Champion's League 2004-'05 - A Review!
What is the biggest club tournament in the world?
Undoubtedly, it is the Football Champion's League where some of the finest European clubs compete against each other. It has always been dominated by the top teams like Real Madrid, AC Milan but however, the past 2 years, Porto and Liverpool were surprise winners beating better teams, against all odds.
Present Chelsea coach Mourinho announced himself to the world by taking a team of unknown players from Portugese team Porto and winning the Champion's League. Mourinho had formed a team with talented individuals and guided them a memorable season when they won the European crown, the league title and the league Cup.
Present Chelsea coach Mourinho announced himself to the world by taking a team of unknown players from Portugese team Porto and winning the Champion's League. Mourinho had formed a team with talented individuals and guided them a memorable season when they won the European crown, the league title and the league Cup.
Liverpool, a dominant club back in the seventies and eighties, last season was re-building its team around its inspirational captain Gerrard, under new coach Rafa Benitez. Though they were terrible in the English Premier league, they were doing ok in the Champion's League. They were lucky to scrape through to the knock-out round after a close finish against the Greek club Olympiokos.Meanwhile, all the usual suspects like AC and Inter Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, ManUtd, Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea too made it to the next round.
These were the pick of the matches in the 2nd round...
These were the pick of the matches in the 2nd round...
ManUtd vs AC Milan
Barcelona vs Chelsea
Bayern Munich vs Arsenal
Real vs Juventus
I was hoping my favourites ManUtd and Barcelona would make it to the Q/Fs and Arsenal and Real, the teams I loathe, would lose. Arsenal did lose and maintained their dismal record in Europe. But ManUtd lost to AC and Barcelona lost to Chelsea after a thrilling second-leg match. Ronaldinho proved why he is the player of the year with a wonder-goal though he ended up on the losing side.
The loss made ManUtd realize that they needed to get a reliable goalkeeper and a creative midfielder if they ever have to succeed in Europe again. I was very upset that my favourites had lost but the fact that Arsenal and Real too had lost cheered me up. For the first time in so many years, a Spanish club was missing in the quarter-finals!
I was hoping my favourites ManUtd and Barcelona would make it to the Q/Fs and Arsenal and Real, the teams I loathe, would lose. Arsenal did lose and maintained their dismal record in Europe. But ManUtd lost to AC and Barcelona lost to Chelsea after a thrilling second-leg match. Ronaldinho proved why he is the player of the year with a wonder-goal though he ended up on the losing side.
The loss made ManUtd realize that they needed to get a reliable goalkeeper and a creative midfielder if they ever have to succeed in Europe again. I was very upset that my favourites had lost but the fact that Arsenal and Real too had lost cheered me up. For the first time in so many years, a Spanish club was missing in the quarter-finals!
Meanwhile, Liverpool slowly but surely were disposing off their opponents. They beat Leverkusen easily and then pulled off a major upset beating Italian giants Juventus after a dull 2nd leg match. Chelsea beat Bayern and AC won over city rivals Inter. The Dutch club PSV Eidhoven produced an upset beating high-flying French club Lyon.
The Semifinals:
The Semifinals:
Liverpool - Chelsea
AC Milan - PSV Eidhoven
Everyone had their money on Chelsea, who had just been crowned EPL champions, and on AC to meet in the Finals. I was not a huge fan of Chelsea. I had liked the team before Roman Abromovich took over and began to spend millions on new players. At least he did not follow the stupid Spanish team in buying only superstars or 'Galacticos' as they were called. It was such a pleasant sight to see Real go without a trophy for the second consecutive year! Liverpool pulled off another big upset by beating Chelsea after a controversial goal. It was not a pleasant sight though to see Chelsea players ending up in tears after the final whistle!
In the other semis, AC Milan played badly and just about managed to win on away goal rule over the Dutch team. Though I liked AC, I felt sorry for the Dutch club who had played good football. Already, some good players have been captured by other clubs. Their captain Van Bommel left for Barcelona and Ji sung-Park became the first Korean to sign for an EPL club in ManUtd.
The Finals:
Everyone had their money on Chelsea, who had just been crowned EPL champions, and on AC to meet in the Finals. I was not a huge fan of Chelsea. I had liked the team before Roman Abromovich took over and began to spend millions on new players. At least he did not follow the stupid Spanish team in buying only superstars or 'Galacticos' as they were called. It was such a pleasant sight to see Real go without a trophy for the second consecutive year! Liverpool pulled off another big upset by beating Chelsea after a controversial goal. It was not a pleasant sight though to see Chelsea players ending up in tears after the final whistle!
In the other semis, AC Milan played badly and just about managed to win on away goal rule over the Dutch team. Though I liked AC, I felt sorry for the Dutch club who had played good football. Already, some good players have been captured by other clubs. Their captain Van Bommel left for Barcelona and Ji sung-Park became the first Korean to sign for an EPL club in ManUtd.
The Finals:
In India, all Champion's League matches were telecasted live late at mid-night. I usually woke up and watched the matches. For the finals too, I got up just before the match was about to start. Though I liked AC Milan better, I decided I would support Liverpool. I really like the way they played passionately and the supporters' passion towards their club. The match couldn't have started on a worse note for Liverpool. My all-time favourite footballer Maldini opened the scoring for the Italians. Soon, Kaka turned provider for 2 goals from Crespo and before half-time the scoreline was 3-0 in favour of the Italians. I felt the 2nd half would be boring since the Italians would just defend in their own half. I could not have been more wrong when I saw the news next morning.
Liverpool had won! They had somehow equalised in a matter of 7 minutes in the 2nd half and then the goalkeeper Dudek's amazing one-handed saves from Shevchenko took the game to the penalties. Dudek emerged the hero for Liverpool after saving two penalties. When everyone had thought they were dead and buried at half-time, the Liverpool supporters still believed they had the chance, encouraged their team and Liverpool amazingly, managed to pull themselves up and won an incredible final.
How much ever money is spent on the squad, how many ever superstars a club may have in its squad, without team effort and passion to achieve something for the club, it is not possible to achieve success, I realized.
Liverpool had won! They had somehow equalised in a matter of 7 minutes in the 2nd half and then the goalkeeper Dudek's amazing one-handed saves from Shevchenko took the game to the penalties. Dudek emerged the hero for Liverpool after saving two penalties. When everyone had thought they were dead and buried at half-time, the Liverpool supporters still believed they had the chance, encouraged their team and Liverpool amazingly, managed to pull themselves up and won an incredible final.
How much ever money is spent on the squad, how many ever superstars a club may have in its squad, without team effort and passion to achieve something for the club, it is not possible to achieve success, I realized.
posted by Lucas @ 6:20 PM
7 Comments:
Barcelona are playing beautifully to regain their place in the list of greatest teams. They have managed to clinch La Liga with just 14 outfield players for majority of the last season.No such signs shown by ManU though.
Arsenal have been perennial underachievers and will continue to be so,whatever happens. But that does not make ManU better. They are still the most overhyped club,still trying to save their faces with their past glories. Take Ruud,Take Fergie.The class of '92 is past its prime and can be forgiven. What reinforcements has he bought in for them?And please do not compare Vieira and Djemba. These frenchmen may just irritate people. But their contribution cannot be understated.Henry,Zidane,Vieira,Makelele are all consistent performers. You just need to accpet that Fergie made a mistake in signing Djemba.I'm still not sure whether you are trying to pinpoint Fergie's errors or mocking at Arsenal's players.
For all Ye ManYoo fans, winning Arsenal represents more than winning the title.They don't mind consistently losing to the bottom clubs in the last 3 years.(Saints,Wolves,Canaries). This attitude of fans,a maniacal coach and an equally maniacal Glazer is never ever going to help the club.
one more dismal record of theirs is ever since the inception of the Champions League, they have played in it for 14 years and have won only once. Awful conversion rate.
Both ManU and Real's reputation have been on the fall.Real are on the mend.But for ManYoo it is really going to be uphill to match the London clubs in the coming years with the debt clouding the club.
Barcelona are playing beautifully to regain their place in the list of greatest teams. They have managed to clinch La Liga with just 14 outfield players for majority of the last season.No such signs shown by ManU though.
Arsenal have been perennial underachievers and will continue to be so,whatever happens. But that does not make ManU better. They are still the most overhyped club,still trying to save their faces with their past glories. Take Ruud,Take Fergie.The class of '92 is past its prime and can be forgiven. What reinforcements has he bought in for them?And please do not compare Vieira and Djemba. These frenchmen may just irritate people. But their contribution cannot be understated.Henry,Zidane,Vieira,Makelele are all consistent performers. You just need to accpet that Fergie made a mistake in signing Djemba.I'm still not sure whether you are trying to pinpoint Fergie's errors or mocking at Arsenal's players.
For all Ye ManYoo fans, winning Arsenal represents more than winning the title.They don't mind consistently losing to the bottom clubs in the last 3 years.(Saints,Wolves,Canaries). This attitude of fans,a maniacal coach and an equally maniacal Glazer is never ever going to help the club.
one more dismal record of theirs is ever since the inception of the Champions League, they have played in it for 14 years and have won only once. Awful conversion rate.
Both ManU and Real's reputation have been on the fall.Real are on the mend.But for ManYoo it is really going to be uphill to match the London clubs in the coming years with the debt clouding the club.
Yes, I agree with u in the sense that Fergie is way past his best and has to be kicked out! He's still depending on the class of '92...that's his biggest mistake. He forgets new players, sometimes stars have to be brought in...no more hoping a player like Djemba-Djemba becoming a Keane!
As for the Frenchmen, they are good players...never talked abt them but why does Wenger seem to sign U-21 and U-18 French/Spanish players? And, Makelele is one of the most underrated player...Real has been flopping ever since he left!
I also agree with u regarding ManU facing an uphill task...unless they bring in a new manager and some new blood into the team, it is gonna be real tough for them to win the title again.
Atleast, MaU has won the Champion's League:))
Exactly what I meant as a typical ManU fan!I would say no manager would have had such an awful conversion rate considering an unbelievable squad he is supposed to have. Actually,I have no regrets in supporting a team which can lose to good teams that play better than them on a given day and still end up above the club that beat them in the end-season standings rather than a team that is inconsistent-to-the-core,right from the attack till the goalie,right from the center of the pitch to the manager's room.ManU is a good team.There is nothing wrong in losing to a good team rather than gifting winners to minnows.I still remember Fergie feeling sorry for Bryan Robson before the match with westbrom.His pity translated into United gifting a penalty which was very decisive as West Brom latched onto another season of premiership.
Do you find any difference between the english press which many of us criticise when they say "Had Darren Gough played,England would have beaten India in a natwest group game" and when he did play in the natwest final and still the britons lost they said "If only caddick had played!" and your statements like "Ruud was not there","Ferdinand was not there","Ruud is out of touch",blah blah?
Football is more than a striker.And if it is to be proved wrong, it requires a great player like zidane,ronaldinho,shevchenko and their monumental brilliances to prove the above wrong.And I don't even see Ruud coming anywhere close to these.
Do u know Ruud was asked to watch Bergkamp,playing for Ajax then, to improve his skills.Nowhere is he near Bergy even at this time when bergy is at the twilight of his career.Dirk Kuyt,Makaay,Hesselink would be better options than him for Holland.Its just that he is the lucky racehorse whereever he goes.
Not only change of manager, these fans need to change.
Some old villagers in Tamilnadu's remote villages still believe actors Sivaji and MGR are alive. Your situation is no different.Open your eyes.
Apart from last season, 'cos he was injured, he has consistently scored 20+ goals in every season.
Btw, he has been scoring almost every match he has been playing for Holland and he was top scorer for them in Euro too!
U must surely be knowing Ruud is amongst the top in the Champion's League leading scorers list!
I rest my case!
Why does Holland flop in major tournaments?
Why has ManU never gone past quarters in past 4 seasons(inclusive of Ruud's consistent presence or absence)?
Moro was top scorer.Monaco was in the finals.Ruud was top scorer.Where was ManU?
I still remember you guys criticising Arsenal for piling up hoals over wek opposition and flopping against big teams.The same here with Ruud and Europe?Scoring 4 against Fenerbahce/Sparta did not help anyway.
More than Ruud,3-4-3 matters.Robben matters.Van der Meyde matters.Even if Kuyt plays instead of Ruud, he will score an equal number.w r to ManU,Beckham matters.Ruud is dummy sans him.
I'm perfectly ok with a player who is consistent,who has contributed towards a goal,who attempts to score rather than a prolific once-upon-a-time stuff...
All a striker can do is score goals...what can he do if his team's defence can't do much to prevent goals?
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