And the answer is…Bayern.

By: Kevin | March 20th, 2009

This one will be brief, but the draw and the road to the finals has been decided:

We get Bayern in the quarters, Liverpool or Chelsea in the semis, and we’ll see in the finals. Is anybody else excited about this? I think that it could have been better in that we could have drawn Porto, but Bayern is right up there on my wish list.

Don’t let that 12-1 aggregate hammering of Sporting delude you. Yes, the Bundesliga is a real league now. They’ve really stepped up their game over there. But Bayern is still a notch below us, as are most teams in the world. We have better attackers, better ball movement, a better defense … we even smell better after a workout.

Not to discount the danger. Luca Toni is the real deal. We’ll need to get some elevator shoes for Pique when he is tasked with heading away any ball that they try to Route 1 to that big striker of theirs.

But another reason I’m pretty happy about drawing Bayern is that they can’t really hurt us on the wings, which will give our French Greyhound a chance to fully recover. I’ll leave everyone the chance to get more in depth in the blizzard of comments, but I just don’t see their wingers giving us that much trouble, particuarly as Ribery comes bombing at teams out of the midfield.

Oh. Yeah. Ribery. Cut off his available supply, and he founders, as he just isn’t the kind of guy (Sporting’s sieve notwithstanding) to break down a defense and knock in a goal all by his lonesome.

And lest we forget, Bayern isn’t even top of Bundesliga at present, and have had some dodgy performances, as have we.

It should present some interesting football, and one significant worry: Their lads like to shoot from the outside, particularly Altintop. Podolski and Schweinsteiger are also good at that. So Valdes had better break out the big gloves.

After that, we get the winner of the Chelsea/Liverpool tie. Anyone who is automatically thinking “Liverpool” might want to re-think some stuff. Yes, the Reds had the Blues’ number earlier this season, but Hiddink has Chelski playing with some mojo. That’s going to be a very low-scoring tie. It might even be something crazy like a 1-0 aggregate for the winner.

Frankly, I think that we can beat either team, particularly given that our defense will be whole by then, and provided we don’t sustain any other critical injuries.

Mind you, I’d also like to see a bit of distance in the Liga standings (man, could we use the 12-point cushion now) so that can rest key players, and prioritize.

Still. Be that as it may, our opponent in the final is most likely going to be Manchester United, as they are in the draw side with Porto, Arsenal and Villarreal. All should be easy wins for that side.

We have the more difficult road, which will make our eventual victory all the more sweet.

Ready….
Set….
Discuss!