European Round-Up

Champions League

Inter Milan 4 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs’ comeback wasn’t quite enough in the end, and Gareth Bale will probably never be more unhappy after scoring a hat-trick. Inter scored in the first minute, and in the seventh minute goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was sent off. Samuel Eto’o converted the subsequent penalty, and when a third goal was added a matter of minutes later the game really looked dead and buried. Eto’o grabbed a second before half-time, meaning that Spurs were four goals down at the break. Bale scored a sublime goal to begin reducing the deficit, scored an identikit second with only a few minutes to go, before completing his hat-trick with an accomplished finish from the edge of the area. There really was not enough time left to even think about grabbing the unlikeliest of equalisers, though, and Inter completed a deserved win.

The scoreline flattered Spurs in the end. For almost all of the first half, Inter were untouchable, the Spurs defence looking scared and making error after error. This will have been an important learning experience for the team and Harry Redknapp, and the fact that mistakes of any kind will be ruthlessly punished at this level has surely been hammered home. Spurs welcome the Italian and European champions back to White Hart Lane next, and Bale’s late hat-trick might just give them the belief they need to take something from that game.

Manchester United 1 – 0 Bursaspor

A very drab game by all accounts, lit up by a sumptuous early strike from Nani. Wayne Rooney was nowhere to be seen, still recovering from his ankle injury, and his presence was missed. United fans must be beginning to fear the worst. This really was a laboured victory against a side that Sir Alex Ferguson’s team would normally swat away at Old Trafford without breaking a sweat. Javier Hernandez, whilst good, does not yet have the breadth of skills to replace Rooney completely if the United talisman does indeed leave in January. Federico Macheda is still far too green, and perhaps may never mature into a truly Premier League-quality striker. We all know that Berbatov is extremely talented; but he is a very different player to Rooney, and one who does not seem the type to carry a team to a trophy on his own. If Rooney leaves, games like this will become much more commonplace at Old Trafford, and worse may yet be to come.

Rangers 1 – 1 Valencia

A fantastic point for Rangers here, and it really should have been more. After going ahead before the break through a towering header from Edu, Rangers missed a whole host of clear-cut chances (including a couple of open goals) before Edu was unfortunate enough to put the goal into his own net just after half-time to level the scores. Rangers seem to have ditched their habit of losing European games at Ibrox, and if they can scrape a draw away at Valencia they will have a very decent chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Spartak Moscow 0 – 2 Chelsea

Not much to note in this game. The result went entirely as expected, Yuri Zhirkov scoring his first Chelsea goal upon his return to his native Russia. Nicolas Anelka added the second, picking up the slack from Didier Drogba’s absence. John Terry will probably have relished the opportunity to return to the scene of his infamous penalty miss in the 2008 Champions League final, but nobody except him really cared all that much.

Arsenal 5 – 1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Similar to the Chelsea game in that the result went as expected, although credit must be given to Arsenal for playing some wonderful football and winning more comfortably than many might have expected. Jack Wilshere started alongside Cesc Fabregas in the Arsenal midfield, playing well once again and grabbing a nice goal as his development into Fabregas’ natural replacement continues apace. Shakhtar are a very good footballing side, and were probably Fulham’s toughest opponents during their run to last year’s Europa League final, a fact overlooked by many. It was nice to see Eduardo score on his return to the Emirates too; the Arsenal fans were more than willing to accommodate him and celebrate the goal as their team were 5-0 up at the time. If that had been the go-ahead goal, I’d wager they might not be quite so pleased.

 

Europa League

Napoli 0 – 0 Liverpool

This was a very good result for Liverpool. Roy Hodgson decided to rest many key players and give some of his reserves a chance to shine, and the gamble paid off. Napoli are a solid side, and can be an intimidating place to visit (as evidenced by their fans’ “hunting” of Liverpool supporters before the game). By choosing to prioritise the Premier League at the weekend, Hodgson took a gamble that paid off. His second-string players rewarded him by putting in a performance well worthy of a point. A 0-0 draw away from home in Europe without Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres in your starting XI is not to be sniffed at.

Manchester City 3 – 1 Lech Poznan

City claimed all three points in comfortable enough fashion here, Emmanuel Adebayor grabbing a hat-trick in the process. Lech Poznan did make the score 2-1, which would have given City fans a few nervous moments, but in the end the result was never in too much doubt. City are now in a very strong position in their group and will almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages.

Midweek European Round-up

Here’s a quick look at this week’s midweek European games:

Champions League

No major upsets for the British clubs in the Champions League this week (unless, of course, you consider a Rangers victory to be an upset). Chelsea cruised past Marseille 2-0, putting them firmly in control of Group F.

Arsenal eventually overcame Partizan Belgrade 3-1 after the scores were level for a large part of the game, and Marouane Chamakh missed a penalty at 1-1. The Gunners’ victory also puts them in pole position to qualify at this early stage.

Manchester United faced a tougher task as they faced Valencia at the Mestalla. A drab game livened up after the break, with Javier Hernandez getting the breakthrough in the last ten minutes to give United a very good victory.

Also in United’s group, Rangers overcame Bursaspor 1-0 at Ibrox to put them level on points with the English team at the top of Group C. The win ended a long run without a European win at home for Rangers, and Walter Smith will be glad to have got that monkey off his team’s back.

Finally, Tottenham thrashed Dutch champions FC Twente at White Hart Lane, thanks in no small part to three penalties awarded to them by the referee (although in fairness, one of them was missed and Rafael van der Vaart was eventually sent off).

All in all, it means that all five British teams are in decent positions as we approach the halfway mark of the group stages. Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United will almost certainly sail through to the knockout stages now, whilst Rangers and Spurs are perhaps in better positions than they might have hoped when the competition kicked off. Rangers, certainly, will be ecstatic with 4 points from two games, and Spurs will not be too disappointed with the same total. A draw away to Werder Bremen in their first game was a great result considering Spurs’ relative lack of experience in European competition.

There were some other notable results from around Europe in the Champions League this week. Inter Milan battered Werder Bremen 4-0, Samuel Eto’o grabbing a hat-trick as the Italians made a big statement of intent. In Group D, Barcelona were held at home by Rubin Kazan, both sides scoring a penalty apiece as the game finished 1-1. The result now means that Rubin are unbeaten in their last three games with Barcelona, even winning the game at the Camp Nou last season. A truly remarkable statistic for the Russian team.

Barca’s great rivals Real Madrid laboured to a win away at Auxerre, winning 1-0 thanks to a second-half strike from Angel di Maria. Jose Mourinho’s shaky start to his tenure at the Bernabeu continued in this visit to France, with the goals failing to come as freely as might be expected. Many Madrid fans are beginning to grow restless with Mourinho’s pragmatic tactics, and although Real are having far more shots than any of their opponents so far, most of them are pointless long-range efforts. Something is not quite right, and Mourinho will need to fix it quick.

Also in Real’s group, Ajax and AC Milan played out a 1-1 draw, Zlatan Ibrahimovich scoring the equaliser upon his return to his old club. Second spot in this group is wide open (assuming that Real sort their problems out and win the group as they should), and this result doesn’t make things any clearer.

All in all, then, an intriguing if not overly exciting round of Champions League games. The group stage is bloated in this format, leading to many relatively meaningless games. A streamlining of the competition’s format would make it far more interesting in the early stages, but as it is now, the real interest doesn’t begin until the knockout phase begins next year.

Europa League

A quick look at the Europa League, then, with Liverpool once again struggling to find form and goals as they were held to a goalless draw at Utrecht. Roy Hodgson seems to be finding it hard to get his team playing to their potential, and the Reds couldn’t find a way through the Utrecht defence even though Fernando Torres was back from injury and supposedly 100% fit again. Dirk Kuyt was also poor in his first game back after injury. Things just do not look like getting better at Liverpool, and this season may have to be one of consolidation whilst the ownership situation is sorted out.

Manchester City were more impressive in a 1-1 draw with Juventus, and might even feel disappointed not to have taken all three points. A long-distance strike from Vincenzo Iaquinta opened the scoring (with Joe Hart perhaps at fault), and Adam Johnson levelled things up after finishing off Yaya Touré’s exquisite through-ball. Alessandro Del Piero almost won the game with a late free kick that cannoned off the crossbar, but City also had their chances to claim victory. It says a lot about how far City have come when they can feel disappointed not to have beaten Juventus.

Europa League Group Stage Draw

So after Liverpool overcame Trabzonspor and Manchester City eased past Timisoara, they find themselves in the group stage of the second ever UEFA Europa League. Here’s how the draw treated them:

Group A

Juventus
Manchester City
Salzburg
Lech Poznan

Manchester City were in Pot 2 so were always to going to draw one of the top seeds, but Juventus is probably the most prestigious team they could have drawn. Juventus v. Manchester City is the tie of the round. And City will feel they have a very good chance of beating them. After thrashing Liverpool 3-0 at Eastlands earlier this week, City laid down a marker for the season ahead. Particularly at home, Roberto Mancini’s men will feel they can beat almost any team put in front of them. Away from home, with Mancini’s defensive tactics and organisation, they will be extremely tough to beat. Juventus, too, have just sold Brazilian playmaker Diego to Steve McLaren’s Wolfsburg after he failed to make any kind of meaningful impact last season. Having said that, it may have been worth giving him a chance to settle in and improve upon last year’s campaign. It should be noted, though, that while Juventus have a great deal of history and should rightly be respected, they are far from the imperious team of old. Defeated 4-1 by Fulham in last year’s Europa League, City should not fear them.

The other two teams in City’s group should pose no great problems either. Red Bull Salzburg are the reigning Austrian champions and in last year’s Europa League they won all 9 of their group games (in a group involving Villarreal, Lazio and Levski Sofia) before losing to Standard Liege in the Round of 32. Whilst this seems impressive on the surface, Lazio were in a relegation battle in Serie A last year, Villarreal finished 7th in La Liga, and Sofia are not a particularly dangerous side. Austria is not a very intimidating away trip, so City should be able to win both games against this opposition.

The same can be said of Lech Poznan. Poznan are the current Polish league champions, but they very rarely make the group stages of the Europa League (or its predecessor, the UEFA Cup). This year, they struggled past Inter Baku on penalties in the first qualifying round for the Champions League before crashing out in the second qualifying round to Sparta Prague. They only just scraped through their Europa League qualifier, too. Most of City’s current squad have experience of playing in European competitions, so Poznan will pose few problems. City should breeze through this group to take their place in the Round of 32.

Group K
Liverpool
Steaua Bucharest
Napoli
Utrecht

Liverpool, on the other hand, have been quite unlucky in their draw. Steaua Bucharest will present an awkward trip to Romania for the Reds, and will put up a solid challenge. Liverpool will still be the favourites against them, especially as they needed penalties to overcome Grasshoppers Zurich in the Play-off Round but Roy Hodgson will probably not be relishing the away game against them.

Napoli are a tougher prospect. They were probably the toughest team in Pot 3, and Liverpool have got the misfortune of drawing them. Napoli are a team on the rise. After switching managers in October of last year, Napoli’s results improved dramatically, with Walter Mazzarri leading them to a 6th-place finish. This is remarkable for a club that were playing in Serie C five years ago. They have signed Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani on loan this summer, a player who scored 34 goals in 109 games for Napoli’s close rivals Palermo. With Argentinian Ezequiel Lavazzi also at their disposal, Napoli have a potent strikeforce and Liverpool will have to tread with caution.

Utrecht should be easier to overcome, but their 4-0 defeat of Celtic to overturn a 0-2 deficit should serve as a warning as to what can happen if concentration levels are allowed to dip in European competition. Whilst Liverpool should certainly have enough quality to defeat the Dutch side, Celtic found out to their peril what can happen when you switch off.

Liverpool should still top this group – in theory. They laboured past Trabzonspor without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, and now that Javier Mascherano appears to finally be on his way to Barcelona, they will hope that either Lucas or Christian Poulsen steps up to fill the void left by his departure. As long as Gerrard and Torres. Hodgson worked miracles in taking Fulham to the final of this competition last season, and he will have to start earning his paycheque already if he wants to repeat the feat with Liverpool. They should progress, but with Liverpool’s form at the moment, it won’t be as straightforward as their supporters would have liked.

In the end, at least they qualified. The same cannot be said of Aston Villa, who imploded in style against Rapid Vienna at Villa Park, and Celtic, who crumbled away from home against Utrecht. The only Scottish team left in European competition this season (following the failure of both Dundee United and Motherwell to qualify for the Europa League) is Rangers in the Champions League, and they face an uphill struggle to get through their group. It just goes to show how far Scottish football has fallen since the days when Celtic and Rangers used to be strong contenders for the European Cup.