2006–07 UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League 2006-07 was the 52nd edition of the European championship football club tournament and 15th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was contested by AC Milan and Liverpool on 23 May 2007. Beforehand, it was billed as a repeat of the 2004-05 Champions League final, except this time it was played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece and was won by AC Milan, 2-1.

Early issues

Italian Serie A scandal

The Italian qualifiers should have been, according to the results of the 2005-06 Serie A campaign, Juventus, AC Milan, Internazionale, and Fiorentina. After the match-fixing scandal, the four teams were decided on 25 July.

Internazionale and Roma were confirmed as the direct entrants to the group stage. AC Milan and Chievo were confirmed as the entrants into the third qualifying round. Originally, AC Milan were barred from the Champions League, but were restored to the competition on appeal, although instead of entering the group stage directly, they first had to negotiate a third qualifying round tie, in which they beat Red Star Belgrade by an aggregate score of 3-1. This move by the Italian FA has proved to be a point of contention, since AC Milan went on to win the competition.

Suspension of Hellenic Football Federation

The participation of Greek teams in this year's tournament was in doubt following FIFA's suspension of the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competition because of government interference in the running of the sport in Greece. FIFA suspended the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competitions on 3 July 2006 because of incompatibilities between Greek law and FIFA regulations. This would have prevented Greek teams from participating in the competition. However, the Greek parliament amended the draft sports law on the night of 11 July to satisfy FIFA's objections, and the suspension was lifted on 12 July.

Later issues

Doubt over matches to be played in Italy

On 8 February, the Italian Government announced that San Siro Stadium in Milan was unsafe for spectators in light of riots that took place during and following an Italian Serie A match in Sicily. As a result, the venues of the first leg of the Inter-Valencia tie scheduled for 21 February and the second leg of the Celtic-Milan tie scheduled for 7 March were thrown into doubt. Various proposals and offers of the use of stadia outside Italy were made but it was finally agreed that the Inter-Valencia tie would be played at the San Siro with a reduced capacity of 36,000. After further work at the San Siro, Italian authorities and UEFA announced that the second leg of Celtic-Milan would go ahead at the stadium, at its full capacity of 85,700. 4,500 seats were reserved for Celtic supporters.

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

The first legs were played on 11 and 12 July, 2006, with the second legs on 18 and 19 July.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Elbasani	1-3	Ekranas	1-0	0-3
TVMK Tallinn	3-4	FH Hafnarfjörður	2-3	1-1
Liepājas Metalurgs	2-1	FC Aqtöbe	1-0	1-1
MyPa	2-0	The New Saints	1-0	1-0
Cork City	2-1	Apollon Limassol	1-0	1-1
Sioni Bolnisi	2-1	Bakı	2-0	0-1
F91 Dudelange	0-1	FK Rabotnički	0-1	0-0
Shakhtyor	0-2	Široki Brijeg	0-1	0-1
Birkirkara	2-5	B36 Tórshavn	0-3	2-2
Linfield	3-5	ND Gorica	1-3	2-2
Pyunik	0-2	Sheriff Tiraspol	0-0	0-2

Second qualifying round

The first legs were played on 25 and 26 July 2006, with the second legs on 1 and 2 August.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ND Gorica	0-5	Steaua	0-2	0-3
Levski Sofia	4-0	Sioni Bolnisi	2-0	2-0
FC Zürich	2-3	Red Bull Salzburg	2-1	0-2
Djurgården	2-3	Ružomberok	1-0	1-3
Debrecen	2-5	FK Rabotnicki	1-1	1-4
Cork City	0-4	Red Star Belgrade1	0-1	0-3
Fenerbahçe	9-0	B36 Tórshavn	4-0	5-0
Mladá Boleslav	5-3	Vålerenga	3-1	2-2
Sheriff Tiraspol	1-1(a)	Spartak Moscow	1-1	0-0
Liepājas Metalurgs	1-8	Dynamo Kiev	1-4	0-4
FH Hafnarfjörður	0-3	Legia Warszawa	0-1	0-2
FC Copenhagen	4-2	MyPa	2-0	2-2
Ekranas	3-9	Dinamo Zagreb	1-4	2-5
Hearts	3-0	Široki Brijeg	3-0	0-0

Third qualifying round

The first legs were played on 8 and 9 August, 2006, with the second legs on 22 and 23 August.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Slovan Liberec	1-2	Spartak Moscow	0-0	1-2
Shakhtar Donetsk	4-2	Legia Warszawa	1-0	3-2
Red Bull Salzburg	1-3	Valencia	1-0	0-3
Levski Sofia	4-2	Chievo	2-0	2-2
Hearts	1-5	AEK Athens	1-2	0-3
CSKA Moscow	5-0	Ružomberok	3-0	2-0
AC Milan	3-1	Red Star Belgrade1	1-0	2-1
Galatasaray	6-3	Mladá Boleslav	5-2	1-1
Standard Liège	3-4	Steaua	2-2	1-2
Austria Vienna	1-4	Benfica	1-1	0-3
Dinamo Zagreb	1-5	Arsenal	0-3	1-2
FC Copenhagen	3-2	Ajax	1-2	2-0
Hamburger SV	1-1(a)	Osasuna	0-0	1-1
Dynamo Kiev	5-3	Fenerbahçe	3-1	2-2
Liverpool	3-2	Maccabi Haifa	2-1	1-12
Lille	4-0	Rabotnički	3-0	1-0

The teams eliminated in this round proceed to the first round of the UEFA Cup.

¹ This club qualified for this season's UEFA competitions as a member of the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro during the 2005-06 season but is currently a member of the Football Association of Serbia which is the official successor of the previous football association.

² Due to the armed conflict going on in Israel, UEFA decided that no European matches could be staged in the country until further notice. The match was played at Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine.

Group stage

The draw for this round was held 24 August, 2006 in Monaco. The matches were played 12 September-6 December 2006.

Main article: UEFA Champions League 2006-07 group stage

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 4.05 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
5. higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Teams that progressed to the First Knockout Round are indicated in bold type.

Teams that progressed to the UEFA Cup are indicated in bold italics.

Teams eliminated from European competitions for the season are indicated in plain italics.

Key to colours in group tables

	Top two places advance to knockout stage
	Third place enters the UEFA Cup at the round of 32

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Chelsea	13	6	4	1	1	10	4	6
2. Barcelona	11	6	3	2	1	12	4	8
3. Werder Bremen	10	6	3	1	2	7	5	2
4. Levski Sofia	0	6	0	0	6	1	17	-16

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Bayern	12	6	3	3	0	10	3	7
2. Internazionale	10	6	3	1	2	5	5	0
3. Spartak Moscow	5	6	1	2	3	7	11	-4
4. Sporting	5	6	1	2	3	3	6	-3

Group C

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Liverpool	13	6	4	1	1	11	5	6
2. PSV Eindhoven	10	6	3	1	2	6	6	0
3. Bordeaux	7	6	2	1	3	6	7	-1
4. Galatasaray	4	6	1	1	4	7	12	-5

Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Valencia	13	6	4	1	1	12	6	6
2. Roma	10	6	3	1	2	8	4	4
3. Shakhtar Donetsk	6	6	1	3	2	6	11	-5
4. Olympiacos	3	6	0	3	3	6	11	-5

Group E

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Lyon	14	6	4	2	0	12	3	9
2. Real Madrid	11	6	3	2	1	14	8	6
3. Steaua	5	6	1	2	3	7	11	-4
4. Dynamo Kiev	2	6	0	2	4	5	16	-11

Group F

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Manchester United	12	6	4	0	2	10	5	5
2. Celtic	9	6	3	0	3	8	9	-1
3. Benfica	7	6	2	1	3	7	8	-1
4. FC Copenhagen	7	6	2	1	3	5	8	-3

Group G

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. Arsenal	11	6	3	2	1	7	3	4
2. Porto	11	6	3	2	1	9	4	5
3. CSKA Moscow	8	6	2	2	2	4	5	-1
4. Hamburg	3	6	1	0	5	7	15	-8

Notes:

• Arsenal wins the group by virtue of a win and a draw against Porto

Group H

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1. AC Milan	10	6	3	1	2	8	4	4
2. Lille	9	6	2	3	1	8	5	3
3. AEK Athens	8	6	2	2	2	6	9	-3
4. Anderlecht	4	6	0	4	2	7	11	-4

(KEY: Pts= Points; Pld= Matches Played; W= Matches Won; D= Matches Drawn; L= Matches Lost; GF= Goals For; GA= Goals Against; GD= Goal Difference)

Knockout stage

Main article: UEFA Champions League 2006-07 knockout stage

All knockout rounds are two-legged, except for the final. In the event of aggregate scores being equal after normal time in the second leg, the winning team will be that which scored more goals on their away leg: if the scores in the two matches were identical, extra time is played. The away goals rule also applies if scores are equal at the end of extra time. If there are no goals scored in extra time, the tie is decided on a penalty shoot out. The team first out of the hat in each tie plays the first leg of their tie at home, and the second leg away. This team is denoted as "Team #1" below.

First Knockout Round

The draw for the first knockout round of the competition took place on 15 December 2006 at 12:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland.

The first legs were played on 20 and 21 February 2007, with the second legs on 6 and 7 March.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Porto	2-3	Chelsea	1-1	1-2
Celtic	0-1	AC Milan	0-0	0-1 (a.e.t.)
PSV Eindhoven	2-1	Arsenal	1-0	1-1
Lille	0-2	Manchester United	0-1	0-1
Roma	2-0	Lyon	0-0	2-0
Barcelona	2-2 (a)	Liverpool	1-2	1-0
Real Madrid	4-4 (a)	Bayern	3-2	1-2
Internazionale	2-2 (a)	Valencia	2-2	0-0

Quarter-finals

The draw for the final stages, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, was held on Friday, 9 March 2007 at 12:00 CET in Athens, Greece. The draw was conducted by ad interim UEFA CEO Gianni Infantino, assisted by Friedrich Stickler, chairman of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee. Theodoros Zagorakis, the captain of Greece in Euro 2004, was appointed ambassador for the final.

The quarter-final matches were played on 3/4 April, and on 10/11 April 2007.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
AC Milan	4-2	Bayern	2-2	2-0
PSV Eindhoven	0-4	Liverpool	0-3	0-1
Roma	3-8	Manchester United	2-1	1-7
Chelsea	3-2	Valencia	1-1	2-1

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on 24/25 April and 1/2 May 2007.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Chelsea	1-1 (1-4p)	Liverpool	1-0	0-1
Manchester United	3-5	AC Milan	3-2	0-3

Final

Main article: 2007 UEFA Champions League Final

The Final took place on 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Unlike the other knockout rounds, the final was played in only one match with extra time in case of a draw at 90 minutes. If the teams were still level following extra time, a penalty shoot-out would have determined the winner.

AC Milan scored first through Filippo Inzaghi just before half time. Inzaghi scored again in the 82nd minute, before Dirk Kuyt scored a late consolation goal a minute before full time.

The winner (A.C. Milan) will go on to represent Europe at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

2007-05-23
20:45 CEST

AC Milan	2 – 1	Liverpool
Inzaghi 45' 82'		Kuyt 89'

Olympic Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 74,000

Referee: Herbert Fandel (GER)

UEFA Champions League 2006-07 Winners
A.C. Milan Seventh Title

2006-07 UEFA Club Football Player Awards

• Club Goalkeeper of the Year - Petr Čech
• Club Defender of the Year - Paolo Maldini
• Club Midfielder of the Year - Clarence Seedorf
• Club Forward of the Year - Kaká
• Club Footballer of the Year - Kaká

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League (Group Stage and Knockout Stage only) are as follows:

#	Name	Team	Goals
1	Kaká	A.C. Milan	10
2	Peter Crouch	Liverpool F.C.	6
	Didier Drogba	Chelsea F.C.	6
	Fernando Morientes	Valencia CF	6
	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Real Madrid	6
6	Raúl González	Real Madrid	5
7	Nicolae Dică	FC Steaua Bucureşti	4
	Filippo Inzaghi	A.C. Milan	4
	Claudio Pizarro	FC Bayern München	4
	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United F.C.	4
	Louis Saha	Manchester United F.C.	4
	Francesco Totti	A.S. Roma	4
	David Villa	Valencia CF	4

Trivia

• Levski Sofia were the first Bulgarian team to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stages, but they were also one of the few clubs in the history of the competition not to gain a single point in the group stage, the others being FC Košice (1997-98), Fenerbahçe SK (2001-02), FC Spartak Moscow (2002-03), R.S.C. Anderlecht (2004-05), and SK Rapid Wien (2005-06).
  • The only team to have failed to gain a single point in the second group stage in the history of the competition was Bayer Leverkusen (2002-03).
• FC Copenhagen also made their first appearance in the competition. They eliminated Ajax Amsterdam in third qualifying round to enter the group stages. They gained 7 points in their debut, and won against both Manchester United and Celtic.
• AEK Athens won their first UEFA Champions League match when they beat Lille 1-0 in their fourth group game at the Olympic Stadium. They proceeded to win their next game against A.C. Milan as well, but fell one point short of advancing.
• Barcelona set a new record of 15 games without a Champions League loss, having gone undefeated from their first match in the 2005-06 Group Stage against Werder Bremen until they drew 1-1 with the same team in their second match of the 2006-07 Group Stage, before being beaten by Chelsea in the next match. Ironically, the last team to defeat the Catalan giants was also Chelsea, who beat them in the First Knockout Round of the 2004-05 competition.
• Celtic qualified for the knockout stage for the first time since the tournament was restructured. After having no team progress from the group stage for the first thirteen Champions League seasons, Scotland now have had a team reach the knockout stage for the second consecutive season, as Rangers finished second in their group the previous season.
• All three teams participating in the group stage from each of the Spanish and Italian Leagues qualified for the First Knockout Round. However, the two top-placed teams, at the time, in their respective leagues finished runners-up, while the lower ranked teams finished group winners. The lower ranked teams were Valencia and AC Milan in 9th and 15th places respectively at the time of the group stage.
• AC Milan reduced their ticket price for their final group match against Lille to €1 for Serie A season tickets holders in an attempt to avoid a low turnout at their 80,000 seater San Siro stadium. AC Milan had already won the group and had nine major first team players out injured for the match. The match attracted a crowd of 27,067.
• Referee Mike Riley broke the record for the most yellow cards in a single UEFA Champions League match this season which he officiated between Olympique Lyonnais and A.S. Roma in the first knockout round. A total of 11 yellow cards (8 to Roma and 3 to Lyon) were issued in that game.
• In the first knockout phase match between Lille and Manchester United, an excess of Manchester United fans were allowed to enter one of the stands, creating safety fears. Lille objected strongly to the only goal of the game, scored by Ryan Giggs with a quick free kick in the 83rd minute, while the Lille defence were unready. At the restart, Lille's manager made his players leave the pitch in protest, but the game was played to its conclusion. Gary Neville of Manchester United was later hit by a missile thrown from the home crowd. Lille unsuccessfully complained about United's goal to UEFA, and have now dropped their appeal about the incident. UEFA then charged Lille with the improper behaviour of their players.
• Following their match with Internazionale, Valencia players fought with Inter players. Inter's Nicolas Burdisso sustained a nasal fracture following a punch from Valencia's David Navarro in the incidents which took place after the match . Navarro has since then issued an apology to Burdisso, UEFA and his club for his actions . After looking into the matter, UEFA have suspended Navarro for seven months which include domestic and international matches, Burdisso and Inter defender Maicon for six matches, Carlos Marchena for four, Iván Córdoba for three matches and Julio Ricardo Cruz for two. Both clubs have also been handed a €155,772 (CHF250,000/£106,217) fine . Valencia advanced on the away goals rule following the scoreless draw. Navarro's ban was reduced from seven months to six on 28 March 2007. Marchena's ban was also reduced from four games to two, Córdoba's was reduced from three games to two and Maicon's was reduced from six games to three. Meanwhile, Burdisso and Cruz had their bans upheld.
• Roma progressed to the quarterfinals of the European Cup for the first time since 1984 (where they went all the way to the final before losing on penalties to Liverpool)
• Roy Makaay scored the fastest goal in the Competition's history, hitting the back of the net just 10.2 seconds after the start of Bayern Munich's second leg match at home against Real Madrid. The Germans went on to win the leg 2-1 and the tie (4-4) on the away goals rule and won a place in the last eight.
• There is no country protection or protection for teams from the same group in the Group Stage from the quarter-finals onwards. Nevertheless, despite there being three English teams and two Italian teams, the draw did not result in any pair of English or Italian teams being drawn together. However, Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven were drawn together, resuming their battle from the Group Stage.
• The elimination of Barcelona by Liverpool means that no club has successfully defended their title in the Champions League era as yet.
• Manchester United's 7-1 victory over AS Roma at Old Trafford was the fourth highest-scoring Champions League match ever (excluding matches from preliminary and qualifying stages). It was also the biggest win in the quarter-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup since Real Madrid's wins in 1958 (8-0 against Sevilla FC) and in 1959 (7-1 against Wiener Sportclub). It was also the biggest win in the quarter-finals of any European major club competition since 1960 when Rangers won 8-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Cup Winners' Cup (Borussia Mönchengladbach beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 7-1 in the UEFA Cup 1972-73 quarter-final). The result was also the biggest defeat of an Italian club in European competition since 1958 when Juventus lost 0-7 to Wiener SC in the Champions' Cup.
• Three out of the four teams in the semi-finals are from England. One country having three representatives in the semifinals has occurred twice before - in 2000 when Spain was represented by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and again in 2003 when Italy was represented by Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan. However, unlike those prior two occurrences, only one English team advanced to the finals, and this time the team from the other represented nation won the competition.
• The progress of three English teams into the semi-finals together with A.C. Milan raised some interesting possibilities. One possibility was a repeat of the 2005 final between Liverpool and AC Milan; another was the prospect of a Liverpool vs Manchester United final - two teams located only 50 km apart taking tens of thousands of fans across the continent, with a huge potential logistical problem as all would use the same two nearby airports; the problem is made more difficult by the huge rivalry between the two clubs and the mutual loathing of their supporters (no player has transferred directly between them since 1964). A final between Chelsea and A.C. Milan was expected to pit Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko against the club he left only 9 months previously. There was the prospect of seeing Manchester United and Chelsea playing each other three times in a fortnight, in the FA Cup Final, a potential title-deciding Premiership match and the UEFA Champions League Final. In the end, the Serie A side triumphed, in a repeat of the 2005 final match-up.
• As AC Milan won the competition this year, it became the first time a team has won the trophy twice in the same stadium since the beginning of the Champions League era, having also won the competition at the Olympic Stadium in Athens back in 1994. Liverpool have already achieved this feat in the pre-Champions League era, having won the European Cup in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, in 1977 and 1984.
• AC Milan chose to wear their all-white strip for the final in Athens, despite being drawn as the "home" team for the match. This is due to the kit being their "maglia fortunata" (Italian: lucky kit), having won the European Cup/Champions League final in this kit on five out of the six times they have played it. However, they have lost finals in this kit once, most specifically against Liverpool in 2005.
• This decision by Milan means that Liverpool played the final in their traditional home kit of red shirts, red shorts and red socks. Each of Liverpool's five European Cup titles have been won in their all-red strip, and two of these came when they were playing against Italian teams who played in all-white.
• Italian sides are now equal with Spanish sides in terms of Champions League victories, both with four wins each since 1993. However Italian teams have made more final appearances, with Serie A sides having played in ten Champions League finals. There have been Spanish teams present in seven, and English teams present in four.

See also

• 2007 UEFA Champions League Final
• UEFA Cup 2006-07
• UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006
• FIFA Club World Cup 2007

External links

• UEFA Champions League at uefa.com
• Regulations for current season