The most likely teams to win the Champions League in 2011
On May 28th, the Wembley Stadium in London, England will play host to the final of the UEFA Champions League. Seventy six teams from fifty two different leagues will all be looking to make it to the Wembley on that night. However there are always going to be some key favourites to win the tournament, here is a look at some of those teams.
Chelsea will believe that this is the year that they will finally taste European glory. The Chelsea squad is stronger than it has ever been in the past with players like Drogba and Lampard playing the best football that they have ever played. Essien will also be back for Chelsea which can only mean that they will be stronger than they were last season. Players like John Terry and Ashley Cole will be looking to silence their critics by putting in spectacular performances. Chelsea had previously finished as runners up in the 2008 Champions League final when they lost out to Manchester United on penalties. They will be looking to end their nightmares of that night and go all the way this time. Considering they are the reigning English champions it would be stupid to bet against them.
Real Madrid are currently operating under Jose Mourinho. Mourinho had managed his first success by winning the Champions League with Porto. If Mourinho can manage to win the Champions League with a team like Porto it would be stupid to think that he wouldn’t be able to do it with Madrid. Madrid have players like the inform Ronaldo, Higuain and Kaka amongst their ranks. If anything Mourinho will tap they players maximum potential and help them perform at optimum levels. It would be a nightmare for any team to get paired against Real Madrid this coming season in the Champions League.
Manchester United have been the most successful English team over the last two decades. It would be stupid to count them out of the running to be lifting the Champions League trophy once again. They have won the trophy on three occasions in the past in, 1968, 1999 and most recently in 2008 against Chelsea. United may have not had much domestic success last season but they have brought in a number of reinforcements, which will only aid their cause and help them become even stronger than they were last season.
Arsenal are going to have a make or break season. They will either have to prove to the world that they are actually a force to be reckoned with or be considered as the greatest underachievers of all time. Arsenal have never managed to win the Champions League in the past but managed to end up as runners up to Barcelona in 2006. They have a young squad that will be looking to prove to the world just how good it is and amidst that young squad is their captain, Cesc Fabregas. Fabregas will be looking to have some spectacular performances this season to prove to everyone just what all the commotion about his transfer was all about. If the squad can manage to pull it together along with Fabregas chances are Arsenal will stun the footballing world by taking home the Champions League trophy in 2011.
Barcelona easily have one of the most talented squads that a team could ever dream of possessing. They have managed to win the Champions League on three occasions in the past, in, 1992, 2006 and 2009. They lost out to Inter Milan last season in the semis and will be looking to go all the way again this season. Barcelona are automatically considered to be favourites at every tournament that they enter and this year it won’t be any different.
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