The most being-awaited match in Champions League 2004/2005

Champions League 2004/2005 are coming to the end. We have 16 teams for the 1/16 round. They're all the best teams of the continent. There are not many surprises at the first round, so football fans all over the world are very lucky to see most of the greatest at the second round, and they will create many interesting mathces at this round. Real Madrid - Juventus is the match that let us imagine about 11 cups that the two teams have won in the past. Arsenal - Bayern Munich is the match between the defensive team with the offensive team. Chelsea - Barcelona is another exciting match because now they are considered to be the strongest teams in Europe at the moment. But with me, the most exciting match is AC Milan - Manchester United. First, it is because my favorite team is AC Milan. Second, my father's favorite team is Manchester United. Third, they've never been in a cup match for over 30 years. And finally, they are the two most famous teams in Vietnam.

Unfortunately for me, AC Milan is not very strong at the moment although there are not many players who are injured. Conversely, Manchester United is getting stronger at the moment, and their position in English Premier League is better after each round. They have very dangerous strikers : Wayne Rooney - English prodigy striker and Van Nistelrooy - the world-class forward. But AC Milan has the same dangerous strikers, although one of them - Filippo Inzaghi - has been injured and cannot play this match. They still have Andriy Shevchenko, who won the European Golden Ball 2004, and Hernan Crespo, the Argentinian quick striker.

The English team midfield is very strong, with the captain Roy Keane, the famous left winger Ryan Giggs and the wonderkid Cristiano Ronaldo. They also have attacking midfield Paul Scholes, who is very hard-working and very dangerous with creative long shot. The Italian team doesn't have such a strong midfield like that, but it doesn't mean their midfields are weak. They still have Clarence Seedorf - who has won 3 Champions Leagues with 3 different teams, Gennaro Gattuso - the most tenacious midfield in Europe, Andrea Pirlo - the team's bridge between defending and attacking, and the Brazillian attacking midfield Kaka - who has won the Italian Serie A best footballer 2004.

Manchester United has some problems with their denfensive system because they don't have a good defender except for Rio Ferdinand. Other defenders usually make serious mistakes that cause the team to loose. Their goalkeeper is also a weak position, 'cause both Tim Howard and Roy Carroll sometimes make stupid mistakes. But with AC Millan, defending is a strong point. All of their first-team defenders are of the 10 best defenders in the world. They are Paolo Maldini - the team's loyal captain and also the best defender in the last 10 years, Alessandro Nesta - the best central defender in the world now, Jaap Stam - the captain of Dutch national football team, and Cafu - the right defender and also the captain of Brazillian national football team who won World Cup 2002. But the problem with them are their age. All of them are more than 30 years old, except for Nesta, and therefore they maybe not as quick as their opposite team's strikers.

Both teams have some strong points and some weak points but in general, their strength are equal. And they will create the most exciting matches in the whole season.