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Champions LeagueNews

This Week’s Champions League Results: Dortmund-Shakhtar, PSG-Valencia, Juve-Celtic

March 7, 2013 — by Suman

Lavezzi.jpg

The week’s Champions League oxygen was mostly sucked up by Tuesday’s memorable and controversial Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid match, but with three other second legs also in the books, we’ve now got four of eight quarterfinal spots set: Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, and Juventus.  Next week’s remaining 2nd legs matches will determine the other four: Barcelona-Milan & Schalke-Galatasaray (Tues); Bayern-Arsenal & Málaga-Porto (Wed).

Of this week’s three “lesser” ties, only PSG-Valencia was close.  Dortmund convincingly beat Shakhtar 3-0 at home yesterday, to win 5-2 on aggregate, while Juve won 2-0 at home to post a manita on Celtic.

But while the Qatari-funded Parisians had won the 1st leg at the Mestalla a couple weeks ago 2-1, they gave up the goal very late, and also Zlatan saw red in the closing minutes, leaving the door slightly ajar for the Valencia.  And indeed, they were down 1-0 at home today at 55′, so that a 2nd Valencia goal would have given them the tie–but then Lavezzi scored for PSG 10 minutes later. It ended 1-1, so PSG go through 3-2 on agg.

As the featured image above show, Lavezzi was excited after scoring. Also shows that the guy belongs in gritty Napoli, not refined Paris! But he did come through with a goal in each leg of this tie. His goal at the Mestalla was created by PSG’s new Brazilian kid Lucas [Rodrigues] Moura da Silva, who quickly displaced Oscar as the most highly hyped young Brazilian not still playing in Brazil.

Here’s Coach Larry with some notes on PSG-Valencia:

I did watch PSG-Val.  Snoozer.  In the first half, PSG waited for a chance to counter-attack, Valencia didn’t really engage at all.  There were only two 1/8 chances both for PSG.  Moura played more inside and barely touched the ball.  Now keep in mind, Valencia needed 2 goals to have a chance, and one from PSG kills the tie.  On one transition, Valencia had a chance to advance quickly, and it took three passes before they advanced a 5th player into PSG’s half.  Not attacking third, HALF.  And PSG had 7 behind the ball.  Obviously, the game turned a little better once the miracle blast from Jonas (Brazilian) went in, that only requiring a very poor square pass from Van Der Wiel and no attempt from Matuidi to head clear. Sadly, this “turn better” wasn’t much more exciting.  Valencia controlled the edges and the positional play, but even on their corners, looked no danger on winning crosses as Motta and Alex and whoever else plays in the back, easily won the headers.  And the Valencia defense struggled to cleanly win the balls cleared, frittering away the time they needed trying to win balls against 1 or 2 PSG players.  One of those times, they did not even win it eventually, gifting the Lavezzi goal defending 4 against 2.

oh, and just to be clear here’s the tweet from Iain MacIntosh:

Larry’s notes prompted Edinho to chime in with his own observations:

Watched a bit of the PSG game, mostly because I wanted to catch a sight of Becks and Posh, to see what do he may have come up with for his Parisian phase. Thought Becks was going to come on as he was warming up, but then Ancoletti did to him what Mourinho did to Benzema, explaining later “To replace Motta I had to choose between Gameiro and Beckham and I thought he could bring more attacking energy.” Wonder what Becks thought of being described as having ‘less attacking energy’? He did pace on the sideline in was described elsewhere as an “endless warmup routine”..  Perhaps the PSG contract was for him to do just that – excite les femmes Parisiennes? Aside from this, I was curious about PSG’s level of play against a top Liga side, and was impressed that, after they had been woken up out of the ridiculous idea of playing negatively to hold a single goal lead, their players had pace and control when they turned it on to outmaneuver Valencia, even without man-mountain Ibrahimovic. If Fergie decides to cling on to his job, Mourinho could do worse than cosying up with Becks for a possible 4th Champions league title from a 4th country.

Oui, oui! Becks is trés excitant! Can’t wait to see him warming up in the quarterfinals, as “his” PSG moves towards potential CL glory.

Trés excitant!
Trés excitant!

EnglandPreviewScheduleSpain

Celebrating Easter Sunday: Arsenal-City, Athletic-Sevilla, Madrid-Valencia

April 8, 2012 — by Suman

Nasri-Frimpong.jpg

The three matches we chose yesterday weren’t the most compelling: Sunderland-Spurs the most dreary, a scoreless draw, while Lazio beat Napoli 3-1 (highlighted by a fantastic chilena goal by Mauri), and Porto beat Sporting Braga 1-0 on their home ground.  There were other interesting results in Italy, where AC Milan lost to lowly Fiorentina due to a late late goal, and later in the day Juve dispatched Palermo, thus pulling even with Milan on points at the top of the table.  And in Germany, both Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund won (vs Augsburg and Wolfsburg, respectively), and thus Dortmund’s 3-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table was conserved–setting up a showdown this coming Wednesday.  But more on that later–for now, here are a few matches to watch on this sunny Easter Sunday:

Arsenal vs Manchester City (11amET; FSC & Fox Deportes): The big match of the weekend in England.  #4 (though perhaps only temporarily) hosting #2 at the Emirates, with a full 3 points crucial for both teams.  Arsenal need them to climb back into 3rd (ahead of local rival Spurs), in their continuing effort to consolidate a top 4 (preferably top 3) finish.  City need them to stay within striking distance of their local rivals United–if City drop points today, they can say goodbye to any chance of winning the title. Which would give extra pleasure to many Arsenal fans, given that City have developed a habit of poaching some of Arsenal’s key players over the past few years–most recently and prominently French playmaker Samir Nasri–luring them north with petrodollars, plus the promise of hardware in the near future–something Wenger has been unable to guide his sides to in the past handful of years.

When these two teams met in mid-December at the Etihad, City slipped by the Gunners 1-0 thanks to a goal by their slight Spanish star David Silva. Indeed, the theme of our writeup was “Silva es magico.”  But since then City’s (on-field) fortunes have waned, and the conventional wisdom seems to be that it’s primarily due to Silva tiring. He certainly hasn’t displayed the magical realism that was on display weekly in the fall (most prominently in the Massacre at Old Trafford early in the season).

We noted that that December result knocked the Gunners out of the title race–but that was only the beginning of the crisis, with Arsenal seemingly falling out of contention for even a Champions League spot after a horrendous January (lowlighted by the Night Arsene Lost the Emirates–also against United).  But they rebounded with an impressive February, which started with that memorable 5-2 win against Spurs, although they’ve wobbled against recently, with a loss to QPR last weekend.

Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla (12pmET; GolTV): Two underachieving sides, at least domestically. We’ve been tracking Athletic closely, and they’ve been delivering in cup competitions–thru to the semis of the Europa League, and in the finals of the Copa del Rey (where they’ll be taking on Barcelona, in May)–but they’ve slipped into the bottom half of the table as their league form has slipped badly.  Sevilla has been trying to get back to the level they achieved a handful of years ago, and although they’ve got some talent–including current Spanish internationals Álvaro Negredo and Jesús Navas–their game perhaps depends a bit too much on aging former stars like Malian Frédéric Kanouté and well-traveled former Spanish international José Antonio Reyes.  Reyes has come full circle–he came up through Sevilla youth system and made his La Liga debut with them over a decade ago, and then went on to play for: Arsenal, Real Madrid (on loan), Atlético Madrid, Benfica (again on loan), before returning to his first club.

Real Madrid vs Valencia (3:30pmET; ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com): The slightest bit of pressure is on Madrid now in La Liga, since Barcelona have pulled to within 3 points.  Hence, anything less than a win would be considered disastrous among los madridistas. It is Valencia, which as seemingly always sit in 3rd–although if they lose and Malaga win Monday against Racing, the latter would pull ahead of them in the table.  Valencia, like Athletic, is thru to the semis of the Europa League, but similarly their domestic form has dipped recently too.

 

CommentaryEuropeSpain

An All-Iberian Europa Final Four

April 6, 2012 — by Suman

AdilRami-ValenciaEuropa.jpg

Yes, we’re eagerly looking forward to the big-name UEFA Champions League semifinal ties–but don’t overlook UEFA’s other final four. (Indeed, as Zonal_Marking wrote for ESPN today, the Europa League deserves more respect.) Given our growing interest in La Liga beyond the Big Two, yesterday’s quarterfinal results make for an especially interesting Europa League run-in: Athletic Bilbao, Atlético Madrid, Valencia, and Sporting Clube de Portugal advanced to the semifinals, setting up an all-Iberian set of semifinal ties:

1st legs on Thursday April 19:  Atlético Madrid-Valencia & Sporting CP-Athletic Bilbao

2nd legs a week later, Thursday April 26: Valencia-Atlético Madrid & Athletic Bilbao-Atlético Madrid

As we wrote earlier in the week, the Athletic Bilbao-Schalke tie was the only was that was pretty much wrapped up after the 1st leg, with Athletic’s 4-2 win in Germany. But the return leg at the legendary San Mames turned out to be a match worth watching (not that we did, unfortunately). It was a game of tit-for-tat: Dutch marksman Klaus-Jan Huntelaar  scored, pulling Schalke to within one goal on aggregate–but then Athletic equalized shortly 4 minutes later. And then it happened a second time: Raul scored yet another European goal, but Athletic equalized 3 minutes later.  So Athletic wins another tie in convincing fashion, by an aggregate of 6-4.  They have to be considered the favorites to win the whole thing, given how much energy they bring to their Europa fixtures.

The other three ties had 2-1 scorelines for the home team in their first legs: Atletico, AZ Alkmaar, and Sporting CP were leading Hannover, Valencia, and Metallist Kharkiv, respectively.

The match at the Mestalla was one we thought might be worth watching–and it was, in some sense, as Valencia quickly and convincingly turned the tie around. They were up 2-0 by 22′–both goals suprisingly by French international center back Adil Rami, off assists from the impressive Algerian youngster Sofiane Feghouli and the always dangerous Roberto Soldado. They added 2 more scores in the 2nd half–Spanish international wingback Jordi Alba scored one, and Pablo Hernandez added the final goal. The 4-0 win gave them a 5-2 win on aggregate.

The other two ties came down to the final minutes. Sporting CP held on for a 1-1 draw in far eastern Ukraine, eliminating Metallist. And in Hannover, Falcao scored a fantastic late goal to seal the deal for Atlético. Via twitter at approx 5pmET:

 

PreviewSchedule

What to Watch this Weekend (April 23-24)

April 22, 2011 — by Sean

Jeremain Lens will need to be on point against Feyenoord come Sunday

We’re approaching the end of club football in Europe, and while no fixture can be taken for granted at this point, there’s not a whole hell of a lot that’s particularly interesting this weekend. The games are important at the top and bottom of the table for sure, but will that make them something we want to watch? We think not.

The few exceptions are below, all times Eastern US, and click the teams for viewing information all around the world. Just think, with so few games to care about this weekend maybe you’ll actually get out there and have a kick about yourself? When’s the last time you did that afterall?

Saturday April 23

9:00am Inter Milan vs Lazio Lazio sits in fourth and Inter in third, with the sides separated by three points and automatic champs league qualification hanging in the balance. Inter does have a better goal difference though so even a loss would keep them in current places, but with Udinese breathing down the necks of the Rome side this match could have larger ramifications.

12:00pm Valencia vs Real Madrid Second place travels to third (though there are 14 points between them). Valenica will look to keep ahead of Villareal, while the Madriders are still keeping the faith for league glory. Highly unlikely on that later bit? Indeed.

Sunday April 24

8:30am Feyenoord vs PSV It’s all very tight at the top of the Eredivisie. Psv is currently in first position ahead of Twente, but only on goal difference, with Ajax siting third one point behind both (and with a better goals-for record than Twente). It’ll be a race to the end, and while Feyenoord aren’t the powerhouse team that challenged Ajax for the title so many times in the past, they’re no slouches either and could cause the champion’s league slots to shuffle this weekend.

CommentaryNews

Raul leads Schalke into Spain

February 14, 2011 — by Sean — 1

Pablo Hernández: The key to Valencia's attack

Champions League knockout action is upon us, so let’s take a look at what might be the most evenly matched tie of the round: Valencia CF vs FC Schalke 04.

Valencia CF

Valencia made their way into the tournament this year on the strength of their two Davids: Villa and Silva. Both moved on at the end of last season, but Valencia hasn’t missed a beat, sitting third in the table at this point and with a fantastic home record (thanks in no small part to the screaming maniacs sat up in the Estadio Mestalla). Still, Los Che don’t have a great record against German teams, having drawn five and lost one in their last six home encounters with teams from der Fatherland.

Who to look out for from the side in orange, you ask? Éver Banega, 22 yr old Argentine in the center of the pitch will look to start the forward movement with well-placed balls into the wing channels. In back the Dutch/Portugese duo of Hedwiges Maduro and Ricardo Costa (respectively) hold down the back line, while 29 yr old Frenchman Jérémy Mathieu likes to attack from his position at left back. Mehmet Topal (aka the Spider) hasn’t seen much love from his Turkish national side of late, but he’s a mean defensive midfielder who will be responsible for breaking the wave of the German offensive movement.

Up the right wing we’ll see the crafty Spaniard Pablo, who is always looking to lob a keeper he spots off his line (his matchup with Schalke’s left back Schmitz will be key). And at the point of the spear are Soldado and Aduriz (the later tending to come off the bench of late, but he’s also the teams top scorer this season). Soldado is particularly fired up, “This is the most important match of our lives and we must go for the jugular in order to try to take the tie.”

FC Schalke 04

Schalke sit at 10th in the Bundesliga, but that position is a bit deceiving. They have arguably one of the top goalkeepers in the world with the young world cup hero Manuel Neuer (sure to be in the running at Man United when Van der Sar wanders out to pasture at the end of the season), and a back four anchored by Christoph Metzelder, who, though almost always injured, has still managed to pick up 50 caps for his home country while also playing in two World Cups.

In midfield we hope to see Anthony Annan, a recent transfer into the squad during the mid-winter break, and a standout for one of our favorite World Cup sides: the Black Stars of Ghana! Also in midfield, where he should really keep his width on the left but instead tends to duck inside, exposing his left back to waves of overlapping attacks, is Jose Jurado, who plied his trade at Atletico Madrid before moving to Die Königsblauen. His opposite side is occupied by the Peruvian Farfán (there’s your line hugger).

Up top is the off-again/on-again dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, once a fixture at Real Madrid, alongside another fella a lot of folks may know from his time at Los Blancos — Raúl González Blanco. Obviously the team is more than one player, but this one in particular has struck at the heart of many a Spanish side over his sixteen years with Real Madrid (323 times to be exact). He’ll draw quite a few marks, and if fit we may see him play a full 90 minutes, a luxury he didn’t often receive with the young challengers on rotation in the Spanish capital.

Prediction

A balanced game but the key will be Pablo up the right wing for Valencia. Put history aside for this one as the men in orange will work themselves a 2-0 victory to take into the second leg.

CommentaryNews

David Weir: Old Guy

September 15, 2010 — by Sean — 2

What's that, sonny?

While we flipped through the Champions League games today one man stood out: David Weir. Not for his defensive prowess, nor for any particularly stellar play, but for the fact that, during a close-up of the man yelling at the ref, he looked amazingly old.

The captain of Rangers did indeed anchor an incredibly stubborn defense in a hostile Old Trafford this afternoon, and managed to hold together his troops without himself causing anyone a horrific injury (see further down for some home-shot video of Valencia’s season-ending ankle break).

Weir’s elderly appearance set us looking for his record. The man is a sturdy 40 years of age, and seems to only be getting more sure with the passing years. He spent the first few seasons of his career in Scotland, working his way through Falkrik and Hearts before signing with Everton, where he captained the side under two managers. After 8 1/2 season in the EPL he went back home and is now with Rangers, where just last year he received the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year Award (this just 3 days before his 40th birthday).

Footytube has a bit about him after his performance today:

Recently recalled to the Scotland squad, Weir became the oldest player to represent his country when he appeared in their recent Euro 2012 qualifying matches. Last season he was the Scottish Premier League’s player of the year and won the equivalent award from the country’s football writers. He has the lean outline and undemonstrative air of a man who has survived many harsh campaigns and on last night’s display he looks good for another outstanding year in both shades of blue.

And now, as promised, handheld footage of the Valencia injury. They didn’t show replays, so you’ll have to squint some and catch it on the fly. It’s not as horrific as Eduardo’s snapped ankle a couple seasons back, but it’s clearly a clean double break and a floppy foot flying through the air.