Former Manchester City defender Terry Phelan names his favourite for the Champions League title

For the first time in the last 10 years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will not be playing the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Both the players have been at the top of the football world in the past decade. Ronaldo has won 4 Champions League titles since 2010 while Messi has 3. But this year, their teams, Juventus and Barcelona, were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Porto and PSG respectively.

In the last edition also, Messi and Ronaldo failed to reach the summit clash of the Champions League. They have dominated the football world for several years but haven’t been able to propel their teams to the coveted UCL title.

Former Manchester City defender Terry Phelan talked about both the players and their recent performances. Phelan maintained that Messi and Ronaldo are still top players and he doesn’t think they are finished. Phelan named his favourites for the Champions League while naming Chelsea as the dark horses.

Excerpts:-

So both Messi and Ronaldo have been eliminated from the competition. Do you think and finally the domination of Messi and Ronaldo at the top is over

No, because it's a team game, you know teams are allowed to get beat and it's a collective game. You've got to have cohesion in there. Everybody's looking at like, okay, is Messi finished. I don't think Messi is finished, he is still a quality player. I don't think Ronaldo was finished by no means. You look at what he's doing in Serie A. Look at the ratio of goals he scored in the Champions League, the ratio of goals he scored in his area. So I don't think they're finished. I just think sometimes it's just not your night. And on that particular night, over two legs, the team you're playing against is a lot better, a lot more correct to win the game. I think they've got a few more years in them now.

In the past year, we have talked a lot about Lionel Messi and his future with Barcelona. Will he won't he will he? What do you believe? What do you think, is he finally going to leave Barcelona or do you think he's going to stay?

I think he’ll stay now with the new presidents coming in. Obviously, he knows Messi very well. And he may just try and build that little team around Messi. No, I can't see Messi leaving. Maybe there are only two clubs you can really afford him, PSG and Manchester City. I don't think there's anybody out there who can really go out and afford hid wages, especially in the present climate.

Who do you think are the favourites for the title this year?

You look at PSG, Bayern Munich, Manchester City or Real Madrid, you know you could probably see them going through. I think on current form, Munich or Manchester City will be well ahead of everybody else.

Talking about Manchester City have been in great form in the domestic league and the Champions League. Do you think this is the season when they finally get that coveted title?

Well, I don't think it's about Manchester City. I think it's about one man and that's Pep Guardiola. You know, they are 25 points ahead of Liverpool, who were champions last year. It just shows you the strides Manchester City have made. They spent an awful lot of money to get there, you know, not conceding a lot of goals. When you want to win the Champions League, you have to beat the best teams and the best players in Europe. And that's what Manchester City have to do if they're gonna win this competition.

Talking about Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel has transformed Chelsea's results since taking over as a coach. What do you say about him? Do you think they have a chance in the Champions League this year?

Let's not take anything away from what Frank Lampard did. When he got sacked, Chelsea were four points off the fourth position. By the way, he spent children 200 million on new players, but then new players needed to settle in. He did wonders with Chelsea the year before when he was on the transfer embargo. He played a lot of the young lads. I think what Frank did was his biggest mistake was he flew all the new players in at once and instead of gradually. Getting them in maybe one by one. I think that was his downfall. And we always knew that you give somebody 30, 50 million, people expect him to be 25 points ahead in the EPL, smashing teams all over the place. It hasn't quite happened for him. Obviously, he got sacked and Thomas came in. He is very experienced, he knows what he wants. And I think Chelsea now has got a lot resilience, a lot more steal, especially at home. He's got these defensive units all sorted out, and he's got quality players in the attacking thirds. He knows what it's all about. He reached the final last year with PSG, so he knows what it's about. I think Chelsea could be one of the rank outsiders in this tournament. Nobody is fascinated with Chelsea right now. nobody's thinking they're going to pick the title

Really wanted to know, from a footballing brain like yours, what is it with Borussia Dortmund and strikers. No matter which striker they sell, they already have an alternate ready. It has happened with Lewandowski, it has happened with Aubameyang and Erling Haaland. What do you think that system does that they continue to produce big strikers at an early age?

I think it's the recruitment policy, isn't it? You know, if you've got a good recruitment department. They always had big strikers up there and quality strikers up there, even back in the day. They've always had quality strikers. Haaland is still a young boy who has got a lot to learn. And, you know, at the moment he is relishing the challenge. He's got plenty of courage. And I think it boils down to the individual. His father played the game. He knows what it's all about. I think he scored around 50 odd goals this season, so there must be something in the water.

Neymar was a story that was going up and up till the time he was at Barcelona he went when he reached a point where he was the richest player and smashed the transfer market. What do you think has gone off the rails in the last four seasons. He has looked really good at times. But come the January-February period. It has gone downhill for him every single time. What do you think?

I think if you look at him psychologically, sometimes you're not in the right frame of mind. You know, you've been picking up a lot of injuries for various reasons. You know, when we look at the name do we really talk about him now as a world-class superstar up there with Ronaldo and Messi. You really don't. Maybe his antics on the field, we know he gets a little push he dives a lot, he's playing a lot for free kicks in. Let's not take anything away as he is still a quality player on his day. But he has not just done it the height we expected of him, to tell the truth. Obviously, he went to PSG to win the Champions League. He nearly got it last year. We haven't seen the best of him over the last three-four years but he still has got a lot to offer.

(Watch UEFA Champions League on Sony Ten 2 and Sony Ten 3 (in Hindi) channels)

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.