UEFA ANNOUNCE - Liverpool in CL QF

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March 10, 2006

Liverpool In Champions League Quarter Final - Confirmed

Liverpool FC will continue defending their Champions League title in the quarter final round of this year's competition on 28th or 29th March 2006. UEFA, european soccer's governing body confirmed Thursday that they had changed existing rules to allow the English Premier League side to stay in the competition.

In future, title holders will be automaticaly entered at the quarter final stage.
Despite beating AC Milan in the Champions League Final last May, Liverpool failed to qualify for this year's competition after finshing 5th in the 2004-2005 Premier League rankings, and failed to qualify for this year's quarter final stage after being defeated 3-0 by Portuguese side Benfica in the last sixteen, over two legs.

But UEFA have decreed that Liverpool will get the smallest share of England's televison revenue if they reach the semi-final stage and will not have the benefit of country protection - meaning they could be drawn against Arsenal in the next round.

It is expected that former Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier's current team Lyon will be the team to miss out, even after inflicting a 5-0 aggregate scoreline on PSV Eindhoven in the last sixteen. Uefa chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson told BBC Radio Five Live the decision by the 14-man executive committee was unanimous. "Unanimous means that everybody is supporting it. By definition, that is also the case here. The Uefa executive committee decided to amend the regulations for the future editions of the Champions League, so that the holders will have the right to defend their title and therefore qualify automatically for the quarter finals" said a statement on the organisation's website.

Reacting to the news, Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann told BBC Radio Five Live: "It's tremendous news, great for the club. We've still got two weeks to prepare, "

And Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick added: "We thank the Uefa executive committee and especially its president Lennart Johansson for listening to the strength of the argument for Liverpool's entry to the quarter final stage. We always said that this was an exceptional situation which required an exceptional solution. We believed there were very strong sporting reasons for Liverpool to defend their title, not least after that fantastic final in Istanbul. That view has prevailed, and rightly so."

But some Liverpool supporters are unhappy with the decision.

Les Lawson, spokesman for the Liverpool International Supporters' Club, said: "Uefa has been caught with egg on their faces over this because no one expected Liverpool to lose to Benfica.

"It means Uefa has had to sort it out and they have done the minimum possible. They have treated their own champions with contempt.

"It is a disgrace. Liverpool are the top team in Europe because they are the holders and have beaten Europe's best."

Uefa president Lennart Johansson has defended his organisation's decision to change its rules to allow Liverpool a Champions League Quarter Finals place. On Thursday Uefa's executive committee handed Liverpool a place in quarter Finals. Johansson told BBC Radio Five Live: "We are like most people, we make mistakes. When we formulated the regulations we didn't think of the possibility of a side as great as Liverpool would lose to a lowly Portuguese side who had already defeated Manchester United in the group stages."

Now after Uefa's executive committee changed its rules on Thursday - in future the holders will gain automatic entry to the Quarter Finals - Liverpool will have the opportunity to continue to defend their title. Johansson also insisted Uefa had not been embarrassed by its u-turn.

He said: "No, not at all. We have tried to correct it for the future and took a decision which may be criticised but has been welcomed in most quarters. If you make an error you try not to repeat it in the future - you try to correct it and take a decision which will be accepted by the absolute majority."

"We thought in a situation like this we should not make too many changes. We had to find a possibility to let them in without hurting somebody else, and in fairness, Houllier is in charge of Lyon, and he did nothing with Liverpool anyway."

el rabitos

someone had too much free time

Jazzy

eh?

eyerer

bit unfair on lyon, but hey, houllier still loves the reds...right?

what a relief, can't wait to see the draw tomorrow

globalconspirac

Was someone reading the Guardian's fiver article today??? There was a letter that was about 1% the size of this post and about 100% funnier. I agree with second post - Way too much time!!!

www.guardian.co.uk\fiver

The Muppet

LOL , it wouldn't be the first time they changed the rules to accomodate liverpool.;)

PHB

Yeh i read one a lot funnier

What one did was find and reaplce all the words champions league with quarter final. It worked perfectly.

segadreamcast

Heh heh. Good stuff if only it were true...

yop

I suppose they have to give the weaker teams a chance some how!

BolBill

Sounds to me like a Man U fan that is just jealous

tbh

The Muppet wrote:

LOL , it wouldn't be the first time they changed the rules to accomodate liverpool.;)

yes, I think that's the point.:p

Thanx 4 The Fish

tbh wrote:

yes, I think that's the point.:p

Must have missed the bit where they changed the rules to suit Liverpool, UEFA always maintained that Winners would qualify, Real got it before. Looks to me like some jealous fan with too much time on their hands.

BaZmO*

Jealous of Liverpool being knocked out of the Champion's League? Eh, if you say so.

Personally I got the impression that it was just a light hearted p1sstake, albeit a very long winded one, but a p1sstake nonetheless.

tbh

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

Must have missed the bit where they changed the rules to suit Liverpool, UEFA always maintained that Winners would qualify, Real got it before. Looks to me like some jealous fan with too much time on their hands.

The guy I was responding to said "its not the first time they've changed the rules to suit liverpool". My point was - thats the whole point of the pisstake.

btw, I'm a pool fan, and agree with you.

Triton

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

Must have missed the bit where they changed the rules to suit Liverpool, UEFA always maintained that Winners would qualify, Real got it before. Looks to me like some jealous fan with too much time on their hands.

UEFA said 4 clubs from each country. The FA said that their rules stipulated the top 4 from the country and Liverpool could not go into the Champions League. Liverpool whinged to UEFA and got in.

tbh

then why have the rules been changed permenantly? don't forget, Liverpool are a big part of the reason there are four teams in the first place.

p.pete

Damn, that was a cruel joke

*hopes deflating*

The Muppet

tbh wrote:

The guy I was responding to said "its not the first time they've changed the rules to suit liverpool". My point was - thats the whole point of the pisstake.

btw, I'm a pool fan, and agree with you.

I know , I was just reinforcing the point of the article for anyone slow on the uptake or lacking a sense of humour as is evident in some of the replies the op has recieved.

p.pete wrote:

Damn, that was a cruel joke

Don't worry , there's always next year.;)

tbh

sry, my bad.

Chardee MacDennis

Triton wrote:

UEFA said 4 clubs from each country. The FA said that their rules stipulated the top 4 from the country and Liverpool could not go into the Champions League. Liverpool whinged to UEFA and got in.

FA had said winners would automatically qualify even if they didnt finish in the top 4, FA then changed the rules to hold out for 5 spots; which they got. i dont know why people dont get over it.

BaZmO*

Call_me_al wrote:

FA had said winners would automatically qualify even if they didnt finish in the top 4, FA then changed the rules to hold out for 5 spots; which they got. i dont know why people dont get over it.

No they didn't. The FA said that it was out of their hands if the winners of the CL couldn't manage to finish within the top 4 of their own domestic league. They said it would be UEFA's call.

The FA have since changed their own qualifying rules to state that in the future if a team wins the CL but fails to finish in the top 4, the winners will go trough at the expense of the team that finished 4th.

Chardee MacDennis

they had those rules in the first place. goddamn it. FA said in 2004 in a European Qualification FAQ on their website - which was subsequently removed- That if Arsenal or Chelsea (who were both in th QF of the CL) won the CL and didnt get 4th place or higher; then they would take the place of the 4th place team.

this was removed when the Liverpool issue arose.

yop

Good to see that pool fans can handle defeat!! NOT!

As said always next year! It is not as if ye were beat by a team who had not won away in 10 or more games!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/images/245/baby_crying.jpg

BaZmO*

Call_me_al wrote:

they had those rules in the first place. goddamn it. FA said in 2004 in a European Qualification FAQ on their website - which was subsequently removed- That if Arsenal or Chelsea (who were both in th QF of the CL) won the CL and didnt get 4th place or higher; then they would take the place of the 4th place team.

this was removed when the Liverpool issue arose.

I don't even know what point you're trying to argue.

mchurl

Funny post but have to agree someone has too much free time on their hands!!:D

eyerer

The Muppet wrote:

I know , I was just reinforcing the point of the article for anyone slow on the uptake or lacking a sense of humour as is evident in some of the replies the op has recieved.

what would we do without your kind consideration for others!? :eek:

rondeco

Five times.

That is all.

blu_sonic

great post. lol

Spider_Baby!

I actually believed that, was about to ring my mate whos a liverpool fan...

ButcherOfNog

its funny, its meant as a joke and a bit of a dig, why are people starting to analyse/defend etc etc. As a pool fan I think its funny, laugh at it for christ sake