UEFA Champions League 2011-12 Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

Arsenal wonm the first leg at home 1-0 and the second leg away 2-1 away (they came back from 0-1 down at half time).
The Italians had, in fact, qualified for the group stage during the 2005-06 season, where they finished third in a strong group which also included Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and eventual champions Barcelona.

Answer: Everton

Everton finshed fourth in 2004-05 in the FA Premier League, but were eliminated in the qualifying stages of the 2005-06 Champions League (they lost 1-2 in both legs against Villareal).
In alphabetical order, the ten teams are: Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Answer: Fenerbahce

During the 2010-11 season, Fenerbahce were trailing the league leaders by 9 points after 16 games. They then went on an unbeaten run of 17 wins and one draw to win the league. The club's president was subsequently arrested following allegations of match fixing.

Sadly, this was not the first incident of alleged match fixing to blight European football. In 2006, several Italian clubs were caught up in a match fixing scandal which ultimately saw Juventus relegated to Serie B.

Answer: Villarreal

Having finished fourth in the Spanish league in 2010-11, Villarreal qualified for the Champions League by beating Danish side Odense in the last knockout round. The Champions League wasn't the only disappointment for the Spanish side during a troubled season, as they finished 3rd last in La Liga and were relegated to the Segunda Division.

Answer: Thiago Silva

Barcelona won the return match 3-2 on matchday 5. The two sides met again at the quarter-final stage, with Barcelona winning 3-1 on aggregate following a 0-0 draw at the San Siro.

Answer: Score five goals in one game

In 2011, at the age of only 24, Messi became the first player to be voted FIFA World Player of the Year for a third successive year.

During a remarkable 2011-12 season the Argentine broke several goalscoring records, at both European and club level for Barcelona. The Round of 16 second leg tie against Leverkusen was just one of these, when Messi became the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single match en route to a 7-1 victory for the Spanish side.

Answer: Cyprus

APOEL were actually the first team from Cyprus to qualify for the knockout stages full stop. A remarkable feat considering they were officially ranked 28 out of 32 teams going into the group stage, based on UEFA's co-efficient system.

Answer: Chelsea

Barcelona had won the Champions League in 2006, 2009 and 2011. Madrid took the honours in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Bayern won the competition in 2001. Although they had never previously won the title, Chelsea were beaten finalists in 2008, losing on penalties to Manchester United.
With many people expecting a Barcelona v Real Madrid final, both semi-finals saw upsets, with Chelsea and Bayern progressing to the final (played in Bayern's home stadium).

Answer: Didier Drogba

Having played most of the match in their own half, Chelsea could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when Thomas Muller headed Bayern ahead in the 83rd minute of the game. However, as they had done throughout the tournament, Chelsea dug deep and Drogba headed an equaliser 5 minutes later.

The match ultimately went to penalties, with Chelsea winning 4-3, however the result could have been totally different had Arjen Robben converted a penalty in extra time. Luckily for Chelsea, Petr Cech saved and the match ended 1-1 after extra time; and they went on to win the cup for the first time in the club's history.

Answer: Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea had made a poor start to the season, which ultimately saw their manager Andre-Villa Boas sacked after only 9 months in charge. Roberto Di Matteo was installed as an interim manager until a permanent replacement was found. Di Matteo went on to lead Chelsea to the FA Cup and Champions League trophies, but could not rescue the league campaign, with Chelsea finishing in 6th place, their worst position since 2001-02.

As a result of Chelsea winning the Champions League, Tottenham Hotspur, who had finished 4th in the Premiership and would otherwise have qualified for the 2012/13 Champions League knockout stage, were instead entered into the Europa League.

In 2005, Liverpool won the title but only managed to finish fifth in the Premiership. Fourth placed Everton were allowed to enter the 2005-06 Champions League alongisde Liverpool as champions, meaning five English clubs were represented in the competition that year. UEFA changed its rules after that to ensure that any future winners of the Champions League which had not qualified through the league campaign would enter the following seasons competition at the expense of another club from that national association.