Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, left, is challenged by Barcelona's Yaya Toure during the UEFA Champions League final soccer match between Manchester United and Barcelona in Rome, Wednesday May 27, 2009. AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
It’s been 111 days since Manchester United turned up in Rome only to find that Barcelona had decided they liked the ball so much that they weren’t willing to give it back.
The melodies from symphonies written about Barcelona, by the likes of Craig Foster and myself, have long since been replaced by the cacophony of speculation.
Europe’s monolithic club competition, the UEFA Champions League, returns tomorrow morning.
There’ll be 125 games and a lot of blood, sweat and profit form global television money, until 32 teams are whittled down to the one champion.
This season certainly promises to be one of the most enticing since UEFA re-branded the tournament the ‘Champions League’ while removing as many actual domestic champions from it as possible.
There are certainly a lot of interesting questions awaiting answers.
No team has managed to successfully defend their Champions League title, so can Barcelona buck the trend?
Their dominance last year would imply they can, but history rarely lies and the competition from right around the continent will be fierce.
Which brings me on nicely to the next big question: How will the Galacticos version 2.0 fare?
Florentino Perez, a man that obviously doesn’t agree with the saying that “those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it,” has spent nearly AU$500 million on signings over the summer break.
Can Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and co meet expectations?
Liverpool humbled Real Madrid at Anfield last year but the loss of Xabi Alonso will hurt. For that matter, all of England’s big four were unable to strengthen during the summer break, so will their recent dominance in Europe finally start to wane?
Down the other end of the scale, how will UEFA President Michel Platini’s reformatting of the Champions League fare? Will sides like Maccabi Haifa and Standard Liege flop?
Or are the doubters simply ignorant folk who’ve never seen Flemish and Isreali football before?
Even more significant is the German Bundesliga’s chance to overtake the Italian Serie A in the UEFA co-efficient rankings.
A successful German attempt to prise third place away from Italy would surely be the biggest shift in continental power since the rise of English dominance earlier this millennium.
The Bundesliga would get an extra Champions League spot and all the financial benefits that includes while further tarnishing Italy’s image as a football power.
If you’re a football lover, and not excited by all that, then I suggest you’ve been spending too much time mellowing out at Den Haag goalkeeper, Gino Coutinho’s house.
Here are my tips. Feel free to share your own.
Winners: Chelsea
Runners-Up: Barcelona
Surprise performers: CSKA Moscow. It’s time an Eastern European side stepped up to the plate and the artificial surface at the Luzhniki Stadium might just be the difference
Disappointment: it would be Manchester United if it wasn’t for the unfortunate train wreck that is AC Milan
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