The Champions League: First Knockout Round

Well from the last thread I learned that there's a decent amount of you that watch Soccer which is awesome, because I've been following it for around a year now, ever since a friend of mine started to get me to watch a few matches during the Copa de America. At the moment my favorite team is Arsenel, but I also support R. Madrid, Inter Milan, and Newcastle (Orioles complex).

Personally I love how the last batch of champions league matches were held at night since that meant that not only would they be broadcast on ESPN but they would also be shown at a decent hour as most matches in England start around 8 am on the weekends.

Anyway I figured that it would be worth it to start a Champions League thread in light of the fact that the first knockout round is over.
l38rPtNUcWc

manchester united is gonna win it all, if not then Barcelona baby ;)

manchester united is gonna win it all, if not then Barcelona baby ;)

Man this is what I hate about soccer. I only know so much that I can't reply to your Manchester declaration with an intelligent retort. Instead I have to respond with the typical bias "Manchester sucks."

I'm a total noob :(

Either way I don't like Manchester United mainly because everyone else seems to like them, which is ironic because at the moment I like R. Madrid who apparently have more supporters then anyone else in the world.

Mark my unfound words, THIS IS ARSENELS YEAR.

My friend that got me into futbol is an AC milan fan so it was funny asking him about the Arsenel/AC Milan match up, which went something like this.

Me: Hey did you catch the Arsenel vs AC Milan game?
Friend: I don't want to talk about it

Lol

Do you know when they're going to relese the matchups for the next round?

hell yea its arsenals year. Go Gunners, thats my team baby. Premier League and UEFA, only if we didnt get owned in FA.

Man this is what I hate about soccer. I only know so much that I can't reply to your Manchester declaration with an intelligent retort. Instead I have to respond with the typical bias "Manchester sucks."

I'm a total noob :(

Either way I don't like Manchester United mainly because everyone else seems to like them, which is ironic because at the moment I like R. Madrid who apparently have more supporters then anyone else in the world.

Mark my unfound words, THIS IS ARSENELS YEAR.

My friend that got me into futbol is an AC milan fan so it was funny asking him about the Arsenel/AC Milan match up, which went something like this.

Me: Hey did you catch the Arsenel vs AC Milan game?
Friend: I don't want to talk about it

Lol

Do you know when they're going to relese the matchups for the next round?

LOL i know what you mean, im european so when i first came here all i knew was soccer which i gotta point out i came here in 94 when there was no internet brodcast of football(soccer) games no goal tv etc.. so i had to watch american sports no other choice, i watched a bit of nfl games here and there and i was like wtf what is this shit, it sucks, you got breaks and timeouts every freakin 2 min, then i tried baseball i even went to a freakin orioles game,, maaaaaaaan the worse freakin sport ever, i'd rather watch golf even to this day than baseball, then i watched nba and i got into it hardcore im talking about back in the day when we had webber, howard, rod strickland etc.. but then around 2001 i started watching nfl games.. dont ask me why it guess it would have to do with some game where it was green bay vs i dont know who but i remember seeing favre play and how he acts especially when he scored a td and i was hooked, and of course started following the redskins and been loving it ever since, but im still a huge soccer fan, i even got the privilege of seeing real madrid play my hometown team Steaua(bucharest romania) in 2006 when i was in europe and thats when they had all the stars, beckham, roberto carlos, ronaldo etc.. but yea i know what you mean bfore i couldnt talk smak to cowboys fans because i didnt know shit but now its a diff story lol

Ever since Eric Cantona donned a Red Devils jersey have I been a Man U follower. They've looked pretty good this season, but with Arsenal starting to make their way back (looked like they were going to fall apart there for a while), it'll be a tough push to the end of the season.

As far as Champs League goes, it's up for grabs. Liverpool is built for European play, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal are all playing great football. Roma knocking out Real Madrid was huge. Barca being completely dangerous themselves. The only teams that are questionable are Fenerbahce and Schalke, and both teams are capable of big time play. The draw will be interesting to see if any of the English sides will be paired up in the Quarterfinals.

One of my best friends from college is a huge Liverpool fan, so on the days we're both available, we get together for those matches. He's the one that really got me back into Soccer, especially Premier League soccer.

From what I've heard, Real/Barca matches attract more than 3 times the television viewership than the Super Bowl. And that's just for a regular season match...

Well if anyone is still watching, I am pissed about Arsenal. My team is tanking and we should have won but the fucking ref gave the worst call for a PK.

im as big of a soccer fan as i am an nfl fan its cool that some people here are picking it up. thought it was a penalty at first look, second look a little iffy, but ive seen those go both ways. imo arsenal will never win the champions league, never have in their history, and never will. they are always lacking that bit of class. i am a huge barcelona fan, have been since about 2002 when they were doing terribly, and i can even admit that manchester united are favorites. great team, i doubted them earlier in the year but they have become so strong and balanced. barcelona are having a bad year this year, very inconsistant id be very surprised to see them win it, but im holding out hope.

We'll find out today who will join Chelsea and Liverpool in the Semis. Man U has a 2-0 lead in aggregate, while Barca has a 1-0 lead, and both play at home. I can't see either team not advancing.

Being a Man U mark, Ronaldo and Rooney are coming on strong at the right time, for both a Champs League push as well as a Premiership push. Should be interesting...especially since Barca is going to be missing a key player or 2 (Ronaldinho and Messi out 6 weeks).

ronaldinho is hardly a key player for barcleona anymore, he has likely played his last game in blaugrana