who will win the champions league now

Headshot

AC Milian all the way

LegacyUser

We can not sell Carroll. He is off for free in the summer.

We can not buy Gattuso. He is adored in Milan and likewise adores Milan. He will only leave if Milan say "Gattuso ****off." and that ain't gonna happen.

Giggs is overrated. Scholes is still a fantastic player.

The players we need, we missed out on. We needed Ronaldinho. We needed Robben. We missed out because we were stingy basically...whatever about the whole Ronaldinho and his brother being his agent scenario.

I have come to the conclusion that a club like Man Utd just can not get the cream of the crop when it comes to players because Manchester is a dump with crap weather.

Headshot

cheesedude wrote:

We can not sell Carroll. He is off for free in the summer.

We can not buy Gattuso. He is adored in Milan and likewise adores Milan. He will only leave if Milan say "Gattuso ****off." and that ain't gonna happen.

Giggs is overrated. Scholes is still a fantastic player.

The players we need, we missed out on. We needed Ronaldinho. We needed Robben. We missed out because we were stingy basically...whatever about the whole Ronaldinho and his brother being his agent scenario.

I have come to the conclusion that a club like Man Utd just can not get the cream of the crop when it comes to players because Manchester is a dump with crap weather.

too late i changed the subject any way united as you said missed out on
Ronaldinho and Robben
big mistake

thejollyrodger

they missed out on Duff as well , duh Fergie. Rooney is a lot of hot air but teams can shut him out, ronaldo has all the trick but rarely produces quality into the box. Scholes - goood, Giggs - passed it. Keane - questionable but should take a leaf out of Cafu's book.


An italian team will win. Milan do look great at the mo', dunno yet though, it could be Juve.

pickarooney

Lyon, hopefully.

Aquos76

pickarooney wrote:

Lyon, hopefully.

I work with a guy who loves european soccer and watches it week in week out,and last November, he told me to back Lyon to win the Champions League.

They are certainly in with a chance now.

Slash/ED

Lyon, with the right draw, will make the final at the very least.

Whens the draw for the next round made?

Chucky the tree

lyon could cause a shock, but i would be suprised. I dont know if there defence is good enough. After last year, none of the big teams will be taking the "smaller" teams lightly.

still tohugh, with a goo draw they can definitly make it to the semi's, possible final

Jivin Turkey

Ive Juve backed at 16/1. Im still confident.

Failing that it will be Milan or Chelsea.

_blank_

MILAN

cournioni

I'll have to go for Milan as they totally outclassed us last night.

super_furry

Liverpool. Totally irrational, I know but I just have a nagging feeling that we will, somehow, win the thing. I can't explain it and I'm not usually over-optimistic but I just reckon they'll do it.

p.pete

My money is on Liverpool - I'm wrong of course but I do actually have money on Liverpool, I'm such a poor gambler.

I guess the smart money would be on Milan or Chelsea with Lyon getting to at least the Semi's.

p.pete

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I'll have to go for Milan as they totally outclassed us last night.

QED :rolleyes:

_blank_

I cannot see any team that concedes four goals at this stage of the competition winning the thing, which rules Chelsea out.

I also do not think any of the teams playing tonight will win.

SCULLY

seansouth wrote:

I cannot see any team that concedes four goals at this stage of the competition winning the thing, which rules Chelsea out.

I also do not think any of the teams playing tonight will win.

Interesting .... - don't take into consideration that Chelsea played much of the second half in Barcelona with 10 men when they conceeded 2 out of the 4 goals. The 2nd goal against them last night was pure magic, but thankfully CFC won't be playing ronaldinio again this season.

Had Terry not scored , Barcelona would have gone through and imho, would be among the favourites to win it and yet they also would also have conceeded four goals at this stage of the competition. I think that there are 4 or 5 sides who have a realistic chance of winning it, 2 of whom played last night.

eyerer

Chucky the tree wrote:

lyon could cause a shock, but i would be suprised.

lol


i'll say liverpool

sleepwalker

lyon to get to final and possibly be shock champions otherwise it will be ac milan dunno why people are laughing at lyon they just destroyed the champions of the german league and were very good against man united

beer enigma

Well I'm going to stick a very long neck out say that if Arsenal manage a 2-0 win tonight, they could go all of the way.

It's still very open, who'd have thought so many goals would have been conceded in the Chelsea/Barca ties....& Lyon also getting in on the action.

If (& I admit its a big if) we get through tonights tie, we should at least have a decent squad of players available for the next round.

At 20-1 with Paddy Power, its worth a couple of quid in my book...but then again, I'm biased

yop

Have lads been on the beer here last night, Liverpool and Arsenal to win..... mother of god I have heard it all now!

Milan but possibly Lyon

beer enigma

yop wrote:

Have lads been on the beer here last night, Liverpool and Arsenal to win..... mother of god I have heard it all now!

Milan but possibly Lyon

Well it IS possible....I mean, Hansel & Gretel found a house made completely of gingerbread, who'd have thought that was possible

yop

Andip wrote:

Well it IS possible....I mean, Hansel & Gretel found a house made completely of gingerbread, who'd have thought that was possible

Ya muppet !

super_furry

yop wrote:

Have lads been on the beer here last night, Liverpool and Arsenal to win..... mother of god I have heard it all now!

Milan but possibly Lyon

It's no more unrealistic than Lyon, who people seem to be hyping up after a good result against woeful Weder Bremen side.

pickarooney

That was the second 7-2 victory by a French team in the CL, after PSG destroyed Rosenborg in 2000. Mad, no? Monaco's 8-3 annihilation of Deportivo (who crucified Milan in the same competition) last year leaves me thinking that we could be in for some very interesting matchups of portcullis defences and rampaging attacks in the latter stages.
Here's hoping.

Also, does anyone agree that the final should be held over two legs? I know the big sense of occasion and fanfare would be somewhat diminshed by not having a 90-minute decider, but the final of the CL is invaraibly gubbins compared with the earlier knockout stages, and there's much more chance of at least a few decent minutes of footie over two legs than in one nervous encounter. I used to be sceptical, but I love the away-goal rule now.

Slash/ED

pickarooney wrote:

Also, does anyone agree that the final should be held over two legs?

No, it's the biggest game in club football, it needs to have that sense of occasion.

It's no more unrealistic than Lyon, who people seem to be hyping up after a good result against woeful Weder Bremen side.

I was hyping them up before that, before they put 10 past Breman, who are not woeful btw, they were already the tournaments top scorers. They have some world class players and despite having Wiltord too, they could easily do it.

eirebhoy

super_furry wrote:

It's no more unrealistic than Lyon, who people seem to be hyping up after a good result against woeful Weder Bremen side.

I'm suprised a Liverpool supporter would call them woeful considering they are the champions of Germany (finishing 6 points ahead of 2nd place Bayern) and are currently 4 places above Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.

mike65

I'll hold fire until tonights games are over...

Mike.

LegacyUser

Good idea. me too.

beer enigma

You have to say though - a 2-0 Arsenal win is certainly not out of the question....

With Henry, Bergkamp & Pires all fit, we have the fire power.....just the leaky defence that could cause problems !

MrJoeSoap

I don't see why Chelsea can't go all the way.

Over two legs, they can certainly beat Arsenal or Liverpool, theyve proved that already this season (well they're half way there against Arsenal). AC Milan haven't exactly set the world on fire and I reckon Chelsea would be more than a match for them. Juventus / Real Madrid would be the same, Mourinho has far more tactical knowledge than Luxemburgo, but Juventus would be a really tough test.

I just can't see Lyon beating them either, they do well against smaller and less organised teams but Chelsea would be far too organised for them.

Rossonero

Chelsea/Milan

Slash/ED

MrJoeSoap wrote:

AC Milan haven't exactly set the world on fire

What exactly do you mean by that? Top of Serie A, won their champions league group which included one of the best teams in Europe, just outclassed Man U over two legs, what more do you expect them to have done?

PHB

I see everyone is forgetting that team joint top of Serie A, beat Real Madrid(no walkover) and went through their group stages amazingly.
Juve

That said, there is
Juve
Milan
Chelsea

Tell me any of those teams couldn't win it if they played at their best on the night.
Good chances:
Inter
or
Porto(reigning champions)
Lyon 6-2 is a big score [although thinking of the Man Utd games with them I wouldn't be sure they can go all the way]

Personally the team I want to win it is Liverpool.
God help me.
I want Gerrard to win the CL, and then say to the fans that he needs to move onto a bigger club cause he wants to win trophies, or else stay.
I think that'd be an hiliarous situation.

Guy:Incognito

PHB wrote:

Personally the team I want to win it is Liverpool.
God help me.
I want Gerrard to win the CL, and then say to the fans that he needs to move onto a bigger club cause he wants to win trophies, or else stay.
I think that'd be an hiliarous situation.

What I think would be even funnier would be Everton having their best season in years, battling all the way, spend the whole season in the top 4 then end up in the Uefa cup cos Liverpool won the cl

thejollyrodger

Im still sticking with Juve !

PHB

What I think would be even funnier would be Everton having their best season in years, battling all the way, spend the whole season in the top 4 then end up in the Uefa cup cos Liverpool won the cl

I dont understand, does a team automatically get back in?
If so, is it not independent of the places a country gets anyway?

Shred

Just saw this on BBC:

Reds may dent Everton Euro hopes

Liverpool could dent Everton's Champions League dreams for next season if they win this year's competition.
Liverpool eased into the quarter-finals on Wednesday and manager Rafael Benitez believes his side could go all the way.

But they would not automatically qualify for next year's Champions League. The Football Association could, however, ask Uefa to include Liverpool.

The fourth-placed team in the Premier League, which is currently Everton, would then drop into the Uefa Cup.

The quarter-final draw for the Champions League will take place on Friday 18 March.

Any team can be drawn against another and the two legs will be played on 5/6 and 12/13 April.

Bacchus

I thought that they do automatically qualify for the CL if they win the thing. How else could they defend their title? AFAIK, if Liverpool were to win the CL and Everton came 4th then Liverpool gets the 4th and final Premiership spot in the CL. This would mean Everton would get UEFA cup.

The Clown Man

seansouth wrote:

I cannot see any team that concedes four goals at this stage of the competition winning the thing, which rules Chelsea out.

Now that's just pure tripe.

We've conceded 9 goals in the entire premiership season. We conceded 4 goals against arguably the strongest attacking team in the world. And 2 of them were with 10 men on hostile ground. Not only that but we out-scored the strongest attacking team in the world and we were missing Robben for all of it and Drogba for 3/4 of it - two of our strongest attackers.

Barcelona are guaranteed to score loads against any team when they are playing to their best. (Which they were - you'll not hear any of them complain that they were below par.) Even the most defensively solid Premiership team in decades.

What you speak is absolute unfounded rubbish. Thank you.

kaimera

Bacchus wrote:

I thought that they do automatically qualify for the CL if they win the thing. How else could they defend their title?

Nah, been like that last while iirc :: winner doesn't auto qualify, like the WC and Euro Champs.

PiE

PHB wrote:

I see everyone is forgetting that team joint top of Serie A, beat Real Madrid(no walkover) and went through their group stages amazingly.
Juve

...and who also just let an 8pt lead over Milan slip, at the top of Serie A. They've lost something like 3 of their last 6 games against teams they expected to trounce. Milan also dominated their last match in the Delle Alpi last December and were horribly unlucky to come away with just a point.

So yea, I'll go with Milan... in my opinion they're by far the best team left (now that Barca are gone) and if they play their best they can beat any of the remaining teams, no matter how well the other teams play.

p.pete

PHB wrote:

Personally the team I want to win it is Liverpool.
God help me.
I want Gerrard to win the CL, and then say to the fans that he needs to move onto a bigger club cause he wants to win trophies, or else stay.
I think that'd be an hiliarous situation.

LOL - the sinister side in me would like to see Gerrard, should he leave, be exposed for leaving to get his hands on the fat pay-check at Chelsea as opposed to be able to win some trophies. Does that make me vitriolic?

super_furry

p.pete wrote:

LOL - the sinister side in me would like to see Gerrard, should he leave, be exposed for leaving to get his hands on the fat pay-check at Chelsea as opposed to be able to win some trophies. Does that make me vitriolic?

I'm the exact same. If he does leave I'd love it to be after we won the European Cup. I mean he's already won every possible trophy at Liverpool aside from the Premier League and European Cup. Admittedly they're by far and a way the biggest trophies, but still.

uberwolf

super_furry wrote:

I'm the exact same. If he does leave I'd love it to be after we won the European Cup. I mean he's already won every possible trophy at Liverpool aside from the Premier League and European Cup. Admittedly they're by far and a way the biggest trophies, but still.

I'd love for Carragher to be captain for that final if Gerrard hadn't committed himself to the club unreservedly by the time that unlikey scenario unfolded. IMO he shouldn't be captain even now.

Twill be Inter or Juve to win.

Seaneh

Stekelly wrote:

What I think would be even funnier would be Everton having their best season in years, battling all the way, spend the whole season in the top 4 then end up in the Uefa cup cos Liverpool won the cl

that would suck.

eyerer

Seaneh wrote:

that would suck.

yeah...everton in the uefa cup!
heres to bolton and middlesbrough catching them as well as liverpool