In the past 5 seasons of Liverpool's involvement in the Champions League, they have been pitted with Chelsea 5 times, once in the group stages and the other 4 times in the knockout phases.
2004/05 - Semifinals, Liverpool won
2005/06 - Group stages
2006/07 - Semifinals, Liverpool won
2007/08 - Semifinals, Chelsea won
2008/09 - Quarterfinals, Hopefully a win for Liverpool.
5 times in 5 years, what are the odds of that? Of course, with English team doing better each year and having more representatives in the Champions League knockout phases than other nations, it's inexplicable that one of them will face the other. And if everything works out well, we might have 3 English teams in the semifinals.
The draw for the quarterfinals:
Manchester United vs Porto
Villareal vs Arsenal
Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Chelsea
Villareal vs Arsenal
Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Chelsea
Pundits are predicting the first semifinals to be an all-English affair, with Arsenal and Manchester United locking horns to be in the finals in Rome. While the general concensus for the finals is a showdown between United and Liverpool. Now wouldn't that be just great?
Of course, Liverpool need to get pass Chelsea, and the winner between Barca and Bayern first. Chelsea has changed manager numerous times since their last encounter in 2004/05 season, with Gus Hiddink being the third manager in charge of their latest encounter. Surprisingly, it was Avram Grant who led a successful Chelsea squad past Liverpool last season, while the self-proclaim chosen one, Jose Mourinho failed in all of his attempts. Grant got the sack last season, when Chelsea decided to go with a world class manager in the form of Scolari, but the celebrated manager only lasted for a few months before he was replaced with Hiddink.
The quarter-finals will take place on April 7-8, with the return legs the following week.
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