Can Barca or Bayern Stop the Premier League Big Four Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool & Chelsea?
The four Premier League clubs all successfully progressed into the Champions League quarter-finals this week with some more impressive than others. Liverpool produced arguably the result of the round of 16 by winning home and away against Spanish Champions Real Madrid. This includes a 4-0 home thrashing on Tuesday which inflicted Real’s biggest loss in the Champions League era. Rafa Benitez’s side have an excellent record in the competition and after remaining unbeaten against the big English sides domestically they are serious contenders.
Manchester United impressed in Milan in the away leg against Inter but despite winning 2-0 at Old Trafford they experienced plenty of scares along the way. However, the Red Devils are in superb form and have the advantage of a very strong squad of players who are used to winning trophies including this one last season.
Chelsea also seem to have recaptured their form after the appointment of Dutch Coach Guus Hiddink . Again they suffered scares against Italian opposition in the form of Juventus. However, the boys from the Bridge are starting to look their old selves again or as Claudio Ranieri described them, “Chelsea are once again a war machine, built by spending lots of money.”
Arsenal perhaps are the weakest of the four English sides but may soon be boosted by the return of some of their star players in captain Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. Although they could only qualify via the penalty shoot-out they remain a very dangerous side. They’ve also beaten United and Chelsea plus drawn with Liverpool this season so shouldn’t be underestimated.
Then there’s the rest of the European sides with Barcelona the pick of the bunch. Any side that includes the likes of Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi and Lionel Messi in their side have got to be fancied. 
They have thrilled fans home and abroad this season and duly dispatched of French champions Lyon with 5 goals on Wednesday night. If anyone is going to stop an English side getting their hands on the trophy then you’d expect it to be Barca.
Bayern Munich were the shock winners of the round of 16, not because they beat Sporting Lisbon but by the manner in which they did it. A superb 5-0 win in Lisbon was followed by a 7-1 hammering at the Allianz Arena. This 12-1 aggregate win is now a record margin of victory and aggregate scoreline in a post-group stage knockout tie.
The Germans have the likes of Franck Ribery, Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose in their line-up so will be dangerous opponents despite struggling to dominate their domestic championship.
Porto and Villarreal are very much the dark horses of the competition but Porto have already beaten Arsenal this season at the Estadio du Dragao this season whilst Villarreal have drawn home and away with World Champions Manchester United so are sides to be wary of.
Who do you think will win the trophy this season and why?
Tags: Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Champions League, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Porto, Villarreal
