Journal of European Soccer

The drawing for the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League has decided that two Italian teams will meet two English teams. Those teams are Chelsea vs Inter Milan and Manchester United vs AC Milan. It is interesting to see the games because all four teams have a long tradition and great reputation in the UEFA Champions League. They are all considered giants in their respective countries. It is quite difficult to say which teams are going to win, but I think the English teams will be able to overcome their Italian oppositions. There are at least two reasons why I come up with that opinion.

First, The statistics in the last two years prove it. Let's look back at the game between Inter Milan vs Liverpool in 2007 - 2008 at the first knockout round. At that time, Liverpool won the games 2 - 0 at Anfield and 1 - 0 at Giusseppe Meazza stadium. Another example is the games in the same round between Arsenal vs AC Milan. Arsenal were held 0 - 0 at the Emirates but they beat AC Milan 2 - 0 at Giusseppe Meazza. Last year's Champions League result also told us the same story when Manchester United won 2 - 0 on aggregate over Inter Milan.

Next, English teams rely very much on stamina, speed and power. In other words, they are very physical teams. They always keep running and pass the ball quickly. In contrast, Italian teams tend to play a bit slower in building up an attack and focus more on accurate passing. So, when English teams speed up the tempo, Italian teams just cannot keep up with the pace of the game. It may keep them under pressure in the entire game. Consequently, it is more likely that English teams create more chances to score goals and win the game.

In brief, I believe that the English teams will be able to overcome their Italian oppositions in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League. However, anything can still happen since the games haven't been played and the result is always unpredictable. So, everything still remains to be seen.

(picture of uefa champions league logo: http://en.wikipedia.org/)