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Topic: UEFA Champions League (Read 5205 times)
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UEFA Champions League
« on: July 20, 2006, 07:40:54 AM »
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The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the most successful football clubs in Europe. It is one of the most prestigious club trophies in the sport along with its South American counterpart Copa Libertadores. It has a global audience of more than a billion people.
The tournament was inaugurated in 1955 at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and L'Équipe editor Gabriel Hanot,[1] as a competition for winners of the European national football leagues under the name of the European Cup, but since the 1992–1993 season the competing teams have been the top-ranked teams of Europe and the tournament has been renamed the UEFA Champions League, though some teams competing have never been champions in their respective countries. The UEFA Champions League is not to be confused with the UEFA Cup, the secondary championship for European club teams.
The current holders of the UEFA Champions League trophy are Barcelona, who beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Stade de France in St-Denis, Paris on 17 May 2006 after coming from 0-1 behind against the 10 men of Arsenal.
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2006, 07:41:59 AM »
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Format
The tournament consists of several stages and begins with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. Different teams start in different rounds, according to their position in domestic league and the UEFA coefficients of their league, while the sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues are directly qualified.
In each subsequent preliminary round, participating teams are paired, with aggregate winners proceeding into the next round. Qualifying rounds span from mid-July to late August. The losers of the third qualifying round are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the sixteen winners of the final qualifying round are joined by the sixteen teams who have qualified directly, to participate in the group stage.
They are drawn into eight groups of four teams, each team playing every other team in the group twice (home and away). The group stage is played between mid-September and early December. The teams finishing third in their groups are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the top two teams from every group qualify for the next round. Here the sixteen remaining teams take part in the knock-out stages, which starts in late February and end with the final match in May.
All qualifying round and knock-out ties are two-legged, with each team hosting one match. The team which scores the greater aggregate number of goals qualifies for the next round. The away goals rule applies. Extra time and penalty kicks are used to determine the winner, if necessary. An exception is the final, which is a single match played at a predetermined venue.
The draws are currently structured to ensure that clubs representing the same national association cannot play each other until the quarter-finals. In addition, seeding of the teams according to their UEFA coefficients is used. The competition system has been undergoing changes since the 1991/92 season (see history). The current system was adopted in 2003.
Qualification
The UEFA Champions league is open to the league champions of all UEFA member associations (except Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino), as well as to the clubs finishing from second to fourth position in the strongest leagues.
The number of places in the competition depends on the association's rank in the UEFA coefficients table:
associations ranked 1 to 3 have four positions,
associations ranked 4 to 6 have three positions,
associations ranked 7 to 15 have two positions,
associations ranked 16 or lower have one position.
An association's rank also determines the stage at which the clubs enter the competition. For example, the highest-ranked association has two places in the group stage (for champions and runners-up) and two in the third qualifying round (for third and fourth-placed teams), whereas the lowest-ranked associations have only one place in the first qualifying round for their champions. Nine highest-ranked associations have at least one automatic place in the group stage.
An additional place in the group stage is reserved for the title-holders, in case they don't qualify via their domestic league. However, an association is limited to sending at most four clubs for a season. This means that if the title-holders come from a league given four positions, but finish out of the top four, it will take the place of the fourth placed team. The fourth placed team will go to the UEFA Cup.
In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions league. To obtain a licence, club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.
There was controversy when Liverpool won the competition in 2004/2005, but finished outside the top four in the Premiership. The Football Association ruled that Everton F.C. (who finished fourth) would get the final spot. However, UEFA came to an agreement that both Merseyside rivals would be allowed to enter the competition with Liverpool starting from the first qualifying round and Everton starting from the third qualifying round. Liverpool became the first team to negotiate all three rounds of qualification and reach the Champions League knockout phase (although this feat was matched by Artmedia Bratislava of Slovakia in the same season).
Manchester United and FC Porto are the teams that have appeared most often in the group stages: twelve each.
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2006, 07:42:35 AM »
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Champions League finals
The Champions League final is the most important match of the season in European club football. The stadium to host the final is selected by UEFA two years before the match.
The latest UEFA Champions League final was held at Stade de France on 17 May 2006 between Arsenal and Barcelona, which Barcelona won 2-1. In this spectacular match, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off and two late goals by Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti secured victory for the Catalan side. The 2006-07 season final will take place at the Athens Olympic Stadium. Nine candidates are bidding to host the 2007–2008 season final - London, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Porto, Lisbon, Moscow, and Seville [3].
Real Madrid have won this competition nine times. The next most successful teams are A.C. Milan (six titles), Liverpool F.C. (five titles), FC Bayern Munich and Ajax Amsterdam (four titles). For complete list of the winners, see European Cup and Champions League finals or European Cup and Champions League statistics.
The winning club gets possession of the trophy at the awards ceremony, but must return it to UEFA headquarters two months before the following year's final. UEFA gives the winners a scaled-down replica of the trophy to keep permanently, and winning clubs are free to make replicas of the trophy as long as they are clearly marked as replicas and are no larger than 80% of the size of the actual trophy. However, the current competition rules also specify that the actual trophy will be permanently awarded to a team that wins three consecutive years or five times in all [4].
Five clubs have been awarded the UEFA badge of honour and the right to keep the trophy permanently:
Real Madrid, who won the first five competitions from 1956 to 1960,
Ajax Amsterdam, who won consecutively in 1971–1973,
Bayern Munich, who won consecutively in 1974–1976,
A.C. Milan, who won for the fifth time in 1994,
Liverpool, whose 2005 win was their fifth overall.
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2006, 07:44:55 AM »
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European Cup and Champions League history
The history of the European Cup and Champions League is long and remarkable, with fifty years of competition finding winners and losers from all parts of the continent.
Tracing the history of the Champions League back to its beginning, it is possible to pick out periods when specific teams or countries dominated the competition, only to find themselves rapidly superseded by another dominant team or teams. With that in mind, it is easy to view the European Cup and Champions League by era:
Genesis
In the early 1950s, football played under floodlights was still a novelty. The summer of 1953 saw the first set of lights installed at the Molineux stadium of Wolverhampton Wanderers, which were first tested in a friendly game against a South African XI. Over the next months, Wolves played a series of "floodlit friendlies" against foreign opposition. Beginning with Racing Club of Argentina, they also played Spartak Moscow of the USSR, before meeting Honved of Hungary in a game televised live on the BBC. The Honved team included many of the "Magical Magyars" Hungary team who had humbled England twice. Wolves won the game 3-2, which led their manager Stan Cullis to proclaim them as "Champions of the World", in spite of Honved's defeat to Red Star Belgrade (then lying seventh in their domestic league) days earlier. This was the final spur for Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L'Équipe, who had long campaigned for a Europe wide club tournament to be played under floodlights.
"Before we declare that Wolverhampton are invincible, let them go to Moscow and Budapest. And there are other internationally renowned clubs: A.C. Milan and Real Madrid to name but two. A club world championship, or at least a European one - larger, more meaningful and more prestigious than the Mitropa Cup and more original than a competition for national teams - should be launched." - Gabriel Hanot
The UEFA congress of March 1955 saw the proposal raised, with approval given in April of that year, and the kick-off of the first European Cup the following season.
1955 to 1960 - First Real Madrid era
Real Madrid dominated the first five competitions, with the team led by Di Stefano, Puskás, Gento, Del Sol and Santamaria winning each of the first five finals comfortably. While this was most definitely the case, Manchester United and several Italian clubs did offer some resistance during the late 1950s. However, the combined factors of the 1958 Munich Air Crash and the unorthodox and cavalier playing style of Real meant that little real competition could be found.
This era culminated in the famous 1960 European Cup Final, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, where Real Madrid obliterated Eintracht Frankfurt of the then West Germany 7-3 in front of BBC and other Eurovision television cameras and a crowd of over 135,000 - still the largest attendance for a European Cup or Champions League final.
1961 to 1966 - Benfica, AC Milan, Internazionale... and Real MadridReal Madrid's domination was ended by their biggest domestic rivals, Barcelona, in the first round of the 1961 competition. Barça went all the way to the final that year at the Wankdorf Stadion in Berne, Switzerland, where they were defeated in a close game by Benfica of Lisbon. This team, captained by the impressive Mário Coluna from Mozambique, were joined by the legendary Eusébio the following season, where they defended the trophy beating Real Madrid 5-3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Benfica would then go on to reach a third successive final in 1963, but lost to Milan, whose city rivals Internazionale would win the trophy in both 1964 and 1965 beating Real Madrid and Benfica in the process. The 1965 competition is memorable more for the infamous and controversial semi-final between Internazionale and Liverpool, with widespread allegations of bribery and match fixing being levelled at the Italian side following a 3-0 home win in Milan.
This era was ended by Real Madrid, who defeated Internazionale in the 1966 semi-final, before going on to win a sixth European Cup with against Partizan Belgrade in the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels (then Heysel Stadium). Of the great 1950's side, only Paco Gento played in all six winning teams. This Real Madrid was completely made of Spanish players, and given the youth of most of them (with the exception of Gento) it was nick-named the "ye-yé".
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2006, 07:48:11 AM »
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1967 and 1968 - Two British victories
In 1967, Celtic became the first British and northern European team to win the competition, beating Internazionale 2-1 in the Estádio Nacional, in Lisbon, Portugal against the odds. The team, which became known as the Lisbon Lions, managed by Jock Stein, were all born within 25 miles (40 km) of Celtic Park in Glasgow, and as such remain unusual by the event's longstanding nature of attracting the best and most cosmopolitan players from all over the planet. Celtic are the only club to have won the competition with a team comprised entirely of home-grown talent. By way of contrast, while Real Madrid fielded many Spaniards in the 1950s, their major stars were from elsewhere — Alfredo Di Stefano had arrived from Argentina, while Ferenc Puskás had defected from Hungary in 1956.
One year later, in 1968, Manchester United became the first English team to win the competition, beating Benfica 4-1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium, London. This game was incredibly close, and though United scored three times in extra time, Benfica could have won the game in normal time when the famous Eusébio missed what should have been an easy chance (for him) in the last seconds.
1969 to 1973 - Dutch domination
The European Cup was now to spend almost the whole of the next decade and a half as the property of just three clubs - each winning at least three finals, and appearing regularly in the latter stages of the competition.
The first club to dominate was AFC Ajax, who first lost the 1969 final to Milan and then had to watch deadly rivals Feyenoord win the same title in 1970. After that though, the Total Football of Johan Cruijff, Barry Hulshoff, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Arie Haan, Gerrie Mühren and Piet Keizer dominated for three comfortable years, despatching Panathinaikos of Athens, Internazionale and Juventus of Turin in swift succession.
Each player was able to adapt to play in many positions and roles, strikers switching with defenders at will, Krol creating nearly as many chances as Mühren, Cruijff stopping as many as Hulshoff. Created by Rinus Michels and refined by Stefan Kovacs, Ajax seemed unbeatable until Cruijff opted to join former coach Michels at Barcelona later in 1973. With that, aging and the loss of Neeskens later, Ajax struggled in the premier European competition for over 20 years.
1974 to 1976 - The rise of Bayern
Bayern Munich became the next club to dominate the competition, winning it three times consecutively in the mid 1970s.
Led by Franz Beckenbauer, and starring Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner, Bayern continued on from Total Football, adding their own version of rigidity and organisation to the mix to make an equally as imposing mixture.
Defeating first Atlético Madrid after a replay in 1974, Bayern then beat Leeds United 2-0 in a bad-tempered final at the Parc des Princes, Paris, France in 1975, and finally St. Étienne at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in 1976. Thereafter the side declined, and Bayern would win no more victories in the European Cup era.
1977 to 1984 - English clubs, Juventus FC & Heysel
In 1977, Liverpool started a domination of the competition by English clubs which would see six consecutive victories, and a total of seven in eight years. Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome, then in 1978 became the first British club to win the trophy twice by beating the Belgian champions, Club Brugge at Wembley.
Liverpool lost in the first round of the 1979 competition to fellow English side Nottingham Forest who went on to win the tournament in arguably the most impressive rise to the top of continental football in the European game's history. Forest defeated Swedish side Malmö 1-0 in the Munich Final; then disposed of Hamburg SV in Madrid by the same scoreline to defend the trophy successfully in 1980 and remain the only side to win the trophy more times (twice) than their own domestic league (once). Liverpool returned to the final in 1981 where they picked up their third trophy with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in Paris.
To show the English game's strength in depth, Aston Villa won the competition in 1982 with a 1-0 win over Bayern in Rotterdam. Hamburg SV won it in 1983, beating Juventus FC 1-0 in the final, in which no English side were playing for the first time in seven years. However, Liverpool were back in 1984 to defeat AS Roma on their home turf after a penalty shootout. Liverpool returned to defend the trophy in Brussels a year later, but the 1-0 defeat by Juventus was rendered meaningless due to the death of 39 Juventus fans in the Heysel Stadium. The consequence was a 5-year ban from European competition for English clubs, with a 6-year ban on Liverpool.
1986 to 1988 - Steaua, Porto and PSV
With English clubs banned from participating in European football, the spell of dominance was well and truly over. In the few years that followed the Heysel Disaster, the European Cup was contested between other clubs. 1986, 1987 and 1988 saw the trophy lifted by Steaua Bucharest of Romania, FC Porto of Portugal and PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands respectively. Only the final, lost by Bayern Munich to FC Porto was really eventful, and regarded among the greatest European Cup finals of all time, with the special back-heel goal by Madjer.
1989 to 1991 - AC Milan and Red Star Belgrade
A.C. Milan won the European Cup in 1989 and retained it the following year. The Dutch trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard played an important part in their success. Milan missed out on a third successive European crown in 1991, when the trophy went to Yugoslav league champions Red Star Belgrade who beat Marseille on penalties after a goalless draw. The 1991 final was also the only final in the 1989-1998 period that failed to feature an Italian team. The ban on English clubs in European football was lifted for the 1990-91 season, but English champions Liverpool were unable to compete in the European Cup because they had to serve an extra year.
1992 to 1996 - Continental dominance
English clubs made their return to the European Cup in the early 1990s, but none reached even the last eight let alone the final. Arsenal (1991-92), Leeds United (1992-93), Manchester United (1993-94 and 1994-95) and Blackburn Rovers (1995-96) struggled to make an impact in Europe. This was not helped by the strict "three foreigner" rule which hurt British sides more than most because football considers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as separate countries rather than as part of the United Kingdom. As such Welsh players such as Ryan Giggs -- despite being British by nationality -- were counted as foreign.
Instead, the trophy stayed with continental clubs. The 1992 final, played at Wembley Stadium, was won by Barcelona. Marseille won the 1993 final, but were later banned from defending their crown in what was only the beginning of a collapse which arose from domestic match fixing committed by chairman Bernard Tapie. The club eventually lost their French First Division status after it was revealed that Tapie had cooked the club's financial books.
In 1994, A.C. Milan reclaimed the trophy by comprehensively beating a star-studded Barcelona side, 4-0, in what many have hailed as one of the finest European Cup Final performances of the modern age. Milan also went on to reach the final in 1995 but lost 1-0 to an exciting young Ajax side powered by the brilliant 19 year-old striker Patrick Kluivert. Ajax, in turn, reached the next final in 1996, but fell to Juventus after a penalty shoot-out.
By this time world football had just begun to adapt to the radical changes brought on by the Bosman ruling. Best known for allowing out-of-contract players to move to other clubs without a transfer fee, of greater impact to the European Cup was the elimination of quotas against European Union nationals. Players from EU member states were not considered foreigners for clubs in EU member states any more.
1997 and 1998 - German and Spanish success
Borussia Dortmund joined the list of European Cup winners in 1997 when they upset holders Juventus in the final, having already disposed of English champions, Manchester United, in the semi-final. But 1996-97 was a season of progress for English clubs in the European Cup, because United had become the first team to progress to the last four of the European Cup in the post-Heysel era.
In 1997-98, UEFA allowed the runners-up of top European leagues to compete in the European Cup (now officially the UEFA Champions League). UEFA's rationale was that the quality of its premier tournament increased by including more top teams from big leagues rather than minnows from the likes of Wales and Andorra. Despite the new changes, an old face claimed the crown in 1998: Real Madrid won their first European Cup since 1966 and seventh overall when they beat Juventus 1-0 in the Italian club's third straight final (and second straight defeat).
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2006, 07:51:13 AM »
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1999 to 2003 - Varied success
1998-99 will be forever remembered for Manchester United's superlative and unparalleled treble success. United had forged an impressive path to the Final by emerging from a group containing Barcelona and Bayern Munich unbeaten, then beating Italian giants Inter Milan and Juventus (in both legs coming from behind). They had also forged a reputation for late comebacks in England as they picked up the League and FA Cup en-route to a treble, unprecedented in English football. Their opponents, Bayern Munich, were also chasing a treble, and took the lead after just six minutes through a clever Mario Basler free-kick. It appeared to be enough for Bayern as United failed to find a way through, with goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, (playing his last game for the club and captaining the club in the absence of skipper Roy Keane) in inspirational form to keep his team in the game. With referee Pierluigi Collina signalling three minutes of stoppage time, everyone thought the game was up, to the extent that the trophy was brought out bearing Bayern's colours. United threw everyone forward for a David Beckham corner, and were rewarded when substitute Teddy Sheringham turned home the equaliser after Ryan Giggs mish*t a shot at goal. Bayern hearts were broken, but the worst was yet to come no more than a minute later. Another Beckham corner again provided the danger as Sheringham headed it on to fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjær. The Norwegian striker flicked out his boot to send the ball into the roof of the net and win the European Cup for Manchester United. It was the club's first success since 1968 and marked the first English winner since Liverpool in 1984.This is regarded by the majority of football fans as being amongst the greatest three minutes in the Champions league history.
The 1999-2000 season saw UEFA again ease the entry requirements for the so-called Champions League. Now the top three leagues (according to UEFA's rankings) could enter four teams, while the next three could enter three.
Real Madrid started the 21st century in similar fashion to their 20th century exploits by defeating Valencia 3-0 to lift the European Cup again. This was the first final to feature two teams from the same country. On the way to the final they also achieved the remarkable feat of successively eliminating last year's runners-up (Bayern Munich, semi-finals), and champions (Manchester United, quarter-finals). The tie against Manchester United has obtained legendary status among Madrid fans after a memorable away victory at Old Trafford (2-3) which included a fine goal created by midfielder Fernando Redondo, dubbed 'el taconazo (backheel) de Old Trafford'. Valencia returned to the Final again in the 2001 only to lose again, this time to Bayern Munich, who finally erased the memory of their 1999 final defeat. That win also gave coach Ottmar Hitzfeld the distinction of winning the European Cup with two different teams, having lifted it in 1997 with Borussia Dortmund.
There were echoes of Real Madrid's legendary 1960 final victory when they faced another German team (Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final at Glasgow's Hampden Park. Bayer became the first finalist never to have won their domestic league. Furthering the comparisons with the classic team of Di Stefano and Puskás was the much-hyped "Galactico" policy Real Madrid were pursuing at the time, where they intended to sign one world-class player a year. That season they added multiple FIFA World Player of the Year winner, Zinedine Zidane, to their ranks for a world record fee of €71 million. Zidane and Madrid lived up to the hype; the Frenchman displayed textbook skill to acrobatically volley home the winner in their 2-1 victory that gave the club its ninth European Cup.
As a footnote, that defeat capped off a thoroughly unfortuitous season for Bayer Leverkusen. They first lost the German league title in the last game of the season, then lost the European Cup final, then the German Cup final. And to add insult to injury, some of that side (including midfield star Michael Ballack) then went on to lose the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final with Germany that summer.
The next season saw Italian clubs return to the top of the European table. Despite dominating the competition through the 1990s, Italian clubs fell so far so fast in the intervening years that Italy didn't boast a single quarter-finalist in 2002. The following season, however, saw three Italian semi-finalists—and a final between A.C. Milan and Juventus. Milan won their sixth European Cup when they beat their old rivals 3-2 on penalties following a dull 0-0 draw. The victory was especially sweet for captain, Paolo Maldini, who lifted the trophy in Manchester exactly forty years after his father Cesare had done so for Milan in London.In the group stage of that year there was also an interesting feature. Three teams had the same result in all their matches. Fancy Barcelona managed to win all 6 group matches in style, while a mediocre Spartak Moscow side lost them all. AEK Athens drew 6 times and became the first team that failed to qualify from the group stage undefeated, finishing third.
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2006, 07:51:30 AM »
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2004 to 2005 - Unexpected results and Triumphant Comebacks
There was a major upset in 2004 when FC Porto defeated Monaco 3-0 to win the European Cup. Goals were scored by Carlos Alberto, Deco and Dmitri Alenichev. Neither team had been tipped for any success in the competition, but between them they managed to claim the scalps of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea as European football's big names tumbled out. FC Porto and their charismatic manager, José Mourinho, achieved the rare feat of following up a UEFA Cup victory by winning the European Cup the next season. Russian international Alenichev became only the third player after Ronald Koeman and Ronaldo to score a goal in two consecutive different European finals and Vítor Baía became the tenth player to have won the three European club titles. This well-deserved victory was based on a tight defence, a battling midfield and a skilful front line, all beautifully orchestrated by No. 10 Deco. In the group stage of that season three teams from the same city appeared for the first time: Panathinaikos, AEK Athens and Olympiakos Piraeus.
There was a similar surprise in 2005. This time it involved two of Europe's most successful clubs. Six-time European Champions A.C. Milan faced four-time winners Liverpool in what could be considered one of the most dramatic finals in the competition's history. Milan were the overwhelming favourites, having claimed the crown two years previously and boasting a star-studded lineup that included the ageless Paolo Maldini and Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko. The team even consisted of a new power in the talented young Kaká. Liverpool, on the other hand, had struggled through a domestic league campaign that saw them only finish fifth, but produced an incredible series of performances in Europe.
Milan broke through after just 52 seconds, Maldini striking the fastest goal in European Cup Final history. The Italians, buoyed by a sensational showing from Brazilian star Kaká took control of the game. Shevchenko fed Hernan Crespo five minutes before half-time to make it 2-0, only for Crespo to add another two minutes later after a defence-splitting pass from Kaká. At 3-0 down at half-time, Liverpool looked dead and buried; so much so that a small minority of Liverpool supporters left the match at half-time, it was a decision that they would later come to regret.
Liverpool's Spanish manager Rafael Benítez changed the course of the game when he introduced German midfielder Dietmar Hamann. After Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek made a fine save from a Shevchenko free-kick, the European Cup Final's greatest ever comeback began. Gerrard scored with a header before Vladimir Smicer's long-range drive made it 3-2 just two minutes later. And on the hour mark Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso completed the comeback by converting the rebound from his saved penalty kick to make it 3-3.
Milan almost won it at the end of extra time when Shevchenko was twice denied in quick succession by Dudek. That proved crucial as they moved on to a penalty shoot-out where Liverpool triumphed 3-2 when Dudek again saved from Shevchenko. Liverpool had captured their most unlikely European Cup victory, and as five-time winners earned the honour of keeping the trophy.
Liverpool almost failed to qualify from the group stage. Participating in Group A, along with Monaco (FRA), Deportivo La Coruña (ESP) and Olympiacos (GRE), Liverpool were placed third on matchday 5 and had to manage a victory of a 3+ goal margin or to win by 3-1, 4-2 etc in their last match against Olympiacos at home. Final scoreline 3-1, but only after an Olympiacos first half 1-0 advantage.
2006 - Return of Barcelona
There was further controversy as Liverpool had finished fifth in their domestic league and thus were not automatically entitled to enter the 2005-06 competition. The Football Association had entered Everton F.C. as the final entrant after their fourth place finish in the league, and did not wish to replace the team with Liverpool to allow the defence of the Champions' League (despite having made provision for such an eventuality the previous season when Arsenal faced Chelsea in the quarter-final).
If Everton were to be replaced with Liverpool, it would be the second time in which Liverpool had caused Everton not to qualify for the cup although they had gained a spot (English clubs were banned after the Heysel stadium disaster, a season in which Everton had finished first). This was in contrast to the Spanish football authorities who in an earlier season had replaced their final entrant with Real Madrid.
Liverpool and the FA lobbied hard for a special fifth Champions League place for the team, claiming it was UEFA rules rather than the FA's previous decisions that were keeping Liverpool from the competition. After some debate, UEFA decided to grant special dispensation and allow Liverpool to defend their title, but they had to enter the tournament at the First Qualifying Round. The ruling also stated that if the team made it into the Champions League proper the other English teams would have to split the prize money that was due to them. The rules of the competition were also changed to prevent any further dispute if the same situation happened again; future winners not qualifying through their domestic league will take the place of the team claiming the last Champions League spot in the domestic League. If the same situation were to happen again, where Everton claimed the fourth and final Champions League place in the English Premiership with Liverpool finishing fifth, Liverpool would take Everton's place in the Champions League and Everton would have to settle for a UEFA Cup spot.
The situation almost presented itself again in the 2005-06 season, when Arsenal made progress all the way to the final of the Champions League while performing poorly in their own domestic league, finding themselves behind their local rivals Tottenham Hotspur — it was only on the last day of the domestic season that Arsenal achieved the final Champions League qualification spot, with Spurs, who had held fourth place for several months, going into the UEFA Cup. Had Arsenal finished fifth, then gone on to win the Champions League, then they, and not Spurs, would have been England's final entrant into the next season's competition.
This changes the previous rules where the winners of the competition had to qualify in order to defend their title, just like the winners of World Cup, as it was assumed they would finish in the qualification places in their domestic league. All winners are now however, as described, allowed to defend their title.
The semi-finalists were Villarreal, Arsenal, AC Milan and Barcelona. Barcelona overcame Chelsea and Benfica in the knockout stages. Villareal beat Rangers of Glasgow and Internazionale of Milan. AC Milan beat Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais. Arsenal beat Juventus and Real Madrid. Making use of their 1-0 victory at Highbury, Arsenal succeeded in holding off Villareal (including a Jens Lehmann save of a late penalty from Juan Román Riquelme) to a 0-0 draw which put them through to the Champions League final at the Stade de France. Barcelona played Milan in the other semi-final, and held on to the 1-0 advantage of the first leg to qualify for the final.
In the final, held on 17 May, Lehmann became the first player ever to be sent off in a European Cup/Champions League final after fouling Samuel Eto'o just outside the penalty area. The sending off was the subject of some protest, as Eto'o had already passed off to an open Ludovic Giuly who put the ball in the goal; however, the referee had blown the whistle for the foul. Arsenal nonetheless took the lead off a Sol Campbell header in the 37th minute. The Gunners kept their lead for most of the second half, but Eto'o equalised off a probing feed from substitute Henrik Larsson in the 76th minute; this goal was disputed by Arsenal as they had thought it was scored from an offside position [1]. Five minutes later, another Larsson ball found Juliano Belletti, who put the second goal through the legs of substitute keeper Manuel Almunia to give Barça their final 2–1 margin.
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Neema for my sig which was done upon request.
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Re:UEFA Champions League
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2006, 07:52:12 AM »
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Evolution of the Championship format
The format of the competition has evolved substantially over the years, notably with the introduction of a Group Phase beginning in 1991, and multiple national representatives in 1998. The following summarizes the evolution of the championship format of the through the years:
1955-1991 - Knockout format, one club per country (the league champion) plus the defending champion
1955: many countries were represented by a team not the domestic champion
1956-59: the domestic runner-up was allowed to compete where the domestic champion was also European champion[2]
1991-1993 - Three knockout qualifying rounds, group phase with 2 groups, 2 group winners meet in final, one club per country (the league champion) plus the defending champion
1993-1994 - Knockout semi-finals added following group phase
1994-1997 - One knockout qualifying round, group phase with 4 groups, group winners and all runners-up to 8 club knockout phase, one club per country (the league champion) plus the defending champion
1997-1999 - Two knockout qualifying rounds, group phase with 6 groups, group winners and 2 runners-up to 8 club knockout phase, up to two clubs per country
1999-2003 - Three knockout qualifying rounds, two group phases with 8 first phase group winners and all runners-up moving to 4 second phase groups, second phase group winners and all runners-up to 8 club knockout phase, up to three clubs per country
2003-present - Three knockout qualifying rounds, one group phase with 8 groups, group winners and all runners-up to 16 club knockout phase, up to four clubs per country (with the exception of England in 2005-06).
Prior to 1970, aggregate draws were settled by a play-off and (if necessary) coin-toss. Since then, it has been via the away goals rule and (if necessary) a penalty shootout. The final retained the potential for a replay until the late 1970s.
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Neema for my sig which was done upon request.
Kendz for my avvi
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