UEFA Champions League - Destination Wembley

by Andrew Hill

With the draw finished, Europe now knows how the eight groups will be composed and rubs its hands with the excitement that games like: Milan- Real Madrid, Bayern-Roma, or Manchester United-Valencia produce.

Year after year it just keeps getting better; and with the draw complete we just can't find reasons to believe that this year will be the exception. The UEFA Champions has gathered its 32 contenders in 8 eight groups of 4 teams each, and is now impatiently awaiting for the kick-off this coming month, on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th. For the 56th edition of the tournament, the city of London will have the honor to host the final that will be played on May 28th, 2011, at Wembley Stadium with the presence of 90,000 fortunate spectators.

The defending champions, Inter, will fight for one of the two tickets in group A that lead to the knock out phase against Werder Bremen, Tottenham and Twente. The coach who guided them to win the trophy, Jose Mourinho, is no longer with them, but this doesn't make them less dangerous, since they have hired former Liverpools's coach Rafael Benitez, who also knows how to guide a team to a final. Benitez won the competition in 2005 with Liverpool and lost the 2007 final to Milan.

In group B we have Olympique Lyonnais, Benfica, Schalke 04, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Last year Olympique knocked down Real Madrid, and for this year's edition they have made a strong investment of 22 million Euros to sign midfielder Yohann Gourcuff, actions that show that they are not in the competition to simply be part of this magnificent event, but with the intention of improving past performances. Schalke 04 will have the attraction of their sticker Raul, who will play his first season with a team that is not Real Madrid. By the way, he has scored 66 goals in European competitions. The Spaniard is called to lead the team with his experience.

Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor make up group C, where the English depart as clear favorites to end up in first place. The Spanish team has lost two of their best players: David Villa to Barcelona, and David Silva to Manchester City, but are confident in what Soldado and Mata can do. They will probably define the winner of the second ticket to the next round against Rangers, as on the paper Bursaspor is the weakest team, but previous competitions have shown that you just can't take anything for granted.

Group D has Barcelona, one of the favorites to win the competition, and will face Panatinaikos, Copenhague, and Rubin Kazan. The Spanish champions made an oath to their fans putting all their effort to make it to the final, after that painful defeat in the semifinal against Inter last season. This year they will count with the assistance of David Villa, who arrived to Barcelona in exchange of 42 million Euros with Valencia.

Last edition's runner-up, Bayer Munich, where really close to finish this past season with a treble, but Inter got in between and defeated them 2 to 0 in the final. The squad commanded by Louis van Gaal will be one of the toughest teams to defeat, this means that Roma, Basilea and Clucj will have an interesting dispute for the second place in group E.

With the same authority that Chelsea commands the Premier League, it is expected that they easily advance to the next round, without finding much resistance in Olympique de Marseille, Spartak and MSK Zilina, teams that complete group F.

Two of Europe's greatest clubs will clash for the second year in row: Milan and Real Madrid, making group G one of the most appealing to watch. With 7 and 9 Champions League titles respectively, the show is guaranteed. Ajax and Auxerre complete the group. The fans from the Amsterdam squad will enjoy again of this competition after five years of absence.

Last but not least we have group H, with the surprise of Sporting Braga, responsible of eliminating Sevilla in the playoff round. Arsenal, Shakhtar and Partizan complete the group. The English team recently gave the fans the good news involving their captain: despite the interest shown by Barcelona, Cesc will lead the team throughout this season.

"These are the champions, die meister, die besten, les meilleurs équipes!"
About the Author

Andrew Hill has been a prominent writer on regular International Football games, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.