You look at the teams involved and will have pinpointed Porto and Villarreal as the two you’d love to draw really, and Manchester United have got Porto and Arsenal have Villarreal. So it could be a fantastic semi final if the results go according to the current form book.
Without a doubt it would be a hard semi final for Arsenal, but it’s a game they’ll all be looking forward to. You’re guaranteed one team in the final from England, so that will be good for English football. I really think it’s a game you really can’t call. Manchester United are playing very well but on the night you never know. There can be situations in football where anything can happen and Arsenal will be looking forward because they’ll be the underdogs. But they’ve still got a long way to go – they have to beat Villarreal yet and they’re no easy team to beat, but you’d probably fancy Arsenal to beat them.
I think it’s always good to go away from home first and try and get an away goal, I think it’s very important. Arsenal have players coming back as well and I’m sure they can score away. It’s a big draw and I’m sure Arsene Wenger will have been looking at it this morning and saying “We don’t want this team or that team”, and I think they’ve got possibly the best draw of the lot.
Liverpool v Chelsea
Rafa Benitez has done an unbelievable job at Liverpool, and people have knocked him and waited for things to go wrong and have a go, but he keeps getting results.
I think he’s had one of the best weeks I’ve seen in about 10 years – to beat Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield and then go to Old Trafford and beat Manchester United 4-1 – and they’re in fine form at the moment, are Liverpool.
It was always going to happen with two English clubs meeting one another. It’s going to be a hell of a game, and I think the stability of Benitez signing his new contract is good. If you look at Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger and the success they’ve had over the last 10 years or so it’s because they’ve had a stable manager.
Benitez knows the club inside out and it’s a big relief for Liverpool fans that he has signed his contract, so it’s one of those games that you couldn’t really call. It’ll be on the night, I’m sure the first leg will be very cagey but an excellent night’s football. With Benitez’s form in this competition you can’t really go against Liverpool.
Arsenal all the way?
Looking at the draw I definitely think it will be an Arsenal v Manchester United semi final. It’s a lot harder the other way, where Barcelona or Bayern Munich will face Liverpool or Chelsea. I’ll stick my neck out and say the winners of Arsenal v Manchester United will win it.
I really can’t call Manchester United against Arsenal because over the two legs you never know. It’s down to football and you need a bit of luck sometimes as well. Whoever gets a little bit of luck on the night could easily go through. Both are good attacking football teams and I think one of those two will win it.