I for one don't rate Pele for reasons previously stated. But I saw a documentary on Pele a few months back, whenever he was fouled he would note the number of the player down in his head, and take him out later in the game. Pele was hardly.. 'clean'.

Chelsea v Juventus
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
Sporting v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Porto
Lyon v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Inter v Manchester United
Arsenal v Roma


inter or UTD one of them will be out so good to hear........ juve vs chelsea i hope juve wins arsenal-roma a very well balanced imo barca munich and villareal should go through real madrid game gonna be very intersing as well

WOW! Great matches for Italians

I don't know about others, but I will cheer on Inter! I will cheer on every Italian team.

It'd be nice to see Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea all go out, in the hands of Italian teams. even if it seems impossible.

Forza Juve!!!

Hala Madrid!!!

Go United!

+1

I would support Madrid every single time they played the Scousers! I would not mind them winning it.

+ Lyon & Real Madrid

+1 - With you on both counts 100% strong! - Forza Seire A Teams ...was goin to say italian, but inter, well, you kno
...But don't get me wrong, I won't be heart broken in any way if either of them are eliminated!
Though I would love for Del Piero to lift the CL Trophy

I'm certainly not the biggest Madrid fan out there but put them up against Diverpool and ohh boy!!!
"Hala Madrid!" is right!

Some really nice match ups, on paper atleast, lets hope they can live up to the hype we will give them!

Thought I should make it known, despite supporting all italian teams in CL (...including inter), I support them on their way to the final, after which I would love to see Inter lose a CL Final.

liverpoool v real... i dunno i just hate them both so much

this draw had a great potentiel of big clashes early and thats exactly what we got:D

if only bayern got a harder draw

Mymymy. In a couple of places, it really is a matter of choosing the lesser evil to support.

Fishdoll and I have thought about it and for us, it's Hala Madrid (don't believe I'm saying that) and Glory Glory Man United (ditto, though at least Giggsy is still there). Forza also to Juve and Roma and Atletico and Barca (having seen Lyon play up close I could never support them).

What a draw!

Exactly reading my mind. All of them lesser evils.

+2...

That's a hell of a draw; somewhere, Berlu and Galliani are looking on with envy.

I'll be cheering for Madrid, albeit amidst gnashing of teeth. No way in hell will I root for Inert, of course, but I will be pulling for Roma. I dislike Chelsea way more than Juve, so that's a no-brainer there.

Villarreal/Pana (can't be bothered to spell the whole thing at 3 in the morning) has the potential to rock the house as well.

Roma (if Totti's fit) and Juve to go through.
Inter to fail miserably again.

Wow ... what a draw !!

Glory glory Man United And Forza Juve !!!

Roma v Arsenal ... Now that is what a call THE match. Will be a very interesting encounter

I think that's the most boring of the 4 'bigger' matches if I'm honest.

True .. But still, I want to watch a game with goals by the dozen !!

I have a feeling it will be disappointing.

So when does the last-16 begin ?

It's sad to sit back and watch the CL, when Milan is not even a part of it. But my bet is on Roma. They are not doing well domestically, but have a lot of potential. Plus, the dream of CL final in Roma, that should do enough for their players in the motivational department. (I have this gut feeling, Roma will not pass, yet I am still hopeful)

Another match that interests me is the United - inter encounter ... I hope Sir Alex rubs it in Mourinho's face in Manchester, making him come back to Italy with his tail up his ***.

Then there is the Liverpool - Madrid fixture, which I am sure will be a very interesting encounter.

The Juventus - Chelsea is a very balanced draw, and both tacticians depend on defense and moving the team as a unit, it will be a very closed game IMO.

Games're next week, R7. Tuesday-Wednesday as usual.

Predictions (For the overall tie, not just the 1st leg)

Arsenal vs Roma
- I'm predicting goals, but a close outcome.
Arsenal by 1
Atletico vs Porto
- Again, goals, but I think it may be one-sided.
Atletico by 3
Inter vs United
- Very close between top teams. Uniteds defense will win it them.
United by 1
Lyon vs Barcelona
- Best team in World football, in my opinion, nothing stopping them here.
Barcelona by 3
Chelsea vs Juventus
- New coach, poor form, 4th place in the league. Ranieri to get one over on his old emplyers.
Juventus by 2
Madrid vs Liverpool
-Madrid are in very good form, Liverpool are not, thanks to Rafa's giant mouth.
Madrid by 1
Sporting vs Bayern
Don't know much about Sporting and haven't seen much of Bayern. Gonna have to take an educated guess.
Bayern by 2
Villarreal vs Panithnaikos
Villarreal have got a decent team together and played well in the groups, not sure about their opponents.
Villarreal by 2

hala madrid!

roma to gun the gunners down

Mourinho = god

Corrected

I usually suck at predictions but here goes. Feel free to point and laugh later when they're probably mostly wrong.

Arsenal vs Roma
Sorry, Locke, gonna go with Roma on this one

Atletico vs Porto
Tossup here. Porto isn't playing as well as they usually do, but Atletico's having issues too. Fishdoll says Atletico because they have a nice stadium

Inter vs United
Gonna go with United on this one. Think it'll be close but I think United have a better team. Be interesting to see what happens.

Lyon vs Barcelona
Barca. Don't see Lyon posing much of a threat to them.

Chelsea vs Juventus
Hiddink is a good coach, but I think the Gobbi will pull this one out. They've got their regular starters back from injury.

Madrid vs Liverpool
Zeddie, I hope you see this because it's one of the few circumstances under which I'll ever say such a thing, so: Hala Madrid

Sporting vs Bayern
I generally like Sporting but the Bavarians are playing reasonably well and should take this one. Bayern.

Villarreal vs Panithnaikos
They've got Giuseppe Rossi on the team so going for Villareal (though Panathinaikos gets a cookie for beating the cugini at the San Siro).

Now, let's have fun..

Arsenal vs Roma 1
Home game in London+Spaletti in elimination round. Must be a Wenger win.


Atletico vs Porto x
Gonna be a draw, with more then 2 goals maybe..

Inter vs United x
Goal-less draw. Though a 1-1 would be perfect.

Lyon vs Barcelona 2
Barca all the way!

Chelsea vs Juventus 1x
Again, could end up goal-less or with a late winner..


Madrid vs Liverpool 1
Mardid is getting in-form and Benitez is becoming lazy, so..I'm gonna go for the Ramos-boys.

Sporting vs Bayern 2
Bayern, with 2 goals difference...

Villarreal vs Panithnaikos x2
It's PAO's anniversary so I'm gonna root for them. Can't support all 3 spanish teams...

PAO = Panithnaikos, right?

I see everyone thinks Madrid will eliminate Liverpool. as for me, I don't really know. a lot depends on Gerrard's presence. he was supposed to miss the first leg, right? still, the second leg is at Anfield and Liverpool always get magical in the CL [and Madrid have suked in the past couple of years]. in my opinion it will take a miracle for Madrid to reach the next round. but Hala Madrid anyway!

Here are my predicitons (it's impossible for me to predict the GD. only the winner of the tie):

Arsenal vs Roma
The return game's in Rome, I can see Roma beating this Arsenal [probably no Fabregas (?)] at home. the first leg, probably a tie.

Atletico vs Porto
Don't know anything about the Portuguese side. Atletico should be able to progress to the next round.

Inter vs United
My heart says Inter (sorry!), my head says United. my heart wins.
We're judging Inter based on their CL performances in the past seasons. maybe the Mou effect just works this time.

Lyon vs Barcelona
I don't think Barca will thrash Lyon, but they will most definitely win the tie.

Chelsea vs Juventus
Neither side are in the best shape right now. but I see a bigger hunger for CL glory in Juve players. they were away from it two seasons and now they will kill to win it.

Madrid vs Liverpool
As I said, it'd be really really hard for Madrid... will be happy if they progressed to the next round, but Liverpool gets my vote.

Sporting vs Bayern
I don't know anything about either sides. but Bayern's greatness should count for something, right?

Villarreal vs Panithnaikos
Forza Villarreal, Forza G.Rossi.

I just want to see inter and fool out. Then I don't care what happens.

+1.

no... just no... zd. Mourinho= legend/god/hero/greatest man on earth.

mourinho > every manager alive. Mourinho is the greatest football icon to ever exist.

Mourinho is surely the greatest I-talk-bull-all-the-time-and-impose-people-to-think-I-am-so-very-special caricature in the history of football, I'll give him that.

Don't be silly. Everybody knows that Jose is fantastic!

dst your a legend lol but i disagree with you. If he was coaching milan and we were 13 points clear of the top and doing really well in uefa cup i bet you would love him to.

Yup...just like the Madrid fans loved Capello.

Random stuff thread?

I'd still rank Capello, Lippi and Hitzfeld above him. not to mention Sacchi.

Not quiet. Mourinho is a coach that manages a team that's in the CL. At least for the time being!


I'll take Lippi out, and put Sacch in. The rest I agree with. There are more than one aspects of being a coach: The obvious one is tactics, man-management is another, but one aspect that is often overlooked is how that particular coach motivates his team before every match.

At any day..

Up till now Carletto > Mourinho

Great joke...you really made my day.


Of course. I'd add Rehagel to that list. his tactics might be old fashioned but his vita speaks for itself.

I'm not going to watch a video of him.


You just like people that talk a lot. I'm just and idiot who talks too much. And that's what he is too.

The most annoying thing is not his arrogance, it's his clown acts and the fact he forces people into thinking he's greater than he really is. Like when he went to England and said he was special. No matter what he does in the future, even if he fails, he's going to be remembered as the Special One. Or that ridiculous performance he pulled together when he came to Italy. Saying "I'm not an idiot" in local dialect. This makes some people look at him in awe for his amazing brain that allows him to learn so much so quickly... really, of all the things he could have learned, that's what he did learn and he also used it in his FIRST press conference... it could not be more fake.

I'll always prefer the quiet guys. People like Eriksson or MON who do a great job and never try to draw the lights on them. Mourinho is not as great as he thinks or he wants us to think. He still is an excellent coach but the day he lives Italy I'm going to jump around for hours! I'm so glad he never joined Milan.

This is just my opinion, you have yours and we're never going to agree... that's not the point anyway.

For what it's worth I'm going to be totally against you joining Milan, Bluesummers, if you're a c_nt half as big as he is. How is it that moving on by the way?