All 8 Group winners' qualification arguably makes this year's Champions League Quarter Finals the toughest ever!

The final eight fighting for the coveted Champions League this year are perhaps in for the toughest draw in the competition's history & therefore possibly the most exciting ever.

For the first time ever, all 8 Group winners won their round of 16 encounters & reached the quarter finals.

6 of the 8 quarter finalists are past winners & 6 are amongst the 8 richest clubs in the world (yes money talks & buys trophies more than ever before)

The apparent decline of Italy's Serie A continued with no Italian teams making it to the quarter finals, whilst the exaggerated hysterical claims of German domination once again proved unsubstantiated as Schalke & Leverkusen both succumbed to heavy aggregate defeats. Germany's Bayern & Dortmund however continue to be amongst the European elite.
English teams also continued to perform below their benchmark standards suggesting a more marked shift to mainland European powers. Only Chelsea show any sign of being capable of lifting the trophy. Manchester City, meanwhile, although unlucky with the draw, showed their naivety & lack of European experience but will continue their rise in the coming years. Very little can be said about the immediate prospects of Arsenal & manchester United in Europe!

Spanish teams on the other hand continued their overall dominance with all three teams getting through the round of 16 & the money power of the French Ligue 1's PSG will also continue its ascendency in the coming years.

In my post at the time of the round of 16 draw, I tipped Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Dortmund & the Champions Bayern to beat their opponents relatively comfortably (although in case of Barcelona, Manchester City offered less resistance than I predicted & Real Madrid were more rampant than expected).
I did however suggest that Manchester United, PSG & Chelsea could struggle if their opponents did well in their respective first leg home matches. As it turned out, PSG smashed Leverkusen in Germany & Galatasaray only managed a credible but insufficient 1-1 draw at home vs Chelsea.
Olympiakos on the other hand must surely think they missed a golden opportunity against an out of sorts Manchester united side. They went to Old Trafford for the 2nd leg with a 2-0 home leg win under their belt but capitulated 3-0 on a magical Old Trafford night to Manchester United.

And now the quarter final draw, which although very tough, has amazingly kept the so called 4 favourites apart!

Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid & Chelsea did not draw each other.

At least on paper however, Chelsea seem to have the toughest draw & may yet taste the bitter taste of their own "trophy buying money" when they meet PSG. vs the mighty money power of PSG. Mourinho however, has once again build a tight united which albeit defensive at times, can break quickly & punish opponents (as witnessed in the 6-0 demolition of Arsenal in Wenger's 1000th match in charge this weekend).

Like Manchester City & their deep pockets, PSG will need a few more years of European exposure before they can reach the final of this competition, just ask Roman Abramovich & his Chelsea! It took more than a billion pounds of his money, several coaches & multiple attempts before they finally achieved European success. I therefore believe Chelsea will get past PSG.

Out of the other 3 encounters, The holders Bayern vs Manchester United is the most eagerly anticipated. Manchester United will however struggle to get past this record breaking Bayern side in particular considering their hat-trick hero vs Olympiakos, Van Persie, is injured.
Bayern on the other hand, have looked slightly shaky at the back (and Dante will be suspended for the first leg in Manchester). Nevertheless, Bayern should prevail.

Last year's semi finalists Real Madrid & Dortmund will meet at the quarter finals this year. However, Real Madrid under Angelotti this year & with Ronaldo at his goalscoring best, are a far more attacking & accomplished side than last year under Mourinho. Ronaldo & Bale have formed a lethal partnership & the Real bench has more depth than last year. Dortmund on the other hand, have not recovered from Goetze's move to Bayern, have been decimated with injuries to several key players of last year's campaign and will miss Lewandowski in the first leg through suspension.

Real Madrid, are in fact the favourites to win the Champions League this year & will comfortably account for Dortmund this year.

All three domestic encounters between Barcelona & Atletico Madrid this year have so far been very tight affairs & ended up in draws. This will therefore be a hard one to predict. However, based on signs that Messi is once again injury free & returning to his goalscoring best, and also in the context of lack of "European Experience" argument (as applied to eg PSG & Manchester City), Barcelona will account for Atletico Madrid.

No matter which teams prevail, there is no doubt this is potentially the most eagerly anticipated, thrilling & exciting quarter final in Champions League's history.

European Football season 2013-14 promises to produce the most exciting season yet!

The new European football season is already well on the way & the draw for the 2013-14 Champions League has also taken place.

Unlike previous years, I am running late with my pre season predictions of the major league & will be combining all my predictions in this post.

Amongst the glamour clubs of the ivy leagues in Europe, there are as usual mouth watering & puzzling transfers which will be finalised by 1st September:

Amongst the winners so far in the transfer market are:

In Germany, the record breaking defending European & Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munchen have signed the hugely talented Mario Goetze & Thiago Alcantra & of course Pep Guardiola & should win the Bundesliga again, whilst Dortmund will once again challenge both in Germany & Europe. Bundesliga will however struggle to challenge EPL & La Liga for supremacy unless other German teams manage to do well in the Champions & Europa League too. Therefore much is expected of Leverkusen & Schalke this season.

In Spain, Barcelona have captured Neymar but it is yet to be seen how the new coach will deal with Neymar & Messi whilst Real Madrid have allowed Mourinho & Higuain & a few others to leave whilst the hugely talented Isco, Carvajel & Illaramendi & Ancelotti have arrived. La Liga is once again the domain of these two & I tip Barcelona to prevail. Atletico Madrid have lost Falcao to Monaco but in David Villa as his replacement to give the big two a run for their money & alleviate the predictability of the two horse race aspect of La Liga.

In France, PSG & Monaco have taken the French League to another dimension by capturing Cavani & Falcao respectively but PSG will win Ligue 1.

Whilst I also tip Tevez to do well at Juventus, Napoli are the dark horses in Serie A & also in Champions League. Despite losing Cavani to PSG, Rafa Benitez has signed a few tactically superior players for Napoli & they may even pip Juventus to the post in Italy.

In the Premier League, Manchester City have signed the highly sought after trio of Negrado, Navas & Jovetic & in Pellegrini they have a more tempered & skilful coach than Mancini. Tottenham on the otehr hand, are a winner for buying many valued stars such as Poulinho & Eriksen & will be a winner just for selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid at a price which is simply stupid!

I just watched Mourinho's Chelsea losing the European Super Cup to Bayern. Mourinho has already begun to transform Chelsea to a force to be reckoned with albeit with his usual defensive & dirty play. The new Manchester United coach David Moyes, & Arsen Wenger at Arsenal are on the other hand seemingly having trouble attracting top talent to their teams & will struggle to challenge.

My prediction for EPL: 1. Manchester City 2. Chelsea 3. Manchester United 4. Tottenham

Bayern Munich's treble winning triumph in 2013 was a lesson in life

Bayern Munich finished second to Dortmund in their domestic league (Bundesliga) last year & also lost the German Cup final to their bitter rival. To top it all, they hosted the Champions League Final against Chelsea in their own stadium in Munich last May & unbelievably lost that final in a penalty shoot out too.

Bayern players after the penalty shootout loss to Chelsea in the Champions League Final last May

Out of the the above three competitions none hurt more than the Champions League final. Bayern dominated the match for 88 minutes & were winning 1-0 until Chelsea scored from their first corner in the 88th minute. Then Robben missed a penalty in the extra time which would have won Bayern the match 2-1...and finally, in the penalty shoot out Bayern led 3-1 & ended up losing the shoot out 3-4!

Jupp Heynckes, the Bayern coach, & the Bayern management, promised Bayern would be back stronger & more determined this season. Only a handful of people believed they could psychologically bring the players back. Bayern nevertheless set about buying new players in order to plug the gaps that had lost them Champions League finals in 2010 & 2010.

By the end of this season last week, Bayern had won the Bundesliga in record time, were crowned European Champions after accounting for Arsenal, Juventus & barcelona in the knockout phase & beating Dortmund 2-1 at Wembley, and became the first ever German side (and only the 7th ever) to win the treble crown by also winning the German Cup final last weekend.

Robben displaying shear relief after scoring the winner in the Champions League Final vs Dortmund

And Robben, who had missed a penalty vs Dortmund to hand them the Bundesliga title last year, and a penalty vs Chelsea in last year's Champions League Final, scored the winner in the 89th minute in a Man of the Match performance in this year's 2-1 final win vs Dortmund.

A lesson in life on how shear determination & hard work (and money to invest on new players!) can overcome the most difficult mental barriers, and how the agony of a major loss can turn into triumph in life.......................and a well deserved one at that!

Bayern & Dortmund to contest the first ever all German Champions League Final at the home of football, Wembley

The German National Team has suffered badly in the hands of Spain (& Italy) in recent years!

Their starts & their up & coming crop of young talented internationals lost the 2006 World Cup semi final to Italy, the final of Euro 2008 to Spain, the semi final of WC 2010 to Spain, and the semi final of Euro 2012 to Italy!

Add to that Bayern's loss in the 2009 Champions League final of 2010 to Inter Milan & you get the picture!

But now, finally, Bayern & Dortmund have made amends for all that heartache with their respective gutsy, skilful & impressive displays throughout this year's Champions League.

Dortmund topped Real Madrid in the so called group of death, beating Real 2-1 in Germany &drawing 2-2 in Madrid when a last minute goal save the day for Mourinho & co. Then they (albeit) luckily but deservedly eliminated Malaga & hammered Real 4-1 in the first leg of the semi final.

Bayern on the other hand, have impressively accounted for Valencia, Juventus & Barcelona on their way to the final. No one can question the difficulty of their path in the knockout stages: Arsenal then Juventus then Barcelona.

And the German invasion of London is now complete: The first ever all German Champions League final, at Wembley, the home of football! (only Spanish & English teams have achieved that previously)

And whilst Dortmund & Bayern know each other only too well & the result will be hard to predict, this current Bayern side has been immensely impressive on all fronts this year & deserves to lift the trophy in their third final in the last four years, and particularly in light of the heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in last year's final in their home ground in Munich.

Bayern will take over the mantle of Barcelona as the greatest club team in the world & will rule European football for the next few years! As we, the Bayern supporters famously say:

Mia San Mia

The best four attacking sides in Europe make this one of the most exciting Champions League semi finals of all time!

Arguably, the four best teams in Europe this season have made it to the semi finals of the Champions League this year.

This means, we won't have to worry about the ultimately effective yet totally anti football tactics of De Matteo's Chelsea of last year!

The semi finalists in this year's Champions League are undoubtedly the most exciting attacking sides anywhere in Europe at the moment.

And the draw has ended up being the battle of Germany vs Spain. This is a battle that at club level the Germans have won in the recent past whilst at National level the Spaniards have been the victors.

Bayern & Dortmund have been victors vs Real Madrid in the last two years whilst Dortmund deservedly albeit luckily accounted for Malaga in the quarter finals & Bayern got the better of Valencia in the group stage in this year's competition.

Therefore, whist the media are salivating for the dream Barcelona vs Real Madrid final, they may once again be disappointed this year! Both contests are very close, and over the two leg, a combination of tactics, focus & luck will tell which two teams will prevail & reach the final at Wembley.

Whilst on paper Bayern seem to have ended up with the tougher draw, as a friend rightly pointed out to me, Barcelona are much less difficult to account for over two legs than in a one off final match. (a point that PSG nearly proved right  in the quarter finals this year & Chelsea accomplished last year).

Bayern have already been crowned Bundesliga Champions & can rest players & focus on Barcelona, although Barcelona themselves are almost guaranteed of winning the LaLiga. As a result the battle once again predictably comes down to how Bayern disrupt the mesmerising telepathic connection between the trio of Messi/Xavi/Iniesta. As seen in the quarter final second leg vs PSG, Messi only needs to be on the field to unsettle opponents!

On the other hand, Dortmund & Real Madrid know each other only too well having already played twice in the group stage (at the time many commentators predicted the winner this year would be one of those two).

On the subject of whether first match is played at home or away, I actually prefer the home game first because of the away goals rule & the fact that it makes the team less anxious in the second leg. So, advantage the Germans in that aspect.

This year's final pairing is anyone's guess. The only certainty is the finalists will be worthy of their success & one of the best 4 teams in Europe this year will win the Champions League this year.

More than ever before,  regardless of the heartache of last year's loss to Chelsea in Munich, my heart & mind are united in saying this is Bayern's time to shine & rule European football!
And the emphatic & free scoring ways they have accounted for themselves this year mean I may not be too far off the mark!

Champions League quarter Final Draw keeps most of the powerhouses apart

The quarter final pairings for this year's Champions League have been drawn, and the powerhouses Real Madrid & Barcelona avoided each other.

For the first time, UEFA has not paired the quarter finals, meaning that the semi final draw will be made after the quarter final matches are completed & decided.

I got 6 of the 8 results of the round of 16 right. Malaga, the undoubted surprise package of this year's competition stunned my tip Porto, whilst Galatasaray were a different proposition once they brought Drogba & Sneijder to their fold in the January transfer window. They beat Schalke to advance to the quarter finals.

In reality, whilst the Bayern Munich vs Juventus is the peak of the draw, the competition remains as open as it has ever been. In all fairness, the so called favourites all struggled in some way or another & were far from being fully convincing in getting to the quarter finals. In fact the so called underdogs got to the quarter finals more convincingly!

Yes! Barcelona, led by the irreplaceable trio of Messi-Xavi-Iniesta demolished AC Milan 4-0 in Camp Nou in the return leg & in the process announce themselves as the best & clear favourites. However, this was after they were outclassed 2-0 by Milan in the first leg.

Real Madrid only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United & were by all accounts fortunate to take advantage of a questionable refereeing decision to red card Nani & in the process take the game out of the clutches of Manchester United, who were dominating Real up to that point.

Bayern Munich outclassed Arsenal 1-3 in London but then started to struggle for the past few weeks & finally had to endure some nervy minutes in the return leg before losing 0-2 & only qualifying on the away goal rule.

Juventus, whilst fully in control against Celtic in both legs were hardly troubled by the draw & will have their stern test vs Bayern if they are to prove themselves as serious contenders.

PSG,on the other hand, had difficulty in convincingly disposing of Valencia & will miss Ibrahimovic in the first leg vs Barcelona

In fact Dortmund are undoubtedly the dark horse of this year's competition. They remain unbeaten in their 8 matches so far, whilst Malaga, the romantics' favourites this year & Galatasaray have done extremely well to get this far.

Quarter finals are about experience, depth in squad and also to a lesser extend the advantage of playing the first game away from home (although I don't believe in that last point). So, at least on paper, the predictions are relatively easy:

Barcelona seem to be back at their sublime best after the 4-0 demolition of AC Milan & will most probably take advantage of Ibrahimovic's suspension in the first leg & PSG's relative inexperience at this level.

Real Madrid have the experience & resources to finish Galatasaray's gallant run whilst Dortmund should put an end to Malaga's beautiful game.

Bayern on the other hand, went to the second leg vs Arsenal on the back of a convincing 1-3 win in the first leg & a run of 23 unbeaten matches in all competitions & then wobbled into a 0-2 loss in Munich. Once again all questions of mental fragility which surfaced after their heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in last year's final started to circulate.

But for Bayern's hard core fans such as me, all evidence points to a relatively low level mid season form slump & Bayern should be able to account for a very impressive Juventus side.

Paraphrasing Bayern's President after the shock defeat to Arsenal; "On a good day we are good enough to beat any of the remaining teams in this year's competition....but if we play the way we played in the loss to Arsenal, we will lose no matter which one of the remaining teams we draw!!"

And Bayern have their work cut out! They need to be at their absolute best in both legs in order to account for Juventus, remembering that Italy & Italian teams are generally Germany's & Bayern's boggy teams.

One thing is nevertheless certain: Champions League quarter final & semi finals are undoubtedly the most exciting football encounters anywhere in the world.

Chelsea & Manchester City lose in the latest round of UEFA Champions League

To the average football fan, there's nothing more enjoyable to witness "trophy Buying" teams fail in major competitions!

Of course this does not happen very often & in most instances money brings better quality players & wins trophies.

nevertheless, in defeats by the highly expensively put together trio of Real Madrid, Manchester City & Chelsea brought lots of smiles to fans around the world, especially in case of the English teams:

Manchester City, simply because they are attempting & o far failing miserably to buy trophies. And Chelsea because they did eventually buy themselves the CL trophy last year with their anti football brand of tactics, for introducing questionable billion dollar amounts into the game, AND for playing awful in their defeat vs a brilliant Shaktar Donetsk.

Amazingly, Chelsea at 2-0 down were so badly under siege by Shaktar that it almost felt as though Shaktar were behind 0-1 & time was running out!

So, for the sake of the beautiful game, let's hope both Chelsea & Manchester City get eliminated in the group stage this year & their expensively assembled squads cost them a fortune with little return!

But half way through the group stage, here are the main points:

This year, the first knockout phase is going to be one of the most difficult in the recent history of the tournament. The likes of Dortmund, Schalke, Malaga, Porto, PSG, Shaktar, Valencia, Bate & even Ajax are all playing very well & would be a real threat to any of the favourites in most bigger teams in the knock out stages.

Here are my thoughts half way through the group stage:

Barcelona & Real Madrid are once again the favourites
Bayern provide the stiffest threat to Real & Barcelona
Malaga, Schalke & Dortmund have been simply superb
Manchester United are having major defensive issues which if not addressed will see them eliminated in the knock out stages by any of the above teams
English teams are once again under performing although both Arsenal & Chelsea should qualify for the knock out stage
Italian Teams & Serie A are in a steep decline & even Juventus won't go to far this year
German & Spanish teams are so far the dominant forces of this year's CL

Nevertheless, as this most exciting competition proves year after year, these are early days, forms can fluctuate AND luck can play its part ! Just ask Chelsea how they won last year's CL!

Bitter? Me? No way! :)