2007–08 UEFA Champions League

2007–08 UEFA Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	18 September 2007 – 21 May 2008
Teams	32
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United (3rd title)
Runner-up	Chelsea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	125
Goals scored	330 (2.64 per match)
Attendance	5,380,947 (43,048 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Cristiano Ronaldo (8 goals)
Best player	Cristiano Ronaldo
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League was the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall.

The final was played on 21 May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where Manchester United played against Chelsea, making it an all-English final for the first time in the history of the European Cup. Manchester United won the match 6–5 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time.

Qualification

Seventy-six teams participated in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League from UEFA's 53 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. One new nation entered their league champion in this year's tournament: Montenegro, following the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro. The champions from San Marino and Andorra also entered from this year onwards. Below is the qualification scheme for the 2007–08 Champions League:^[1]

• Associations 1–3 (Spain, Italy, and England): 4 teams
• Associations 4–6 (France, Germany, and Portugal): 3 teams
• Associations 7–15: 2 teams
• Associations 16–53: 1 team

First qualifying round: (28 teams)

• 28 champions from associations 25–53 (not including Liechtenstein)

Second qualifying round: (28 teams)

• 14 winners from the first qualifying round
• 8 champions from associations 17–24 (Bulgaria, Israel, Norway, Austria, Serbia, Poland, Denmark, and Hungary)
• 6 runners-up from associations 10–15

Third qualifying round: (32 teams)

• 14 winners from the second qualifying round
• 7 champions from associations 10–16 (Romania, Scotland, Belgium, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland)
• 3 runners-up from associations 7–9 (Netherlands, Greece, Russia)
• 6 third-place finishers from associations 1–6
• 2 fourth-place finishers from associations 1–3 (Milan, the fourth-place finishers from Italy, as holders, qualify automatically for the group stage.)

Group stage: (32 teams)

• 1 current Champions League holder
• 16 winners from the third qualifying round
• 9 champions from associations 1–9
• 6 runners-up from associations 1–6

Group stage
Real Madrid	Manchester United	Stuttgart	PSV Eindhoven
Barcelona	Chelsea	Schalke 04	Olympiacos
Internazionale	Lyon	Porto	CSKA Moscow
Roma	Marseille	Sporting	MilanTH
Third qualifying round
Sevilla	Toulouse	Spartak Moscow	Dynamo Kyiv
Valencia	Werder Bremen	Dinamo Bucureşti	Sparta Prague
Lazio	Benfica	Celtic	Fenerbahçe
Liverpool	Ajax	Anderlecht	Zürich
Arsenal	AEK Athens
Second qualifying round
Steaua Bucureşti	Slavia Prague	Rosenborg	Zagłębie Lubin
Rangers	Beşiktaş	Red Bull Salzburg	Copenhagen
Genk	Levski Sofia	Red Star Belgrade	Debrecen
Shakhtar Donetsk	Beitar Jerusalem
First qualifying round
Dinamo Zagreb	Ventspils	Derry City	Khazar Lenkoran
Elfsborg	Sheriff Tiraspol	KF Tirana	F91 Dudelange
Žilina	Olimpi Rustavi	Pyunik	Astana
APOEL	FBK Kaunas	FC Levadia	HB
Domžale	Pobeda	Marsaxlokk	Rànger's
Sarajevo	FH	The New Saints	Murata
Tampere United	BATE	Linfield	Zeta

^TH Title Holders: The champions of the 2006–07 competition went through to the group stage directly.

Round and draw dates

The calendar shows the dates of the rounds and draw.

¹ Group D teams played their Matchday 6 fixtures on 4 December due to Milan's participation in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan on 13 and 16 December.

² As both Milan and Internazionale use the Stadio San Siro as their home pitch, and both were scheduled to play at home for the second leg of the first knockout round, Internazionale's home leg against Liverpool was postponed by one week to 11 March 2008.

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

The draw was held on Friday, 29 June 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The first leg matches were held on 17 July and 18 July, while the second legs were played on 24 July and 25 July 2007.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Khazar Lenkoran	2–4	Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	1–3 (aet)
APOEL	2–3	BATE	2–0	0–3 (aet)
Sheriff Tiraspol	5–0	Rànger's	2–0	3–0
FH	4–1	HB	4–1	0–0
The New Saints	4–4 (a)	Ventspils	3–2	1–2
Pobeda	0–1	FC Levadia	0–1	0–0
Olimpi Rustavi	0–3	Astana	0–0	0–3
Zeta	5–4	FBK Kaunas	3–1	2–3
Murata	1–4	Tampere United	1–2	0–2
F91 Dudelange	5–7	Žilina	1–2	4–5
Linfield	0–1	Elfsborg	0–0	0–1
Derry City[2]	0–2	Pyunik	0–0	0–2
Marsaxlokk	1–9	Sarajevo	0–6	1–3
Domžale	3–1	KF Tirana	1–0	2–1

Second qualifying round

The draw was held on Friday, 29 June 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The first leg matches were played on 31 July and 1 August, while the second legs were played on 7 August and 8 August 2007.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Pyunik	1–4	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–2	1–2
Red Star Belgrade	2–2 (a)	FC Levadia	1–0	1–2
Rangers	3–0	Zeta	2–0	1–0
Debrecen	0–1	Elfsborg	0–1	0–0
Zagłębie Lubin	1–3	Steaua	0–1	1–2
Genk	2–2 (a)	Sarajevo	1–2	1–0
Ventspils	0–7	Red Bull Salzburg	0–3	0–4
Astana	2–10	Rosenborg	1–3	1–7
FH	2–4	BATE	1–3	1–1
Copenhagen	2–1	Beitar Jerusalem	1–0	1–1 (aet)
Žilina	0–0 (3–4p)	Slavia Prague	0–0	0–0 (aet)
Tampere United	2–0	Levski Sofia	1–0	1–0
Domžale	2–5	Dinamo Zagreb	1–2	1–3
Beşiktaş	4–0	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	3–0

Third qualifying round

The draw was held on Friday, 3 August 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football. The first leg matches were played on 14 August and 15 August, while the second legs were played on 28 August and 29 August 2007. Winners in this round qualified for the group stage, while the losing clubs entered the first round of the UEFA Cup. Due to the death of Antonio Puerta, the second leg of Sevilla's game against AEK Athens was postponed until 3 September.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
BATE	2–4	Steaua	2–2	0–2
Tampere United	0–5	Rosenborg	0–3	0–2
Spartak Moscow	2–2 (3–4p)	Celtic	1–1	1–1 (aet)
Werder Bremen	5–3	Dinamo Zagreb	2–1	3–2
Red Bull Salzburg	2–3	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–0	1–3
Ajax	1–3	Slavia Prague	0–1	1–2
Valencia	5–1	Elfsborg	3–0	2–1
Sarajevo	0–4	Dynamo Kyiv	0–1	0–3
Fenerbahçe	3–0	Anderlecht	1–0	2–0
Rangers	1–0	Red Star Belgrade	1–0	0–0
Toulouse	0–5	Liverpool	0–1	0–4
Benfica	3–1	Copenhagen	2–1	1–0
Lazio	4–2	Dinamo Bucharest	1–1	3–1
Sparta Prague	0–5	Arsenal	0–2	0–3
Zürich	1–3	Beşiktaş	1–1	0–2
Sevilla	6–1	AEK Athens	2–0	4–1

Group stage

The draw was held on Thursday, 30 August 2007 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The draw was hosted by Pedro Pinto and conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The matches were played between 18 September and 12 December 2007.

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 6.05 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.

In results tables, the home team is listed in the left-hand column.

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Porto 6 3 2 1 8 7 +1 11 Liverpool 6 3 1 2 18 5 +13 10 Marseille 6 2 1 3 6 9 −3 7 Beşiktaş 6 2 0 4 4 15 −11 6

BJK LIV OM POR Beşiktaş – 2–1 2–1 0–1 Liverpool 8–0 – 0–1 4–1 Marseille 2–0 0–4 – 1–1 Porto 2–0 1–1 2–1 –

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Chelsea 6 3 3 0 9 2 +7 12 Schalke 04 6 2 2 2 5 4 +1 8 Rosenborg 6 2 1 3 6 10 −4 7 Valencia 6 1 2 3 2 6 −4 5

CHL RBK SCH VAL Chelsea – 1–1 2–0 0–0 Rosenborg 0–4 – 0–2 2–0 Schalke 04 0–0 3–1 – 0–1 Valencia 1–2 0–2 0–0 –

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Real Madrid 6 3 2 1 13 9 +4 11 Olympiacos 6 3 2 1 11 7 +4 11 Werder Bremen 6 2 0 4 8 13 −5 6 Lazio 6 1 2 3 8 11 −3 5

LAZ OLY RM BRM Lazio – 1–2 2–2 2–1 Olympiacos 1–1 – 0–0 3–0 Real Madrid 3–1 4–2 – 2–1 Werder Bremen 2–1 1–3 3–2 –

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Milan 6 4 1 1 12 5 +7 13 Celtic 6 3 0 3 5 6 −1 9 Benfica 6 2 1 3 5 6 −1 7 Shakhtar Donetsk 6 2 0 4 6 11 −5 6

BEN CEL MIL SHK Benfica – 1–0 1–1 0–1 Celtic 1–0 – 2–1 2–1 Milan 2–1 1–0 – 4–1 Shakhtar Donetsk 1–2 2–0 0–3 –

Group E

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Barcelona 6 4 2 0 12 3 +9 14 Lyon 6 3 1 2 11 10 +1 10 Rangers 6 2 1 3 7 9 −2 7 Stuttgart 6 1 0 5 7 15 −8 3

BAR LYO RGR STU Barcelona – 3–0 2–0 3–1 Lyon 2–2 – 0–3 4–2 Rangers 0–0 0–3 – 2–1 Stuttgart 0–2 0–2 3–2 –

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Manchester United 6 5 1 0 13 4 +9 16 Roma 6 3 2 1 11 6 +5 11 Sporting CP 6 2 1 3 9 8 +1 7 Dynamo Kyiv 6 0 0 6 4 19 −15 0

DYN MU ROM SCP Dynamo Kyiv – 2–4 1–4 1–2 Manchester United 4–0 – 1–0 2–1 Roma 2–0 1–1 – 2–1 Sporting CP 3–0 0–1 2–2 –

Group G

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Internazionale 6 5 0 1 12 4 +8 15 Fenerbahçe 6 3 2 1 8 6 +2 11 PSV Eindhoven 6 2 1 3 3 6 −3 7 CSKA Moscow 6 0 1 5 7 14 −7 1

CSK FEN INT PSV CSKA Moscow – 2–2 1–2 0–1 Fenerbahçe 3–1 – 1–0 2–0 Internazionale 4–2 3–0 – 2–0 PSV Eindhoven 2–1 0–0 0–1 –

Group H

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Sevilla 6 5 0 1 14 7 +7 15 Arsenal 6 4 1 1 14 4 +10 13 Slavia Prague 6 1 2 3 5 16 −11 5 Steaua Bucureşti 6 0 1 5 4 10 −6 1

ARS SEV SLV STE Arsenal – 3–0 7–0 2–1 Sevilla 3–1 – 4–2 2–1 Slavia Prague 0–0 0–3 – 2–1 Steaua Bucureşti 0–1 0–2 1–1 –

Knockout stage

From the last 16 through to the semi-finals, clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis with the same rules as the qualifying rounds applied. In the last 16, group winners play runners-up other than teams from their own pool or nation.

The draw for the first knockout round was held on Friday, 21 December 2007 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football.

The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both held on Friday, 14 March 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Rinat Dasayev, the ambassador for the final in Moscow. Unlike the first knockout round, teams from the same group or country may be drawn together from the quarter-finals onwards.

Bracket

	First knockout round						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Schalke 04 (p)	1	0	1(4)
	Porto	0	1	1(1)
							Schalke 04	0	0	0
							Barcelona	1	1	2
	Celtic	2	0	2
	Barcelona	3	1	4
													Barcelona	0	0	0
												Manchester United	0	1	1
	Roma	2	2	4
	Real Madrid	1	1	2
							Roma	0	0	0
							Manchester United	2	1	3
	Lyon	1	0	1
	Manchester United	1	1	2
																		Manchester United (p)	1 (6)
																			Chelsea	1 (5)
	Arsenal	0	2	2
	Milan	0	0	0
							Arsenal	1	2	3
							Liverpool	1	4	5
	Liverpool	2	1	3
	Internazionale	0	0	0
													Liverpool	1	2	3
												Chelsea (aet)	1	3	4
	Fenerbahçe (p)	3	2	5(3)
	Sevilla	2	3	5(2)
							Fenerbahçe	2	0	2
							Chelsea	1	2	3
	Olympiacos	0	0	0
	Chelsea	0	3	3

First knockout round

The first leg matches were played on 19 February and 20 February, while the second legs were played on 4 March and 5 March 2008. Due to a stadium clash with Milan, the second leg of Internazionale's game against Liverpool was held on 11 March.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Celtic	2–4	Barcelona	2–3	0–1
Lyon	1–2	Manchester United	1–1	0–1
Schalke 04	1–1 (4–1p)	Porto	1–0	0–1 (aet)
Liverpool	3–0	Internazionale	2–0	1–0
Roma	4–2	Real Madrid	2–1	2–1
Arsenal	2–0	Milan	0–0	2–0
Olympiacos	0–3	Chelsea	0–0	0–3
Fenerbahçe	5–5 (3–2p)	Sevilla	3–2	2–3 (aet)

Quarter-finals

The first leg matches were played on 1 April and 2 April, while the second leg matches were played on 8 April and 9 April 2008.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Arsenal	3–5	Liverpool	1–1	2–4
Roma	0–3	Manchester United	0–2	0–1
Schalke 04	0–2	Barcelona	0–1	0–1
Fenerbahçe	2–3	Chelsea	2–1	0–2

Semi-finals

The first leg matches were played on 22 April and 23 April, while the second leg matches were played on 29 April and 30 April 2008.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Liverpool	3–4	Chelsea	1–1	2–3 (aet)
Barcelona	0–1	Manchester United	0–0	0–1

Final

The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was played on 21 May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The final was contested by Manchester United and Chelsea, representing the first time the final had been contested by two teams from England.

United won the match 6–5 on penalties after the game had ended in a 1–1 draw. Cristiano Ronaldo had given the eventual victors the lead after 26 minutes, only for Frank Lampard to equalise immediately before half-time. Ryan Giggs came on as a substitute late in the second half to make his 759th appearance for Manchester United, a new club record. Early in extra time, Giggs had a shot cleared off the Chelsea goal-line by John Terry, whilst Chelsea twice hit the Manchester United woodwork. A melée involving most of the 22 players ensued mid-way through the second half of extra time, with Didier Drogba being sent off for a slap on Nemanja Vidić right in front of the referee.

The scores level at full time, the match went to penalties. Chelsea took the upper hand in the third round of the shootout as Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty was saved by Petr Čech, handing John Terry the chance to win the cup with Chelsea's fifth penalty. However, Chelsea's captain lost his footing as he went to kick the ball,^[3] and his shot hit the post. Ryan Giggs stepped up for United's seventh penalty, and scored, before Edwin van der Sar saved the following kick from Nicolas Anelka to crown Manchester United as the champions of Europe for the third time.

As winners of the competition, Manchester United went on to represent Europe at the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

21 May 2008 20:45 CEST	Manchester United	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Chelsea	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow Attendance: 67,310 Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)[4]
	Ronaldo  26'	(Report)	Lampard  45'
		Penalties
	Tévez Carrick Ronaldo Hargreaves Nani Anderson Giggs	6 – 5	Ballack Belletti Lampard A. Cole Terry Kalou Anelka

Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League (group stage and knockout stage only) are as follows:

Rank	Name	Team	Goals	Time played
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	8	1062'
2	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	6	756'
	Fernando Torres	Liverpool		906'
	Didier Drogba	Chelsea		1072'
	Steven Gerrard	Liverpool		1144'
6	Ryan Babel	Liverpool	5	619'
	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Internazionale		626'
	Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla		715'
	Raúl	Real Madrid		716'
	Deivid	Fenerbahçe		844'
	Dirk Kuyt	Liverpool		893'

Source: UEFA Champions League Press Release - Top Scorers - Final - Wednesday 21 May 2008 (after match)

Trivia

• Manchester United's 1–0 victory over Barcelona in the semi-finals was their 12th consecutive home victory, a record surpassing Juventus' ten set between the 1995–96 and 1997–98 seasons
• The final between Chelsea and Manchester United was the first all-English final in the history of the European Cup and the third ever final between two teams from the same country.
• This season was the first season in the competition's history that four teams from the same country reached the quarter-final stage (England's Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United). This feat was repeated by the same teams in the 2008–09 season.
• For the first time in Champions League history, a nation's clubs (England's) were only eliminated by each other. Arsenal were eliminated by Liverpool, who were beaten by Chelsea, who were defeated by Manchester United in the final.
• Schalke 04 qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time since 1958–59.
• Milan's 0–2 loss to Arsenal in the second leg of the first knockout round was the club's first ever defeat to English opposition at the San Siro.
• Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta became the oldest player to ever play in the Champions League when he was fielded in the match against Real Madrid on 11 December 2007. Aged 43, he was three years older than the previous record owner, Alessandro Costacurta, who was 40 when he played for Milan against AEK Athens in November 2006.
• Bojan Krkić was the first ever scorer in the Champions League to have been born in the 1990s, when he scored the only goal in Barcelona's 1–0 quarter-final first leg win against Schalke 04. He is also the second youngest scorer in the Champions League behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then-playing for Olympiacos.^[5]

See also

• 2007–08 UEFA Cup
• 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup
• 2008 UEFA Super Cup
• 2008 FIFA Club World Cup

References

External links

• Champions League at uefa.com

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