2008 Champions League - Moscow

3 English teams and 1 Spanish team have booked their place in 2007/2008 UEFA Champions League semi-final. Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, and Barcelona are going to create sensational excitement in this year competition. The dominance of English Premier League teams (EPL) becomes so apparent a few years back despite the failure of English national team to qualify for the European championship to be held in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

The emergence of English elite club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man Utd is closely linked to a continent called Asia. Foreign ownership controls most of these elite club. Tonnes of money are being poured in while players salaries are being inflated out of our imagination. Investors from the US, Russia, and possibly the Arabs have one aim in mind : to tap the vast market in the Far East, especially China, India, Korea, Japan, and South East Asia.

Revenue is expected to grow exponentially in the form of TV broadcasting rights, sales of jersey and other merchandises. However, some clubs are bought out of personal ego. There are billionaires who buy football club just to show the world how wealthy they are. A football club to the rich is like a plate of half filled rice to the poor.

Why Asian likes EPL, but not so much on Bundesliga, La-Liga or Serie A ? In my opinion, major credit should go to the English Imperialism in the past. UK colonized a huge number of Asian countries, and English becomes the lingual fraca after years of colonization. Asian viewers feel comfortable with English players and English commentator, and as such EPL flourishes. Second credit is down to the schedule of EPL matches. Most of the games are shown live in prime time tv show especially in the Hong Kong time zone. Asian ladies and women are widely being marginalized on Sat evening as their other half are being glued and lured to the TV set. Kudos to the bright people in the English FA.

Back to UEFA Champions League. This season final will be staged in Moscow, the homeland of Roman Abramovich. Based on my very own calculated prediction, there will be only two sets of finalists : either (1) Barcelona vs Chelsea or (2) Liverpool vs Man Utd.

(1) Barcelona vs Chelsea
There are rumours saying that the owner of Chelsea has already booked a luxury hotel in Moscow and make downpayment for some of the finest champagne to be shipped to the former Soviet capital. As such, the so called fixed quarter final draw might be spread to the final. Insiders claimed that during the quarter final draw, the fixture has been fixed and there were websites publishing the fixture prior to the actual draw. Their argument is that high-tech balls were being used whereby heat are being released to warm up a particular ball, and that ball will be pick by the person in charge. Is this a conspiracy theory ? I have no idea, only God knows. The other reason that I choose Barcelona vs Chelsea is that in order to be the real champion, Chelsea can't afford to have Man Utd in the final. Otherwise the eventual winner is just an "English" champion, not qualify to represent Europe or the World. 3rd factor : Both of their away jersey are in fluorescent color, for the sake of apple to apple competition.
The ultimate winner : Barca

(2) Liverpool vs Man Utd
The master tactician Rafa Benitez is going to outshine Stamford Bridge for the 3rd time running. Christiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney are too HOT to handle. Another element is that both of their home jersey are in red and the color matches the national flag of Russia.
Ultimate winner : Liverpool
Why Liverpool ? Big ship tends to hit an iceberg :)

Enjoy your time all the way to Moscow, and then continue the chronology in Austria and Switzerland.

Happy footballing.


Anak Penang, Anak Asia