Any real football fans check out the line up for the first knockout round of the Champions League? Should be a great round with Chelsea-Barca, Real Madrid-Juve, Man United-AC Milan, and Arsenal-Bayern Munich as the glamor match-ups. Here's the complete fixtures: Real Madrid-Juventus Liverpool-Bayer Leverkusen PSV Eindhoven-Monaco Bayern Munich-Arsenal FC Porto-Inter Milan Barcelona-Chelsea Manchester United-AC Milan Werder Bremen-Lyon The team listed first hosts the first leg. Any predictions? I'll take Juve, Leverkusen, PSV, Bayern, Inter, Barca, Man United and Lyon to make it to the quarterfinals.
Juve Leverkusen PSV Chelsea ManU Werder Bremen Inter and last but not least...my Arsenal will crush SJCs Bayern.
Real Madrid-Juventus Liverpool-Bayer Leverkusen PSV Eindhoven-Monaco Bayern Munich-Arsenal FC Porto-Inter Milan Barcelona-Chelsea Manchester United-AC Milan Werder Bremen-Lyon
Arsenal will go down in an offensive flurry in Munich, and that Spanish replacement keeper will make two crucial mistakes in the early stages of the game. Goals: Makaay (3), Pizzarro (1), Ballack (1), own goal by Arsenal keeper (1)
Man Utd - Milan will be awesome. I really look forward to that one. Real - Juve, Bayern - Arsenal and Barcelona - Chelsea will also be great. A lot of games to look forward to!
I hope you do try and come out and play football. And don't make too much fun of our goalkeeper. Your number 1 is in a dead heat with our backup for his job!
bayern munich´s goalie has also been very shaky this season! BUT while it´s very common to bash on lehman, it´s kinda blasphemy to criticize oliver kahn.... as for the game, i think arsenal will draw them in the away game and gun them down in highbury!
Real Madrid- [Juventus] Liverpool- [Bayer Leverkusen] [PSV Eindhoven] -Monaco Bayern Munich- [Arsenal] FC Porto- [Inter Milan] [Barcelona] -Chelsea [Manchester United] -AC Milan [Werder Bremen] -Lyon The Best match by far is Barca vs. Chelski. Real are not even the goal scoring machine they were 2 years ago and their defense still blows. The Arse will make it out of this round but not the next. PSV is my dark horse. With the high amount of teams from the big four countries (England, Germany, Spain & Italy) we're very unlikely to see a repeat of last year's cinderella teams making it to the finals. I know this thread about the CL, but does anyone have any opinions about the possible US national team strike. The US could possibly use scabs and such if a deal is not made between the current players and the USSF. I'm siding with the players since the USSF makes millions off the Men's and Women's national team every year. But I'm really wondering how much it will affect our chances during the WC qualifiers.
They had to play an extra series to qualify for the CL unlike Chelski and the Arse who qualified automatically due to their finishing 1 and 2 in the premiership. First Leg: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 Real Madrid v Juventus Liverpool v Bayer Leverkusen PSV Eindhoven v Monaco Bayern Munich v Arsenal First Leg: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 FC Porto v Inter Milan Barcelona v Chelsea Manchester United v AC Milan Werder Bremen v Lyon Second Leg: Tuesday, March 8, 2005 Inter Milan* v FC Porto Chelsea v Barcelona AC Milan v Manchester United Lyon v Werder Bremen Second Leg: Wednesday, March 9, 2005 Juventus v Real Madrid Bayer Leverkusen v Liverpool Monaco v PSV Eindhoven Arsenal v Bayern Munich *Inter Milan v Porto will take place on Tuesday March 15. Even without RVN, I still think United has a good shot.
it really should be 'unlike Arse and Chelski who qualified automatically due to thier finishing 1 and 2 in the premiership.'
Can't believe some people actually think Arse has a chance against Bayern. It's not even close, the Arse will be crushed thoroughly.
If the season ended today, they'd only be a spot lower than they finished last season, and would still make it into the qualification stages of the Champions League next year. Nice to have a down year like that... Although I don't think it will be a crushing, I expect Bayern to go through, Arsenal have never had success in Europe. You have to remember that most Americans only (slightly) follow the Premiership, so Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea are going to be favored here. Ruud should be back by mid-February when the the knockout stages begin. I'm a United fan, but it's going to be tough, Milan has been one of the top three teams in Europe this season along with Chelsea and Barca.
'Bayern's defense hasn't exactly been impenetrable. Keep in mind that other than Juventus, who are the 1-0 specialists and beat them twice by that score, they had Tel Aviv and a weak Ajax team in their group. Those two combined for a total of 10 goals in 12 games.'
