I realize that Untied are no longer in the competition, but it seems to me that it still holds interest to most United fans, especially considering how close the team came to the QF's, despite playing poorly. (And I can't help but think that United would have had a decent chance to win the competition if they had advanced, given all the other teams that have fallen...) I don't think anyone would have predicted that Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Arsenal would all bow out in the QF's. And for Milan to lose a 4-1 1st leg lead to Depor is almost inconcievable. How a team that plays defense as well as Milan let this happen, I have no idea. I didn't expect Madrid to win the competition this year as they have no defense, but I didn't expect them to blow a 3 goal lead to Monaco, either. And I certainly wouldn't have put Porto and Monaco in the semis at the start of the competition. Well, UEFA seemed to be trying the new format to give the smaller clubs a better chance. This year, it seems to have worked. Other thoughts, especially from anyone who saw any of the games? Only Arsenal-Chelsea was on in the US, and it was quite an entertaining game.
I think the upsets have made the competition much more interesting than it has been in the past, especially for neutral observers. However, I doubt this trend will become common; I would guess this year is somewhat of a fluke and things will return to normal (big 4 leagues dominating) next year (could be wrong, though). The French league does seem to be on the rise though, will be interesting to see if they have continued success in the future
All that has happened this year... Arsenal losing 2 games in a row now.. them facing Castle and Pool while still tired, Monaco and Porto this far... makes my wish Rio had not gotten suspended... we would seriously have been in it for a treble...
I watched the Porto:Lyon snoozefest on the net (bigpeterbrady is still my hero for providing those links) - apart from Deco and the beautiful goals he produced, it wasn't really much of a match after Porto scored their second; Lyon seemed not to believe they were going to win it.
As much as Arsenal has choked this week, you can say that we blew a big chance for a treble this year too. If Rio pisses in the cup, you'd have to say we are right there in all three competitions. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing any of the four teams win except Porto.
I think the change in format this year has really helped the smaller teams. Eliminating that second group stage has made things a bit more exciting, though I'm sure UEFA didn't quite expect this. Arsenal-Chelsea was an exciting tie, but I wish UEFA would tweak the rules so that you can't play a team from your own league in the knockout stages until the semifinals. Also, it really is inexplicable that Milan would fall apart and blow their lead. I mean, Real Madrid I can understand, but Milan? That was the huge shock of the competition this year, and may be the biggest comeback for some years to come. I'll be pulling for Chelsea, simply because I cheer for English teams in Europe. Still, anyone but Porto and I'll be just fine and dandy. I'd like to believe that if Rio had taken his test, we'd be in for the treble right now. But things are so screwy, that you really have no idea how things would have turned out. Maybe we would not have taken the FA Cup as seriously and lost that. Maybe Rio would have injured one of his teammates accidentally with a misplaced tackle. Who knows...