UEFA Champions League 2007–08

Infobox International Football Competition
tourney_name =
year = 2007–08
other_titles =
size = 150px
caption =
country =
dates = 18 September 2007 – 21 May 2008
num_teams = 32
confederations =
venues =
cities =
champion_other = flagicon|ENG Manchester United
count = 3
second_other = flagicon|ENG Chelsea
third_other =
fourth_other =
matches = 125
goals = 330
attendance = 5380947
top_scorer = flagicon|POR Cristiano Ronaldo (8 goals)
player = flagicon|POR Cristiano Ronaldo The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League was the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall.

The final was played on 21 May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where Manchester United played against Chelsea, making it an all-English final for the first time in the history of the European Cup. Manchester United won the match 6–5 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time.

Manchester United went through their whole Champions League campaign unbeaten.

Qualification

Seventy-six teams participated in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League from UEFA's 53 member associations. Each association enters a certain number of clubs to the Champions League based on its league coefficient; associations with a higher league coefficients may enter more clubs than associations with a lower league coefficient, but no association may enter more than four teams. All UEFA associations are guaranteed to have at least one team qualify, with the exception of Liechtenstein, which competes in the Swiss league system, but has no team in the Swiss Super League. One new nation entered their league champion in this year's tournament: Montenegro, following the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro. The champions from San Marino and Andorra also entered from this year onwards. Below is the qualification scheme for the 2007–08 Champions League: [cite web |url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/access2007.html |title=The access list from UEFA European Cup Football |accessdate=2007-06-20 |author=Bert Kassies |year=2007 |month=February |publisher=UEFA European Cup Football ]

*Associations 1-3 (Spain, Italy, and England): 4 teams
*Associations 4-6 (France, Germany, and Portugal): 3 teams
*Associations 7-15: 2 teams
*Associations 16-53: 1 team

First qualifying round: (28 teams)
*28 champions from associations 25-53 (not including Liechtenstein)

Second qualifying round: (28 teams)
*14 winners from the first qualifying round
*8 champions from associations 17-24 (Bulgaria, Israel, Norway, Austria, Serbia, Poland, Denmark, and Hungary)
*6 runners-up from associations 10-15

Third qualifying round: (32 teams)
*14 winners from the second qualifying round
*7 champions from associations 10-16 (Romania, Scotland, Belgium, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland)
*3 runners-up from associations 7-9 (Netherlands, Greece, Russia)
*6 third-place finishers from associations 1-6
*2 fourth-place finishers from associations 1-3 (Milan, the fourth-place finishers from Italy, as holders, qualify automatically for the group stage.)

Group stage: (32 teams)
*1 current Champions League holder
*16 winners from the third qualifying round
*9 champions from associations 1-9
*6 runners-up from associations 1-6

econd qualifying round

The draw was held on Friday, 29 June 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The first leg matches were played on 31 July and 1 August, while the second legs were played on 7 August and 8 August 2007.

Third qualifying round

The draw was held on Friday, 3 August 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football. The first leg matches were played on 14 August and 15 August, while the second legs were played on 28 August and 29 August 2007. Winners in this round qualified for the group stage, while the losing clubs entered the first round of the UEFA Cup. Due to the death of Antonio Puerta, the second leg of Sevilla's game against AEK Athens was postponed until 3 September.

Group stage

The draw was held on Thursday, 30 August 2007 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The draw was hosted by Pedro Pinto and conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The matches were played between 18 September and 12 December 2007.

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 6.05 in the [http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19071.pdf UEFA regulations] for the current season, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
#higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
#superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
#higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
#superior goal difference from all group matches played;
#higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
#higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

From the last 16 through to the semi-finals, clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis with the same rules as the qualifying rounds applied. In the last 16, group winners play runners-up other than teams from their own pool or nation.

The draw for the first knockout round was held on Friday, 21 December 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football.

The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both held on Friday, 14 March 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Rinat Dasayev, the ambassador for the final in Moscow. Unlike the first knockout round, teams from the same group or country may be drawn together from the quarter-finals onwards.

Bracket

CLBracket
RD1=First knockout round
RD2=Quarter-finals
RD3=Semi-finals
RD4=Final

RD1-team01=flagicon|GER Schalke 04 (p)
RD1-score01-1=1
RD1-score01-2=0
RD1-score01-agg=1(4)
RD1-team02=flagicon|POR Porto
RD1-score02-1=0
RD1-score02-2=1
RD1-score02-agg=1(1)

RD1-team03=flagicon|SCO Celtic
RD1-score03-1=2
RD1-score03-2=0
RD1-score03-agg=2
RD1-team04=flagicon|ESP Barcelona
RD1-score04-1=3
RD1-score04-2=1
RD1-score04-agg=4

RD1-team05=flagicon|ITA Roma
RD1-score05-1=2
RD1-score05-2=2
RD1-score05-agg=4
RD1-team06=flagicon|ESP Real Madrid
RD1-score06-1=1
RD1-score06-2=1
RD1-score06-agg=2

RD1-team07=flagicon|FRA Lyon
RD1-score07-1=1
RD1-score07-2=0
RD1-score07-agg=1
RD1-seed08=
RD1-team08=flagicon|ENG Manchester United
RD1-score08-1=1
RD1-score08-2=1
RD1-score08-agg=2

RD1-team09=flagicon|ENG Arsenal
RD1-score09-1=0
RD1-score09-2=2
RD1-score09-agg=2
RD1-team10=flagicon|ITA Milan
RD1-score10-1=0
RD1-score10-2=0
RD1-score10-agg=0

RD1-team11=flagicon|ENG Liverpool
RD1-score11-1=2
RD1-score11-2=1
RD1-score11-agg=3
RD1-seed12=
RD1-team12=flagicon|ITA Internazionale
RD1-score12-1=0
RD1-score12-2=0
RD1-score12-agg=0

RD1-team13=flagicon|TUR Fenerbahçe (p)
RD1-score13-1=3
RD1-score13-2=2
RD1-score13-agg=5(3)
RD1-team14=flagicon|ESP Sevilla
RD1-score14-1=2
RD1-score14-2=3
RD1-score14-agg=5(2)

RD1-team15=flagicon|GRE Olympiacos
RD1-score15-1=0
RD1-score15-2=0
RD1-score15-agg=0
RD1-seed16=
RD1-team16=flagicon|ENG Chelsea
RD1-score16-1=0
RD1-score16-2=3
RD1-score16-agg=3

RD2-team01=flagicon|GER Schalke 04
RD2-score01-1=0
RD2-score01-2=0
RD2-score01-agg=0
RD2-team02=flagicon|ESP Barcelona
RD2-score02-1=1
RD2-score02-2=1
RD2-score02-agg=2

RD2-team03=flagicon|ITA Roma
RD2-score03-1=0
RD2-score03-2=0
RD2-score03-agg=0
RD2-team04=flagicon|ENG Manchester United
RD2-score04-1=2
RD2-score04-2=1
RD2-score04-agg=3

RD2-team05=flagicon|ENG Arsenal
RD2-score05-1=1
RD2-score05-2=2
RD2-score05-agg=3
RD2-team06=flagicon|ENG Liverpool
RD2-score06-1=1
RD2-score06-2=4
RD2-score06-agg=5

RD2-team07=flagicon|TUR Fenerbahçe
RD2-score07-1=2
RD2-score07-2=0
RD2-score07-agg=2
RD2-team08=flagicon|ENG Chelsea
RD2-score08-1=1
RD2-score08-2=2
RD2-score08-agg=3

RD3-team01=flagicon|ESP Barcelona
RD3-score01-1=0
RD3-score01-2=0
RD3-score01-agg=0
RD3-team02=flagicon|ENG Manchester United
RD3-score02-1=0
RD3-score02-2=1
RD3-score02-agg=1

RD3-team03=flagicon|ENG Liverpool
RD3-score03-1=1
RD3-score03-2=2
RD3-score03-agg=3
RD3-team04=flagicon|ENG Chelsea (aet)
RD3-score04-1=1
RD3-score04-2=3
RD3-score04-agg=4

RD4-team01=flagicon|ENG Manchester United (p)
RD4-score01=1 (6)
RD4-team02=flagicon|ENG Chelsea
RD4-score02=1 (5)

First knockout round

The first leg matches were played on 19 February and 20 February, while the second legs were played on 4 March and 5 March 2008. Due to a stadium clash with Milan, the second leg of Internazionale's game against Liverpool was held on 11 March.

Quarter-finals

The first leg matches were played on 1 April and 2 April, while the second leg matches were played on 8 April and 9 April 2008.

emi-finals

The first leg matches were played on 22 April and 23 April, while the second leg matches were played on 29 April and 30 April 2008.

Final

The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was played on 21 May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The final was contested by Manchester United and Chelsea, representing the first time the final had been contested by two teams from England.

United won the match 6–5 on penalties after the game had ended in a 1–1 draw. Cristiano Ronaldo had given the eventual victors the lead after 26 minutes, only for Frank Lampard to equalise immediately before half-time. Ryan Giggs came on as a substitute late in the second half to make his 759th appearance for Manchester United, a new club record. Early in extra time, Giggs had a shot cleared off the Chelsea goal-line by John Terry, whilst Chelsea twice hit the Manchester United woodwork. A melée involving most of the 22 players ensued mid-way through the second half of extra time, with Didier Drogba being sent off for a slap on Nemanja Vidić right in front of the referee.

The scores level at full time, the match went to penalties. Chelsea took the upper hand in the third round of the shootout as Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty was saved by Petr Čech, handing John Terry the chance to win the cup with Chelsea's fifth penalty. However, Chelsea's captain lost his footing as he went to kick the ball, [cite news |first=Phil |last=McNulty |title=Champions League final |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7406252.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2008-05-22 |accessdate=2008-05-22 |quote=He slipped in his run-up on turf made treacherous by a torrential downpour and sent his kick against the upright. ] and his shot hit the post. Ryan Giggs stepped up for United's seventh penalty, and scored, before Edwin van der Sar saved the following kick from Nicolas Anelka to crown Manchester United as the champions of Europe for the third time.

Manchester United will now go on to represent Europe at the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

footballbox
date=2008-05-21
time=20:45 CEST
team1=Manchester United flagicon|ENG
score=1 – 1 (a.e.t.)
report= [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/fixturesresults/round=15109/match=301604/report=rp.html (Report)]
team2=flagicon|ENG Chelsea
goals1=Ronaldo goal|26
goals2=Lampard goal|45
stadium=Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
attendance=67,310
referee=Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia) [cite news |title=Referee appointed for UEFA Champions League final |url=http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/pressrelease/uefa/uefamedia/69/77/15/697715_download.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=UEFA |date=2008-05-19 |accessdate=2008-05-19 ]

penshootoutbox
penalties1=Tévez pengoal
Carrick pengoal
Ronaldo penmiss|saved
Hargreaves pengoal
Nani pengoal
Anderson pengoal
Giggs pengoal
penaltyscore=6 – 5
penalties2=pengoal Ballack
pengoal Belletti
pengoal Lampard
pengoal A. Cole
penmiss|hit post Terry
pengoal Kalou
penmiss|saved Anelka

Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League (group stage and knockout stage only) are as follows:

Source: [http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/ucl/2008/md13_1_6.pdf UEFA Champions League Press Release - Top Scorers - Final - Wednesday 21 May 2008 (after match)]

Trivia

*Liverpool's 8–0 victory over Beşiktaş at Anfield on 6 November 2007 became the highest scoring win (excluding qualifying or preliminary rounds) in the Champions League era.
*Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta became the oldest player to ever play in the Champions League when he was fielded in the match against Real Madrid on 11 December 2007. Aged 43, he was three years older than the previous record owner, Alessandro Costacurta, who was 40 when he played for Milan against AEK Athens in November 2006.
*Dynamo Kyiv failed to gain a single point in Group F, becoming the seventh side to finish the first group stages with zero points earned since the format change of the European Cup in 1992. The other teams to finish with zero points were: Košice (1997-98), Fenerbahçe (2001-02), Spartak Moscow (2002-03), Anderlecht (2004-05), Rapid Wien (2005-06), and Levski Sofia (2006-07).
*Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time in their history. They are the second Turkish side to qualify for the quarter-finals in the Champions League era, the other being Galatasaray in 2000-01.
*Schalke 04 qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time since 1958-59.
*For the fourth consecutive year, the defending champions were eliminated in the first knockout round. Since the implementation of the 16-team knockout stage in the 2003-04 season, Milan, in 2003-04, were the only defending champion to make it out of the first knockout round, as they lost in the quarter-finals that year.
*Sevilla's penalty defeat to Fenerbahçe in the first knockout round marked the first time they had been knocked out of a European tournament since 2004-05.
*Milan's 0–2 loss to Arsenal in the second leg of the first knockout round was the club's first ever defeat to English opposition at the San Siro.
*The elimination of Milan by Arsenal means that no club has successfully defended their title in the Champions League era as yet.
*Manchester United's victory over Roma in the second leg of the quarter-finals was their eleventh successive home win, surpassing Juventus' record of ten that was set between the 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons – they subsequently extended the run of home victories to twelve with a 1–0 defeat of Barcelona in the semi-finals.
*Bojan Krkić was the first ever scorer in the Champions League to have been born in the 1990s, when he scored the only goal in Barcelona's 1–0 quarter-final first leg win against Schalke 04. He is also the second youngest scorer in the Champions League behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then-playing for Olympiacos. [ [http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=26071 Teen Bojan, a pleasure to watch] "SoccerAmerica.com" on April 2, 2008]
*2007–08 marks the first season in the competition's history that four teams from the same country have reached the quarter-final stage, following the progression of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United into the final stages.
*Liverpool and Arsenal played each other three times in a week in April 2008; they first played each other in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on 2 April, before a league game on 5 April, both at the Emirates Stadium. The teams then moved up to Liverpool to play the Champions League quarter-final second leg.
*Liverpool and Chelsea played each other in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third time in four years (the other two matchups occurred during the 2004-05 and 2006-07 seasons). It is also the fourth time in four years that the two teams have been drawn together in the Champions League, including the group stage in 2005-06.
*The same three English sides (Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) played in the semi-finals for the second season in a row. The only team that was not in the previous season's semi-finals was Barcelona. This semi-final line-up meant that there would be an English team in the final for the fourth season in a row.
*The final between Chelsea and Manchester United is the first all-English final in the history of the European Cup and the third final between two teams from the same country. The others were in 2000 and 2003.
*Chelsea reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history.
*For the first time in Champions League history, none of the English teams were eliminated by a non-English team. Arsenal were eliminated by Liverpool, who were eliminated by Chelsea, who were eliminated by Manchester United in the final.
*Manchester United were the only team to finish the Champions League season undefeated.

ee also

*UEFA Cup 2007-08
*UEFA Intertoto Cup 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/index.html Champions League at uefa.com]