Debate: Should English teams be kept apart on Friday?

By: Adam | March 12th, 2008

4 teams from one country in quarters, this has never happened in Champions League. But this year such an extra ordinary situation as arisen. We have Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd. from England. Last year similar situation had arisen but number 3 was in place instead of 4. And all the 3 English (as well as 2 Italian and 2 Spanish) teams were kept apart in quarters draw since at that time it was decided that no team from one country can be drawn against same country team. Lets see pros and cons of the same.

Keeping them apart:
Keeping them apart would mean no English team can be drawn against each other. If that happens then English teams will have only 4 options to choose instead of possible 7 in case of other European teams. It also complicates since there are 4 teams out of 8 who have already met in group stages i.e. Man Utd, Roma, Chelsea and Schalke. So to make the things more exciting these teams (met in group stages) will most probably be kept apart. In that scenario teams like Chelsea/Man Utd. are left only 3 choices for their opponents. On the other hand, team like Barcelona has 7 options to choose from. Just logically thinking its bit unfair. And if speaking of probability and statistics then things get more mired. For example, Barca are the best non English team as well as favorites to win this tournament. Probability of Fenerbahce drawing Barca is 1/7 where as Chelsea drawing Barca is 1/3. So Chelsea are having a big disadvantage. In short keeping English teams apart would not only complicate the things but also lead to unfair advantages for few teams.

Anyone can draw anybody:
This will mean any team can be drawn against anyone. It will also eliminate all the complications as well as unjustified benefits in the draw. Just a couple of years back we had seen AC Milan against Inter or Chelsea vs Arsenal. Both the matches were exciting. So it will be again great if English teams are drawn against each other. But haven’t we seen enough of them already this year. Take a example of Chelsea vs Liverpool. These teams have met thrice till now and one more tug of war will mean 5 times this year. Frankly speaking it will be bit boring to see both the sides one more time since they have met thrice already. And these two teams have been meeting 5 times a year since 04-05 season. So this will be 19th and 20th meetup for them. Can’t you smell problems of plenty?

So on the one hand we have unfair advantages whereas on the other hand we have problems of plenty. Which according to you should be the case on Friday?
Ohh….by the way some of you might be thinking why Friday so important? Draw for quarters will be taking place on Friday.