Will it be another all-English final?

Fri.'s quarterfinal draw in Nyon, Switzerland lead the way for a dream final, the kind of which we haven't seen in years.

At about that point, I am backing Barcelona and Manchester United to go all of the way to the Stadio Olimpico. United, the reigning champs, were coupled with the weakest opponent on Fri. Porto, regardless of being 4 points clear of Sporting Lisbon in the Liga Sagres, should not pose much of a threat to the Red Demons . One of the more fascinating storylines at Fri.'s draw was the grouping of Manchester United and arms depot in the same bracket. If United overcome Porto and the Gunners beat Villarreal, the Premier League archrivals will go man-to-man in the final 4. Having said that, El Madrigal isn't a straightforward place to play. But neither is the Stadio Olimpico, and the Gunners beat Roma there in the Round of sixteen. Do not forget that arms depot triumphed over the Yellow Submarine at the semifinal stage in 2006.

Arms depot have a real opportunity to win the Champions' League this season, and Villarreal are not on the point of getting in their way. Maybe the most eye-catching of the quarterfinal ties is Barcelona-Bayern Munich. At the other end of the park, Samuel Eto'o is the premiere goalscorer in La Liga and Lionel Messi is the best player in the world now. Thierry Henry, with twenty goals already this season, is no slouch either. For their part, Bayern are in a tight race in the Bundesliga but shouldn't have any difficulty earning a top-three place at the end of the schedule. The loss of Miroslav Klose is a huge hit, especially as Luca Toni appears to go missing on the giant occasion. But Lukas Podolski has ultimately started scoring goals for the club and appears to enjoy his soccer under Jurgen Klinsmann. Bayern are powerful enough in defense and on the flanks to frustrate the Barcelona attack.

But to do it on 2 occasions and come out in the lead will be a bridge to far for the German champs. They may have beat four or 5 of the leftover Champions' League players.
That they drew Barcelona at this time was simply bad luck.
Naturally, the tie everybody will be following will be Liverpool-Chelsea.
These 2 have met on 8 occasions in the Champions' League since 2004, and seldom have the matches been entertaining. Of the 8 encounters, 6 have featured one goal or less. Last year's semifinal was barely better, with Chelsea advancing on a 4-3 total after additional time. Having said that, the atmosphere around these games is always electrical, particularly at Anfield. One thing remains certain, however : Gerrard and Fernando Torres have the power to turn a match on its head at any point.

P.S. You can submit your vote over here:
UEFA Champions league quarter finals poll

Attached Thumbnails