arsenal
barcelona
bayern munich
chelsea
liverpool
manchester united
porto
uefa champions league
villarreal
UEFA Champions League: 2008-2009-------Road to Rome
By rahul_2689
@rahul_2689 (634)
Hyderabad, India
March 20, 2009 7:09am CST
Quarter-Final matches---07/08 April and 14/15 April
Q1 - Villarreal vs Arsenal
Q2 - Manchester United vs FC Porto
Q3 - Liverpool vs Chelsea
Q4 - Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
Semi-Final matches---28/29 April and 05/06 May
Winners Q2 vs Winners Q1
Winners Q4 vs Winners Q3
Final--27 May-- Rome
Winners S2 vs Winners S1
Manchester United Seem to have got the easiest draw of all while Q3 and Q4 are the matches to watch.
Q1- Asenal are in form right now with return of key players like walcott and fabregas while Villarreal will surely go for UEFA glory as domestic title is gone for them. Will be very close but Arsenal should go through.
Q2-Manchester United should be over-whelming favourites to win this tie having knocked out the likes of Inter in 2nd round. The only thing I see that could favour Porto is that they play at home in the 2nd leg.
Q3-An all English battle and once again liverpool and chelsea draw each other. Wonder when this romance in Champions League will end. Both teams seem to have hit top form and this tie is arguably the tightest of all 4. Difficult to pick the winner right now.
Q4-This one should be a fiery tie with goals at both ends. Bayern should be on a high after the 12-1 rout of sporting while Barca have been flying high all season.
I guess, for poeple who love to see goals, this is their best bet.
What do you have to say? Who'll be holding the giant trophy come May?
2 people like this
11 responses
@aakashmanu (199)
• India
20 Mar 09
This time trophy will go to either liverpool or chelsea coz after that match whoever wins either liv or chelsea they will play home in the second leg in the semi's and thats the big advantage they have.I m a chelsea fan n i hope chelsea go all the way this time.
@bigv038 (66)
•
21 Mar 09
I think anything is possible. Especially when english teams meet each other, on their days all are capable of beating each other. English encounters will be basically a coin flip! Barcelona and Manchester United have to be favourites still. Being an Arsenal fan I think the winner of the Arsenal - Manchester United semi-final should go on to win it! Ofcourse I am writing off Porto and Villereal's chances the english teams are just too strong!
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
24 Mar 09
I can see an all EPL battle all the way through. In this round, it is Liverpool vs. Chelsea. I fancy Liverpool to just nick it given Rafa's experience at European nights. Next round, I fancy a Arsenal-Man United showdown and depending on who wins it, we could have a Man U-Liverpool or a Arsenal-Liverpool final. So it looks like EPL big four all the way.
The only club that can upset the applecart seems to be Barcelona and if they can trump Liverpool in the Semis then they could setup another final with Arsenal which would be really great.
Cheers!
Ram
@love1124 (31)
• Indonesia
24 Mar 09
before the drawing i fancies the chances of man utd and barcelona to meet in final. but with this draw, i believe anything is possible. but for me, i still believe that man utd and barcelona have great chance through to the final. they are the strongest team in this seasons. i'm interesting with porto. porto ever beat man utd and be the champions at 2003/2004. i think porto will face man utd with big confidence because they'll believe they can beat man utd just like before. the other match which i'm interest too is liverpool and chelsea. they've already meet few times at champions league. last year they meet too and chelsea is the winner because of john arne riise own goal. i think liverpool will make revenge and i bet liverpool had a great chance to do it. they've strong team and they've prove it by beat real madrid with confidence score. about arsenal vs villareal,i think both sides chance through to semis is 50-50. and barcelona vs bayern munich, the chance is 60-40 for barcelona. bayern must try to stop messi and iniesta if they want to win the games. beside they must looking for henry and eto'o to. I bet,barcelona will be the trophy holder this seasons.
@GioBuffon (119)
• Canada
29 Mar 09
Now that all the Italian teams are out, I would love to see an non english team raise the cup. Barcelona all the way !
@stvasile (7306)
• Romania
20 Mar 09
I think it is premature to name a certain favorite. Looking at the latest results and the game performance, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern are all very good teams that can take on any adversary.
I think Man Utd got the best lane to pass through to the semifinals and even to the final, as they have to knock out Porto and Arsenal/Villarreal, a task that is not, in my opinion, over the team's capabilities.
Two other great clashes are the main titles of the quarter finals: Chelsea-Liverpool and Barcelona-Bayern as these matches are much tighter than the other two. I think Barcelona will win, because they have a much more creative game than Bayern. The huge goal difference between Bayern and Sporting is irrelevant, as Barcelona is much powerful than Sporting...
I really can't name a favorite... I support both Man Utd and Barcelona and I think they both have great odds to get the big trophy. A final between the two would be just great!
@coldmoon (1088)
• France
20 Mar 09
It's too early to say something now.
It's the consecutive season that we have 4 english representatives at the QF round. I'm waiting for the match between Liverpool and Chelsea, this couple makes a feud.
I hate MU, but I see that they're too strong. Hoping that C. Ronaldo would play around anywhere before the match.
@mrtimharry (1180)
•
20 Mar 09
Looks like Liverpool will have to win it the hard way, Chelsea, then Barcelona, then Porto in the final.
It is amazing how Man U always seem to get the easier draw, easier on paper at least.
@harshrosicky (626)
• India
20 Mar 09
i am a liverpool fan.....defininetily i want liverpool to achieve this glory but its gonna be real tight this time.....manchester united, liverpool, barcelona and bayern all are favorites this year with their strong league performance.....manchester are getting easy preys in quater but winning all the way seems too tough for them....as they have been out of form....porto has no chance in front of them....so manchester will be in semis but about finals no one can tell it for sure now
