There aren’t many bigger clubs than Barcelona and AC Milan, so it’s quite a pleasant surprise to have them meeting on Matchday 1. Unless there are some serious surprises over the next couple months, they should finish 1-2 in their group–it’s hard to imagine either of slipping behind Zenit St. Petersburg or Cyprusians APOEL FC (see our run through today’s fixtures for a full account of what APOEL is an acronym for)–so their two matches should be crucial, determining who finishes atop the group and gets the better seed going into the knockout stage (which doesn’t start until five months from now, in Februrary).
Frankly, though, it will be a quite a surprise if Milan finish with more points than Barcelona. The latter are, of course, as you’ve likely been hearing ad nauseum, one of the greatest club sides in the history of the game: two Champions League titles in the past three years, plus La Liga champions in each of those three years. All achieved with not only an incredible collection of talent–led of course by Lionel Messie–but with a tactical style that could very well be the next evolutionary step in the game.
On the other side, Milan have the history. They are seven-time winners of Champions League (1962–63, 1968–69, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 2002–03, 2006–07), second only to Real Madrid (see the list); and eighteen-time winners of the Serie A title (tied with crosstown rivals Inter Milan, behind Juventus’s imposing total of 27; list).
(Indeed, these two sides met in the final of the 1994 Champions League–Milan was managed by Fabio Capello, who had succeeded the legendary Arrigo Sacchi at Milan, while Barcelona was managed by none other than Johan Cryuff. The latter were favored, but Milan destroyed them 4-0. See here for video highlights of that match.)
But although the current Milan side was top of the table in Serie from start to finish last season, they don’t feel particularly imposing. In the Champions League last spring, they were knocked out of the Round of 16 by Spurs, who were subsequently exposed by Real Madrid (and in the Premier League) as not an especially strong side themselves. They’ve got a big name multinational strikeforce–Pato, Inzaghi, Ibrahimovic, Cassano, Robinho–but they don’t come across as big game players (aside from perhaps the aging Inzaghi). Ibrahimovic is out for today’s match due to injury, so it will likely be Pato and Cassano partnering up front.
Behind them, are they still going to rely on Clarence Seedorf to give them some presence in the midfield? Probably not–against Lazio in Milan’s Serie A season opener against Lazio, they played Ghanaian Kevin-Prince Boateng in an attacking midfield role, ahead of Alberto Acquilani (recently returned to Italy on loan from Liverpool) and hard man Rino Gattuso.
It will be interesting to see if those three can manage to contain Barcelona’s midfield. Somehow we think it unlikely, given that no one else has managed to over the past few years. Xavi, Iniesta, new arrival Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets pushing forward from his holding role, Lionel Messi dropping deep from his center forward position, Dani Alves and Adriano flying up the wings..there’s a lot there to deal with in the middle third of the pitch.
An exciting day–it’s the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage! Matchday 1 consists of eight matches today and eight tomorrow, with all 32 teams in action. Four of the eight groups play their matches today (Groups E, F, G, H), with the other four in action tomorrow. As usual, all the matches kickoff at 20:45CET (= 2:45pmET for those of us in the US; as the saying goes, check your local listings for TV info).
The big one to watch today is defending champion Barcelona hosting Italian Serie A champions AC Milan. But let’s take a quick look at all of today’s fixtures:
Tues 13 September 2011
Group E:
Chelsea-Leverkusen (Stadium: Stamford Bridge, London): The Blues should win at home, despite not being quite settled: seems like they’re still adjusting to new manager Andre Villas-Boas, the Fernando Torres situation is still unclear, especially after AVB sat him for the entire match over the weekend; and it’s same old guys at the core of the squad (Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole). Indeed, a bit of controversy erupted this week when Torres said as much in an interview to a Spanish newspaper–that Chelsea needed to bring in Juan Mata because the midfield was too slow. And indeed, newly arrived Juan Mata, as well as back-from–loan Daniel Sturridge, give the Blues a new look and some more creative play, making them somewhat more interesting to watch. As for Leverkeusen, all eyes will be on Michael Ballack, in his return to Stamford Bridge.
Genk-Valencia (Stadium: KRC Genk Arena, Genk): Speaking of Juan Mata, Valencia looks to regroup after losing their star player at the end of the summer transfer window. But it’s not as if they’re not used to it–the previous summer they lost the two Davids, Villa and Silva, but still managed to finish third in La Liga yet again. They are indeed the unsung heroes of La Liga. Watch for striker Robert Soldado, who has been on fire in the first couple La Liga matches–a hat-trick against Racing Santander and then the game-winner against Atletico Madrid this past weekend. Indeed, Soldado is making a case to be included in Vincent del Bosque’s Spain squad (perhaps at the expense of the aforementioned Torres?). Behind Soldado, look for Argentines Éver Banega and Pablo Piatti (both of whom have been capped playing for La Albiceleste), and Spaniards Pablo Hernandez and Sergio Canales. Regarding the latter, The Football Ramble writes that a “potentially exciting arrival was former child prodigy Sergio Canales on loan. Canales looked incredibly good when he burst on the scene in early 2010 and starred as Spain U-19s bamboozled England. Then last season he got jammed up in the cogs of Mourinho’s Madrid machine. Still only 20 years old, he’ll probably need to be slowly eased back on track.”
Group F
Olympiacos-Marseille (Stadium: Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus): We have very little to say about this matchup, other than we do rather like OM, after looking at their squad ahead of their Champions League matchup against ManU last spring: “Marseille does have some interesting players to watch in attack: French internationals Loïc Rémy and Mathieu Valbuena, and French-born Ghanaian international André (Dédé) Ayew“–the latter the older of the two sons of Marseille/Ghana legend Abedi Pele Ayew that now play for OM. Read more about Valbuena, Rémy, Ayew, and Abedi Pele in our post from last spring.
Dortmund-Arsenal (Stadium: BVB Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund): Rob Kirby has posted at length about this tough German test for the Gunners, to which we’d links to our coverage of Die Schwarzgelben last season: match reports from Bundesliga contests versus Bayern Munich and Eintract Frankfurt.
Group G:
Porto-Shakhtar Donetsk (Stadium: Estádio do Dragão, Porto): Porto had a remarkable season last year: domestically, they were Portuguese Invincibles, winning Liga Sagres by going undefeated. In Europe, they won the Europa League title. But the centre could not hold: over the summer they sold star Colombian striker Falcao to Atlético Madrid, and perhaps more significantly, their special manager Andre Villas-Boas left for the big time. But his 2nd-in-command stepped into the managerial chair, and they’ve still got Hulk and James Rodriguez in attack, to which they’ve added Kléber, another young Brazilian.
Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk also had a successful season–they won their Champions League group last fall, finishing ahead of Arsenal (you can see the video highlights of them beating Arsenal here), and hammered Roma in the Round of 16, before inevitable falling to the tiki-taka onslaught of Barcelona in the quarterfinals. Indeed, Shakhtar has been displacing Dynamo Kyiv as the club power in Ukraine. They’ve still got that full complement of Brazilian midfielders and strikers–forming what’s been called Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov‘s Brazilian carnival in far eastern Ukraine.
APOEL-Zenit (Stadium: GSP Stadium, Nicosia): Since you’re probably wondering, APOEL FC is in Cyprus, which is where this match will be played. In fact, Wikipedia informs us that the club name is, in the original Greek, ΑΠΟΕΛ Ποδόσφαιρο; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας–Athlitikos Podosfairikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias– “Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia”). Zenit is of course from St. Petersburg.
Group H:
Barcelona-Milan (Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona (ESP): The biggie. We’ll be back with a separate preview of this match shortly. It’s the one we’ll be watching, along with most of the continent and footballing world.
Plzeň-BATE (Stadium: Eden, Prague): Again, just some geographical context. Plzeň is, as you can see, in Prague, while BATE is the Belarusian club FC BATE Borisov (Belarusian: ФК БАТЭ Барысаў, IPA: [baˈtɛ]; Russian: ФК БАТЭ Борисов, FK BATE Borisov. Meaning that not only Plzeň but also Barcelona and AC Milan will have to travel to the 2nd largest city in Belarus (with a population of <150,00, one-tenth the size of the capital Minsk).
Here are tomorrow’s fixtures–we’ll be back with some preview comments before they kickoff Wednesday:
Arsenal travel to Borussia Dortmund to kick off the Champions League group stage tonight. Facing the German champions after a challenging start to the season and a crucial if somewhat underwhelming 1-0 win at the Emirates against Swansea City on Saturday is a tough task, but that’s the scenario. Of principle importance, the team quadrupled its points total in the league. No use wishing what else might have been.
It's always good to have your own giant German. And a pocket Russian.
The positives:
On Saturday, Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta made their first starts at the Emirates and put in solid performances for players who have had close to zero playing time with their teammates. Yossi Benayoun came on as a sub for his first performance in an Arsenal shirt as well. All put in solid shifts and with Ju-Young Park and Andre Santos warming up on the sidelines at various points, the new boys were in full effect.
(Meaningless to the team, but tremendously meaningful to me, it was my first visit to the Emirates, as well. The third row seat, right next to the Arsenal bench, pretty much ruled. More on which later.)
For the goal, Arshavin pounced on a freak goalkeeper error and slotted in a great goal from a tough angle. People will point to Vorm’s mistake, but the mercurial Russian came through before half-time with a great strike, one which proved to be the match winner. Arshavin has always had the talent, and on Saturday he came through when Arsenal needed him. It’s a good a time as any for a return to form, Andrey….
Meanwhile, Arteta showed poise under tough circumstances in his capacity as playmaker. Obviously Swansea does not have the reputation of a big name team, but they put up a fight with not inconsiderable pace. Keep in mind that Arteta was anticipating runs and weighting passes to players he can’t have trained with more than two or three times, as all the forwards had been on international duty since his deadline day signing. Mertesacker’s 6-foot 6 presence seemed massive, Koscielny played well and Szczęsny took total control of his area, with a few clinch saves. He truly seems like the man to keep the first ‘keeper place for years to come. He has all the self-confidence of pseudo-Gunner Bendtner but with the performances to back up the braggadocio. Chamakh came on and played well for the first time since nearly 10 months ago, and Coquelin also acquitted himself well.
As to the negatives, the second half was nervy and the crowd was jumpier than a virgin at a rodeo. (Sadly, I think I just stole that line from a long-ago episode of the Golden Girls. In fact, I know I did.) Like it or not, the Arsenal knows better than almost anyone how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. One never felt the game was locked up, and were it not for Szczęsny’s fantastic save 6 minutes from full time, it could easily have been a draw. Swansea doesn’t have the big name players, but they counterattacked with the quickness on several occasions. With a lesser man than Scszney in goal, they could very well have left the Emirates with a point. I, for one, am incredibly relieved they did not.
Van Persie had a less than stellar game. I had bet £10 on him to score first and £10 to score anytime in the match–it seemed like easy money, like taking candy from a baby–but such was not to be the case. He comported himself like a leader, though. With Walcott also having an off match, he looked isolated and squandered a few chances, but knowing his quality, knowing that he and Arteta will continue to form an understanding and knowing that Gervinho will soon (as in tonight) return in all his forward-bombing speediness augurs well. Frimpong looked tough–he’s a bruiser–but he too often gave away the ball carelessly, erasing all the hard work. The Ghanaian Mr. T will continue to improve, though.
Will Arsenal win tonight, or manage to take a point? Tough to call, as Dortmund are no chumps. A point, to my mind, would be more than acceptable, as Dortmund will very likely earn one of the top two spots and advance to the knockout rounds. Clubs encircled 19-year-old attacking midfielder Mario Götze like a pack of hyenas over the transfer window, but Dortmund was loathe to lose one of the top prospects in world football. The team has some dangerous players. Remember, these are the German champions, with one of the most solid home records and defenses around, having conceded only 8 goals last season. Not to belabor painful recent memories, but Arsenal conceded 8 in one game just over 2 weeks ago. This bears no further repeating, as it’s fully in the mind of the players and supporters. Time to replace it with fresh memories of winning ways.
Interesting factoid, a certain Tomáš Rosický (out with injury) scored two for Dortmund against Arsenal in the home 2-1 match in 2002 when they last met, surely a deciding factor on Wenger’s choice to snap him up in 2006.
Now is about looking forward. Now is about rebuilding and rediscovering the culture of winning and scrapping it out every single game, whether against mammoths or minnows. Ultimately, the Swansea match was about three points, and the points were secured. Arsenal no longer languish at the bottom of the league table. Should it have been 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-1, 4-0, 7-0? Sure would have been nice (since I had £1 bets on the first five of those scorelines), but 3 points, even if a bit ugly, is all you can ask, especially in light August’s craptacular start.
If you want a sure win every time, with goals aplenty, support Barcelona (or one of the Manchesters). I am happy that Fabregas has returned to his wily ways and electric displays, but I support the Arsenal, so that is not a choice. And I despise all three of those teams, despite some of the incredible players on the payrolls. Of the 4 teams, only one is actually more than a club. (Hint: not the one that calls itself such as it nickles and dimes clubs into submission, yapping on and on about Barcelona DNA, perceived player grief and avenging the “kidnapping” of one of La Masia’s finest. Then, when they finally get their way, making the player himself pay part of his way, they brag about the great deal they got on said player, say Francesc Fabregas Soler, and how, no doubt about it, he was totally worth the asking price. More, even. They knowingly took money out of Cesc’s pocket. Keep it classy, Barcelona!)
Arsenal need to qualify for the knockout stages on merit. Putting in a solid performance against Dortmund would be a huge step towards that goal and a huge step towards cementing the team as a fully operational Death Star (I mean, “team”), new players fully integrated and folded into the mix. Gervinho and Song will be back. Arteta will make his first Champions League performance since his youth years at PSG and Rangers, and I imagine the 29-year old will work his ass off. It’s always good to have your own German giant when facing off against a team of such, so Mertesacker will provide a huge amount of presence and experience, and perhaps Santos or Park will make their Arsenal debuts. Seeing Mertesacker from close-up was sobering. He is a truly massive player. I have much faith he will become an equally enormous component to set pieces, both in defense and in headers in at the other end of the pitch.
Wenger misses out (nonsense UEFA ban), as do Wilshere, Rosický, Diaby, Ramsey and Vermaelen, but Arsenal have the firepower and the growing defensive solidity to compete. They just need the confidence, the mental focus and just maybe a pinch of luck. At the end of the day, the best team will win. Hopefully, the win over Swansea was the beginning of the much-vaunted turnaround, the “real” beginning to the season. But one game does not a season make. And even a victory against Dortmund will not put all the demons to rest, with a tough away fixture at Blackburn this weekend. As they say, though, you can only play the team in front of you, and though that team is no slouch, neither is Arsenal. Come on you Gunners. May tonight see the Arsenal rise to the occasion and Arteta taste the first of many future Champions League victories with his new team.
Expected starting XI:
Szczęsny
Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs
Arteta Song Benayoun
Walcott van Persie Gervinho
(Young guns Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Francis Coquelin, Ryo Myaichi and Carl Jenkinson did not travel to Germany this time around, but all the experienced new signings made the 18-man squad.)
There’s a lot of soccer to watch this weekend, especially since there will be a lot to watch come Tuesday and Wednesday: the start of the UEFA Champions League, with group stage Matchday 1, meaning 16 matches spread all over the continent.
Hence, we highlight domestic league games this weekend featuring teams that qualified for the Champions League, so that you can get ready for Matchday 1 (and do some scouting for your fantasy team–join the CultFootball league!):
Germany, Borussia Dortmund-Hertha Berlin 9:30amET (GolTV): Dortmund were the surprise stars of the Bundesliga last season, running away with the title. They did sell young Turkish-German midfielder Nuri Şahin to Real Madrid, but hung on to 19yo midfielder Mario Götze, despite interest from Bayern Munich and ManU. See our coverage of Die Schwarzgelben in thesetwo match reports from last season. They’re Champions League opener is an interesting one [Dortmund-Arsenal, Tuesday]
Germany, Bayern Munich-Freiburg 9:30am (ESPN3.com; tape at 3pm on ESPN Deportes): Bayern Munich had a troubled 2010-11 season, as evidenced by famed Dutch manager Louis van Gaal’s sacking in April. Bayern has much the same squad, though strengthened in goal after they bought Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer [Villareal-Bayern, Wednesday]
Three of the four Premier League teams that qualified for the Champions League kick off at 10amET/3pmGMT, with the other right after:
England, Arsenal-Swansea City 10am (Fox Soccer): CultFootball’s contributing writer & Arsenal fanatic Rob Kirby will be in attendance at the Emirates! [Dortmund-Arsenal, Tuesday]
England, Manchester City-Wigan 10am (Fox Deportes, foxsoccer.tv; tape at 5 on Fox Soccer): b/c Man City has been lighting it up, and they’ll be trying to keep pace with ManU–in the points and the goal diff’l cols [Man City-Napoli, Wednesday]
England, Bolton-Manchester United 12:30pm (Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes): ManU has been lighting it up even more than City, and prob will against struggling Bolton (still w/o their mf stalwart Stu Holden, who’s still recovering from that nasty knee injury from May). But then they’ve got an interesting away match next week [Benfica-ManU, Wednesday]
The four Spanish Champions League qualifiers are in all action today as well:
Spain, Villarreal-Sevilla noon GolTV: We enjoyed watching Villareal get past OB in the playoff stage a few weeks ago, and we’re looking forward to seeing them in the Group of Death [Villareal-Bayern, Wednesday].
strikers Giuseppe “Jersey-born” Rossi and Brazilian Nilmar, and midfielders Cani, Borja Valero, Bruno Soriano and team captain Marcos Senna–the latter three of whom have all earned caps with the Spanish national team–no mean feat given the current generation of Spanish midfielders: Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets.
What we failed to mention is that Villareal did sell a star midfielder over the summer, another player who has earned caps for Spain: Santi Cazorla, who was snapped up the nouveau riche Malaga.
On the other side of the ball, watch for Sevilla’s striker Álvaro Negredo, another Real Madrid castoff who has forged his way with a lesser club (cf Juan Mata), and is now making a case to start for Spain. His nickname: La fiera de Vallecas (the beast of Vallecas). Their heart and soul is still aging Malian midfielder Frédéric Kanouté, who has stuck with them since through their decline; see this Sid Lowe column about their draw with Barcelona last March.
Spain, Real Sociedad-Barcelona noon ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: The Catalan club, which claims to be mes que un club, take on the Basque club ahead of their starting their defense of their Champions League title [Barcelona-Milan, Tuesday]
Spain, Real Madrid-Getafe 1:50 p.m. GolTV: Real Madrid has this the lesser known and even less competitive Madrid derby ahead of their trip to Croatia [Dinamo Zagreb-Real Madrid, Wednesday]
Spain, Valencia-Atletico Madrid 4 p.m. ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: The Spanish alternative hosts Atletico, then goes to Genk [Genk-Valencia, Tuesday]
The three French qualifiers are also in action this afternoon, though available in the US only via foxsoccer.tv:
France, Saint Etienne-Lille 1pm foxsoccer.tv: They sold Gervinho, but the defending Ligue 1 champs still have Edan Hazard [Lille-CSKA Moscow, Wednesday]
France, Dijon-Lyon 1pm foxsoccer.tv: Lyon has to travel to Amsterdam mid-week… [Ajax-Lyon, Wednesday]
France, Marseille-Rennes 3pm foxsoccer.tv: …while Marseille has to travel to Athens [Olympiacos-Marseille, Tuesday]
Italy, Cesena-Napoli 2:30pm. Fox Soccer, ESPN3.com: Napoli is led up front by Uruguayan striker Edson Cavani, and strengthened their midfield by picking up Gökhan Inler from Udinese, with a dramatic unveiling [Man City-Napoli, Wednesday]
Sunday
Italy, Palermo-Inter Milan 2:30 p.m. Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes, ESPN3.com: Sunday Night Football in Palermo, then back to the San Siro a few days later [Inter-Trabzonspor, Wednesday]
De Silvestri of Lazio vs Pato of Milan at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, 1 Feb 2009. (Photo by New Press/Getty Images)
We’ve been persusing this weekend’s list of televised matches–and we’re coming across a lot to recommend. So as we continue whittling down the list for Saturday and Sunday, here are two matches today that you might tune in for. Check back within the next 24hrs for our picks for the rest of the weekend…
Friday, Sept 9
Italy, AC Milan-Lazio 2:45pmET (FSC, Fox Deportes, ESPN3.com): It’s the belated Serie A season opener–Friday Night Lights at the San Siro! These are two teams that should be near the top of the table throughout. AC Milan picked up another Scudetto last season, while Lazio is looking to improve on their 5th place finish. Plenty of players to watch for on both sides..
Portugal, Porto-Setubal 3:15pmET ESPN3.com: We rarely tune in for a Liga Sagres match, since we get sucked into the major leagues most weekends (Englad, Spain, occasionally Germany). But you might switch over from the Serie A match to catch a bit of this, especially since Porto is the defending title-holder in Portugal, and will be hosting Shakhtar Donetsk Tuesday in the first Champions League matchday.
The French professor..introducing new training techniques to bring Arsenal back from the brink?
Some thoughts from Arsenal observer Rob Kirby ahead of their pivotal Champions League playoff match against Udinese later today:
Apparently, the last chance saloon is in Udine, Italy. I always wondered as to the exact location. Despite the fact that it would have scuppered the Man City deal, if Nasri played today it would have made sense both financially and sporting-wise. Arsenal will lose £20 million minimum (some say £25m) in TV revenue if they fail to qualify for the CL. Assuming the Nasri deal is £25m, that justifies hanging onto Nasri to my mind, since we seem to be incapable of finding anyone to replace him, anyway. Any hopes of attracting someone of Eden Hazard’s calibre hinges on playing in the European top flight. But all this assumes Nasri’s heart would be in it, and that is debatable. If we lose, according to CL rules, he wouldn’t be cup-tied, so no harm in having him on the bench. But at this point it’s water under the bridge, or water that passed beneath the bridge weeks ago.
Arsenal are like lepers currently. Prospective targets keep rejecting offers, right and left. That will change if the Udinese match goes North London’s direction, but it still leaves little or no time for squad reinforcements. Fortunately, all the teens did well against Liverpool, despite the loss. Fans seem to have cottoned to Frimpong’s energy instantly, red card notwithstanding. And though the Ramsey-Ignasi own goal combo was regrettably unlucky, I don’t think anyone would have preferred to see Squillaci in the young Spanish defender’s place. They got thrown in the deep end, but stayed afloat. It’s the senior players who dropped the ball. And there never should have been 3 teenage EPL debuts in such an important game, with a fourth coming on as a sub.
I will always be optimistic about Arsenal and Arsene’s abilities, but it’s getting tougher. Arsenal have now racked up 3 suspensions (almost 4, with Wenger awaiting the UEFA verdict) and until yesterday 6 injuries (Wilshere, Koscielny, Gibbs, Djourou, Rosický, Diaby, Traoré). Djourou, Rosický and Traoré have been deemed fit to travel, but they’ve got to be feeling on the iffy side of fitness. At least Gervinho and Song can play this week and have been rested.
But as demoralizing as it is, if Arsenal win, it could change the trajectory of the entire season. Much hangs in the balance tonight. There aren’t enough fingers to cross.
Given our Anglocentric view of the footballing world, the pre-group stage UEFA Champions League qualifying playoffs have primarily been about Arsenal’s challenging tie against Udinese. But there’s more going on–much much more, including some interesting 2nd leg matches today.
Here’s the full schedule of today’s and tomorrow’s fixtures, from UEFA’s site. The matches we’ll keeping an eye on are two involving rather “big” clubs from two of the continent’s big leagues: Zürich vs Bayern München & Villarreal vs Odense BK.
Will OB sink El Submarino Amarillo?
Bayern won 2-0 last week against the Swiss club (founded, we just learned yesterday, by the same man who went on to found FC Barcelona). So barring a lopsided upset today in Zürich they should advance to the group stage. On the other hand, Danish OB (not to be confused with the true Korean beer) surprised the heavily favored Submarino Amarillo 1-0 at home in Odense (the 3rd largest city in Denmark, with a population of approx 167,000).
So Villareal will have to win at home, and by at least 2 goals. But we’ll be looking for that to happen, given their “imperious home form“at El Madrigal and high-scoring abilities (via strikers Giuseppe “Jersey-born” Rossi and Brazilian Nilmar, and midfielders Cani, Borja Valero, Bruno Soriano and team captain Marcos Senna–the latter three of whom have all earned caps with the Spanish national team–no mean feat given the current generation of Spanish midfielders: Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets).
We’ll be back soon with an account of what we watched this past weekend, but first there are two matches later today that are worthy of your attention:
This is an annual pre-season friendly hosted by Barcelona each August, named after Joan (nee Hans) Gamper–a Swiss player and businessman, and founding member of FC Zurich. He moved to Barcelona in 1898, where he founded, played for, and then served as club president of FC Barcelona (cf. Chapter 4 of Jimmy Burns’ definitive history of the club, Barça: A People’s Passion).
Aurilio De Laurentiis' Napoli goes into the Lion's Den to face Barcelona today
For this trophy, Barcelona invites a club from outside Spain to play at the Camp Nou; the past few years have seen top clubs like AC Milan, Man City, Boca Junions, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and Juventus travel to Barcelona. Today it’s another Serie A club, one that has emerged as a challenger to the Milanese hegemony in Italy.
Napoli finished 3rd in Serie last season, behind the two Milan team, so we’ll be seeing them in the Champions League this fall. Their breakout star last year was 24-year-old Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani–he scored a club-record 26 goals in Serie A last season, his first with Napoli after they’d signed him away from Palermo. Napoli showed they’re serious about challenging in Serie A–and perhaps even in the Champions League–by extending Cavani’s contract until 2016.
Not only that, they added to their squad over the summer by signing Swiss-Turkish midfielder Gökhan Inler away from Udinese (who, by contrast with Napoli, sold off their star players following their strong finish in Serie A last season).
And of course on the other side of the ball it’s only the best club side of our era. Given that it’s just a friendly, we’ll be watching for some of the second-stringers to get more playing time: new/recent arrivals Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and Ibrahim Affelay, as well as La Masia graduate Thiago Alcântara. Consider that those four (Thiago and Cesc in the midfield, in the spots where Xavi and Iniesta usually run things; Sanchez and Affeley on the wings), plus current starters Messi and Busquets, form a front six (in Barça 4-3-3) for the next decade–Cesc and Affelay are the senior members of that lineup at 24 and 25, respectively.
EPL, Manchester United-Tottenham Hotspur (3pmET, ESPN2/ESPN3.com): A more consequential match than the one above. It’s Tottenham’s season opener, after their Week One fixture was postponed in the wake of the London riots–and they have the tough draw of going into Old Trafford to face defending title-holders ManU. Here are Coach Larry’s thoughts on the match:
Considering we know (assume?) that Spurs will make significant changes to their team before the window closes, how they lineup should prove interesting. United’s squad appears settled, and now they have the youth (back from loan spells) they lacked last term. ManU should lock down the midfield area to protect their central defense, but Rafael van der Vaart could prove a challenge. Tottenham’s back line represents their most consistent group and their matchup against United’s attack probably will offset.
Our resident Spurs fan John Lally is optimistic: “I really fancy spurs to put in a performance today. Ashley Young is their biggest threat but hopefully we start [Croatian] Kranjčar again in the middle. I’ll say 2-2”
Also optimistic is the Guardian’s Barney Ronay, who writes that the Spurs may “wing” their way to victory, thus ending to their long drought at Old Trafford (their last win there was in December 1989!)–that is to say, that the matchups to watch will be on the wings, where Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon will be running at Man U depleted defense.
There aren’t many bigger clubs than Barcelona and AC Milan, so it’s quite a pleasant surprise to have them meeting on Matchday 1. Unless there are some serious surprises over the next couple months, they should finish 1-2 in their group–it’s hard to imagine either of slipping behind Zenit St. Petersburg or Cyprusians APOEL FC (see our run through today’s fixtures for a full account of what APOEL is an acronym for)–so their two matches should be crucial, determining who finishes atop the group and gets the better seed going into the knockout stage (which doesn’t start until five months from now, in Februrary).
