CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:MONOTONY IS the price of success. The managers of the Premier League representatives must have been steeling themselves as the draw was made for the closing stages of the Champions League. An exacting tie with Barcelona could only be avoided in the quarter-finals if two of the English clubs met one another. There was something inevitable about Chelsea and Liverpool being paired.
Like Holmes and Moriarty plummeting down the Reichenbach Falls, it is their destiny to be locked together. The grappling of the clubs, of course, does not inspire such awe. They have been pitted against one another in each of the last four seasons in the Champions League, three times at the semi-final stage. Since the summer of 2004 the sides have also met a further 14 times in other competitions, including the Community Shield.
By comparison, the remaining English clubs would have felt that yesterday’s occasion was packed with spontaneity. Almost three years have passed, for instance, since Arsenal knocked out Villarreal. Manchester United’s loss to Porto came in the antiquity of a last-16 tie in 2004.
Sarcasm aside, the recurring nature of some fixtures must leave managerial brains with a repetitive strain injury.
The element of coincidence is small. These encounters will keep cropping up because the outstanding footballers now congregate at a handful of clubs. Whatever has vanished in diversity will have to be compensated for by the quality of the elite.
The single doubt must be over the capacity of these clubs to surprise one another and, in the process, jaded spectators.
Alex Ferguson was pleased with the draw. Should Porto be overcome, United will meet Villarreal or Arsenal in the semi-finals. Defeat is always conceivable as this tournament approaches a conclusion, but United will assume they have the means to cope.
A great deal of care must be taken, of course. Porto are in the quarter-finals for the first time since landing the trophy under Jose Mourinho in 2004 and have regained the knack of rising to the occasion.
The team, managed by Jesualdo Ferreira, dominated in the last round, drawing 2-2 at Atletico Madrid, where the Argentina forward Lisandro Lopez twice equalised, before keeping the tie under control with a goalless draw in the return.
Back in September Arsenal had crushed them 4-0 at the Emirates in the group phase, but that result must now be seen as misleading. Still, the path ahead of United has as gentle a gradient as Ferguson could have imagined.
Villarreal or Arsenal in the semi-finals is a prospect that will be to United’s taste, considering that the draw spared them the hazard of colliding with Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool or Bayern Munich at that juncture.
Villarreal and Arsenal will only be prised apart with difficulty. They seem a match for one another and each holds fourth place in their domestic league.
Villarreal employ two former Arsenal players, but sentiment is not expected to be a key theme. Pascal Cygan was unable to get on to the field in the tie with Panathinaikos and Robert Pires was introduced only for the closing 28 minutes of a first leg that ended in a 1-1 draw.
The steel of Manuel Pellegrini’s squad was demonstrated with a 2-1 win in the return and the experience of the Argentinian Ariel Ibagaza told as he notched one goal and set up the other.
Tenacity may also be the principal theme for Chelsea and Liverpool. Outsiders will hope wistfully that one newcomer can make an invigorating difference. If anyone has the potential to surprise it must be the imaginative Guus Hiddink, who has used a variety of systems over a long career.
Then again, conservatism has worked well for Rafael Benitez. So far in these clubs’ Champions League series, the side eliminated in the knock-out stages has been away in the second leg. Liverpool were in that position last year, with Chelsea reaching the final after extra-time. Hiddink might therefore anticipate facing Bayern or Barcelona, but exhausting quarter-finals could as easily be settled by a mere piece of luck. (Guardian Service)
