Its another big day for fans of numbered plastic balls, giant perspex fishbowls and over financed men in suits. Yep, today was the day of the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals draw. The eight teams at this stage included what Sky Sports irritatingly referred to as the Premier League's 'Grand Slam', given that at the time Aston Villa had somewhat cheekily decided to break into the division's top four. Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal were all there and so there was significant chance that there would be at least one all English quarter final.
And that there is, for the fifth season running Chelsea and Liverpool will face each other in the Champions League. Arsenal meanwhile face Villareal, Manchester United meet Porto and the tie of the round if you can fight your way past Sky Sports' Premier League hyperbole, is undoubtedly Barcelona vs Bayern Munich. Even to those, like myself, who regularly allow this competition and its enveloping advertising and media circus, to pass them by it is a draw which presents and intriguing set of ties.
However, a scan around football messageboards suggests that all is not as it seems. Many fans, well Liverpool and Chelsea ones mainly, are claiming that the draw has been fixed to give United an easy tie and to also keep them away from Barcelona. The latter argument not really holding much ground given that the two sides met in last season's semi-finals, whilst suggestions of a fix are hard to comprehend. For a start, as weak as Porto may be perceived to be, in a tournament called the Champions League, United are the only English side to be drawn against actual league champions.
UEFA have distorted this tournament over the past fifteen years to ensure that is contested by the biggest teams, the most powerful and the most supported and significantly, the most marketable. To win a tournament such as this no team will get an easy ride to the final, and whilst Porto may be less of a challenge than Chelsea in the eyes of Liverpool fans, I would argue that in the last round Internazionale represented a bigger threat than a transitional Real Madrid side. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. That fans are now fed up of meeting the same sides each season introduces a satisfying irony in my view; think of the variation you could have had with the UEFA Cup.
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