Gianluca Vialli believes Chelsea will lift the Champions League this year.

The 43-year-old, a former player and manager at Stamford Bridge, thinks his old club will beat Liverpool in the semi-finals despite having been eliminated twice before at the same stage by Rafael Benitez's side in the last three years.

And Vialli believes Chelsea will then go on to dispose of Manchester United who face Barcelona in the other semi-final clash.

"There are three English sides thirsty for victory and a bewildered Barcelona," Vialli wrote on Sky Italia's website.

"The writing seems to be on the wall because the Spanish side are playing badly: Rijkaard's team are slow and really allow opponents too many shots on goal.

"I don't think that's a problem of their play or tactics, but rather a problem of bad atmosphere due to talk about the manager and Ronaldinho's departure.

"It's not serious, great champions play for Barca, but the problem is that to beat this Manchester United you need a lot more than Barca had against Schalke.

"Looking at the never-ending English battle between Chelsea and Liverpool I think that the idea that 'there's not two without a third' in favour of Liverpool won't happen.

"In previous years the Blues have had a long line of misfortunes against Benitez's side but this year I think they will get to the final probably playing against Manchester United for the championship and the cup and I think that at the end they will win it."

Vialli was full of praise for Roma, whose quarter-final elimination at the hands of United spelt the end of Italian participation in the competition.

Daniele De Rossi missed a glorious opportunity to help Roma get back into the tie when he blazed a penalty over the bar in Wednesday's second leg at Old Trafford before United scored to eventually triumph 3-0 on aggregate.

"The Giallorossi go out with their heads held high," added Vialli. "They did themselves justice against the best club around at the moment.

"Of course De Rossi's penalty could have changed the game but the Red Devils controlled the game and deserved to go through without even suffering that much.

"Without (Francesco) Totti Roma are a good team, with Totti they become a great team and I think it was really the absence of one of the best players in the world that made the difference.

"It's not easy to play without your outstanding captain - especially from a psychological point of view - and at least the missed penalty lies on the shoulders of a solid player like De Rossi, who will shake off the disappointment of it very soon.

"However, I am sure that with this year's experience Roma will certainly do better next year and certainly go further."

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