Champions League quarter-finals draw
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English clubs await European fate
An unprecedented four English clubs are awaiting the Champions League quarter-finals draw on Friday at 8:00 pm.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United join Barcelona, Roma, Schalke 04 and Fenerbahce in the hat.
There are no seedings and no country protection, meaning the English clubs could be drawn against each other.
The semi-final pairings will also be decided at the draw ceremony in Switzerland, while the Uefa Cup last-eight draw is due at 9:00 pm.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists he is not worried about coming up against a domestic rival.
"We will relish the chance to face another English team in the quarter-finals if that happens," said Ferguson.
But Chelsea captain John Terry, whose side have lost to Liverpool in the semi-finals in two of the last three seasons, would prefer to avoid English opposition - at least for now.
"Hopefully we can avoid other English teams but if we are drawn together we have to beat them," he said.
The success of the Premier League's 'Big Four' has raised hopes of an all-English final for the first time in history.
But Spanish giants Barcelona are among the other four teams hoping to prevent such an event.
The former champions, who have slipped back in the race for La Liga, eased past Celtic in the last round and have won all their matches except two in this year's competition.
Roma ensured Italy have one representative in the last eight with a surprise win over Real Madrid.
They will be hoping to avoid Manchester United after suffering a 7-1 drubbing at Old Trafford in last year's quarter-finals.
Fenerbahce and Schalke are through to the last eight for the first time in their history.
Champions League quarter-finalist
Liverpool
Arsenal
Chelsea
Manchester United
Barcelona
Roma
Schalke 04
Fenerbahce
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Champions League quarter-final (1st Leg) draw.
Arsenal v Liverpool
Roma v Manchester United
Schalke 04 v Barcelona
Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Chelsea as usual, get the easiest draw again...
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Champions League Semi-final draw.
Arsenal v Liverpool VS Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Schalke 04 v Barcelona VS Roma v Manchester United
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Chelsea always get easiest draw ... Zzz
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Champions League Final.
Schalke 04 v Barcelona VS Roma v Manchester United
VS
Arsenal v Liverpool VS Fenerbahce v Chelsea
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I think Pool won't be happy with the draw... They are quite special in the CL but If any team can beat them in the CL, I think its Arsenal...
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Time for Ah Ben to earn his pay and make the rest of the top three pay.
If he want to stay around, he better start beating the three teams.
Or else he is just a flop.
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The Ah Ben & Wenger war will start very soon...
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Champions League quarter-final draw.
Arsenal v Liverpool
Roma v Manchester United
Schalke 04 v Barcelona
Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Ties to be played 1/2 (1st Leg) and 8/9 of April (2nd Leg)
Champions League Semi-final draw.
Arsenal v Liverpool VS Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Schalke 04 v Barcelona VS Roma v Manchester United
ties being played on April 22/23 (1st Leg) and 29/30 (2nd Leg)
The final will take place in Moscow on May 21.
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Wenger and Benitez will face each other three times in a weekArsenal will face Liverpool in the last eight of the Champions League
Arsenal and Liverpool have never faced each other in European competition before, but the stage is set for a more familiar semi-final line-up.
Should the Merseyside club make it through to the last four - with the ties being played on April 22/23 and 29/30 - they would be likely to face Chelsea at that stage for the third time in four years.
Were Arsenal and the Blues to make it through, it would be a repeat of the quarter-final clash from 2003/04 when Chelsea prevailed.
Manchester United beat Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford in the knockout stages last season as well as playing them in this season's group stages.
Chelsea have the most favourable draw of the English clubs with a trip to Istanbul to face tournament outsiders Fenerbahce, before a second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry admitted Arsenal were not the team he had hoped to face. With half the last eight being English teams there was a strong possibility of two meeting each other, and Arsenal and Liverpool were the first two names out of the hat.
Parry told Sky Sports News: 'We'd hoped to avoid the English teams at this stage but statistically there were bound to be two coming together and unfortunately it's us. 'We play Arsenal in a league game in between so we'll be playing them three times in a week.'
Parry does not expect the two games next month to differ from their league meetings. 'It'll be very similar,' he added. 'We know them extremely well and they know us. 'The three games are going to very, very tight. I don't think the Champions League is going to be any different, it's tough.
On the prospect of facing Chelsea in the semi-finals once again, Parry added: 'We had noticed. 'Interestingly, the prospect of two English teams in the final in Moscow remains very much alive and that would be interesting to say the least.'
Something strange... Liverpool and Arsenal to play each other 3 times... On the 1/2 , 5 and 8/9...
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Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman added: "I think we'd have preferred European competition. "Liverpool are a great team and are fantastic in this competition and, with three games against them in a week, I'm sure the tactics in each tie will be under close scrutiny." "It should make for compelling viewing and, after the way we played against AC Milan, we must have a lot of belief that we can go all the way."
Manchester United club secretary Ken Ramsden said: "It's a good draw for us, I think. I'm happy we're playing continental opposition and we have a good record against them. "I'm sure the manager will also be happy that we're playing at home in the second leg so we're content with that."
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was equally happy to have avoided an English side in the draw, adding: "I'm delighted. "There are no easy draws at this stage but we wanted to avoid an English side and we've done that. "Despite a couple of disappointing results of late, we've complete confidence in the team and coaching staff to ensure we have a good end to the season."
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ODDS*11/4 Barcelona10/3 Man Utd7/2 Chelsea5/1 Arsenal6/1 Liverpool11/1 Roma33/1 Schalke40/1 Fenerbahce* Odds subject to change -
Man utd also easy. Roma,you trashed them the other time! And chelski can **** my arsehole. I hope the Turks do what barnsley did to them.
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Originally posted by felirox:
Man utd also easy. Roma,you trashed them the other time! And chelski can **** my arsehole. I hope the Turks do what barnsley did to them.
Yeah easy, tell that to Real Madrid lah... United only manage to beat them 1-0 at OT the last time... And the Rooney goal came very late too... The current Roma will be more difficult than present AC Milan...
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i tink tis year got an english team in the final agan
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I hope Arsenal go thru and together with Chelsea... This way they will also have their hands full so cannot concentrate on the Premier League alone...
And these 2 still have to fight it out in the semis on April 22/23 and 29/30...
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Agger to miss rest of Reds seasonLiverpool central defender Daniel Agger has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a metatarsal injury.The Denmark international, 23, will undergo surgery on his troublesome foot injury early next week after being sidelined since September.
"It's a blow for Daniel but we want to get his problem sorted," Rafa Benitez told the club's official website.
"We have defensive cover and Martin Skrtel is playing very well, Daniel will be back for next season."
Agger has only played six games for Liverpool this season and his absence is a blow for the club who have key games coming up in both the Premier League and, most notably, the Champions League.
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everyone complain when chelsea have a easy draw.. did anyone complain when chelsea get barcelona werder bremen in grp phase in yr 2006? this year grp phase chelsea dun haf an easy draw too.. dun forget Fenerbahce beat inter n sevilla at home..
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Originally posted by weiz87:
everyone complain when chelsea have a easy draw.. did anyone complain when chelsea get barcelona werder bremen in grp phase in yr 2006? this year grp phase chelsea dun haf an easy draw too.. dun forget Fenerbahce beat inter n sevilla at home..
Well, everyone gets a hard draw once in a while... But i think they have some valid reason went people say Chelsea does enjoy the luck of the draw most of the time in recent years... Just look at this year FA cup draw they got...
Even in the CL they get teams like Rosenborg , Valencia & Schalke 04 in their group... and Olympiacos in the last round... They are indeed lucky with the draw...
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Most of the time Arsenal r getting tough draw in UCL but they win, if they have a lousy opponent they will be complacent.
Look like their remaining match will be in England, which the last time they lost to Chelsea at home, due to complacency......
So it may be a good draw being 2nd leg away to Pool so they cannot relax on the home leg and try to score as many goals as possible. Those who lost to Pool r being too too much complacent by thinking that they r ez opponent, just like AC 3 yrs ago.
Come to ManU with Barce in Semi, this is another good match other than AC vs Arsenal. If no mistake ManU can go to the final together with Arsenal, and this time is not OT but a neutral ground, so it's 50/50.
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I'm still dreaming for that Man utd Liverpool final
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chelsea get easy draw with FA Cup. liverpool get it easy too.. but they lose to barnsley. Steaua Bucuresti, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas not an easy team? dun forget chelsea draw barcelona in the round 16 2 time in a row. at in their grp stage before too. and barcelona was at their peak. but i would say. luck is needed to win UCL too...
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UEFA rubbish talk of fixed Champs League drawA post left on a newspaper's internet forum at 10.28am this morning - 90 minutes before the draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland - correctly predicted the entire quarter-final draw.
The poster claimed that bookmakers were no longer willing to accept bets on the draw, although it is understood that most were not running books on it anyway.
When all four ties predicted in the post came to fruition it caused fevered internet speculation that some sort of manipulation might have taken place.
But a UEFA spokesman said: 'It is just a lucky guess. I have been in touch with people internally and they are quite surprised. They find it a little ridiculous actually.
'The results of the draw and the practice draw were completely different, and I think it was just pure luck that this guy could get them all right.
'That's the only explanation we can give.'
Former Russia goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev pulled the balls out of the hat during the draw, which was televised live, with UEFA general secretary David Taylor watching on.
UEFA are confident that the entire procedure was impossible to rig.
'It's a draw that's open to the public and club representatives. The balls are all of the same colour and there are no distinctive marks on them,' the spokesman added.
'I was just 10 metres away and what was drawn was also read by Mr Taylor. It (a fix) is impossible.'
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chelsea get easy draw with FA Cup. liverpool get it easy too.. but they lose to barnsley. Steaua Bucuresti, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas not an easy team? dun forget chelsea draw barcelona in the round 16 2 time in a row. at in their grp stage before too. and barcelona was at their peak. but i would say. luck is needed to win UCL too...
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its not easy for chelsea because grant is the manager, and with him at the helm, anything is really possible..tsk.
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Originally posted by lpx88:
I'm still dreaming for that Man utd Liverpool final
I'd prefer a match up with Arsenal.. 2 best attacking team in EPL facing out each other for the EPL and CL... wat a closure its gonna be this season..xD
coupled the fact Arsenal might wanna avenge their humiliating defeat to us in the FA Cup fixture,
it'll make it even more interesting :DMay the best team win! (although i would be very upset if United didn't...)