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British contingent blazing a trail
Manchester United's Louis Saha (L) races for the ball alongside Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura during a UEFA Champions League Group F match at Celtic Park on 21 November 2006. Celtic won 1-0 that night, but both sides survived to fight another day in the Champions League.
(AFP) PAUL ELLIS
(FIFA.com) 13 Feb 2007
The English may have grown fond of proclaiming the Premiership to be the greatest league the world, but Europe's club competitions have generally proved a far from complimentary gauge of its pre-eminence.
After all, since being readmitted to UEFA tournaments in 1990, England's clubs have only twice succeeded in winning the continent's top prize, the Champions League, and have lifted the UEFA Cup just once. Add to that record the fact that Liverpool are responsible for two of those three success stories and that Spanish and Italian clubs have won these same competitions seven and ten times respectively during the same period, and a verdict of national underachievement is inescapable.
Scotland has fared even worse. Celtic might have made history in 1967 by becoming the first British side to rise to the summit of European football, but this year marks the 40th anniversary of that achievement, and the closest any Scottish club has come to glory in recent years was in 2003, when the Bhoys were beaten by Porto in the UEFA Cup final.
Yet, for all their prior disappointments, the evidence of this season would suggest that Britain's European representatives are aiming to make up for lost time. All nine qualified from their respective Champions League and UEFA Cup sections, after all, and the one side who failed to do so as group-winners - Celtic - were denied top spot by fellow Brits, Manchester United.
When one also considers that this season's Champions League has already seen the holders humbled by Chelsea, it should be of no surprise that Sir Alex Ferguson has confidently predicted that the trophy will end up in British hands when Athens hosts the final in May. Indeed, many believe that Ferguson himself will be the man left cradling it. Certainly, with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo irrepressible, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs back to their brilliant best and Henrik Larsson adding his intelligence to United's attacking armoury, the Premiership pace-setters look well placed to revive memories of that famous, last-gasp win in 1999.
The Red Devils will, however, remember well that they failed to score in two attempts against Lille, their opponents in the last 16, en route to crashing out of last season's competition, even if Ferguson sees little chance of a repeat. 'We had a bad experience last year but this is a different United team," he said. "It is an emerging team, one which is getting better all the time."
Didier Drogba (L) fires home a late equaliser in the Camp Nou to earn Chelsea a 2-2 draw against old foes Barcelona on 31 October 2006, this after Jose Mourinho's side had comfortably beaten the Catalans at home.
(AFP)
PEDRO ARMESTRE
Chelsea's Holy Grail
At the moment, Chelsea are the principal victims of United's domestic resurgence, but with the Champions League now something of a Holy Grail for the big-spending Londoners, Jose Mourinho's side would be forgiven for allowing their Premiership crown to slip were Europe to be conquered.
The last 16 sees Mourinho return to Porto, the club he led to the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive seasons, and the Portuguese has shocked no-one by claiming to be
Manchester United's Louis Saha (L) races for the ball alongside Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura during a UEFA Champions League Group F match at Celtic Park on 21 November 2006. Celtic won 1-0 that night, but both sides survived to fight another day in the Champions League.
(AFP) PAUL ELLIS
(FIFA.com) 13 Feb 2007
The English may have grown fond of proclaiming the Premiership to be the greatest league the world, but Europe's club competitions have generally proved a far from complimentary gauge of its pre-eminence.
After all, since being readmitted to UEFA tournaments in 1990, England's clubs have only twice succeeded in winning the continent's top prize, the Champions League, and have lifted the UEFA Cup just once. Add to that record the fact that Liverpool are responsible for two of those three success stories and that Spanish and Italian clubs have won these same competitions seven and ten times respectively during the same period, and a verdict of national underachievement is inescapable.
Scotland has fared even worse. Celtic might have made history in 1967 by becoming the first British side to rise to the summit of European football, but this year marks the 40th anniversary of that achievement, and the closest any Scottish club has come to glory in recent years was in 2003, when the Bhoys were beaten by Porto in the UEFA Cup final.
Yet, for all their prior disappointments, the evidence of this season would suggest that Britain's European representatives are aiming to make up for lost time. All nine qualified from their respective Champions League and UEFA Cup sections, after all, and the one side who failed to do so as group-winners - Celtic - were denied top spot by fellow Brits, Manchester United.
When one also considers that this season's Champions League has already seen the holders humbled by Chelsea, it should be of no surprise that Sir Alex Ferguson has confidently predicted that the trophy will end up in British hands when Athens hosts the final in May. Indeed, many believe that Ferguson himself will be the man left cradling it. Certainly, with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo irrepressible, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs back to their brilliant best and Henrik Larsson adding his intelligence to United's attacking armoury, the Premiership pace-setters look well placed to revive memories of that famous, last-gasp win in 1999.
The Red Devils will, however, remember well that they failed to score in two attempts against Lille, their opponents in the last 16, en route to crashing out of last season's competition, even if Ferguson sees little chance of a repeat. 'We had a bad experience last year but this is a different United team," he said. "It is an emerging team, one which is getting better all the time."
Didier Drogba (L) fires home a late equaliser in the Camp Nou to earn Chelsea a 2-2 draw against old foes Barcelona on 31 October 2006, this after Jose Mourinho's side had comfortably beaten the Catalans at home.
(AFP)
PEDRO ARMESTRE
Chelsea's Holy Grail
At the moment, Chelsea are the principal victims of United's domestic resurgence, but with the Champions League now something of a Holy Grail for the big-spending Londoners, Jose Mourinho's side would be forgiven for allowing their Premiership crown to slip were Europe to be conquered.
The last 16 sees Mourinho return to Porto, the club he led to the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive seasons, and the Portuguese has shocked no-one by claiming to be