the quality of Ribery.Goal Keeper: Buffon, Frey or Manuel NeuerDefence: Rumour is Cannavaro is interested. Breno needs to be loaned out, both to gain experience, and to see if he can in fact make it in Europe...so far has shown little promiseMidfield: the new signing is fineForwards: teh signing from Hamburg may not be enough as cover to Klose and Tony. sad to see Podolski leave but to be fair he's been treated poorly in the sense that he was never given enough regular first team starts to prove his worth to Bayern. Good luck to him at his beloved Koln next year.....wrong choice in my view....he should have moved to EPL.