Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium will be the venue for this year’s Champions League final on May 21.

U MYO WIN NYUNT (Former coach of the Myanmar national football side)

“It is very hard to say which club will be the champion because they are all well prepared for the knockout matches, every game will be tough. But Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Inter are strong enough to challenge for the title, going on their group stage form. I think clubs from Italy, Spain, England and Portugal will progress through the first knockout stage because they are better tactically and mentally than other clubs.”

“On their current form Manchester United should at least make the semi-finals and with a bit of luck they can win the title. The Manchester United forwards in particular have been very strong this season and their midfield has also done well.

“My only concern is their defence; there are a couple of weak points. If they want to win the title, they must work on their defensive play otherwise they will be in trouble, the Champions League opponents are tougher than their domestic rivals in the EPL. Their manager [Alex] Ferguson has learned a lot from losing to Italian club, AC Milan, last year. I don’t think he will make another mistake this time.

“Of the English clubs, I don’t think Arsenal can knock off AC Milan.”

Takahashi (Freelance sportswriter)

“I believe Manchester United will be Champions League winners because they are in great form at the moment. They’re not my favourite team but Ferguson is a very experienced manager and he has been at the club for years. He has shown he is tactically excellent – all the other mangers in Europe respect him.”

“Their forwards are excellent and Christiano Ronaldo is producing some wonderful performances, he is the top-scorer in the Premier League at the moment and seems to have luck on his side this year. If that continues it will help Manchester win the title.

“I’m not impressed by the current form of AC Milan and I can’t see them becoming champions again. But of the knockout stage matches the game between Arsenal and AC Milan will be the one to watch.

“Chelsea will again fall short this year because they seem to have no consistency but Barcelona, Real Madrid and Arsenal are all potential champions. Real Madrid is now regaining its rhythm in La Liga and leading the table.”

Ko Win Tin (Football enthusiast)

“My favourite team is AC Milan and I think they are good enough to be champions again. Kaka is the key to their title hunt and with their experienced players they make a good team. They analyse the match well when they are playing, this their strong point. They can adjust the tempo of the match well and their defensive play is also strong.”

“I also like Arsenal because they have young players and their ability to counter attack is the best of the European clubs. [Emmanuel] Adebayor is a very clever striker, he is a dangerous player for defenders.

“I think the match between Liverpool and Inter Milan will be a great one. Of the Spanish clubs, I think Barcelona will make the final while underdog Sevilla could surprise. Porto is also a good team and they should make the quarter finals. I don’t think Manchester United will be the champions this year because they focus too much on the Premier League.”

Andra Kuloglu (PE instructor for Horizon International Education Centre)
“I am Turkish and my favourite team is Fenerbahce. I was a professional football coach in Turkey and I had been the coach for the youth team in Fenerbahce. While Fenerbahce is my favourite, they are not very experienced compared to the other teams in this knockout stage.”

“Manchester United has a good chance to win against Lyon. The match between Liverpool and Inter Milan is going to be one of the hard results to pick, so the winner of this match is probably going to be one of my picks for the champion.

“For Arsenal and AC Milan, it is also a very challenging game. Arsenal are at home in the first leg so they need to establish an advantage. If Arsenal can win over AC Milan, then I think they can go all the way to the final, it is the key game for both teams.

“Champions League is a major competition between the Spanish, Italian and English styles of football so it is very exciting. English football depends more on long passes and it’s a very fast game. That means we get to see lots of goals and anything can happen – you never know when the goals are going to come.

“But then the Italian teams base their tactics on defence and also on counter attacking. For Spanish teams, most of them play a very classical style with lots of skill and they depend mostly on technique.

“I think Barcelona, Manchester United, Schalke 04, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and Fenerbahce will get through to the quarter finals.”

Vugar Babayev (Vice Principal of Horizon International Education Centre)

I always support any Turkish team that qualifies for the Champions League so this year I’ll be going for Fenerbahce but I don’t really have a favourite. Fenerbahce play a Brazilian style football as there manager is Brazilian and also some of their key players are as well. They have just signed a new striker, Moldonado, from Chile.

If Fenerbahce don’t qualify for the next stage I will probably support Chelsea instead because I am from Azerbaijan and the Chelsea’s owner [Roman Abromovich] is Russian, so there is some connection there. Also, when Arjen Robben played for Chelsea (he’s now transferred to Real Madrid) my friends always said I looked like him. But as for the champion, I think it will be Arsenal.