Chelsea are the only English team left in the Champions
League
It’s the first time in 6 years that there is only one
English team in this stage of the Champions League, this has come as a shock,
especially because the European Competition had become accustomed to being full
of English teams.
Back in 2006, it was Arsenal who was all alone in the
Champions League; they beat Juventus in the quarter finals, won against Spain’s
Villarreal just to lose to another Spanish team, Barcelona in the final.
In the 2006/07 season, three English teams made it to the
quarter finals: Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. In Semis the London
club was drawn against Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool – a pairing that would repeat itself
in the future, and Manchester played Milan, the final for that year was Milan –
Liverpool, but unlike in 2005 where Liverpool played an incredible final, this
year the trophy would go to the Italians.
In 2008 four teams - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United got through
to the quarter finals, but since Arsenal and Liverpool where facing each other,
an all English semi –final wasn’t in the cards. In 2009 the same four teams got to the
quarter-finals, but in this case Chelsea beat Liverpool for a place in the
semi-finals but where not as lucky against Barcelona, after a match full of controversy,
Andres Iniesta’s late equaliser sent the Spaniards to the final in Italy
against Manchester United, while leaving Chelsea feeling hard done by.
The start of the new decade saw only two English teams teach
the quarter-finals, but Arsenal and Manchester lost to Barcelona and Bayern
Munich respectively.
2011’s final was played in London’s Wembley Stadium.
Only Chelsea and Manchester United made it through to the quarter-finals but
were drawn against each other and Man U eventually won on a 3:1 aggregate score.
The Red Devils would go on to play and sadly lose against Spanish giant Barcelona, who didn’t have an easy pass to the final, they would face Mourinho’s
Madrid – who hadn’t gotten past Champions League quarter-finals in 6 years.
What made this encounter even more extraordinary was that Madrid and Barcelona
played up to 4 times (In La Liga, the Copa Del Rey final and two Champions
League games)
2012 sees Chelsea as the only English team in the run to win the Champions League but with the prospects of facing teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, do Chelsea really have what it takes to go all the way?
Source: DSG
