UEFA Cup Champions

With the UEFA Cup featuring the top clubs in European football every year since 1955, football fans have been treated to performances by some of the greatest footballers to have graced the European stage. Here are some of the potential UEFA Cup champions to look out for in the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup season.

Juan Roman Riquelme - Villarreal

Argentinean Juan Roman Riquelme is an imposing presence in midfield for Spanish club Villarreal. Riquelme has extensive experience at the highest level, having played for Brazilian club Boca Juniors and Spanish giant Barcelona.

It is at Villarreal, however, that the player really came into his own. Since Riquelme joined Villarreal the club has achieved a top four domestic league finish, were runners up in the domestic knockout cup and in 2006 reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

In 2005 a Spanish newspaper named Riquelme as Spanish football’s most artistic player. With Riquelme back at Villarreal after a short stint at Boca Juniors, expect to see him have a considerable impact on the club’s fortunes in the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup.

Miroslav Klose – Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich’s new signing is one of the most potent attacking weapons in European football and a UEFA Cup champion in the making. In the recent football World Cup in Germany Klose emerged as the competition’s top goal-scorer, with 5 goals, an achievement that earned him the coveted Golden Boot award.

Klose’s meteoric rise to football stardom is attributed to his ability to score off both feet, his uncanny capacity to score goals off headers and his modest, unassuming personality. With Klose already averaging a goal a game at the start of the German football season, the future looks bleak for Bayern Munich’s UEFA Cup opponents.

Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina

The controversial Romanian striker may be just what Italian club Fiorentina needs to capture their first major European title since 1961. Mutu’s 16 goals in 33 games for Fiorentina in 2006 saw him emerge as the player of the season.

Mutu’s deadliness on attack is attributed to his phenomenal speed and soft touch, and many regard him as one of the most technically proficient strikers from set-pieces. This season Mutu will be playing without his partner in crime Luca Toni, but don’t expect that to stop him from tearing apart the defences of his opponents and taking his place amongst the great 2007/2008 UEFA Cup champions.