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Liverpool and Manchester City's clash in the Champions League quarterfinal will be the first all-English tie to be played in the competition since 2011. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal were Champions League regulars not so long ago and they often made it to the knockout stages which led to all-English ties.
From Chelsea's last-gasp winner at Highbury in 2004 to the west London club's incredible 4-4 draw with Liverpool, all the way to the dramatic scenes in Moscow in 2008 when Manchester United lifted the European Cup after John Terry's penalty miss, there have been drama aplenty in Europe between English clubs. There have only been five unique ties played, a result of the fact that the English teams are kept apart until the quarterfinal stages.
We look at the top five ties between English sides since the inception of the new format in 1998.
#5 Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United (Agg 1-4), Semifinal 2nd leg 2008/09
The 2008/09 Champions League saw Manchester United enter as defending champions, meeting an Arsenal side who were keen to make amends for their 2006 final loss and win Arsene Wenger’s first European trophy as a manager.
That dream was swept away though by a dominant Manchester United at the European peak of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign. This match was Manchester United – and Cristiano Ronaldo – at their lethal best. Park Ji-Sung pulled off a brilliant finish in the seventh, capitalising on Kieran Gibbs’ unfortunate slip.
Cristiano Ronaldo pulled off what had come to be his signature move – a thunderous free-kick which caught Manuel Almunia off guard from near 40 yards out put the Red Devils three up on aggregate and essentially ended the tie.
The Gunners faced more misery after the break as a rapid Manchester United counter-attack – 10 seconds from one end to the other – saw Ronaldo put the ball in the back of the net and book Manchester United’s place in their second consecutive Champions League final – the only English side to do so.
Arsenal converted a penalty late on to get some scraps of dignity, but it was far too little far too late.
The sheer dominance of Manchester United’s performance away to one of the best teams in England means this makes the list.
#4 Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool (Agg 7-4), Quarterfinal 2nd leg 2008/09
Just one of many meetings between the two during Rafa Benitez’s reign as Liverpool boss. Chelsea and Liverpool seemed destined to battle it out almost every year in the Champions League, but this was easily one of the best between the two.
Chelsea went into the game 3-1 up on aggregate and seemingly had the tie won – the reds would have to win by at least two clear goals at Stamford Bridge. At the time that was deemed a near-impossible dream.
Liverpool scored early when Fabio Aurelio caught Petr Cech at his near post with a smart free-kick and looked to have another memorable European night by halftime after Xabi Alonso’s penalty put the reds close to the semi-finals.
Their joy didn’t last long, however, as Chelsea roared back in the second half with two goals in just six minutes. Didier Drogba snuck a touch in at the near post to bamboozle Pepe Reina before Alex slammed home a thunderous free-kick to level the tie.
Drogba was the source of further misery for Liverpool as he found Frank Lampard in the box who completed the Chelsea come back. Liverpool were down but by no means out as Lucas Leiva equalised with a deflected strike late on, followed quickly by a Dirk Kuyt header.
Chelsea fans were running out of nails to bite as Liverpool had once again defied the odds and were within one late goal of knocking the Londoners out.
Frank Lampard secured Chelsea’s semi-final place in the dying moments though, as he beautifully curled an effort past a helpless Pepe Reina to end their run of European exists to Liverpool.
Out of the many clashes between the two sides, this is easily one of the best and most dramatic.
#3 Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal (Agg 5-3), Quarterfinal 2nd leg 2007/08
Arsenal were another side who had the misfortunate of coming to Anfield for a big European occasion.
Having battled to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates, the tie was up for grabs will Liverpool and Arsenal both looking to carry the English flag to what would’ve been a fourth final in a row for an English team.
Arsenal took the lead and cancelled out Liverpool’s away goal when Abou Diaby found space and crept the ball in at the near post, sending the Londoners in the Anfield Road end wild.
The lead didn’t last long as Sami Hyypia found a yard on Philippe Senderos from a corner and slammed a header off of the far post.
Fernando Torres was once again at his brilliant best as he took the ball down in the box before turning and curling a brilliant effort into the top right corner and giving Liverpool a huge boost in front of the Kop.
Theo Walcott didn’t get this message, though. The speedy winger picked the ball up on the edge of his own box and evaded five attempted tackles from the opposition before squaring the ball to an extremely grateful Emmanuel Adebayor tucked the ball home to level the game up.
With just six minutes left on the clock, Liverpool immediately responded, taking the ball almost from kick-off directly into the Arsenal box, where Kolo Toure clumsily brought down Ryan Babel and gave Liverpool a penalty. Steven Gerrard stepped up and slammed the ball into the back of the net like he had so many times before.
Ryan Babel sealed the tie in added time when a long clearance found the Dutch winger who battled off Cesc Fabregas and slotted the ball home.
A fantastic tie in which both sides went all out to try and advance in Europe – everything a European tie should be.
#2 Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea (Manchester United won 6-5 on penalties), Final 2008
The first-ever all-English final saw the Premier League champions Manchester United take on runners-up Chelsea in what was an extremely tense affair.
Wes Brown floated a fantastic cross for Cristiano Ronaldo who directed a fantastic header into the bottom left corner and give United a deserved lead. Ronaldo carrying on his ever-present love affair with the Champions League with another huge goal for the red devils.
Chelsea received a huge slice of luck to equalise before halftime as Michael Essien’s deflected effort couple with a slip from Edwin Van der Sar found it’s way to Frank Lampard, who had an easy to finish to give the blues a foothold back in the tie.
Both sides hit the woodwork in the second half but couldn’t find the edge. More of the same followed in Extra time and the game would eventually go to penalties. This first penalty shoot-out in a European cup final since 2005.
Both sides would score their first two penalties each, with Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick doing the business for United, with Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti keeping Chelsea in the tie.
Ronaldo stunningly missed his penalty, before Lampard put Chelsea in the driving seat. Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole and Nani all scored their respective penalties to put Chelsea within one penalty conversion from their first ever Champions League trophy.
Captain John Terry stepped up but slipped as he struck the ball, with his penalty crashing against the post. Sudden death followed and Anderson, Salomon Kalou and Ryan Giggs all scored their penalties before Nicolas Anelka missed and handed United their third European Cup and completed an illustrious double of both the Premier and Champions League.
#1 Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (Agg 1-0), Semifinal 2nd leg 2004/05
This was one of the tensest and controversial Champions League games of all time.
Chelsea were visiting Anfield already crowned Premier League champions and Jose Mourinho had his eyes set on becoming the first ever manager to win consecutive Champions Leagues with different sides. He wasn’t ready for what would happen next, though.
His Chelsea side had already been held to a 0-0 by Liverpool in the first leg and were finding it difficult to break the Anfield side down.
Then, in just the third minute of the tie, Petr Cech raced off his line to bring down Milan Baros. The game continued and Luis Garcia snuck in to score one of the most controversial goals of all-time.
The ball looked as if it didn’t cross the line and William Gallas had cleared the ball just in time, but the now infamous ‘ghost goal’ was given and Liverpool took the lead.
Anfield was holding their breath and with just seconds left on the clock, Damien Duff flashed a shot across goal which narrowly missed the far corner and stayed off target.
The full-time whistle blew and Anfield erupted. Liverpool became the first English side to reach a Champions League final since Manchester United in 1999 and their first European cup final since 1984.
