The Champions league draw has thrown up the possibility of revenge on a grand scale, Liverpool`s path to glory may be crossed by three teams who have more reasons to beat Liverpool than just winning the cup.
Rafa Benitez will not take the PSV Eindhoven and Koeman threat lightly, even though Liverpool beat them in the group phase, Koeman was the man who masterminded Liverpool`s and Man Utd`s downfall in the competition last season and has just dispatched Arsenal.
But Benitez and Liverpool are aware of the Koeman led PSV danger and should over two legs get over this first hurdle and make their way to the semi`s.
Then this is where the Liverpool path to glory gets a little interesting. Chelsea have been handed the toughest draw of the English teams in the quarter finals, if they overcome Valencia then in all probability we will have a rerun of the semi-final from two years ago. How sweet revenge this would be for Jose Mourhinho and his men if they were able to turn around the result of two seasons ago. Liverpool knocking them out of the competition then, is probably the most painful event for Chelsea`s players and fans since Mourhinho took over, so we can expect a fired up Chelsea team and all Chelsea fans demanding revenge.
But Benitez will not fear Chelsea, this is a much better Liverpool team than the team that knocked Chelsea out two years ago and the Chelsea team back then was better than their current squad of players, and the 2-0 win at Anfield last January in the Prem will have given great confidence to Rafa`s men. And in Benitez Liverpool possess one of the greatest tacticians in the game today and over two legs his team as proved against Barcelona can beat anyone. So Liverpool should overcome the Chelsea challenge and march on to the final.
In the other side of the draw we have Man Utd paired against AS Roma, not an easy draw as Roma have played some very good football on their way here. If Man Utd get through this test then they face either AC Milan or Bayern Munich, i expect Milan to come through this test as Bayern of today are a shadow of a side compared to the the once great giants of European football.
So then we should have an AC Milan, Man Utd semi-final. On current form Man Utd will beat Milan, Milan like Bayern before them just are not the force they once were. Roma are the better of the two Italian teams that Man Utd face on their way to the final but Italian Football has taken a nosedive recently so we should expect Man Utd to come through these two tests unscathed.
So this leaves us with a Liverool Fc v Manchester United final, a mouth watering prospect for sure, but which of these teams will lift the trophy in Athens. Man Utd were played off the field in last months Anfield clash but weathered the storm and scored in the dying minutes to walk away with the 3 points, but Liverpool have nothing else to play for now, the champions league is their season and if they dominate Man Utd like they did at Anfield, luck wont be on the Manchurians side again, so i cant see anything but a Liverpool win.
The biggest threat to this Liverpool path to glory probably comes from Benitez`s old team Valencia, they are very good defensively and with David Villa, deadly in attack, Chelsea could do Liverpool a huge favour by knocking them out of the comp at this stage.
It would be to Liverpool`s advantage if PSV were the last foreign team they meet this season because Liverpool are more than capable of turning over Chelsea and Man Utd, and we may even get to see what all Pool fans all over the globe will remember forever, a weeping Gary Neville as he sits on the turf in Athens as Gerrard lifts the greatest club prize of all, again.
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