Champions League - worthy finalists?

Porto vs. Monaco - not exactly your usual CL final is it

So, the big debate that's been raging is are they worthy finalists? Does it devalue the championship to not have at least one of the European "mega" sides (Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Juventus etc.) in the final?

Judging by the way that Monaco put out Real and Chelsea they do deserve to be there but Porto? They just fluked their way in. They got a very luck last minute goal against Man U and Scholes had a goal incorrectly disallowed. Their first game against Deportivo was a very scrappy, badly reffed 0-0 draw and on Tuesday they lucked out with a single penalty. A penalty that was deserved but unfortunately Colina, usually the best ref in the world, missed Porto's Nuno Valente violently elbowing one of the Deportivo players in the face, off the ball and in the penalty area. If it had been spotted it would have been a red card for Valente and a penalty for Deportivo.

I really hope that Monaco can show the class they did against Chelsea and Real and ensure that a quality team that deserves the trophy takes it home.

Michael.

 

You missed Celtic off that list of "mega" clubs

It's good to see some other teams getting to the final stages, and they deserve respect for getting there. However, I don't think either of them are truly europes best team. They're obviously quality to have got there, and like you said, MOnaco have been superb! The play acting from the Chelski player in the first game (Melchiot I think) was one of the MOst cynical things I've ever seen in football. And though I normaly support the british team (with obvious exceptions ), Chelski deserved their defeat for that alone!

I've only heard a breif mention of this but, apparantly MOnaco have a porto player on loan! I wonder if porto will allow him to play, or learn from Madrids mistake in letting on loan players turn out against them!!!

 

Personally, I think the championship has been devalued ever since it started letting in teams that are not the champions of their own countries. Granted, there's possibly been more competition as a result, but it can't really be a champions league when you've got teams finishing 4th and getting in there, can it?

I'm not really bothered who wins the final, but the thing about Utd having that goal disallowed and having a game nicked from them... how often has it happened in their favour? Justice I'd say!