Champions League draws breath for knockout stages
Posted on 1845 December 2009 by JaMi in Uncategorized
With the draw for the Champions League knockout stages just finished there are numerous fixtures to be excited about. Barcelona dn Bordeaux will certainly be happy having been drawn against Stuttgart and Olympiacos respectively.
The biggest talk will be of Chelsea facing Inter Milan and their manager, a certain Jose Mourinho who won two premiership titles whilst at Chelsea and will remain one of the biggest Champions League clashes this season.
Manchester United will face an old team mate by the name of David Beckham. This will be the first time he will be playing against his old club since leaving Old Trafford in 2003 although Alex Ferguson will fancy their chances having the away leg first.
Arsenal will certainly believe they can go through with a tie versus FC Porto. Arsene Wenger will not show it but he will be relatively pleased to be playing a game against a Porto side that lost both home and away games versus Chelsea.
Many of the other large teams will be very happy with the draw and particular at not having to face any of the premiership teams, the draw means that teams can now prepare for the European Competition and may look to strengthen in the January transfer window. As everyone say, there are no easy games in this tournament and at this earliest stage of the knockout rounds is more about nostalgia than who you end up facing. It also sets up a possible meeting between AC Milan and Chelsea should United and Inter fail at the first hurdle.
The current best online bookmakers leave barcelona as 6/4 favourites to retain the trophy.
Ben Carso is a freelance article writer currently working on online casinos.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/champions-league-draws-breath-for-knockout-stages-1598093.html
JaMi
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