The draw for the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals took place on March 20, 2009 at 11 am GMT in Nyon, Switzerland. AS Roma legend Bruno Conti assisted UEFA general secretary David Taylor with the draw.
Manchester United have it easy against FC Porto, while Arsenal face Manuel Pellegrini’s Villareal in a repeat of the 2005-06 semifinal.
Liverpool face Chelsea again in Europe ( third time in three seasons), while Barcelona take on Bayern Munich, who thrashed Sporting Lisbon 7-1 in the group stages.
We will have to say goodbye to at least one English team in the quarter finals though. Arsenal should beat Villareal, and United should beat Porto, so we are most likely going to have a Manchester United- Arsenal semifinal.
Liverpool should beat Chelsea ( purely on European form), and Barcelona should beat Bayern Munich, which means we’ll have Barcelona-Liverpool as our second semifinal.
UEFA Champions League 2008-09 quarterfinal draw
Manchester United v FC Porto
Villareal vs Arsenal
Barcelona v Bayern Munich
Liverpool v Chelsea
The first leg will be played on 7/8 April, with the second leg being played on 14/15 April.
There were four English teams, one German team, two Spanish teams and one Portuguese team to be drawn.
England- Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea
Germany- Bayern Munich
Spain – Barcelona, Villareal
Portugal- FC Porto
Your thoughts on the draw?
Up gunners, i see us triumphantly in the final of the champions league against barcelona has a repeat of 2005/2006 season.
Man U in the final, look here, will beat Porto FC, no doubt bout that, then we will meet Arsenal /Villareal, which is another simple task for the Defending Champions. We are going to make history by becoming the 1st team to successfully defend its Championship.
Arsenal have beaten Manchester United in the Premier League this season. On paper, you’d expect United to get to the final though
manchester united wii play barca in the final
My ‘crystal ball’ shows that ManU will crash out. Expect surprises. Don’t write off Villareal. They are the ‘Joker’ in the list.
Well Iyke, we’ll see how Villareal fare.
Arsenal’s youngsters have shown great maturity, and with all their key players returning to full fitness, I think Villareal will have their hands full.
There will be no repeat of the Sporting Lisbon fiasco for Porto, but I don’t see them knocking United out once again.
But football is an unpredictable game- we’ll have to wait and see how it goes.