2006–07 UEFA Champions League

2006–07 UEFA Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	12 September 2006 – 23 May 2007
Teams	32 (from UEFA confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Milan (7th title)
Runner-up	Liverpool
Tournament statistics
Matches played	125
Goals scored	311 (2.49 per match)
Attendance	5,746,346 (45,971 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kaká (10 goals)
Best player	Kaká
← 2005–06 2007–08 →

The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan and Liverpool on 23 May 2007. Beforehand, the match was billed as a repeat of the 2005 final, the only difference being that the 2007 final was to be played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Milan won the match 2–1 to claim their seventh European Cup, with both goals coming from Filippo Inzaghi. Dirk Kuyt scored for Liverpool.

Early issues

Italian Serie A scandal

The Italian qualifiers should have been, according to the results of the 2005–06 Serie A campaign, Juventus, Milan, Internazionale, and Fiorentina. After the match-fixing scandal, the four teams were decided on 25 July.

Internazionale and Roma were confirmed as the direct entrants to the group stage. Milan and Chievo were confirmed as the entrants into the third qualifying round. Originally, Milan were barred from the Champions League, but were restored to the competition on appeal, although instead of entering the group stage directly, they first had to negotiate a third qualifying round tie, in which they beat Red Star Belgrade 3–1 on aggregate.^[1] This move by the Italian FA has proved to be a point of contention, since Milan went on to win the competition.

Suspension of Hellenic Football Federation

The participation of Greek teams in this year's tournament was in doubt following FIFA's suspension of the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competition because of government interference in the running of the sport in Greece. FIFA suspended the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competitions on 3 July 2006 because of incompatibilities between Greek law and FIFA regulations.^[2][3] This would have prevented Greek teams from participating in the competition. However, the Greek parliament amended the draft sports law on the night of 11 July to satisfy FIFA's objections, and the suspension was lifted on 12 July.^[4]

Later issues

Doubt over matches to be played in Italy

On 8 February, the Italian Government announced that San Siro Stadium in Milan was unsafe for spectators in light of riots that took place during and following an Italian Serie A match in Sicily. As a result, the venues of the first leg of the Inter-Valencia tie scheduled for 21 February and the second leg of the Celtic-Milan tie scheduled for 7 March were thrown into doubt. Various proposals and offers of the use of stadia outside Italy were made,^[5][6] but it was finally agreed that the Inter-Valencia tie would be played at the San Siro with a reduced capacity of 36,000. After further work at the San Siro, Italian authorities and UEFA announced that the second leg of Celtic-Milan would go ahead at the stadium, at its full capacity of 85,700. 4,500 seats were reserved for Celtic supporters.^[7]

Qualification

Seventy-three teams participated in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League from UEFA's 50 member associations. Each association enters a certain number of clubs to the Champions League based on its league coefficient; associations with a higher league coefficients may enter more clubs than associations with a lower league coefficient, but no association may enter more than four teams. All UEFA associations are guaranteed to have at least one team qualify, with the exception of Liechtenstein, which competes in the Swiss league system, but has no team in the Swiss Super League.

• Associations 1–3 (Spain, England, and Italy): 4 teams
• Associations 4–6 (France, Germany, and Portugal): 3 teams
• Associations 7–15: 2 teams
• Associations 16–50: 1 team
• Andorra and San Marino do not submit a team for the UEFA Champions League

First qualifying round (24 teams)

• 24 champions from associations 26–50 (excluding Liechtenstein)

Second qualifying round (28 teams)

• 12 winners from the first qualifying round
• 10 champions from associations 16–25
• 6 runners-up from associations 10–15

Third qualifying round (32 teams)

• 14 winners from the second qualifying round
• 6 champions from associations 10–15 (Scotland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Russia, Austria, Ukraine)
• 3 runners-up from associations 7–9 (Netherlands, Greece, Belgium)
• 6 third-place finishers from associations 1–6
• 3 fourth-place finishers from associations 1–3

Group stage (32 teams)

• Title holders
• 16 winners from the third qualifying round
• 9 champions from associations 1–9
• 6 runners-up from associations 1–6

Group stage
BarcelonaTH	Internazionale	Bayern Munich	PSV Eindhoven
Real Madrid	Roma	Werder Bremen	Olympiacos
Chelsea	Lyon	Porto	Anderlecht
Manchester United	Bordeaux	Sporting CP	Celtic
Third qualifying round
Valencia	Chievo	AEK Athens	CSKA Moscow
Osasuna	Lille	Standard Liège	Austria Wien
Liverpool	Hamburg	Galatasaray	Shakhtar Donetsk
Arsenal	Benfica	Slovan Liberec	Maccabi Haifa
Milan	Ajax
Second qualifying round
Hearts	Dynamo Kyiv	Levski Sofia	Steaua Bucureşti
Fenerbahçe	Red Star Belgrade1	Dinamo Zagreb	Djurgården
Mladá Boleslav	Legia Warsaw	Copenhagen	Ružomberok
Spartak Moscow	FC Zürich	Debrecen
Red Bull Salzburg	Vålerenga
First qualifying round
Gorica	Sioni Bolnisi	Pyunik	The New Saints
Apollon Limassol	Ekranas	Birkirkara	F91 Dudelange
Široki Brijeg	FH Hafnarfjörður	Elbasani	Baku
Liepājas Metalurgs	Rabotnički	FC TVMK	B36
MyPa	Cork City	Linfield	Aktobe
Sheriff Tiraspol	Shakhtyor

¹ This club qualified for this season's UEFA competitions as a member of the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro during the 2005–06 season but is currently a member of the Football Association of Serbia which is the official successor of the previous football association.^[8]

^TH Title Holders

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

The first legs were played on 11 July and 12 July 2006, with the second legs on 18 July and 19 July.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Elbasani	1–3	Ekranas	1–0	0–3
FC TVMK	3–4	FH Hafnarfjörður	2–3	1–1
Liepājas Metalurgs	2–1	Aktobe	1–0	1–1
MyPa	2–0	The New Saints	1–0	1–0
Cork City	2–1	Apollon Limassol	1–0	1–1
Sioni Bolnisi	2–1	Baku	2–0	0–1
F91 Dudelange	0–1	Rabotnički	0–1	0–0
Shakhtyor	0–2	Široki Brijeg	0–1	0–1
Birkirkara	2–5	B36	0–3	2–2
Linfield	3–5	Gorica	1–3	2–2
Pyunik	0–2	Sheriff Tiraspol	0–0	0–2

Second qualifying round

The first legs were played on 25 July and 26 July 2006, with the second legs on 1 August and 2 August.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Gorica	0–5	Steaua Bucureşti	0–2	0–3
Levski Sofia	4–0	Sioni Bolnisi	2–0	2–0
FC Zürich	2–3	Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	0–2
Djurgården	2–3	Ružomberok	1–0	1–3
Debrecen	2–5	Rabotnički	1–1	1–4
Cork City	0–4	Red Star Belgrade	0–1	0–3
Fenerbahçe	9–0	B36	4–0	5–0
Mladá Boleslav	5–3	Vålerenga	3–1	2–2
Sheriff Tiraspol	1–1(a)	Spartak Moscow	1–1	0–0
Liepājas Metalurgs	1–8	Dynamo Kyiv	1–4	0–4
FH Hafnarfjörður	0–3	Legia Warsaw	0–1	0–2
Copenhagen	4–2	MyPa	2–0	2–2
Ekranas	3–9	Dinamo Zagreb	1–4	2–5
Hearts	3–0	Široki Brijeg	3–0	0–0

Third qualifying round

The first legs were played on 8 August and 9 August 2006, with the second legs on 22 August and 23 August.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Slovan Liberec	1–2	Spartak Moscow	0–0	1–2
Shakhtar Donetsk	4–2	Legia Warsaw	1–0	3–2
Red Bull Salzburg	1–3	Valencia	1–0	0–3
Levski Sofia	4–2	Chievo	2–0	2–2
Hearts	1–5	AEK Athens	1–2	0–3
CSKA Moscow	5–0	Ružomberok	3–0	2–0
Milan	3–1	Red Star Belgrade	1–0	2–1
Galatasaray	6–3	Mladá Boleslav	5–2	1–1
Standard Liège	3–4	Steaua Bucureşti	2–2	1–2
Austria Wien	1–4	Benfica	1–1	0–3
Dinamo Zagreb	1–5	Arsenal	0–3	1–2
Copenhagen	3–2	Ajax	1–2	2–0
Hamburg	1–1 (a)	Osasuna	0–0	1–1
Dynamo Kyiv	5–3	Fenerbahçe	3–1	2–2
Liverpool	3–2	Maccabi Haifa	2–1	1–1*
Lille	4–0	Rabotnički	3–0	1–0

The teams eliminated in this round qualified for the first round of the UEFA Cup.

^* Due to the armed conflict going on in Israel, UEFA decided that no European matches could be staged in the country until further notice.^[9] The match was played at Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine.^[10]

Group stage

The draw for this round was held on 24 August 2006 in Monaco. The first matches were played on 12 September 2006, and the stage concluded on 6 December.

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 4.05 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
5. higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Chelsea 6 4 1 1 10 4 +6 13 Barcelona 6 3 2 1 12 4 +8 11 Werder Bremen 6 3 1 2 7 5 +2 10 Levski Sofia 6 0 0 6 1 17 −16 0

BAR CHL LEV BRM Barcelona – 2–2 5–0 2–0 Chelsea 1–0 – 2–0 2–0 Levski Sofia 0–2 1–3 – 0–3 Werder Bremen 1–1 1–0 2–0 –

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Bayern Munich 6 3 3 0 10 3 +7 12 Internazionale 6 3 1 2 5 5 0 10 Spartak Moscow 6 1 2 3 7 11 −4 5 Sporting CP 6 1 2 3 3 6 −3 5

BAY INT SPK SCP Bayern Munich – 1–1 4–0 0–0 Internazionale 0–2 – 2–1 1–0 Spartak Moscow 2–2 0–1 – 1–1 Sporting CP 0–1 1–0 1–3 –

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Liverpool 6 4 1 1 11 5 +6 13 PSV Eindhoven 6 3 1 2 6 6 0 10 Bordeaux 6 2 1 3 6 7 −1 7 Galatasaray 6 1 1 4 7 12 −5 4

BDX GAL LIV PSV Bordeaux – 3–1 0–1 0–1 Galatasaray 0–0 – 3–2 1–2 Liverpool 3–0 3–2 – 2–0 PSV Eindhoven 1–3 2–0 0–0 –

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Valencia 6 4 1 1 12 6 +6 13 Roma 6 3 1 2 8 4 +4 10 Shakhtar Donetsk 6 1 3 2 6 11 −5 6 Olympiacos 6 0 3 3 6 11 −5 3

OLY ROM SHK VAL Olympiacos – 0–1 1–1 2–4 Roma 1–1 – 4–0 1–0 Shakhtar Donetsk 2–2 1–0 – 2–2 Valencia 2–0 2–1 2–0 –

Group E

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Lyon 6 4 2 0 12 3 +9 14 Real Madrid 6 3 2 1 14 8 +6 11 Steaua Bucureşti 6 1 2 3 7 11 −4 5 Dynamo Kyiv 6 0 2 4 5 16 −11 2

DYN LYO STE RM Dynamo Kyiv – 0–3 1–4 2–2 Lyon 1–0 – 1–1 2–0 Steaua Bucureşti 1–1 0–3 – 1–4 Real Madrid 5–1 2–2 1–0 –

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Manchester United 6 4 0 2 10 5 +5 12 Celtic 6 3 0 3 8 9 −1 9 Benfica 6 2 1 3 7 8 −1 7 Copenhagen 6 2 1 3 5 8 −3 7

BEN CEL COP MU Benfica – 3–0 3–1 0–1 Celtic 3–0 – 1–0 1–0 Copenhagen 0–0 3–1 – 1–0 Manchester United 3–1 3–2 3–0 –

Group G

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Arsenal 6 3 2 1 7 3 +4 11 Porto 6 3 2 1 9 4 +5 11 CSKA Moscow 6 2 2 2 4 5 −1 8 Hamburg 6 1 0 5 7 15 −8 3

ARS CSK HAM POR Arsenal – 0–0 3–1 2–0 CSKA Moscow 1–0 – 1–0 0–2 Hamburg 1–2 3–2 – 1–3 Porto 0–0 0–0 4–1 –

Notes:

• Arsenal won the group by virtue of a win and a draw against Porto

Group H

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Milan 6 3 1 2 8 4 +4 10 Lille 6 2 3 1 8 5 +3 9 AEK Athens 6 2 2 2 6 9 −3 8 Anderlecht 6 0 4 2 7 11 −4 4

AEK AND LIL MIL AEK Athens – 1–1 1–0 1–0 Anderlecht 2–2 – 1–1 0–1 Lille 3–1 2–2 – 0–0 Milan 3–0 4–1 0–2 –

(KEY: Pts= Points; Pld= Matches Played; W= Matches Won; D= Matches Drawn; L= Matches Lost; GF= Goals For; GA= Goals Against; GD= Goal Difference)

Knockout stage

All knockout rounds are two-legged, except for the final. In the event of aggregate scores being equal after normal time in the second leg, the winning team will be that which scored more goals on their away leg: if the scores in the two matches were identical, extra time is played. The away goals rule also applies if scores are equal at the end of extra time. If there are no goals scored in extra time, the tie is decided on a penalty shoot out.

Bracket

	First knockout round						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Roma	0	2	2
	Lyon	0	0	0
							Roma	2	1	3
							Manchester United	1	7	8
	Lille	0	0	0
	Manchester United	1	1	2
													Manchester United	3	0	3
												Milan	2	3	5
	Celtic	0	0	0
	Milan (a.e.t.)	0	1	1
							Milan	2	2	4
							Bayern Munich	2	0	2
	Real Madrid	3	1	4
	Bayern Munich (a)	2	2	4
																		Milan	2
																			Liverpool	1
	Porto	1	1	2
	Chelsea	1	2	3
							Chelsea	1	2	3
							Valencia	1	1	2
	Internazionale	2	0	2
	Valencia (a)	2	0	2
													Chelsea	1	0	1(1)
												Liverpool (p)	0	1	1(4)
	PSV Eindhoven	1	1	2
	Arsenal	0	1	1
							PSV Eindhoven	0	0	0
							Liverpool	3	1	4
	Barcelona	1	1	2
	Liverpool (a)	2	0	2

First knockout round

The draw for the first knockout round of the competition took place on 15 December 2006 in Nyon, Switzerland.^[11] The team first out of the hat in each tie plays the first leg of their tie at home, and the second leg away. This team is denoted as "Team #1" below.

The first legs were played on 20 February and 21 February 2007, with the second legs on 6 March and 7 March.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Porto	2–3	Chelsea	1–1	1–2
Celtic	0–1	Milan	0–0	0–1 (aet)
PSV Eindhoven	2–1	Arsenal	1–0	1–1
Lille	0–2	Manchester United	0–1	0–1
Roma	2–0	Lyon	0–0	2–0
Barcelona	2–2 (a)	Liverpool	1–2	1–0
Real Madrid	4–4 (a)	Bayern Munich	3–2	1–2
Internazionale	2–2 (a)	Valencia	2–2	0–0

Quarter-finals

The draw for the final stages, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, was held on Friday, 9 March 2007 in Athens, Greece. The draw was conducted by ad interim UEFA CEO Gianni Infantino, assisted by Friedrich Stickler, chairman of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee. Theodoros Zagorakis, the captain of Greece in Euro 2004, was appointed ambassador for the final.

The first legs were played on 3 April and 4 April, and the second legs were played on 10 April and 11 April 2007.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Milan	4–2	Bayern Munich	2–2	2–0
PSV Eindhoven	0–4	Liverpool	0–3	0–1
Roma	3–8	Manchester United	2–1	1–7
Chelsea	3–2	Valencia	1–1	2–1

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 24 April and 25 April, with the second legs on 1 May and 2 May 2007.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Chelsea	1–1 (1–4 p)	Liverpool	1–0	0–1
Manchester United	3–5	Milan	3–2	0–3

Final

The Final took place on 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Unlike the other knockout rounds, the final was played over just one match, with extra time in case of a draw after 90 minutes. If the teams were still level following extra time, a penalty shootout would have determined the winner.

Milan scored first through Filippo Inzaghi just before half time. Inzaghi scored again in the 82nd minute, before Dirk Kuyt scored a late consolation goal a minute before full time.

Milan went on to represent Europe at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

23 May 2007 20:45 CEST	Milan	2 – 1	Liverpool	Olympic Stadium, Athens Attendance: 74,000 Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)[12]
	Inzaghi  45'  82'	(Report)	Kuyt  89'

UEFA Champions League 2006–07 Winners
A.C. Milan Seventh title

2006–07 UEFA Club Football Player Awards

• Club Goalkeeper of the Year — Petr Čech
• Club Defender of the Year — Paolo Maldini
• Club Midfielder of the Year — Clarence Seedorf
• Club Forward of the Year — Kaká
• Club Footballer of the Year — Kaká

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League (group stage and knockout stage only) are as follows:

#	Name	Team	Goals
1	Kaká	Milan	10
2	Peter Crouch	Liverpool	6
	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	6
	Fernando Morientes	Valencia	6
	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Real Madrid	6
6	Raúl González	Real Madrid	5
7	Nicolae Dică	Steaua Bucureşti	4
	Filippo Inzaghi	Milan	4
	Claudio Pizarro	Bayern Munich	4
	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	4
	Louis Saha	Manchester United	4
	Francesco Totti	Roma	4
	David Villa	Valencia	4

Trivia

• Levski Sofia were the first Bulgarian team to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Copenhagen made their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Barcelona set a new record of 15 games without a Champions League loss, having gone undefeated from their first match in the 2005–06 group stage against Werder Bremen until they were beaten by Chelsea in the next match.
• Celtic qualified for the knockout stage for the first time since the tournament was restructured.
• Referee Mike Riley broke the record for the most yellow cards in a single UEFA Champions League match this season which he officiated between Lyon and Roma in the first knockout round. A total of 11 yellow cards (8 to Roma and 3 to Lyon) were issued in that game.^[13]
• Following their match with Internazionale, Valencia players fought with Inter players. Inter's Nicolas Burdisso sustained a nasal fracture following a punch from Valencia's David Navarro in the incidents which took place after the match.^[14] Navarro has since then issued an apology to Burdisso, UEFA and his club for his actions.^[15] After looking into the matter, UEFA suspended Navarro for seven months, which includes domestic and international matches. Burdisso and Inter defender Maicon were each suspended for six matches, Carlos Marchena for four, Iván Córdoba for three matches and Julio Ricardo Cruz for two. Both clubs have also been handed a €155,772 (CHF250,000/£106,217) fine.^[16] Valencia advanced on the away goals rule following the scoreless draw. Navarro's ban was reduced from seven months to six on 28 March 2007. Marchena's ban was also reduced from four games to two, Córdoba's was reduced from three games to two and Maicon's was reduced from six games to three. Meanwhile, Burdisso and Cruz had their bans upheld.^[17]
• Roma progressed to the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time since 1984.
• Roy Makaay scored the fastest goal in the competition's history, hitting the back of the net just 10.03 seconds after the start of Bayern Munich's second leg match at home to Real Madrid.
• As Milan won the competition this year, it became the first time a team has won the trophy twice in the same stadium since the beginning of the Champions League era, having also won the competition at the Olympic Stadium in Athens back in 1994. Real Madrid and Liverpool have already achieved this feat in the pre-Champions League era; the first one won the European Cup in the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, in 1958 and 1966, and the second one won in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, in 1977 and 1984.
• Milan's victory brought Italian sides level with Spanish sides in terms of Champions League titles, both with four wins each since 1993. However, Italian teams had made more final appearances, with Serie A sides having played in ten Champions League finals. Spanish teams had been present in seven, and English teams present in four.

See also

• 2007 UEFA Champions League Final
• 2006–07 UEFA Cup
• 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup
• 2007 FIFA Club World Cup

References

External links

• UEFA Champions League at uefa.com
• "Regulations of the UEFA Champions League 2006/07". March 2006. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070312003915/http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19071.pdf. Retrieved 16 July 2008. 

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