CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PREDICTIONS
by Doug Martin
Best Predicted result(s) of the last Champions League Predictions: “Arsenal beating Porto especially as the media were saying it would be a hard couple of games for them & Manchester United knocking out AC Milan”
In the last round of the Champions League I correctly predicted that Arsenal would beat Porto over two legs, Manchester United would beat AC Milan, that Bayern Munich would knock out Fiorentina & finally that Barcelona would beat VFB Stuttgart. This gave me four out of seven as I didn’t bother predicting the CSKA tie. The big surprise to me was Lyon knocking out Real Madrid & of course Chelsea being beat by Inter Milan. Still, not a bad set of predictions even though there was no correct scorelines.
On to the Quarter finals & first of all may I wish Bayern Munich all the best, ha.
See you all on Thursday for the weekends Premiership Fixtures. One last note in that I managed to get 6 out of 10 results correct at the weekend in the premiership which keeps my average above 53% for the season.
Match 1: Bayern Munich - Manchester United: (Tuesday March 30th 7.45pm)/second leg: Wednesday April 7th: 7.45pm)
Manchester United thrashed AC Milan in the last round. After they had won 3-2 in Milan they finished off the Italians 4-0 at Old Trafford. This didn’t surprise me too much as firstly I had Predicted United to knock them out & secondly Italian football has fallen far behind our own Premiership bar perhaps Inter. United won 4-0 at Bolton on Saturday as I predicted to remain top just ahead of Chelsea. I think they will win the premiership because the Ref’s via the FA & other interested parties want them to. I will explain that comment at the end of the season in detail. Bayern Munich lost rather surprisingly at the weekend 2-1 at home to VFB Stuttgart to leave them 2 points behind Schalke 04 in second place. The most famous recent game between the sides was in 1999 when Manchester United beat Bayern with two very, very late goals to win the European cup for the first time since 1968 & of course only the second time in all. They have of course won the trophy one more time since when they beat Chelsea in the first all English final a few years ago. Talk about a game where you wanted both sides to lose. The premiership is stronger than Germany’s & so I think United will win this tie overall, in fact Bayern Munich haven’t really done anything in Europe that I can remember since reaching the final in 1999. A shame as I am fed up with Manchester.
Result Prediction: A Manchester United win
Score Prediction: Bayern Munich 1 Manchester United 2/Manchester United to win the tie overall
Match 2: : Lyon - Bordeaux: (Tuesday March 30th 7.45pm):/ second leg: Wednesday April 7th 7.45pm)
Lyon surprised me by knocking out Real Madrid in the last round but I have to say that I was pleased from a purely football perspective. Lyon now face fellow French side Bordeaux who rather surprisingly are top of the French First division but by only two points from Lyon who are in 5th place. Very tight at the top in France then. It would make a great change in France methinks if Bordeaux could win the French League let alone the Champions League. When these two sides met in the league on December 14th Bordeaux came away with a great 1-0 win at Lyon. This might help explain why they are top of the French League. I have a feeling that Bordeaux will beat Lyon over the two legs & become the surprise package in this years Champions League, not that that will mean they will win it as they don’t have the resources to win the trophy, oh if only we could go back to the days when Nottingham Forest won the Trophy with a Brilliant manager & not a large Cheque book.
Result Prediction: A score draw
Score Prediction: Lyon 1 Bordeaux 1/Bordeaux to win over two legs
Match 3: Barcelona - Arsenal: (Tuesday March 31st 7.45pm):/second leg: Tuesday April 6th 7.45pm):
Arsenal dropped two very bad points on Saturday at Birmingham in a 1-1 draw. I don’t think it will be of any consolation to them that both Chelsea & Manchester United drew at Birmingham earlier in the season. In the last round they thrashed Porto at home after the referee had handed them a 2-1 defeat in the first leg. What surprised me was that some sections of the media were saying that Arsenal would have trouble over the two legs while completely ignoring the fact that Porto are having a bad season domestically for the first time in some years. Could it be that they were hyping up Porto’s chances for the TV? Never, the media are all independent from each other & never toe the same line. Back to the game & Barcelona won at the weekend 2-1 away to stay behind Real Madrid on goal difference. This is a surprise to me as I would expect them to be top & by a few points. Barca knocked out VFB Stuttgart 5-1 on aggregate in the last round which surprised nobody I expect outside of the local Stuttgart mental Hospital. Barcelona are of course Holders & in my book favourites for the trophy so I expect them to be too strong for Arsenal especially as Arsenal have a very bad habit of losing to the top sides both at home & in Europe.
Result Prediction: Barcelona to win
Score Prediction: Barcelona 3 Arsenal 1
Match 4: Inter Milan - CSKA Moscow: (Wednesday March 31st 7.45pm):/second leg: Tuesday April 6th 5.30pm):
Inter will be very confident of knocking out CSKA as they did very well to outthink & outplay Chelsea in the last round. They completely deserved their 1-0 win in the second leg. Goodbye Chelsea & john terry, thank god for that. Despite what the UK Media will tell you Me & a lot of other football fans do not support English Clubs in Europe if they are Chelsea or Manchester United. Why the hell should I switch on my TV & watch these sides as it indirectly gives the club’s money & also justifies the TV Channels in constantly putting on Manchester United all the time when there are other choices. ITV Come on down as the most guilty. Anyway, let’s get on with the preview. Inter lost a crucial game at Roma at the weekend to leave them only 1 point ahead of Roma at the top of the table. CSKA beat Spanish side Sevilla 3-2 overall in the last round & they also won their last league game away 2-1 at the weekend. As the Russian season has only just started after the winter break they have only played a handful of games so it is far to early to see how they are playing domestically. I think that Inter will win & to be honest I think that with their manager who has won the trophy with Porto before they stand a very good chance of coming close if not winning it. You just have to see the way they knocked out Chelsea to see that they do stand a real chance.
Result Prediction: A home win
Score Prediction: Inter 2 CSKA Moscow 0/Inter to win over two legs
Good luck everyone & see you all on Thursday when I will be back with the weekends premiership predictions.
If you wish to comment on any of the articles/predictions I have written please feel free to contact me at the email address below. I don’t mind if you disagree with my opinions as that is all they are.
Douglas Martin
30th March 2010
dap martin@hotmail.co.uk
![[Valid RSS]](http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/chix_pix/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}