Champions League semis live on Ten Sports
MUMBAI: Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel of the sub-continent, will bring live and exclusive the most anticipated four nights for football fans in April, when it telecasts both the legs of the Champions League, the premier tournament for European football clubs.
Ace presenter Joe Morrison will take the millions of Sub-continent fans through what is expected to be a roller-coaster ride of thrilling football when Liverpool take on Chelsea and Barcelona face Manchester United for a place in the final.
Chelsea travel to Liverpool for the first leg on Tuesday, April 22 (live telecast starts XX:XX pm IST), while the return leg is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30 (live telecast starts XX:XX pm IST). Barcelona will host English Premier League leaders Manchester United at Nou Camp on Wednesday, April 23 (live telecast starts XX:XX pm IST), while the second leg is slated for Tuesday, April 29 (live telecast starts XX:XX pm IST).
Liverpool and Chelsea will be meeting each other for the fourth consecutive year in the Champions League and for the third time in the semi-finals. The six games to date have produced a paltry three goals in total.
Liverpool have won seven of their last eight European home games and 11 of their last 13. They are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League games in which they have scored 24 goals and conceded only four.
The Reds coach Rafael Benitez will depend heavily on the scoring abilities of skipper Steven Gerrard and Spanish sensation Fernando Torres, who have scored 11 goals in the tournament this year, with Gerrard netting six times.
Liverpool have a magnificent semi-finals pedigree, reaching the final from each of their last seven appearances in the last four in Europe‘s prime club competition. The only time they failed to go through was in their first appearance in 1965 when they lost 4-3 on aggregate to Inter Milan.
Chelsea have kept clean sheets in seven of their last eight Champions League games. They will be looking for their first final appearance after losing thrice in semi-finals previously.
Barcelona and Manchester United have won two matches each and have three draws in head-to-head in European competitions. They will both look forward to the possibility of adding to their one Champions League title till date by reaching the final.
While Lionel Messi is the leading scorer for Barcelona with six goals, Manchester United will hope Cristiano Ronaldo, who has already scored seven goals in the competition, fires again.
Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 11 Champions League games of which they have won nine, including all the last five. Barcelona have not won any of their last three home games against English clubs, but United have won only once in 16 away trips to Spain. United are unbeaten in all 10 Champions League games this season in which they have scored 18 goals.