A quick scan through the lineups of each team's previous match, i make it about 13 (would probably be less if Manchester United were able to field a stronger team, and if Manchester City had felt the need to field a full strength team).

The whole competition is a joke really. Despite the efforts of UEFA and the tv companies to make it into effectively a super-league, it's still a cup competition, and should be regarded as such... were Liverpool the best team in Europe in 2005? What about Porto in the early 2000's...? I highly doubt it.

The view that the quarter-final lineup makes England the 'best league' is ridiculous... the Champions League is skewed so that English, Spanish, German clubs dominate, and with yearly fluctuations (appears to be our turn this year) this is what happens.

We (as a footballing country) are so ignorant of this fact... the attitude of "we're alright Jack..." seems to prevail. We regard the French league as a joke league, which is effectively because UEFA don't think there's enough money to be made from giving them more champions league places, which in turn restricts the amount of money in their league, and the amount of top players who will go there. Why do great footballing nations like the Yugoslavian nations, Sweden, Russia, Turkey, etc, get such a raw deal.

We're ok though, because we get the thick slice of the pie.

The Champions League (a laughable title really) is basically a vehicle for UEFA and the TV companies to maximise revenue. The football is an inconvenience really... i have no doubt that is they could get away with showing 90minutes of advertising, that's exactly what they'd do... the football is just the vehicle to get large amounts of viewers (and hence the advertisers) on board... anyone who thinks differently i would suggest is being rather naïve.