Which is Chelsea

The Scousers will cry tonight and Cristiano will cry in Moscow

Great game.

Sheva! What a matchwinner. Had to vote him man of the match for the game on uefa.com

Sarcasm right?? Or did he actually do something?

BTW what a great decision from Benitez to sub his best player - Torres - for the 30 most important minutes of the season

BTW what a great decision from Benitez to sub his best player - Torres - for the 30 most important minutes of the season

Was very emotional to see Lampard score after such tragedy he recently had (even that he choose to play was a brave thing) and to see his father crying in the stands.

Scoursers are gonna have an issue if it goes to penalties this time: Ballack is veryvery good at taking penalties.

Diverpool

Ballack will still only take one penalty, won't he?

Looks like l'pool wont be matching our 3 in 5 record.

Come on guys, at least now we can say that the final is going to be 100% english!

Three finals in five years? No thanks.

BTW what a great decision from Benitez to sub his best player - Torres - for the 30 most important minutes of the season

Took alot of nerve to take such an important penalty

I honestly can't root for any of the two teams (Manchester of Chelsea). I'll watch the final, yes, but all-English or same-country-team finals don't exactly provide the best viewing experience. Both teams know their strengths and weaknesses, they've played against each other countless times. Case in point: Milan and Juve 2003. There is a reason this is called European Cup, and having two teams from contrasting leagues is what it's all about. But then again, the two best teams reached the final, so I can't complain. Much.

It would 3 in 4. They can do 3 on 5 next season

Anyway, next year will be there so ...  

Forget the final, I'll be happy if we even play in the CL next year!

Actually all the zebras finals are shitty and usually end up with penalty shots.
The Spanish final between real and Valencia, for example, was good to watch.
True, I don't know why I was thinking about 2003

I don't know why everyone thinks that was a bad final... everyone probably remembers it as being bad because it was between two Italian teams... It was pretty good actually!

The Real vs Valencia one was even better.

F*CK YEAH!!!! F*CK YOU LIVERPOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew it's gonna be Chelsea's turn this time.

Grant>Bentez. Fact

Somewhere in Portugal there is a very unhappy man




     

Chelsea totally deserve it. What a great game it was.

He built this Chelsea team. Fact. 

Milan is the king of Europe and the world SUPER FACT    

Agreed. They're using the same formation, with the same players. The only difference is Nico, who has scored 1 goal since he's joined!

Losing to a goal that should never have counted and a penalty shootout doesn't mean you a bad managers, it makes you unlucky.

He built this Chelsea team. Fact. 

Which goal are you talking about?

Edit. Was the third one off side?

This is better

I don't know about building the team. Building the team?? You just buy one among the top 5 players in their respective positions. How difficult is that??

Besides, you can call a penalty shootout unlucky if you like. But then I think the fact that Grant was good enough to take Chelsea through without a penalty shootout, shows some kewlness.

On another note, last night, Essien was amazing!

Grant reached the final while Mourinho did not (with Chelsea). Fact.

Of course I'm not saying that Grant is anywhere near Jose's level! But he deserves some credit doesn't he?

Which goal are you talking about?

Edit. Was the third one off side?

This is better

Oh and Liverpool are stronger now than in Mourinho's time.

I have to disagree. Liverpool of this year have done worse in every competition they entered compared to Liverpool of last year. 

It's a fact though they've the best foward in the world in this year's team.

He deserves some credit but TBH I look at him as a lucky soab.

Anyway, I really hope Chelsea do it in Moscow.

People saying Grant has done something Jose didn't do - beat Liverpool. Jose "lost" to them twice, the first time, the goal they lost to wasn't even a goal.

I have to disagree. Liverpool of this year have done worse in every competition they entered compared to Liverpool of last year. 

It's a fact though they've the best foward in the world in this year's team.

Buying the best players doesn't make it a better team, we all know what happened to Madrid when they tried that out.

Four-za Milan


Fiorentina may deserve to finish fourth, but Antonio Labbate explains why Italian football would benefit if Milan pipped them into the Champions League




It was tough watching the Champions League semi-finals this week. With Italian interest limited to just Barcelona full-back Gianluca Zambrotta, Serie A followers were forced to accept the fact that the peninsula’s best this season were just not good enough on the biggest and most lucrative stage there is.

While some may argue that Chelsea had an easy run up until the semi-finals and that Manchester United preached a disguised form of Catenaccio, there is no doubt that they are two of Europe’s most talented sides.

Of course, Italy’s big boys will be mounting another challenge next season in an effort to readdress the balance of power. Inter, Roma and Juventus have already qualified for the competition, but who will join them? With three games left, Fiorentina lead Milan by two points.

The Tuscan giants would undoubtedly deserve a sporting shot at the trophy after the Calciopoli verdicts contrived to rob them of a return to the European Cup over the last two campaigns. However, if you solely put the winning interests of Italian football into the equation, then it would clearly be more effective for Milan to pip them to fourth.

The Rossoneri have had a campaign to forget, yet one has to accept the reality that they would in all probability be more of a force in Europe next season than the Viola. While Cesare Prandelli – Italy’s most talented boss right now – has worked wonders at the Franchi, the club lack the financial clout and experience to mount a serious Champions League challenge. Don’t be misguided by their progress in the Mickey Mouse Cup.

Milan, on the other hand, have the financial backing to – as is necessary – re-invigorate their squad ahead of the 2008-09 campaign. And should they make the right acquisitions tactically, rather than superficially, then the multiple European champions could even be Serie A’s best bet of reaching the latter stages of the European Cup a year from now.

Inter will once more be expected to delude by failing to live up to their undoubted potential, Roma will probably again lose a big-name player during the summer – Amantino Mancini – which will complicate their priority of adding squad depth, while we shouldn’t expect too much from a Juventus side who sometimes struggled in Europe even with their pre-demotion super squad.

So who should finish fourth – Fiorentina or Milan? It depends on whether you’d like to watch an all Premiership Champions League Final at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico next term. No offence, but I wouldn’t.

!?? Liverpool are absolutely NOT doing what Madrid did back then!!

Liverpool will only get better if they buy great players, there's no other way...

I never said, or implied, that Liverpool were doing that. Porty said they bought the best striker in the World, and I said that doesn't always mean you'll become a better team just because you've bought a great player. At on the basis of this season, I'd say I'm able to backup my statement.

I disagree. And like you said, you create great teams, and it's nothing to do with buying great players. Arsenal for example are a great team, but great players? Maybe 1 in Fabregas, but even he's not done enough for me to be considered great yet.

Kurt's talking about this! I think it did not go all the way in... but no one can be sure. Thing is, I wanted Chelsea to lose back then.

The third one tonight was not offside. Carragher covered Anelka, big mistake!

People saying Grant has done something Jose didn't do - beat Liverpool. Jose "lost" to them twice, the first time, the goal they lost to wasn't even a goal.

Arsenal for example are a great team, but great players? Maybe 1 in Fabregas, but even he's not done enough for me to be considered great yet.

Well, I think 8 goals and 18 assists is a bit special for a 20-year old...

Excellent article, R7. Though of course, it's a sad state of affairs it all had to come to this. At the very least, we lost 8 vital points against teams like Fiorentina, Atlanta, and co. And we've gotten things to the point that even if we win all the remaining three games, it still can't guarantee fourth for us. Things just aren't in our hands.

So, even if Milan end up in the UEFA cup, it's not a failure, but neither is it a success considering the weight of this club. It would just mean a setback, but the fact remains this is AC Milan let that be in 1997, 2007, or 2017