The round of sixteen is officially completely and there are 8 teams who’ve made it to the quarter finals. Surprisingly, as we all know, the English contingent is only 2 teams in the quarters this year – ourselves and Man United. With Liverpool in self decline and Chelsea out-Mourinho’d, we’ve got only half the representatives in this years quarters than this time last year. Only Villarreal, Barcelona, Porto and Bayern Munich managed to get the other four places in the quarter finals, but this year is a completely different story and the CL is a going to be a different affair this year.
So the 8 quarter finalists are…
- Arsenal
- Man United
- Barcelona
- Bayern Munich
- Inter Milan
- CSKA Moscow
- Bordeaux
- Lyon
If you look carefully, you’ll notice one Russian team, one Italian, one German, one Spanish, but two French and two English and that’s a testimony to the French league that two teams have made it thus far. Lyon especially, as they have indeed knocked out of one the favourites in Real Madrid…
So, the question is who would you rather have in the quarters, semis and final? Of course, the lionesque would say let’s get revenge on United, hit Mourinho for six and then put the pain of Paris 2006 behind us… I, on the other hand, would prefer an easier run in, thank you very much. My preferred choice would be what I would consider to be the easiest route… I’d like the following draw:
Man United vs Barcelona
If these two teams play each other, it will knock one of the favourites, which bodes well for the rest of the hopefuls. I think Barcelona could do one over United and that would leave us a clear path to the final against our previous CL finalists and we’d relish the chance to beat them…
Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan
Bayern continually get to the quarter finals, and their squad is still pretty decent. We’ve not done too well against them in the competition before, and with Inter Milan having achieved a great result against Chelsea, and as a result, I think Bayern will be the more ambitious side. When a team achieves something against the odds, they often get knocked out in the next round…
Lyon vs CSKA Moscow
In a similar vein to Inter beating Chelsea, Lyon beat Real Madrid. On paper, Lyon have a stronger team, but the subconscious around the victory means I have a sneaky suspicion that CSKA will beat their French rivals and become one the first Russian team to make it to the semi’s in recent history.
Arsenal vs Bordeaux
The French team have done well so far, but have had a relatively easy run in – the win against Olympiakos helping through to the quarter finals. They do have talent, especially our target (has he already signed?), Maroune Chamakh, who would be out to impress, but I believe we’ll be way too strong for them and it will be a decent passage through.
So, based on the above, that would see Barcelona, Bayern, CSKA and ourselves through to the semis… of course, Barcelona would take on and most likely beat Bayern, and of course, we’ll dispose of an overachieving CSKA, which would set up a perfect final…
And who said I was in dreamland?
And finally, a quick one regarding the game on Saturday and it looks like Cesc, Rosicky and Alex Song will all return to the squad on Saturday… surely we’ll be too strong for West Ham? Preview tomorrow…
