I am here to tell you about various Champions League draws throughout the football season. To put it short, there are three qualifying rounds before we even get to the play-off round. After the group stages there are three more draws, for the last sixteen, quarter finals and semi-finals.

I would love to tell you more about 2011/12 Champions League Last Sixteen. The draw was made on 16th December 2011, and here are the results:
Lyon v APOEL
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
FC Basel v Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
Marseille v Inter Milan

Rather tough matches and couples, don’t you think so?

Arsenal tried hard and appeared to be heading towards the right direction, however, somehow failed in their attempt. Barcelona, on the other hand, controlled much of the game and created quite a few chances on goal in the first half. Finally Messi opened the scorecard in the third minute of injury time. The first goal boosted the confidence of the Barcelona side.

However, the game came to a level in the 53rd minute off an own goal from Sergio Busquets in the favor of Arsenal. However, it soon became all Barcelona match when they finally broke through with Messi, David Villa and Xavi. Arsenal had their chance to save themselves. However, Nicklas Bendtner was unable to control a ball that would have had him in on goal. 

Bayern Munich, the reigning German champions is at the third position in Bundesliga series just 13 points behind the table toppers Borussia Dortmund.

Arjen Robben says that it would be difficult for Bayern to win the Bundesliga this season. However, the team has more chances of winning the trophy at the Champions League. There are chances that the domestic title might go out of the hands of the defending champions this season.

The Bayern Munich winger also stated that winning the Champions League is also not going to be a very easy task. It would be equally tough too. However, Bayern Munich being the one of the top five teams in Europe, there are high hopes.

Bayern Munich played the Champions League holders in their first knockout round of the Champions League.

The goals of the match came from Dimitar Berbatov, who posted two goals and another goal came from Javier Hernandez in the second half and recovered Manchester from two goals down. With this, the team moved five points ahead in the Premier League run.

In the first half, Blackpool’s Craig Cathcart put the team ahead after its first goal at 16^th minute. The second goal from DJ Campbell before half-time even made things worst for Manchester United, thereby giving quite trouble to the team’s 27-match unbeaten position.

But the sparking out of Ryan Giggs and Javier Hernandez somehow managed the team in the second half. At 72 minutes, Berbatov with the first goal able to reduce the gap. Soon, Hernandez got the team at draw with the second goal for the team. Later, at 88 minutes, Berbatov smashed with the winning goal.

As a matter of fact, Blackpool has not been able to defeat Manchester United since 1963, though they dominated United till the opening 45 minutes of the game. However, the United team finally got a chance to lead the match and beat Blackpool in the last 20 minutes of the game. With so many exciting moments involved, it was an overall interesting match. 

Messi had a wonderful chance to score his hat-trick but Alexandros Tzorvas came with a wonderful save to deny him the opportunity in the 55th minute. Messi though more than made up for the miss as he managed to set up another couple of goals for his side in the later part of the game. Barcelona got through the Greek side’s defense when Dani Alves managed to net a wonderful scoop by Lionel Messi. The outcome of the match was just the way the Barca side wanted. They had hoped to make a winning start in the Group D opener and have their eyes set at Wembley stadium next year.

Barca was crowned European Champions for the first time in 1992 at Wembley stadium. The Catalan giants also managed to bring cheer to their fans after the dismal performance in La Liga. Barca started very aggressively and had three near misses inside the first 12 minutes of the game. The Champions League opener has set up the tournament nicely for the Barca side who would definitely try to repeat their amazing performance in the remaining matches.

Diego Forlan’s second goal in extra time stopped Fulham from winning a major trophy for the first time in their history. To the heartbreak of millions of Fulham fans, Atletico Madrid defeated them 2-1 to lift the Europa League title. Spurred a superb performance by Deigo Forlan, who scored both the goals, Madrid executed a clinical display of football and held on to their nerves to score the winner in extra time.

It was a much needed victory for Atletico Madrid, as even they had not won any major tournament in last 14 years and it could not have come at a better place. The Europa league is one of the most respected tournaments in Europe.

The final took place Hamburg, Germany and Atletico started off very well and were very impressive throughout the game. Fulham also played good football, but that extra time goal sealed their fate. Had they managed to hold on for another 4 minutes, the match would have been decided by penalty shootout and Fulham had a great chance of setting their record.

Fulham fans would be extremely unhappy as this was their best chance of bringing home a major trophy. However, they should take heart from the fact that they made it to the finals and lost to a team which played better football on the day.

On the other hand, Madrid fans have all the more reason to cheer as they have always been overshadowed by Real Madrid. The coach would be very pleased with the team’s performance as they stuck to their game plan and kept the pressure on Fulham.

Ivica’s hat-trick is the second such instance when a player has managed to score three goals in a semifinal after Alessandro Del Piero did it for Juventus in 1988 against Monaco. Olic was ecstatic at the outcome of the match and confessed that he did not expect the match to be such a cakewalk for his team. Bayern would now face the winners of the match between Inter Milan and Barcelona in the final that is going to be held at the Bernabeu on May 22.

Louis van Gaal, the Dutch coach of the German team seemed very upbeat in a news conference and felt that his side has a real chance at the trophy if they continue their good work in the final. Lyon were one man short as Cris was sent off for mocking the decision of the referee after being booked for a foul on Olic.

The coach of Olympique Lyon admitted that the German side had the better of their team and wished that they should have at least made an equalizer and made the most of the chances that came their way. The Bayern’s fans showed a huge support for Ribery who would have to sit out of the final due to the suspension that he was handed by UEFA.

Bayern Munich managed to pull off a major upset when they knocked Manchester United out of the UEFA Champions League. Alex Ferguson, the manager of the English team was absolutely lost for words in the presentation that followed the match. He could not come up with any genuine reason for his team’s dismal performance. He thought that the false protest from the Germans which led to Rafael’s send off was the turning point of the match.

The Brazilian star looked in excellent from and had kept Frank Ribery really quite as long as he was on the field. Manchester United was playing really beautifully until the yellow cards were shown to Rafael. Bayern Munich, on the other hand, seems to be on a roll and have reached the semi-finals riding high on confidence. The stars of the team, RIbery and Arjen Robben are performing wonderfully under the shrewd leadership of Louis van Gaal.

Bayern Munich have been playing superbly right from the group stage when they came against Juventus in a must win game. They have shown great character and resolved to be where they are presently. Their performance has also sent the warning bells to the English national side who may come up against them in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

The fortunes of the Munich captain have also changed dramatically as the team has left behind the defeats which they suffered at home and abroad before Christmas. The success of the German team can be associated to their collective effort and they also have the rub of the green going their way on the field. Their good fortune of the team has ensured that United would have to wait for another year to taste success in this European League.

The first leg semi-final of the Champions League proved to be a thrilling encounter between Inter Milan and Barcelona. The match that took place on Tuesday saw Inter Milan emerge victorious as the match finished with a score of 3-1 in their favor. Pedro had given Barcelona a great start but his good work was soon spoiled by Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and Maicon of Inter Milan as Barcelona conceded their first two- goal margin loss under their manager Pep Guardiola.

The result has set up the second leg quite nicely which would take place next Wednesday at Nou Camp. Carles Puyol, the Barcelona captain and Dejan Stankovic of Inter Milan would miss their return as both of them were booked. The teams put up a great show in front of the crowd and made it very clear as to why the Champions League is considered to be the top club competition of Europe. Jose Mourinho was very wary about the second leg and said another loss may mean goodbye to the coach.

However, he was very happy with the team’s present performance and felt that they deserved to win. Barcelona took the initiative after they took a 14 hour bus journey to get to the venue owing to the restriction of flights due to the Icelandic volcano eruption. Inter Milan won the last European Cup in 1965 and have not been able to make it to the last four in the Champions League since 2003. However, they showed great character and some excellent skills to stun Barcelona with their steel plated resilience.

The first weekend of the Premier League lived up to its reputation of producing some great games and the Big Four produced some intrigue and kept the speculations alive. The most startling outcome of the weekend was a 6-1 thrashing received by Everton at the hands of Arsenal at Goodison park. The Arsenal team played beautifully and at no point seemed to be troubled by the Everton side that had finished at fifth position in the last season of the Premier League. Although Arsenal is known to face problems later in the season, they could not have hoped for a better start.

Manchester United beat Birmingham 1-0 with the help of Wayne Rooney’s goal. However, it would be interesting to see how they fare up in the season without their star players like Ronaldo and Tevez. Chelsea also managed to oust Hull 2-1 although they had to play well into the stoppage time to achieve the result and left people wondering about their fate in the tournament. The question for Chelsea who otherwise look a promising team, is how long their new manager, Carlo Ancelotti would take to get accustomed to the Premier League.

The most shocking result of the Premier League this weekend was the 2-1 defeat of Liverpool against Tottenham. Liverpool who offloaded Xabi Alonso must pull up their socks as the season promises to be highly competitive at the top.

The weekend also saw Wigan get the better of Aston Villa as they defeated Aston Villa 2-0. The action over the last weekend has really set up the Premier League and the fans can expect to see some more startling performances by their favorite teams.