UEFA Champions League

JK wrote:The more pessemistic I am the more likely they are to win, I'm actually thrilled

Oh i see! good good!!

Apart from Totti and I think errr..... that black haired dude.... I cant think of any great Roma players! hmmm thinking.... nope...... Roma be an ok game methinks!

Cheer up JK, it's christmas time!!!

Well, assuming Ramos can keep a job that long, Liverpool have no worries!

The draws as discussed a bit here already

Chelsea FC (ENG) v Juventus (ITA)
Villarreal CF (ESP) v Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) v FC Bayern München (GER)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) v FC Porto (POR)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v FC Barcelona (ESP)
Real Madrid CF (ESP) v Liverpool FC (ENG)
Arsenal FC (ENG) v AS Roma (ITA)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA) v Manchester United FC (ENG)

It was always going to be Inter wasnt it?

Ah well I think they are beatable anyway.........but who will the Chosen 1 support

IOV wrote:It was always going to be Inter wasnt it?

Ah well I think they are beatable anyway.........but who will the Chosen 1 support

So the Fergie/Mourinho battle continues.

Rooq wrote:

JK wrote:The more pessemistic I am the more likely they are to win, I'm actually thrilled

Oh i see! good good!!

Apart from Totti and I think errr..... that black haired dude.... I cant think of any great Roma players! hmmm thinking.... nope...... Roma be an ok game methinks!

John Arne Riise!

Roma = dickheads
Van Persie = awesome penalty taker

Amazing how all the drive and determination seems to have come back just in time for the Champions League whilst we couldn't find enough to beat bloody Sunderland at the weekend.

Oh I see... the referee forgets to count the number of players on the pitch and that is somehow Toure's fault.

This is the perfect game to bring on Vela. He'd love this attacking play.

1-0 is better than conceding an away goal but we should have won comfortably. Wenger should really have started with Vela and Van Persie up front and then brought Bendtner on later to be the supersub he normally is. Adebayor or Eduardo up front and we would have ripped them to shreds. Hopefully Diaby will keep his place ahead of Song after that performance, he was really putting in the legwork in midfield.

That said well played Doni and well done to the other 10 Roma players for the 15 minutes of effort they put in right at the end.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Vela in an Arsenal shirt. Think it shows just how highly he's rated with the time that Wenger's kept him out on loan rather than giving up with the work permit problems.

& even if Arsenal do miss champions league qualification, I still think it's only going to be a year or so before they're back in the title hunt. They've got a very very good team building there. Just a case of getting experience under their belts IMO.

C'mon the tinkerman!

This just in, UEFA is expected to fine Real Madrid for failing to turn up to a scheduled match.

I really enjoyed the highlights of Juve V Chelsea!

I thought Diarra played well for Madrid tonight and Casillas kept the score down. Van Der Vaart showed some good touchs as well when he came on but Liverpool were on fire and just wanted it more. The penalty was a bit harsh though and there was no coming back from it.

What a win for Bayern as well! 12-1 on aggregate must be some kind of record!!

Good result for Liverpool but blimey Real Madrid where awful!!! even Ipswich may of got a 0-0 out of them tonight...

IOV wrote:What a win for Bayern as well! 12-1 on aggregate must be some kind of record!!

I remember around 1994 Arsenal got a similar score in the cup winners cup; and in the days of the old European cup, when football in some countries was a lot poorer than it is now, an aggregate score like that must of happened. I think Real Madrid put 7 past Frankfurt in a final on year.

We beat Standard Liege 10-0 on aggregate so not quite as high but still pretty good

Kinda worried about tonight but I won't be watching as have a date... how the fuck I managed that (take your pick, getting a date or managing to arrange it on CL night) I'll never know...

Another overrated Bayern win....It actually helped the climate in the team and management!

JK wrote:PAH!

My Christ that was fuckin torture. If you think watchin penalites is bad, try waiting for online updates at work!

Totti is a dirty bastard and Wenger really took a chance not starting with Eduardo and Walcott but we got through anyway, so can't complain 1/4 finals here we come! Hopefully we'll make the semis this year and not fall victim to shit refereeing like last year.

Elsewhere, Mr Mourinho took his "bad loser" streak to another level

Job done vs Inter, Man Utd's passing at times was poor though. Still I'll take a win over Jose like that. O'Shea was lucky not to end up sent off. The only Inter player I liked the look of was Maicon (sp?)

Vidic at the moment is one of the best centrehalfs in Europe, the guy is a rock. Rooney only needed a goal to cap a fine performance. Bring on Liverpool

I reckon Utd will end up getting Barca or Athletico in the next round

If Arsenal get Barca, whilst we would almost certainly lose, especially if there is a certain Norwegian referee involved, it would be very interesting to see Henry and Hleb (assuming he can get in the side... he he) on the other team. Could be an awesome match!

Also, the Useless English-hating Fucking Arsehole committee has decided that despite there being problems at the Chelsea game AND the Arsenal game involving Itallian fans with knives they\'re going to do fuck all about it and Rome can keep the final.

If it had happened on the English legs they\'d have moved the final and be calling for a ban right now.

I think Arsenal can beat anyone, Barcelona seem a good attacking team but as ever dodgy in defence, find it funny how Messi just has to fart on a ball and the Commentators wank all over him! jesus christ yeah he is great but talk about over hype him a bit at times, if he scores a tap in its a wonder goal?!!? weird...

Anyway, I dont think Barca are as Tough as some think, my tip is Liverpool.

To this day I remain convinced that if it hadn't been for a dodgy ref and a sleeping linesman we'd have a UEFA Champions League Trophy in our cabinet right now... and fair play to you Rooq you called that ref out as a deciding factor weeks before the kickoff.

We never seem to get lucky with referees in Europe. That final, the UEFA cup final where Galatasary should have finished the game with 4 players, Koller and the worlds most theatrical dive, Gerrard's theatrics last year... sigh...

That's right JK, the ref is why you've never won the European Cup (you won't hear a Charlton fan blaming relegation on the ref at the Fulham home game.)

UEFA don't hate the English, we've got the Champions League in a few years time. There stance is they will not ban countries due to what happens outside of the ground, if a fan was stabbed inside than the country would be banned. It goes without saying that I don't agree with them, but that's the way it is.

That's funny I seem to recall them considering kicking us out of Euro 2004 because our fans got in the way of the Turkish fans' fists and because David Beckham got in the way of Alpay's hand...

I'm not saying the referee is the reason we've never won one but I still feel we got utterly screwed in that final, and I'm not talking about Lehmann and the sending off because that's a matter of opinion and the ref chose rules over spirit. You can't punish them for that. I'm talking about the one way yellow cards/free kicks, Henry and Fabregas being kicked up into the air every time they got on the ball and the fact that one of the Barca goals was offside.

Sooo... predictions everyone?

I think it'll be:

Chelsea v Man Utd
Liverpool v Porto
Arsenal v Villareal
FC Bayern v Barcelona

Arsenal vs Chelsea
Villareal vs Porto
Man Utd vs Barcelona
FC Bayern vs Liverpool