The UEFA Champions League is officially the most watched & best supported annual sporting event in the world, easily beating the various American finals.
However, its knockout stages are starting to upstage even FIFA's much cherished World Cup as a spectacle. Not only almost all of the world's best players feature in the competition's knockout stages, it the matches have over the years produced lots of excitement, plenty of drama & most importantly a lot of goals.
The draw for the knockout stage of the 2012-13 competition has just been announced & this year promises to be as exciting as ever.
In my four years of writing a blog on the Champions League, my tipping success year stands as 8/8, 8/8, 7/8 & sadly last year 6/8 correct prediction on which 8 teams will make it to the quarter finals. I try to keep the analysis brief & non technical as usual. So here are my tips on this year's draw: (my tips in bold)
Manchester United vs Real Madrid is undoubtedly THE match of the round. Whilst Real are not as solid & well composed as last year & rumours of dressing room unrest continue to circulate them, and Manchester United are leading the EPL, I believe it is the leaky United defence which will let them down & Ronaldo, Ozil, Benzema & co will have plenty of opportunity to punish United. If Vidic can be fit enough to get back to his best form of a few years ago by February, and that is a big if, United may be able to just get through...however, that is a big if.
Barcelona, led by the unrivalled master trio of Messi Xavi & Inesta & capably supported by other world class players will reasonably comfortably roll over the recently improving Milan which nevertheless lack depth & are one of the weakest Milan sides of the last 20 years or so. Although those of us who remember the recent encounters between these two sides can expect plenty of excitement in the process.
Bayern Munich, twice finalist in the last three years of the competition, should get through the ever exciting to watch but inconsistent arsenal side which like Milan lacks depth on its bench & is at times confused about its tactics. Nevertheless, it will once again be an almighty battle of Germans vs the English.
Juventus are one of the dark horses of this year's competition & after 3 drab draws won their last 3 games with style & poise. Celtic on the other hand are the romantic story of this year's competition & their gutsy performance vs Barcelona will be forever a highlight of their recent history. But shear guts alone will not be enough for Neil Lennon & his side. Celtic will nevertheless leave the competition with their heads held high.
Borussia Dortmund possess enough talent & tactical ability to give Shakhtar a much better run for their money than Chelsea did. However, in my view, after Real Madrid, Shakhtar were the second most feared runners up. With their wily coach & the the likes of the impressive Brazilian goal machine Willian amongst their ranks, Shakhtar, on their day can beat any team in Europe. But over two legs Dortmund should prevail.
Paris St Germain the latest "trophy buying" team in Europe have been rather inconsistent in their domestic league, but led by the irreplaceable Ibrahimovic should see Valencia off relatively easily. Valencia showed plenty of poise against Bayern in the group stage but came short & the same will be the story vs PSG.
The last two match ups are in fact the hardest ones to predict. If Schalke can overcome their recent mid season slump (no wins in their last 6 Bundesliga matches as well as crashing out of the German Cup) & the new coach can stamp his style & authority quickly, then they have enough quality to beat Galatasaray, even if the Schalke home game will have 10s of thousands of Turkish German fans supporting Gala. If Schalke do not resolve their slump, Gala may have a chance to cause an upset.
And finally to two teams of vastly different history, Porto, twice winners & ever present in the competition but recently under achieving vs Malaga the first timers in the competition abandoned by their rich owners at the beginning of the seasons & seemingly hopelessly in trouble only a few months ago.......and yet both have performed with poise & played attractive football. This has all the hallmarks of a great Iberian contest & for the first time in my blogging life, I am simply unable to predict which team will prevail! It will depend on a mixture of tactics, luck & level of injuries by February.
No matter the outcome, the losing side will be missed as both teams brought a lot of attractive & entertaining football to the competition.
Once again, February & March promise to be an exciting start to the second half of the Champions League season.
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