Champions League gave us two games this week lively full of energy and emotion, as in most knockout games we knew in recent years. But this year unlike past years there was a trend which there wasn't in the past years.The Champions League proves to us that nothing is obvious, no group or league, has a monopoly on the competition.

The Madrid Effect
This year the most expensive group ever came to the soccer field, unsurprisingly this was Real Madrid in the second Galacticos Project. For five years the team from Spain cannot pass the eighth-final stage. Difficult to point the specific reason but if you ask me, the problem is attitude and character of the Blancos preparing an expensive machine, yet soulless. Real Madrid have no value to their symbol, the symbol became money which buying the group every player on the planet. After the unforgettable show last year of the hated rival from Catalonia that picked every title possible, Madrid decided to appoint Florentine Press for a second term. Starting from this point until the opening of the season, Press was able to break every record of buying players, having spent the summer of more than 200 million Euro and bought Cristiano Ronaldo for 94 million Euro. Despite all this, the Blancos could not meet audience's expectations. Real Madrid was kicked out in the eighth-final stage by Lyon. We now are looking forward to the opening stages of unexpected knockout with a clear statement - football teams are first of all teams, which is much more important than the number of players shining. This fact is well known at the team of Barcelona, and in that time they managed to make their players Super-stars. Ruben and Snider were taken out of Real's staff before the spending campaign. Following last week's events, one thing is clear, they are two key players of both teams at the moment seems to play the final. Champions League this year represents the battle of the soul, rather than the big money.

The English effects
It's hard not to consider the English league as the best league in the world. In the last decade there has been an English representation in almost every Cup final. The English takeover created a famine that had accumulated for several years in good teams but not as rich as those in England. The difference between the English teams and their rivals are mostly in the tactical level, a difference which began to diminish. But the big difference was the gap between the rivals' hunger and the English's satiation. Chelsea was defeated twice by Inter that has not undergone the eighth stage for several years and appointed Jose Mourinho specifically for this task. Manchester was eliminated by Bayern Munich and Munich had a sweet revenge on the famous defeat in 99' final. Arsenal managed to get a draw at home against Barcelona, but was defeated 4:1 at Camp Neo. Liverpool is in a dark period from the beginning of the season. The story of the knockout stages of the Champions League is characterized by those who are not at the present stage, no less than those for are there. This season broke the English monopoly and opened the Champions League for all European teams. 

Besides Barcelona ,none of the groups was at this stage in the past few years. It seems that this season may remind us of the 2003 season of Puerto, which in the end of that year it was Mourinho raised the trophy, do not be surprised if this happens again.