Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Let's welcome the Champions League Quarter Finals Tuesday April 2nd & Wed April 3rd.
8 Gigantic teams will have the battle of wits for only one shall be the Champion. Let's list out the fixtures:
Tues 2nd April
Milan VS Bayern Munich
PSV VS Liverpool
Wed 3rd April
Roma VS Man U
Chelsea VS Valencia

Last year's Finalists (Barca & Arsenal) are already out of the competition. Barca Losing to an away goal by Liverpool (home 1:2 and away 1:0), whilst Arsenal lost by 1 goal aggregate (home 1:1 and away 0:1) to PSV.

PSV VS Liverpool

Both teams have beaten last year's finalists. Let's trace back their performance so far in the Champions League:

ArsenalEindhoven PSV1:1




Eindhoven PSVArsenal1:0




Eindhoven PSVBordeaux1:3




LiverpoolEindhoven PSV2:0




Eindhoven PSVGalatasaray2:0




GalatasarayEindhoven PSV1:2




BordeauxEindhoven PSV0:1




Eindhoven PSVLiverpool0:0

PSV playing at home plays a very tight game, see the one in green color. Don't let the scoreline 1:3 lost to Bordeaux fool you. They have qualified, so they sidelined their better players.

LiverpoolBarcelona FC0:1




Barcelona FCLiverpool1:2




GalatasarayLiverpool3:2




LiverpoolEindhoven PSV2:0




LiverpoolBordeaux3:0




BordeauxLiverpool0:1




LiverpoolGalatasaray3:2




Eindhoven PSVLiverpool0:0





Liverpool just trashed Arsenal 4-1, thanks to hat-trick from Crouch. In Anfield, the reds are almost indomitable , but their away form is not too impressive.
I believe Benitez would play a careful game away to PSV and hope to win the game back in Anfield.
Ronald Koeman and Benitez had faced each other this season during the qualifying round, resulting 0:0 at PSV and winning 2:0 at Anfield.
I can see the same scoreline happening again tonight. A goalless draw or 1:1. Draw and under 21/2 is my pick .

MILAN VS Bayern Munich, Giusseppe Meazza - Milan.

Another low scoring match? Champions Quarter Finals games have mostly low scoring games from year to year. Last Year Milan plays 0:0 away to Lyon and beat them 3:1 at Giusseppe Meazza, but situations are a bit different as they have the advantage of playing secong leg at home. Ancellotti would take this game more cautiously as they have to play at Allianz in MUnich for the second Leg. Last year in the semifinals, Milan faced Barca at home losing 0:1 and they weren't able to catch up with the aggregate, being held to a goalless draw in Barcelona and Barca went on to win the trophy.

Milan ACCeltic Glasgow1:0AET




Celtic GlasgowMilan AC0:0




Milan ACLille0:2




Athens AEKMilan AC1:0




Milan ACAnderlecht4:1




AnderlechtMilan AC0:1




LilleMilan AC0:0




Milan ACAthens AEK3:0




This year has not been kind to Milan, with the calciopolli scandal that almost deny them a place in the Champions League, points deductions at the start of the Serie A, the strikers are not scoring goals like they used to when Sheva was still around (Shevchenko was transferred to Chelsea June Last Year). Milan and Bayern Munich had sold Sheva nad Ballack respectively to Chelsea and they still have not found the suitable replacements for both players. Felix Magath was fired after the holidays and taking his place is their previous coach Ottmar Hitzfield, who had presented many trophies for this club at the turn of the century.
The irony was that Ballack & Sheva had a horrid time at the beginning of the season with Chelsea trying to adapt to the EPL style, but it took a better turn at the second part of the season after much toils from both players.
If we look at the teams that Milan had faced during qualifications, honestly Milan has yet to face the real test. Bayern is much more solid than the rest and Bayern had beaten both Inter and Real Madrid on their quest to the quarter finals.

Bayern MünchenReal Madrid2:1




Real MadridBayern München3:2




Bayern MünchenInter Milan1:1




Spartak MoscowBayern München2:2




Bayern MünchenSporting Lisbon0:0




Sporting LisbonBayern München0:1




Inter MilanBayern München0:2




Bayern MünchenSpartak Moscow4:0





Milan's goals have been coming from a midfield player, Kaka (6 out vof 9 goals). He is the one player that could make a change if there's a deadlock, true but this is getting too predictable.
Ancelloti would have to solve problems on the goal scorer options or this is not going to work.
Historically, German teams would find it hard to beat the Italian Teams on their ground due to the Italian's style of double walls defending.
The World Cup Semifinals between Germany and Italy shows it all.
However, I would want to put aside history this time and vote for Bayern , simply because they are more ready mentally and technically to go to the next phase. Verdict 0:1 or 0:2 (like they did to Inter)

Enjoy the games.

Cheers,
Dude

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