May 2, 2013 - Full Match HD| Sports Download. Home » Champions League » UEFA Champions League Final. 2008 - Chelsea v Manchester United. Does anyone on here know where I can watch the 2008 Champions League final full match? ( self.reddevils ) submitted 4 years ago by PoliceMachine Shades of Dunc.
→ The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was a match that took place on Wednesday, 21 May 2008, at the in, Russia, to determine the winner of the. It was contested by and, making it an all-English club final for the first time in the history of the competition. This was only the third time that two clubs from the same country had contested the final; the others being the and finals. It was the first European Cup final played in Russia, and hence the easternmost final in the tournament's history.
It also marked the 100th anniversary of Manchester United's, the 50th anniversary of the, and the 40th anniversary of United's first European Cup triumph in. It was Manchester United's third European Cup final after 1968 and, while it was Chelsea's first. Manchester United won the match 6–5 on, after a 1–1 draw following.
Opened the scoring for Manchester United in the 26th minute with a header from a cross by, but equalised shortly before half-time. The second half and most of extra time passed without incident until Chelsea's was sent off for slapping four minutes from the end. In the penalty shoot-out, Ronaldo missed Manchester United's third kick, giving the chance to win the game for Chelsea, only for him to slip and hit the post. Then saved 's effort from Chelsea's seventh kick to give Manchester United their third European Cup title. More than 67,000 people watched the game in the stadium, along with more than 17.5 million television viewers in the and the. In addition to prize money received from earlier in the competition, Manchester United received 7 million for winning the final, while Chelsea received €4 million. As winners, Manchester United went on to play in the, losing 2–1 to winners, and the, which they won after beating winners 1–0 in the final.
Contents. Background Manchester United and Chelsea had played each other 150 times prior to the Champions League final, with 18 meetings in domestic cup competitions (including the ). Due to various historical restrictions regarding the number of teams from the same country entering European competitions, they had never met in Europe before. Manchester United held the upper hand in the teams' 150 previous meetings, winning 65 times to Chelsea's 41, with 44 draws. Their cup record was equally good, winning 10 of the 18 cup meetings, with the remaining eight ties split equally between draws and Chelsea wins. However, honours were even in cup finals, with Manchester United having won the 4–0, while Chelsea won the 1–0, the last cup game between the two sides. Manchester United responded to defeat in the 2007 FA Cup Final by beating Chelsea in the the following August, winning 3–0 on after a 1–1 draw in normal time.
They went on to claim their 17th league title at the end of the season, finishing two points ahead of Chelsea. Both teams went into the final game of the season level on points but United were ahead of Chelsea through their superior goal difference. In the two sides' league meetings that season, United won 2–0 at in 's first game in charge of Chelsea on 23 September 2007, while Chelsea won 2–1 at in the return game on 26 April 2008. Because of the aforementioned entry restrictions, Manchester United had only met English opposition in Europe twice before, while Chelsea had far more experience against English opposition, having played 12 matches against compatriot clubs, winning five, drawing five and losing just two. There had been two previous Champions League finals between teams from the same country: in, when Real Madrid beat fellow Spanish side 3–0 at the; and in, when Italian sides and played out a 0–0 draw before Milan won 3–2 on penalties. Both sides had a connection to the early history of European football; Chelsea were invited to take part in the inaugural European Cup in as champions of England, only to be denied entry by, allowing Manchester United to become the first English entrants in the competition the following season.
In February 1958, eight Manchester United players were killed in the, when the aeroplane carrying their team back from a match in Belgrade crashed while attempting to take off from a refuelling stop in Munich. Manager was seriously injured in the crash and almost died as a result, but he rebuilt the team, and in May 1968, Manchester United became the first English winners of the European Cup, beating 4–1 in the. Chelsea won their first European trophy three years later, when they beat 2–1 in the replay after a 1–1 draw in the first match. Both Chelsea and Manchester United won that same competition during the 1990s – first Manchester United beat 2–1 in the (followed by victory over in the ), and then Chelsea beat in the (followed by victory over Real Madrid in the, their most recent European success). Manchester United then won their second European Cup the following year, beating in the. Route to the final.
Further information: Round Opponent Result Opponent Result (A) Matchday 1 (H) (H) Matchday 2 (A) (A) Matchday 3 (H) (H) Matchday 4 (A) (H) Matchday 5 (A) (A) Matchday 6 (H) winner Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 6 5 1 0 13 4 +9 16 6 3 2 1 11 6 +5 11 6 2 1 3 9 8 +1 7 6 0 0 6 4 19 −15 0 Final standings winner Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 6 3 3 0 9 2 +7 12 6 2 2 2 5 4 +1 8 6 2 1 3 6 10 −4 7 6 1 2 3 2 6 −4 5 Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg 2–1 (A) (H) First knockout round 3–0 (A) (H) 3–0 (A) (H) Quarter-finals 3–2 (A) (H) 1–0 (A) (H) Semi-finals 4–3 (A) (H) Manchester United. Manchester United beat Lyon 1–0 in the second leg of their first knockout round tie at. Manchester United were drawn in Group F along with,.
United won their first five group games; they first travelled to Lisbon, where 's header secured a 1–0 win against his old club, Sporting. Next was another 1–0 win at home to Roma, followed by back-to-back four-goal victories over Dynamo Kyiv (4–2 in Ukraine and 4–0 at Old Trafford). United secured top spot in the group with a 2–1 win at home to Sporting in their fifth game.
They travelled to Roma for the final group game, in which both teams were already guaranteed to progress; it finished as a 1–1 draw, with scoring his second goal for the club before 's equaliser. United finished with 16 points, the most of all the group winners. In the first knockout round, United were drawn against, against whom they drew the away leg 1–1, thanks to a late equaliser from. The Red Devils then won the second leg 1–0 – Ronaldo scoring the only goal – to ensure a 2–1 aggregate win and a place in the quarter-finals, where they were again drawn against Roma.
The quarter-final matches represented the fifth and sixth times these two clubs had met in Europe in just over 12 months; they had met at the same stage of the previous season's competition and then again in the group stage this season. United went to Rome and secured a 2–0 win with a first-half header from Ronaldo and a second-half goal tapped in. United went on to secure the tie in the second leg with a 1–0 win, their record 11th consecutive home Champions League win. The semi-final pitted United against; the teams had not met since the group stage of the, the last time United won it. The teams also had identical records going into the semi-final, each having won eight and drawn two of their 10 games, scoring 18 goals and conceding just five. The first leg at the saw United spend most of the game defending, while Barcelona tried to pass the ball around them.
United were awarded a penalty in the first minute, but Ronaldo sent the ball wide, hitting the stanchion behind the goal. That was as close as either team got to a goal in the first leg and it ended 0–0. The second leg at Old Trafford was a game of higher tempo, which United won 1–0 thanks to a goal from after 14 minutes. This result increased United's consecutive home win record in the Champions League to 12 and ensured that they reached the final unbeaten. In reaching the final, United won nine and drew three of their 12 matches, dwarfing their record of four wins and six draws in the 10 games they took to reach the final in 1999 (when there was no first knockout round and teams advanced from the group stage directly into the quarter-finals). United scored 19 goals en route to the final, Ronaldo scoring seven of them, more than any other player.
The Chelsea and Liverpool teams line up ahead of the second leg of their semi-final at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea won 3–2 after extra time (4–3 on aggregate) to qualify for the final. In the group stage, Chelsea were drawn into Group B, along with of Germany, of Norway and Spanish club. Chelsea's first match in the group was against Rosenborg at, where they were held to a 1–1 draw. Two days later, manager left Chelsea by mutual consent, and was replaced by their director of football, former coach. Chelsea's second match was against Valencia, whom they beat 2–1, leaving Chelsea with four points from their two matches.
Chelsea's next two matches were against Schalke 04. The first match was played at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea winning 2–0, while the return match in ended in a 0–0 draw. Chelsea's final two matches in their group resulted in a 4–0 victory away to Rosenborg and a 0–0 draw at home to Valencia. Chelsea progressed as group winners with 12 points out of six games. Chelsea faced Greek side in the first knockout round. The first leg in Athens ended in a 0–0 draw, but a 3–0 win in the second leg, with goals from, and, saw Chelsea through to the quarter-finals. There, they were drawn against of Turkey.
The first leg was held at the in Istanbul, and ended in a 2–1 defeat, as made up for an early own goal by scoring the winner nine minutes from time after ' equaliser. Chelsea won the second leg at Stamford Bridge 2–0, with goals from Ballack and Lampard, to claim a 3–2 aggregate victory over the Turkish side. Chelsea faced fellow English club Liverpool in the semi-finals. This was the fourth year in succession that these teams had met in the Champions League, following semi-final meetings in 2004–05 and 2006–07, and two group stage matches in 2005–06. The first leg at was a 1–1 draw, in which Chelsea got a 95th-minute equaliser through a own goal after had put Liverpool 1–0 up just before half-time. Chelsea won the second leg 3–2 after extra time, with two goals from and one from Lampard sending the Blues through to the first Champions League final in their history.
Pre-match Venue. The entrance to the UEFA Champions Festival in Red Square, Moscow The in Moscow was selected as the venue for the match at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in, Slovenia, on 4 October 2006. The committee – who decided the venue for the and the and at the same meeting – based their decision on a number of factors, including stadium capacity, safety and security facilities, and accessibility. The other venues in contention were the in Sevilla, the in Berlin, in London, and the in Rome, which was chosen to host the 2009 final. The European Cup final had never before been played in Russia, making this match the easternmost final in the tournament's history; however, the Luzhniki Stadium had previously played host to the, in which Italian club beat French side 3–0.
Because of the difference in time zones, the match kicked off at 22:45, making it the first Champions League final to start on one day and finish in the next. Originally known as the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium, the ground opened in 1956 as a new national stadium for the. In 1973, it served as the principal venue for the, before going on to perform the same function at the. By this point, the stadium's capacity was 103,000; however, renovations in the mid-1990s reduced the capacity to just under 85,000. The stadium was given five-star status by UEFA in 1998, before hosting the UEFA Cup final the following year. To help the stadium cope with the cold Russian winters, the grass pitch was replaced by an artificial surface in 2002.
Although UEFA allowed matches in earlier rounds and to be played on the synthetic surface, they mandated that the Champions League Final should be played on natural grass. Turf was shipped in from Slovakia especially for the final at a cost of 160,000, and laid on top of the existing playing surface, resulting in the pitch being 35 cm (14 in) higher than normal. There were originally concerns over the players' safety on the new field, which had to be relaid twice after patches died in transit. As part of the marketing for the match, a unique design concept has been developed for each Champions League final since 1997, inspired by the cultural and historical heritage of the host city. The 2008 final's design was announced on 31 October 2007 in a ceremony at the Luzhniki Stadium, attended by the ambassador for the final, former Russian goalkeeper. The design was based on a colour scheme of deep red and gold, inspired by the predominant colours of Red Square, the Kremlin and the gold domes of Moscow's cathedrals, and featured images of the Moscow skyline, as well as the UEFA Champions League logo and trophy rendered in a Russian artistic style, with text in a font similar to.
As has taken place for every Champions League final since 1997, a ceremonial handover of the UEFA Champions League trophy was held in the host city; the 2008 ceremony was at the GUM Centre in Moscow's Red Square on 3 April 2008. On behalf of 2007 champions Milan, their technical operations director and former player, and club director Umberto Gandini presented the trophy back to UEFA president, who passed it on to the, for it to be displayed in five cities around the country –, and – before returning to Moscow ahead of the final. Also in attendance at the ceremony were final ambassador Rinat Dasayev and president. Ticketing and supporters. A ticket from the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final Although the Luzhniki Stadium had a usual capacity of almost 85,000 spectators, that was reduced to 69,500 for the final.
Of those tickets, approximately 21,000 were reserved for each finalist club, with a further 10,500 available for purchase by the general public via the UEFA website. Recipients of those tickets were determined by a random ballot following an online application process that ran from 28 February to 19 March 2008.
Tickets were available in three categories, priced at 80, €140 and €200 depending on their location in the stadium. UEFA received around 125,000 applications for tickets from the general public over the course of the three-week application process. The clubs were able to distribute their tickets however they wished; Manchester United chose to make their allocation available to all Executive Seat Holders and any Season Ticket Holders who had successfully applied for a ticket to at least one of the club's five away Champions League matches between the group stage and the quarter-finals, while Chelsea opened up applications to all club members and season ticket holders. Manchester United chief executive expressed disappointment that his club had only been allocated 21,000 tickets for their supporters, claiming that they could have potentially sold up to 100,000. While Manchester United managed to sell out their entire allocation, UEFA director of communications William Gaillard indicated that Chelsea still had 'up to a couple of thousand' tickets unsold the day before the game, despite claims by Chelsea's chief operations officer, Ron Gourlay, to the contrary.
One of the major concerns for English fans attending the final was the acquisition of for entry into Russia. However, after a period of negotiations between representatives of Russia, the United Kingdom, UEFA and the two clubs, it was agreed that fans with tickets for the match would not require a visa, provided they were also able to produce a passport with at least six months before expiry and a completed immigration card on entry into Russia. The visa-free period was initially supposed to run for 72 hours between 19 May and 23 May, but this was later extended to an eight-day period lasting from 17 May to 25 May. Because of the difficulty and expense of acquiring a ticket and visa, fans who had not already got tickets were advised against travelling to Moscow by UEFA's William Gaillard, who also warned fans about Russia's strict laws regarding the consumption of alcohol.
Although the two clubs claimed to have sold most of the 42,000 tickets allocated to them, only about 25,000 fans were said to have travelled to Moscow from the United Kingdom, with about 110 charter flights arriving ahead of the game. According to the head of the Russian national tourist office, Mikhail Ignatiev, many fans were put off by the cost of travel and accommodation. Additionally, most of Moscow's hotels were full on the night of the game. As some fans looked to offload tickets to the match, reported that the black-market price dropped from a high of €2,000 (£1,600) to around €500 (£400), while Russian TV channel was reporting prices as low as £300 for tickets belonging to fans who had failed to make the trip to Moscow. Among the celebrities who did not travel were Chelsea supporter and chairman of the (LOCOG), who had to attend meetings ahead of the, and Manchester United fan and lead singer, who was due to perform at the at.
Match ball. A ball from the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final on display at the 2011 UEFA Champions Festival in The match ball for the final was the Adidas Finale Moscow, the eighth in the range. The ball's design was based around the 'starball' pattern, inspired by the UEFA Champions League logo; the stars are dark red with gold detailing, tying in with the overall design concept for the final. Technically, the ball is based on the, which was used at later that summer; it has the same 14-panel configuration as the, but with the proprietary surface texture developed for the Europass. The ball was unveiled at a ceremony in Moscow's, attended by UEFA General Secretary, former player and coach, final ambassador Rinat Dasayev and president.
Officials. Ľuboš Micheľ refereed the final. The referee for the final was 40-year-old Slovakian referee, the first Slovak to take charge of a European Cup final. His team was completed by fellow Slovak Roman Slysko and Martin Balko. Having presided over the, Micheľ was the second man to referee the finals of both the Champions League and UEFA Cup since the latter changed to a single-legged affair in 1998; the other was. Micheľ began refereeing in 1987 at the age of 19, and took charge of his first top-flight game in 1993. That same year, he was promoted to the FIFA list of international referees, and in November 1993, he refereed his first international match – a match between.
Micheľ's first UEFA Champions League matches came in the, including Manchester United's 5–0 win over in the group stage. Up to the 2008 final, he refereed 55 Champions League matches (including qualifying), notably the second leg of the semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool in, in which Liverpool's scored a controversial goal, which Micheľ chose to allow. He was also selected to referee at the, the and, and the in. Match Team selection. Manchester United fans display a card mosaic reading 'Believe'.
Guaranteed a place in the starting line-up for, after the midfielder had missed the through suspension. Ferguson made one change from the team that had beaten to secure the league title 10 days earlier, with starting on the right side of midfield in a in place of, who did not even make the substitutes bench despite starting both legs of the semi-final. Started on the left wing, where he was pitted against makeshift Chelsea right-back. This went against the prediction of 's, who thought a duel between Ronaldo and would be key to the final.
Ferguson hoped his substitutes might have a big impact on the match, just as and did in 1999, when the pair came off the bench to help Manchester United come from behind and beat. A week before the game, was philosophical about his chances of being included in the starting line-up; he was eventually named as one of seven allowed substitutes. The day before the match, predicted that the game would throw up few tactical surprises due to the two teams' knowledge of each other from the domestic league. Nevertheless, he decided to start with on the left-wing instead of, and also chose to deploy Michael Essien at right-back, rather than in his preferred midfield position, ahead of – who did not even make the bench despite starting both legs of the semi-final –. The rest of Chelsea's team was as expected, with key players (dislocated elbow) and (knee) recovering from injuries suffered against on the last day of the league season 10 days earlier to start the game. Ashley Cole also started despite hurting his right ankle in training the day before the game under a heavy challenge from. His replacement would have likely been, but he recovered sufficiently that Bridge was not even included in the matchday squad as cover.
Summary First half. Manchester United and Chelsea players shake hands ahead of the match. After a fairly cagey first 21 minutes, the first major incident of the game occurred when Paul Scholes and Claude Makelele clashed in mid-air, resulting in both players being booked and Scholes having to leave the field for treatment to a bloody nose.
The first goal of the game came five minutes later, when an interchange of passes between Scholes and after a throw-in on the right flank gave Brown time to pick out a cross for Cristiano Ronaldo, who directed his header past. Chelsea almost equalised in the 33rd minute when Frank Lampard's cross was headed back into the goal area by Didier Drogba. United's, under pressure from, was forced to head the ball towards his own goal and pulled off a one-handed save to deny Chelsea a goal.
United spent the rest of the first half pressing for a second goal, and had two good opportunities to extend their lead, but were denied by a double-save from Čech. Delivered a long ball into the path of Ronaldo and the United goalscorer placed his cross on the head of the diving, only for Čech to deny him. Chelsea's failure to clear the loose ball gave the chance to extend his side's lead, but Čech was again equal to the task with another save. Manchester United in possession Chelsea survived the pressure, as Tevez failed to connect with a low cross from Rooney, and equalised in the final minute of the first half.
The goal followed from a long-range shot by Michael Essien, which deflected first off and then Ferdinand. The ball's change in direction caused Van der Sar to lose his footing, leaving Lampard, who had made a run from deep, with a simple finish. In celebration, Lampard looked up and pointed to the sky with both hands in memory of his mother, Pat, who had died a month earlier. At the end of the first half, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confronted match referee, 'jabbing out an angry finger and spitting out a few choice words'. Second half. The players prepare for the penalty shoot-out. As the match went to penalties, Rio Ferdinand won the coin toss for Manchester United, and opted for his side to go first in the shoot-out, which would be taken at the end housing the Manchester United fans.
Tevez stepped up first and sent Čech the wrong way. Ballack was next up, shooting powerfully past Van der Sar. Carrick buried his spot-kick, as did Juliano Belletti with his first touch of the game, having come on for Makelele at the end of extra time. The first miss of the shoot-out came from Ronaldo, who characteristically stuttered in his run-up in an attempt to put Čech off, but the goalkeeper dived to his right to save. Lampard then put Chelsea 3–2 ahead, but Hargreaves levelled things up with a shot into the top corner. Ashley Cole was the next up, and Van der Sar got a strong hand to the ball but could not keep it out.
Then knew he had to score to keep United in it, and he did, leaving it up to John Terry to win the cup for Chelsea; however, Terry lost his footing when planting his standing foot by the ball, and, even though Van der Sar was sent the wrong way, Terry's mis-hit effort struck the outside of the right post and went wide. Scored the first penalty in sudden death. Kalou then sent Van der Sar the wrong way to make it 5–5.
Giggs was next up and he was also successful. Van der Sar then pulled off the crucial save for United; he pointed to his left to indicate to that he thought he would kick to that side, as had the six players who had kicked before him, only to correctly dive to his right to deny Anelka, whose kick was at a good height to be saved, securing European football's top prize for United for the third time in their history. Manchester United's first meeting against English opposition in Europe was in the second round of the, when they played against defending champions over in December 1963; Tottenham won the first leg at 2–0, but Manchester United won the second leg at 4–1 to qualify for the third round. The second meeting was against in the third round of the non-UEFA; Everton held Manchester United to a draw in the first leg at Old Trafford in January 1965, before United won the return leg 2–1 at three weeks later.
In addition to their 4–3 aggregate win over in the semi-final, Chelsea's first all-English European tie came in the semi-finals of the against defending champions, in which they won 1–0 in both legs of the tie. In, they met in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, drawing 1–1 at home, then winning 2–1 away. They were then drawn against Liverpool in the semi-finals of both the and competitions, losing 1–0 on aggregate in 2005 and 4–1 on penalties after a 1–1 aggregate draw in 2007. Chelsea also met Liverpool in the group stage (Liverpool, who were defending champions, were not given association protection due to the they qualified for the competition), both games finished 0–0. References.
→ The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of 's premier club tournament and the 17th edition under the current format. The was played at the in on 27 May 2009.
It was the eighth time the European Cup final has been held in and the fourth time it has been held at the. The final was contested by the, and, who had last won the tournament in. Barcelona won the match 2–0, with goals from and, securing in the process. In addition, both finalists, and featured in the Champions League group stage. Of and of were the first teams from their respective countries to qualify for the group stage. Side and Russian champions also made their Champions League debuts.
Contents. Qualification A total of 76 teams from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organises no domestic league competition) participated in the 2008–09 Champions League. Countries are allocated places according to the 2007. The spot reserved for the title holder was not used since qualified for the group stage as the (Association 2) champions.
Main article: First qualifying round The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on Tuesday, 1 July 2008 in,. The first leg matches were held on 15 July and 16 July, while the second legs were played on 22 July and 23 July 2008. Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 1–3 0–2 1–1 0–3 0–2 0–1 3–1 3–0 0–1 2–7 1–4 1–3 0–9 0–5 0–4 1–4 1–0 0–4 3–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–1 3–2 2–1 1–1 0–3 0–1 0–2 1–4 0–2 1–2 1–4 1–0 0–4 3–1 2–1 1–0 3–0 2–0 1–0 In the draw for the first qualifying round, teams were divided into two pots, on the basis of. The lower pot contained the 14 teams from associations 40–53: none of these teams had a team ranking. Two of the 14 ties were won by the lower ranked team: (Azerbaijan, country rank 42) beat (Macedonia, 36); and (Belarus, 40) beat (Iceland, 37).
Of the 28 teams in the first qualifying round, two survived as far as the group stage: and BATE Borisov. Each then finished in fourth place.
Second qualifying round The first leg matches were played on 29 July and 30 July, while the second legs were played on 5 August and 6 August 2008. Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 1–2 0–0 1–2 2–2 1–0 1–2 1–3 1–1 0–2 3–7 1–3 2–4 4–3 3–0 1–3 2–6 0–3 2–3 3–0 3–0 0–0 3–5 1–1 2–4 0–3 0–1 0–2 3–4 1–2 2–2 3–4 1–2 2–2 2–6 2–1 0–5 7–0 2–0 5–0 7–1 5–0 2–1 In the draw for the second qualifying round, teams were divided into two pots, on the basis of. The higher pot contained teams ranked 166 or higher: so each tie contained exactly one team ranked in the top 166. Three of the 14 ties were won by the lower ranked team: (unranked, coefficient 2.640) beat (ranked 24, coefficient 66.013); (unranked, 1.760) beat (56, 41.810); and (ranked 193) beat (ranked 166).
Of the 28 teams in the second qualifying round, were the only one to qualify for the knockout phase of the competition. Third qualifying round The draw for the third qualifying round took place on 1 August 2008 in,. The first leg matches were played on 12 August and 13 August, while the second leg matches took place on 26 August and 27 August. The losing team of each match are being seeded into the first round; while the winning teams advance into the UEFA Champions League 2008–09 group stage. Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 3–1 3–0 0–1 1–2 0–0 1–2 5–1 2–0 3–1 1–4 1–0 0–4 4–0 2–0 2–0 4–1 4–0 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 3–4 2–2 1–2 0–6 0–2 0–4 2–8 1–4 1–4 5–1 4–0 1–1 1–3 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–0 0–0 2–3 2–2 0–1 1–3 1–2 0–1 In the draw for the third qualifying round, teams were divided into two pots, on the basis of. The higher pot contained teams ranked 61 or higher. However, the draw was held before the second qualifying round was played, which meant that and effectively moved into the higher pot, replacing the teams they eliminated.
Four of the 16 ties were won by the lower ranked team: (ranked 193) beat (ranked 44); BATE Borisov (unranked, coefficient 1.760) beat (ranked 80, coefficient 32.644); (ranked 67) beat (ranked 22) and (ranked 74) beat (ranked 61). Group stage. Location of teams of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage. Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; Purple: Group G; Pink: Group H. The draw for the group stage took place on 28 August 2008 at the, prior to the the following day.
The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout phase, and the third-placed teams entered the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup. Main article: From the first knockout round 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. For the draw of the quarter-finals and semi-finals clubs are seeded based on the results in the group stage and round of 16 of the current season (eight matches).
The draw for the first knockout round was held on Friday, 19 December 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by UEFA General Secretary, Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football and, the ambassador for the in Rome. The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both held on Friday, 20 March 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was conducted by David Taylor and Bruno Conti. 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 1 2 3 1 5 6 4 1 5 0 1 1 0 1 1 5 7 12 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 4 5 1 4 5 3 4 7 1 2 3 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 3 2 0 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 1 3 4 0 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 1 (7) 0 1 1 (6) First knockout round The first legs of the first knockout round were played on 24 and 25 February 2009, and the second legs were played on 10 and 11 March. Defeated by 12–1 on aggregate in the first knockout round; the biggest two-leg win in Champions League era.
's 2–0 victory against in the first knockout round was their 21st consecutive undefeated match, a record surpassing 's 20 undefeated matches, set between. The record was extended to 25 matches, ending with a 2–0 defeat to in the final.
Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 3–2 3–2 1–12 2–2 3–6 0–5 1–1 (7–6 ) 0–2 Quarter-finals The first leg matches were played on 7 April and 8 April, with the second leg matches being played on 14 April and 15 April 2009. Due to the 20th anniversary of, were granted their request that their return leg not be played on 15 April; the match was played on 14 April. 's 1–0 loss to in the second leg of the quarter-finals was the club's first ever home defeat to English opposition. Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 1–4 3–2 5–7 5–1 Semi-finals The first leg matches were played on 28 April and 29 April, while the second leg matches were played on 5 May and 6 May 2009.
As in 2007–08, the semi-final teams consisted of three Premier League sides and Barcelona. This was the third consecutive season in which three of the four semi-final teams were English. Were the first defending champions to reach the semi-finals since the introduction of the first knockout round in the season. Chelsea were knocked out by Barcelona after a highly controversial performance by referee, while 's 3–1 loss to in the second leg of the semi-finals was the club's first defeat at the in a European competition. Team 1 Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg 4–1 1–1 Final. Ravdin, Eugene; Menicucci, Paolo (5 October 2006). Union of European Football Associations.
Archived from on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 22 December 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
Union of European Football Associations. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008. Union of European Football Associations. 16 June 2008.
Retrieved 16 June 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2008. Union of European Football Associations. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
Union of European Football Associations. 5 August 2008. Archived from on 29 August 2008.
Retrieved 13 August 2008. 28 August 2008. Liverpool FC.
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20 March 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009. Union of European Football Associations. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 20 March 2015. External links Wikinews has news related to.