Winding Down the Season Pt. 2: Champions and Europas

With the domestic seasons nearing the end that means that the continental competitions are also heading towards their exciting conclusions. While the domestic leagues (the big 5 in particular) are the meat of soccer, the continental competitions are the whipped cream and peanut butter on top of that meat. Doesn't make sense you say? Well fuck you. If you aren't eating your meat with peanut butter and fucking whipped cream then you're a nazi.

Anyway, the continental competitions are the proving grounds for the best teams. The UEFA Champions League is the best of the best. The winners and high ranking teams are all in this competition, which means the best dream matchups happen here. Man United, Chelsea, Inter, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Olympique Lyonnais, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Bordeaux are just some of the teams that make regular appearances. It's like the Super Bowl of soccer. The World Cup may be the premier event in soccer, but the Champions League happens every year and basically crowns the world's best team. It starts off in round robin groups but the real excitement is in the knockout rounds. It's pure nerves when you're playing for everything, pride and glory for your nation and league. It's a proving ground for the leagues to battle out for superiority. It's the best yearly competition in the world. Period.

The other European continental competition is the Europa League. This was previously known as the UEFA Cup tournament up until last year. A new structure and an image makeover went into effect this year in an effort to boost the level of this event. It's worked, let me tell you, and in it's inaugural season the Europa League has been more exciting than the Champions League. A bit of an explanation first. This is the second level of European club competitions, featuring domestic cup winners and usually 3rd-7th place teams. The kicker is that teams finishing third in the group stages of the Champions League participate in the Europa League knockout rounds. It's all a bit complicated the way everything intertwines and qualification works. This means that the if the big teams fumble early in the Champions League they can make up for it in the Europa League.

With the explanations out of the way let's take a closer look at the current situations of both these competitions.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2009-2010

The contenders that are still remaining are defending champions Barcelona, Italian champions Inter Milan, French powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais, and German leaders Bayern Munich. This is an extremely strong field and honestly I don't care which team takes it all. I think that Barcelona have the edge since they almost certainly the best team in the world right now. Inter Milan would be the team I'd be most excited about winning it, but I wouldn't begrudge Munich or Lyon. German and France aren't often in contention at this late stage of the tournament. It's exciting stuff since all four of these teams are having great seasons in their domestic leagues. No English teams in the semis for the first time in five or six years does disappoint me, however. Inter takes on Barca and Lyon faces Bayern in the semis. My prediction for the final is Barcelona vs Bayern, with Barca repeating as champions.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE 2009-2010

While the Champions League is having a straightforward season the Europa League is having an amazing first run. The contenders at this point are my favorites Liverpool, Spanish side Atletico Madrid, German contenders Hamburger SV, and the Cinderalla story team Fulham. I'm pulling for Liverpool, obviously, but I'm dreaming of the all-England final of Liverpool vs Fulham. Atletico are no pushovers and had to down countrymen Valencia and defending runners-up Werder Bremen to get this far.
Liverpool has come from a losing leg in the last two rounds to move on each time. It may be one of the worst seasons in years for the Reds, but if they can salvage this tourney it's not a complete throwaway.
Fulham is having the greatest success of their entire history by beating defending UEFA Cup champs Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian), German champs Wolfsburg, and ultra-powerhouse Juventus. Their 4-1 win over Juventus was Fulham's absolute greatest moment ever. I'm partial to Fulham since the USA's best player, Clint Dempsey, plays for the side. I think they'll make the final out of sheer will.
The last semifinalist is Hamburger SV. The final of this tournament takes place in Hamburg, so the team will be that much more motivated to put one over on Fulham. It'll be a hell of a fight and I highly suggest you try and catch Fulham vs Hamburg somehwere.
Sadly the Europa League isn't being played on any American stations that I can find. The final will be shown on ESPN2 like last year I'm guessing. It'll be an exciting match whichever teams are in it (PLEASE LET IT BE LIVERPOOL!).

So there is the news from the continent. Only a few weeks left until the climax of the season. Fingers crossed that we get some really good matches and really interesting results. Next time I'll talk about the upcoming World Cup. Yeah, it's time to get excited bitches.