5

If you were thinking this post was about Cristiano Ronaldo leveling up with Lionel Messi with regards to the amount of Balon D’or won then you are so wrong but hey since you have brought that up  in your mind I might as well bask in it. If you ask me I am a big Ronaldo fan and will always pick him ahead of Messi and not because he was a former Man United player and if you care to know I have not forgiven Nemanja Vidic for leaving the Red Devils when he did. You get my drift? I will assume you do. Lionel Messi is a great player but like I said I am a Ronaldo fan. 

I don’t want to compare both  lads. It’s  like you asking me to compare Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG, I won’t be drawn into that argument and for the record I listen(ed) to Biggie more even though Tupac released more albums.
Ok now this post is about the 5 English Premier League  (EPL) teams that made it to the knock-out stage of the UEFA Champions League. To begin with 4 (Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham) of these 5 teams finished first in their respective groups with Chelsea being runner up in their group which had Roma securing top spot. 

This is the first time four English sides will finish atop their groups since 2006/07 season. Good feat ehh? Hmmm, I’d say yes. The other interesting thing about this lovely stat, for lack of a better word is 5 out of 6 times all English teams made it to the knock-out round, one of them at least got to the final except 2014 where Chelsea lost to Atletico Madrid in the semis. So should we be expecting an EPL side in the final at least this season? I will say it is very doable. 
Yea the La Liga fans will be like we also had 5 teams in 2015/16 season (Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and 2015 Europa league winners Sevilla). Valencia and Sevilla dropped out of the group stage so technically the English sides deserve more respect. Well that season Barcelona lost to Atletico Madrid in the quarter finals while Real Madrid beat their City rivals to win their 11th European title.
The good thing for the English sides is that they would not be paired against each other when the 2nd round draws are made on Monday but if all 5 make it to the quarter finals there’s no how they wouldn’t meet. That’s a big IF by the way. I am tipping one of the English sides to make it to the final but an all English final would be ideal. 
Let me lay out how the draws would go come Monday. I am only predicting o.
Manchester United Vs Porto
Basel Vs Beskitas
PSG Vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Bayern Munich Vs Man City
Roma Vs Sevilla
Chelsea Vs Barcelona
Juventus Vs Tottenham 
Liverpool Vs Real Madrid
Please endeavour not to dish out insults if the draws don’t pan out this way, lol. Arsenal I am sorry I cannot delve into your matter at this point because you people in the Europa league are too much and you play against teams that their names are hard to pronounce or forgotten in a second. Bear with me, but you guys can clap back by winning the Europa league. After all Man United did it and it is always our heights you aspire to reach.

The first Manchester derby is this weekend with records looking to be broken. Manchester City last weekend equalled Preston and Sunderland’s record of 13 straight league wins but are looking to make it 14 when they visit Manchester United’s Old Trafford where United currently share the record of 40 games and no loss at home with the legandary Busby Babes.
Thanks for your time guys. Have a great weekend…….. BLESS !!!