Will Barca be less messy with Messi back?

With the Champions League Final around a month away, the competition is truly heating up and as we head into the semi-finals that start tomorrow, the players themselves are starting to speak out about the key factors that they see will effect the upcoming matches.

One individual speaking out is Carlos Tevez. The Manchester striker told the BBC that he thinks that the return of Lionel Messi will be the make or break for Barcelona in their upcoming Champs League tie.

Does Tevez's claim have any weight to it? You can look at it from two angles. From an individual players perspective, Messi is an amazing player. I zoomed over to soccernet and had a look at his stats for the Champions League and he outscores everyone on the team. You could also argue that from the individual level, he could be a rallying point for his side and could lead them on to win against United.

The other major view would be that from the team level. This gets subdivided into the two teams. Barcelona have had a rough end to their La Liga campaign this year and with Real Madrid to be the sure winners of the title, there is no way that the Catalan's can mount a return for the season. There are also grumblings in the club itself of the bigger stars leaving after this season. Ronaldinho, who will finish the season on the bench do to a leg injury, is hinted to be going to both Milans and possibly Manchester City over the break. Samuel Eto'o is discussing leaving after next season if the Nou Camp fails to gain silverware for another season. And lastly, everyone pretty much knows that Henry has become a cry baby but that he is trying to be mainly about it. Does this hurt the team that will played on Wednesday? Sure it does. If your major first team players are not really in the game to win, then sure it hurts you. This is just a ninety minute kick about for them and it is a situation that United will exploit.

Speaking of Manchester United, how does this match look for them? Anyone who knows me, know that I hate Manchester United more than I hate the fact that my alma matter is starting to charge students for the football tickets this coming season, but I think despite Tevez's reassurance that this will be a different game with Messi in, I doubt it will be. United are the best team in the world right now with the best players in the world. They are the Yankees of world football (yet another team that I despise). The striker core for the team and their midfield will do 95% of the work against Barcelona over the next two legs and I think this will be a huge victory for the Fergie's lads, Messi or not.

But, it is hard to say who will win the match. Football is more fickle than a group of teenage girls trying to pick a dress for prom. There are simply too many factors to calculate for these ties and if you only look at the factors that rest on top (like I just did) you are going to get a somewhat accurate picture but odds are no greater than 60% that your outcome will happen. Happy footy, all.

Champions League draws announced

(arsedup.com)


It's nearly September and that means one thing: the Uefa Champions League is heading into group play. After the qualifying rounds drew some familiar and favorite faces(Liverpool & Arsenal), Europe's premier cup competition will begin it's group play later in the month. For a full listing of the tables you can zoom over to the BBC's sport section and look under the football tab and from there look for the Europe tab on the left side bar.

Looking at the group stages, there are some familiar battles from last year. Manchester United and Roma who met in the round of 16 and whom Fergie's lads destroyed in the home leg, will meet in the group stages. I look for these two teams to be the top of their group, honestly. The only thing that could hurt United is the loss of Rooney. Hell, the loss of Rooney is impacting the whole of English ball as well.

We will also see a rematch of Chelsea and Valencia. Chelsea barely scraped past the Spanish team last year and I remember sitting there watching the match with my friends, trying to put off going to work as late as I could. Just like Uniteds group, I take Chelsea and Valencia to get past the group stages.

As far as the other groups go, I have to take the elusive Liverpool from group A. This is a team that can't win the Premiership, but they can win against the rest of Europe. The FA should talk to the British government and see if they can extend dual citizenship to the players on Liverpool that aren't from Great Britain. Then they can field Liverpool's starting 11 as the national team. Also in Liverpool's group, I have to take Marseille over Porto. Marseille is a wonderful team with a good record in French football but I think they have a little more gusto than Porto does. And to add to Porto's folly, Chelsea are trying to wrangle one of their best players away, Quersma.

For group C, I am taking Real Madrid and Werder Bremen. These are both teams that know what they are doing when it comes to European football and they should breeze past their competition.

Group D has one obvious prospect and two circumspect prospects. AC Milan will lead the group. And as a runner up I am saying Celtic. The Scottish side is always a joy to watch and I think that they will give the group a run for the money. The other "upset" roles that might come out would be Benfica but I don't see that happening.

Group E is the group of death. You have Barcelona, Lyon, Rangers, and Stuttgart. These are all wonderfully composed teams. Lyon and Stuttgart won their respective leagues last year and Barcelona was a runner up. Despite loosing Eto'o for two months, I still think that Barcelona will be the first team safely clear of the group. Then comes the fight for the other position. I have to put my money with Stuttgart. German football is more aggressive than French football and while the intensity of Champions league games does not get turned up until later in the competition, by that time Stuttgart will have knocked Rangers and Lyon out of the running.

Groups G and H are the two groups that I think no one will pay much attention to. Your top draws are Inter and Arsenal, respectively. I think they will both emerge from the group stages but as for the second teams in the groups, I've got nothing.

By looking at the groups as we have them now, it is going to shape up to be another cracking year for the Champions League. I think the group stages will see more knockouts of bigger clubs this time around as opposed to last year, where there were still formidable clubs up until the semi finals. As far as picking a winner, it's too early on. However, I think if Chelsea can get it's players fit and not end up drawing Liverpool again this year, I think Chelsea could get to the final and probably face AC Milan or perhaps Liverpool. I do think AC or Liverpool will be in the final and who knows we might have a repeat of Istanbul and Greece, all over again. Good luck to all the teams. And to the fans, don't be upset if your team goes out in the group stages. It takes a great commitment to get to the Champions league. The winner wouldn't be referred to as the Kings of Europe if it wasn't so prestigious. Once again, good luck to all and go Chelsea.