The eight teams left in the Uefa Champions League compete in what should be a memorable week for European football.
Some might argue that the competition is now weaker with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal out of the tournament. But a closer look at the quarterfinal ties reveals a mixed bag where professionalism, competitiveness and most of all emotion will come to the fore.
The glamour tie is the meeting between the Milanese giants, AC and Inter. The cold, calculating way that AC Milan dismissed Manchester United in the last round made them the team to avoid in any stage of this tournament — and, indeed, most people’s favourites to win it.
As fate would have it, it is their closest neighbours and archrivals, Inter, who now have to combat the pure professionalism of this Milan outfit. As these two sides share a ground — the world-famous San Siro — there is no real home and away leg to this derby tie. However, it is AC who will play as though they are the home team in the first leg on Wednesday.
Inter will want to capitalise on this with an ”away” goal or two, just to make life difficult for the red side of Milan in the second leg. They certainly have the firepower up front to make a breakthrough with the likes of Nigerian youngster Obafemi Martins and the Brazilian, Adriano, who scored a hat-trick when Inter beat Porto in the last round.
Inter, however, have had a frustrating time of late and have not been able to convert draws into wins in the Serie A this season.
Things get even more problematic for them when one considers how hard it is for anyone to score against the mighty Milan defence, led by Alessandro Nesta and ever-present captain Paolo Maldini.
It’s not just at the back that Milan shine either. There is class on every blade of grass when AC take to the field and the Inter defence, led by captain Javier Zanetti, will have their hands full with any combination of Kaka, Andrei Shevchenko and Hernan Crespo up front.
Expect both teams to feel each other out in the first leg, with Inter trying to capitalise on their ”away” status. However, as they did when they played their old rivals in the semifinals of the Champions League two years ago, Milan will surely come out on top.
Although the Italian derby will be a passionate affair, no game in this round will be as emotionally charged as the tie between Liverpool and Juventus at Anfield on Tuesday. It is the first competitive game between these two sides since the ill-fated 1985 European Cup final, where 39 people were killed in the Heysel disaster.
Both clubs were preparing to mark the 20th anniversary of those tragic events in Belgium, and now they have the perfect stage on which to do so in the shape of a showpiece clash in Europe’s elite tournament.
No doubt the occasion will overshadow the action on the field, and while commemoration is important — and, indeed, long overdue — it is the latter on which the two clubs will be focusing.
Once again it is Liverpool’s inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard, who will be crucial to the Merseysiders’ hopes. Liverpool, and Gerrard in particular, were brilliant against their arch-rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby a few weeks ago. The win not only closed the gap to the crucial fourth place in the Premiership, but would have sky-rocketed Liverpool’s confidence, which has been anything but high of late.
The Reds still have problems up front, though, as Fernando Morientes is ineligible for Champions League action and Milan Baros is seemingly incapable of scoring a goal, no matter how easy the chance. Liverpool coach Rafael BenÃÂtez will hope that the Czech striker can regain some of his Euro 2004 form. Otherwise he will have to rely on his midfielders to trouble the likes of Juve defenders Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram.
Liverpool’s defence, led by an inspirational Jamie Carragher of late, will have to find a way of controlling Juventus’s attacking talent in the shape of David Trezeguet, Alessandro del Piero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Turin outfit are not known for finding the net, having scored just eight goals in their seven Champions League games so far this season. But, as Real Madrid found out in the last round, one or two goals are all that’s needed in this competition.
Juventus will be clear favourites to progress to the semis, but Liverpool may once again spring a surprise in this up-and-down season of theirs. Whatever the result on Tuesday, though, one thing is for sure, emotions will be running high and there won’t be many dry eyes at Anfield.
Chelsea will be confident of succeeding where Arsenal failed when they take on Bayern Munich. Bayern pounced on some shocking Gunners defending to score some early goals in the last round, and in effect take the tie away from Arsenal. This, however, is not likely to happen against Chelsea, who have the strongest defence in England.
As they showed against Barcelona, Chelsea are more than capable of scoring their share of goals too.
Didier Drogba. The Ivorian international is always a threat up front, and at last Mateja Kezman is finding the back of the net for the Blues.
It is in the midfield, however, where the battles will be most interesting. The head-to-head clash between Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack in the middle of the park will be a treat to watch and will go a long way towards deciding this fierce battle. There will also be a more subtle battle for superiority between Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves, who are both vying for a spot in Sven Goran Eriksson’s England midfield.
Led by their passionate captain, Oliver Kahn, Munich are an accomplished team and, although they’re not setting the Bundesliga on fire this season, they do have valuable Champions League experience and an excellent pedigree in Europe.
Bayern could take advantage of a distracted Chelsea at the moment, with manager Jose Mourinho up to his ears in Uefa disciplinary hearings. But Chelsea are brimming with confidence and, in the first leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, in particular, their superstars should be able to overcome Bayern.
The final fixture of this quarterfinal stage pairs the two underdogs Lyon and PSV Eindhoven.
For most of this season’s Champions League campaign these two lesser-fancied teams had gone about their business quietly, but efficiently. In the last round, however, they both gave outstanding performances to announce firmly their presence in the competition.
Lyon were sparkling as they won 10-2 on aggregate against a Werder Bremen team that simply gave up in the second leg.
They topped their group ahead of Manchester United and have a brand of football that is exciting to watch and may take them a lot further than anyone expected.
Guus Hiddink’s PSV outfit qualified for the last 16 for the first time in their Champions League history, but proved it was no fluke by beating last year’s runners-up Monaco both home and away.
The run for both PSV and Lyon may come to an end after this round, with a semifinal tie against one of the Milan giants ahead, but expect these dark horses to show some rich quality when they take the field on Tuesday night.
The Champions League can always be relied upon to bring the best out of Europe’s elite and this next stage is no different. With passion and emotion the order of the day, the quarterfinal fixtures promise to deliver some epic clashes.