Who said the only thing we know around here is politics?
It is one of the most popular sport in the world...FOOTBALL or we Americans call it SOCCER. Its history goes well in the mid 19th century and has grown to be a universal language in the world sport arena.
I love UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League matches because it is one of the best tournaments to feature the best of the best clubs in Europe.
For those who may not know the format of this tournament, after three qualifying rounds, 32 teams from the different European club teams and some club teams that are geographically in Asia who belong to the UEFA, contest the group stage, divided into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stages, the eight third-placed teams move into the UEFA Cup third round (another 2nd class tournament in comparison to UEFA Champions League), and the eight fourth-placed teams are eliminated.
In the current stage of the competition, there are 4 teams left to battle each other for this prestigious championship and I whole heartily believe my team Barcelona is going prevail and the reason below the fold.
On April 28, this Tuesday, Barcelona (Spain La Liga) and Chelsea (England) will play their first of the two knockout simi-final legs, the second being on may 6th. On April 29, Arsenal (England) and Manchester United (England) will face off each other for the first leg of the second Semi-final match, the second being on may 5th, 2009.
If you like to gamble in sports, my intuition tells me you got a winner if you go with FC Barcelona. I follow these teams all the time and know that at any given day, anyone of these teams can beat the other. However, I will put my money on Barca mostly for the very reason that they have the best skilled players in every position compared to their opponents and the world’s most formidable attacking team with a lineup like Messi, Henry, Eto’o, Xavi, Alves, Iniesta and Abidal. Any defense is going to have a nightmare trying to defend these lineup and they know it.
Let me point out before I leave it for you football junkies to comment that I take pride in saying the best player in the world plays for FC Barcelona and his name is Leonel Messi. Who have you seen do this beside Diego Armando Maradona. I invite you to watch this and tell me I am wrong. If nothing else, catch the footage at 4:28min in this video.
I know some would want to argue that I am wrong about the best player selection and some think it is Ronaldo of Man U. Not to insult the coach of Manchester United who tries hard to promote his player Ronaldo as the best player in the world every opportunity he gets, I say to him, he has gotten it wrong! To give credit to the second best player Ronaldo, you have to see this clip from a couple of weeks ago in the quarter final match against Porto:
In the end, it is Barca time. Go Barcelona!