Yesterday we checked out some vital stats for the first four clubs to play in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals next Tuesday night. Today we have a look at the win record and top players for the clubs playing first on the Wednesday night - this is where we start examining the anatomy of the giants. Don't forget that you can get the bookies views on who will win UEFA Champions league here also!
Arsenal FC
Arsenal, the Gunners, have always brought out 'the big guns' … especially when it comes to puns relating to their name! They were 4th in the English Premier League at the beginning of UEFA, and though they are regular contenders at the end of the Champions League, they are actually yet to win a cup.
Player-wise: Cesc Fabregas is the headliner here, but there are suggestions his heart may not be in the competition for the team. He seems to be a big fish in a small pond at the moment, and may move to Real Madrid or Barcelona next season. In terms of goals, Nicklas Bendtner has outscored Fabregas, with 4 goals, and Samir Nasri equalled Fabregas with 3 goals. The top assister for the Champions League also comes from Arsenal - Andrei Arshavin, with 5 assists.
Barcelona
Barcelona are widely regarded as the giants of the UEFA Champions League - they are the reigning champions, and also won the trophy in 1992 and 2006. They are both the Spanish and European Champions currently, and the fans are coming out of the woodwork, so to speak … seems that everybody loves a winner :-)
Player-wise, Lionel Messi has been compared to Diego Maradona recently (by the Stuttgart boss), and has scored 4 goals over the course of the Champions League competition. Pedro Rodrigue has also scored three goals, and latan Ibrahimovic has 2 under his belt.
Inter Milan
Inter Milan actually seem to stir up some emotion from both sides of the fence - there are both lovers and haters of the Italian Champions. Internaionale Milano are yet to win a Champions League in the past 40 years… and it seems this is more an 'annoyance' than any major worry! Jose Mourinho is known as the 'Speical One' in England, and it is felt that if anyone can take Inter Milan to victory, it is he.
Player-wise: Samuel Eto'o is the headliner for Inter Milan, originally from Cameroon, but a six-year veteran of the Barcelona club. Eto'o, Dejan Stankovic and Diego Milito have all scored two goals apiece in the Champions League, a much more even spread than some other clubs.
CSKA Moscow
When you look at the betting odds, CSKA Moscow are the definite underdogs, paying between 34.00 and 51.00, compared to 2.75 for Barcelona at the lowest odds. They are 2nd in the Russian league, though, and the team as a whole made it to the group stages of the Champions League in 2005, 06, 07 and 08.
Player-wise: Igor Akinfeev is their star keeper, and Russia's youngest-ever player. Alan Dzagoev has been another stand-out player, still a teenager but multi-talented and known for making plenty of goals. In the Champions League so far, Dzagoev has scored 3 goals, accompanied by a couple of other teammates in the top goal scorers: Milos Krasic with 4, and Tomas Necid with two goals.