Ah, yes. Wasn't this what Manchester United fans said six years ago right before they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Rotor Volgograd?
Juve to win it unless they are desperate to win another scudetto. I hope celtic will emerge as a surprise team but I dont think we have enough depth in the squad for anything more than qualification to the second group, we were unlucky last season.
Is Gus Kartes back in Athens? No, c;mon I had to. ha ahhahhahaha haha ahhaha Bayern, if they sign Mathis!
I don't know who can be the surprise. Sorry for this lack of in-depth knowledge of European soccer. My first pick for CL winner is Inter. Reasons: Vieri, Recoba, Ronaldo, etc... and Cuper. Then I pick Real Madrid, who will be more compenetrated this year and probably more compensated, and AC Milan, who have Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Shevchenko... Then Bayern Munchen, -have good new players but could take some time to adapt to each other- and Manchester, who are good but have pretty much the same team that failed to win CL the last year. I think this year we could see the beginning of the return of Italian teams to the elite.
Real Madrid. For the same reason as Brasil. They have the big time players. And I am a fan of German soccer.
Dude, Inter gotta face Sp. Lisboa in order to get into the Ch. League. And if that dont happen, they will go straight into, once again, the UEFA Cup. but if they do get past sporting, they would be my fav. surprise team with Auxerre, and I think Liverpool will win it, though: Cheyrou, Diao, and Diouf are very nice additions, and maybe Alou Diarra can get a couple of games in there, too. Also to SPARTAk, Gamarra was not sold, he came on a Bosman free I think.
AC Milan looking good on paper AC Milan is looking really good. They just signed Rivaldo & also have Seedorf, Maldini, Rui Costa & Roque Junior to complement him. If not champions league then the Serie A for sure.
ManUre will win nothing in Europe Man U will win nothing in Europe this season. Nor do they deserve to . Scum . Newcastle may surprise many, but will not win the CL Arsenal or Bayern will win the Champs League, maybe a Turkish team as outsiders.
Arsenal to win it as they have the best starting 11 in Europe in my opinion: Seaman Lauren Campbell Keown/Cygan Cole Ljunberg Vieira Edu/Silva/Van Bronckhorst/Parlour Pires Henry Bergkamp/Wiltord/Kanu/Jeffers Surprise package to be Auxerre or Borussia Dortmund.
dude Ajax/Inter will be champs, one of em the other - the surprise yes it will be a surprise of Inter gets far, Italian football is not at its height, they need a team to get far and do some serious damage to such "power" teams
CL Success Most Improved Side Bayarn Munich - Effenburg killed them in big games last year. That is not going to happen with Ballack there (who single-handedly won games for Leverkusen and knows how to play a complementary role as well). Ze Roberto will add a lot of flair on the wing. Plus they have King Kahn. The only question is injuries (Mehmet Scholl, Owen Hargreaves, Bixante Lizarazu, etc.) Plus, after such a disappointing year all-around, Beckenbauer will have them getting down to business at Club Hollywood. Still Very Dangerous Real Madrid - Even though they have not added new players, the defending champions still have some of the best talent in the world. It would have been difficult for them to improve at a lot of positions. I think that Raul needs to show more for them. On the Horizon AC Milan - This could be also be said of Inter as well. Both Italian clubs played well in the UEFA cup and they are consolidating talent whereas other Seria Liga teams (Lazio, Roma and even Juventus to a lesser degree) are in some turmoil. Milan's addition of Rivaldo gives them a lot of versatility on offense - speed and power (Shevchenko), creativity and flair (Rivaldo) and craftiness (Inzaghi). I think the entire club's commitment is different this season, from the management on down. For Inter, having Ronaldo back on a regular basis is better than almost any signing. It will be interesting to see what happens with the money situation in the Seria Liga. Sleepers Liverpool - My favorite team depends very much on players who are often injured. That said, they can beat any team . . . and those they don't beat they usually tie. I am concerned that the new additions will be very helpful in quest for the Premier League title. But I am not sure that Diouf, Cheyrou or Diarra are liable to add anything versus the elite clubs. I believe that Diao could be a big help, but he may not even be joining the team in time for the first group. They have played in many big matches in the past few years and will benefit from having their manager on the bench on a regular basis. If they do manage to sign Duff, I would move them up to my favorites category. I believe he would have an enormous impact on their ability to score goals by drawing defensive attention away from the strikers. Glasgow Rangers - Rangers have an excellent coach, a strong and deep defense and excellent quality throughout their squad. Their new coach is putting pressure on the players who need to feel it (De Boer, Flo) and is encouraging the players who deserve it (Lovenkrends, Arveladze). The addition of Arteta adds a new dimension to the attack and should take some pressure off of Barry Ferguson, making him even more dangerous. Rangers had a strong UEFA cup last year and I think that MacLeish will be far more successful than Advokaat at preparing them for the crucial away games. Disappointers Manchester United - They are going to be under tons of pressure, due to the site of the final and the expectations for the club after last season's disappointing campaign. However, unlike Bayern Munich, I am afraid the expectations will weigh too heavily on the shoulders of players who aren't up to the burden. Veron is no closer to fitting into the team than he was at the beginning of last season. Scholes is almost a forgotten man. Keane is just about fed up with many members of the team - and we saw what that can mean this Summer, right? They have almost no depth up front - Van Nistelrooy is excellent and Solkjaar is good. But Diego Forlon? Ryan Giggs as a striker? And though they have added Ferdinand, Blanc is still vulnerable to pace, Silvestre is good for a few defensive lapses a game and Barthez (though decent in the World Cup) is not the steady keeper that they need in a finals type match. Glasgow Celtics - I know that they would never have been considered favorites, but I am predicting an early flame-out for the Bhoys and I think it will make Martin O'Neill unlikely to extend his contract. The Celtic backline is in scary shape. They have injury problems and depth problems. They rely too much on Balde. They fielded a first-choice striker at center-back in the last half of last season. They are unsettling their decent first-choice keeper by bringing in a "back-up" who is making more money, and they may have lost inspirational midfielder Allan Johnston for some time. Other teams that are strong contenders: Borussia Dortmund, Galatasary, Barcelona (Van Gaal may do very well for them) and Juventus
This team's pretty good. Look for a 4-3-3 this season. Below is the attacking version, with plenty of firepower and defense on the bench for substitutions. Problem is, we already have a butt-load of injuries(*) to contend with. That never bodes well. Qualitatively I see no other team that is better, although there a a few as good (ManU, Arsenal, Madrid, Milan): Oliver Kahn* Sagnol/Kuffour/Kovac/Lizarazu* Deisler*/Ballack/Ze Roberto* Salihamidzic/Elber/Scholl Bench: - Bernd Dreher (goal) - Stefan Wessels (goal) - Thomas Linke (defense) - Markus Feulner (mid) - Owen Hargreaves* (mid) - Michael Tarnat (mid) - Jens Jeremies (mid) - Niko Kovac (mid) - Ciriaco Sforza (goner) - Pablo Thiam (mid) - Thorsten Fink (mid) - Claudio Pizarro (offense) - Alexander Zickler (offense) - Roque Santa Cruz* (offense) _______________________________ Surprise team: Lyon.
Eh? I seem to have missed that one. Deportivo, Man Utd, Bayer and Liverpool were all better than Bayern. Bayern should be good next time.
Ok on paper they might not be the most fearsome partnership at centre half but they are both quality defenders. Campbell's problem is that he is awful on the ball whilst Keown has disciplinary problems. If anyone can name me a better partnership at centre back playing in the champions league i would like to see it.
Umm Nowotny is not going to be doing much intimidating while he sits out the entire year on the bench. I agree on Hierro-Helguera. They are top-notch. But don't forget about another admittedly less glamorous pair of H's - Hyppia-Henchoz with a generous dose of Hamann. They have frustrated more than their share of top notch forwards. After all, in the past season, Liverpool beat Bayern Munich (Super Cup - Pizarro, Elber, etc.), Man Utd 3x (Nistelrooy, Solskjaer, Giggs and Scholes), Roma (Totti, Montella, Batitusta), Chelsea (Hassalbaink, Forssel, Gudjohnason) and Bayer Leverkusen (Bierhoff, Neuville, Ballack). Okay, they also lost to Leverkusen and Chelsea. But those are some good results, no?
Well, I have to surprise teams both of which did fine last year. They are Lyon and Sparta Prague. As for the biggies, I don't care. I like Bayen Munchen especially with the so-called disappointment of last season. In fact, I would like it to be a team that has never won it before.