UEFA Champions League - Season 2009/10

The main favourites - Barcelona and Real Madrid

The first big derby match being held in Milan where the current European champion will play. The final will be held on 22nd May in Madrid. Eight debutantes


By RADOMIR ĐUROVIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


The battle for the European club champion will start for the 55th time. This is the 18th time this competition holds the name 'Champions League'. The new European champion will be decided on 22nd May next year, at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. This will be the first time the final will be played on Saturday.

This was the first time that the qualifications for the most important football club competition were held according to a different system. There were four rounds, with the possibility of avoiding the strongest European teams. This allowed less developed football countries to have a representative in the final phase in the groups. This year, there are eight debutante teams: AZ (Netherlands), Wolfsburg (Germany), Standard (Belgium), Zurich (Switzerland), Apoel (Cyprus), Rubin (Russia), Unirea (Romania), and Debrecin (Hungary). This makes the competition much more diverse than the last two ones.

The chance to join 32 best clubs from Europe had Partizan - the Serbian champion. But 'the black-and-white team' lost to Apoel from Cyprus in the third qualifying round. The Cyprians were again lethal for the Serbian clubs, since they managed to eliminate Red Star from the last year's UEFA Cup. Partizan didn't use the nice opportunity that presented itself, given the chance that the new system provided - the club could have played against the easier opponent in the last round (unlike recent years) and qualify to play in Champions League. The biggest surprise was the lost of this year's UEFA Cup champion, Ukranian Shakthar, which had lost in the third round to Romanian Timisoara.

Draw for the group phase of the competition was held last month and it was extremely exciting. There are few derbies which can be held, and in the first round, the triple Italian champion Inter, plays against European Champion Barcelona in Milano. This will be the duel of two players against former clubs: Samuel Eto'o transfered from Barcelona to Inter this summer, and Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic went in the opposite direction.

Barcelona is the main favourite for winning the title, judging by the betting houses' estimations. If you invest a euro on the Catalonian team, you can win four. Right behind this team is Real with 4,5, and then Chelsea (6), Manchester United (7,5), Arsenal (8), Inter and Liverpool (12), Juventus (20), Bayern and AC Milan (25). Apoel and Debreceni are given the smallest chances in becoming the European champion with the quote of 1000.

Real is hoping to be able to play the final at it's stadium. Madrid spent over 252 million euro for bringing in new players. The most recognizable names on 'Santiago Bernabeu' stadium are: the best football player from the last year, Cristiano Ronaldo, the best football player for the year of 2007 - Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xavi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. But Real is in a very hard group amongst Milan, Marseille and Zurich, and that is not the only problem this club is facing. Madrid didn't have any problems in entering the second round, but they had some problems in qualifying to the quarterfinals. The last time they won in the eight-finals, they beat Bayern, but were eliminated in the next round by Monaco.


Draw

A group: Bayern (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Bordeaux (France), Maccabi (Haifa, Israel)
B group: Manchester United (England), CSKA (Russia), Besiktas (Turkey), Wolfsburg (Germany)
C group: AC Milan (Italy), Real Madrid (Spain), Marseille (France), Zurich (Switzerland)
D group: Chelsea (England), Porto (Portugal), Atletico (Spain), Apoel (Cyprus)
E group: Liverpool (England), Lyon (France), Fiorentina (Italy), Debrecen (Hungary)
F group: Barcelona (Spain), Inter (Italy), Dinamo (Ukraine), Rubin (Russia)
G group: Sevilla (Spain), Rangers (Scotland), Vfb Stuttgart (Germany), Unirea (Romania)
H group: Arsenal (England), AZ (Netherlands), Olimpiakos (Greece), Standard (Belgium)


(Published: 12.09.2009.)