Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg Wrap Up

Chelsea vs. Benfica 

Chelsea, the final surviving English club in the competition took a lead in their two leg quarter final show down with Benfica, winning at the stadium of light 1-0.  As the torch bearers for the English in the European competition, Chelsea have had the onus of " must succeed" put upon them. In the first leg against Portuguese opposition, they came up trumps securing an all important away goal. After a dismal display, in a dismal game against Tottenham at the weekend, the blues stepped up their game perhaps in response to my previously mentioned point and players like Ramirez and Torres had good games in a much unfamiliar line up. Solomon Kalou started off of Torres, Mikel was reinstated into the midfield, and Paulo Ferreira was brought in as right back.  The little Spaniard and creative attacking force Juan Mata had a quiet game, but former Benfica player Ramirez showed why he was signed from the Portuguese side. Another typical Chelsea performance from Fernando Torres as he did not score, yet help the ball well, skinned a few defenders and provided the chip cross that assisted to Kalou's goal.

The second leg will be at Stamford Bridge next week and I would gather that Chelsea will deal with the Portuguese side:  3-1 on aggregate.

Marseille vs. Bayern Munich

My pick for the most exciting duel in the quarterfinals proved to be far from actual. Let me just come out and say it, Marseille's starting keeper who for all he's worth is their third string, fluffed a strait forward save which deflated the side who where coping with the German powerhouse. Munich looked like the home side as they controlled most of the possession, with Lahm going walkabout on the right. The Spanish referee ruled with an iron fist, reprimanding four before the half. Ribery returned to his old side, and when his feet ensnared the ball the boos rained down possibly effecting his play as he was anonymous.  First string and French international keeper Steve Mandanda was out due to a suspension, and the second string keeper was dropped due to a poor performance.  On to the third Elinton Andrade  who turned to cellulose when a shot hit at him by Mario Gomez the naturalized German scoring machine, went right through him.  After this Marseille's stuffing was removed and Munich went on to win 2-0, with Arjen Robben adding the nail to the coffin pulling out old tricks from an old bag. 

If the French side couldn't  get it done at home, then they stand no chance in Munich next week, even with the return of Mandanda immanent. I say a 4-1 on aggregate.

AC Milan vs. Barcelona

When I saw the starting line-up for AC Milan I thought here goes another ransacking by Barcelona as most notably the absence of  center defender Thiago Silva was out due to injury. V for veteran was the name of the game as Alessandro Nesta at age 36 started in the back and Clarence Seedorf, who turns 36 this weekend started for the Rossenairi. My first instinct again was off as the game which in all due respect was rather toothless and finished in a 0-0 draw.  Messi had the ball in the bak of the net ( surprised?) but he was offside. Ibrahimnovich returned to his old stomping grounds with a point to prove, yet on another Champions League night  was missing from the spotlight. Milan should have changed the fabric of the game in the first few minutes when Ibra headed a looped ball strait to the former Real Madrid's Robinho, who skied his shot standing nearly 5 feet from goal. 

Milan heads to the Nou Camp next week and It smells like a case of " Sorry Charlie" as Barcelona are more clinical that Doogie Howser's prodigious hands. Barcelona progress 2-0 on aggregate.

The Milanese Massacre: Arsenal 0-4 AC Milan CL

Well that's all folks- in terms of Arsenals' CL European adventure as their first leg tie against AC Milan ended  4-0 in favor of the Italians. Arsenal has long been known as the kids of Arsenal, with manager Arsene Wenger having a knack for seeking out young talent from around Europe. The team that played yesterday were not kids, but they sure played like them. Against the likes of Ibrahimovic, Kevin Prince-Boateng and Thiago Silva, Arsenal looked toothless. Good possession once again led to nothing,  Laurent Koscielny came off with an injury in the first half, Van Persie managed 1 or 2 shots max, Tomas Rosicky once again rocketed every shot into row Z, and keeper Szechney couldn't clear his lines to save his life.

Mark van Bommel in the center of midfield for Milan seemed to have time to take a smoke break in the and Abbiati was tested in goal, not by shots but by his ability to stay awake. Ex-Tottenham player Kevin Prince-Boateng opened the scoring with a one time, cross body volley that  went in off the under side of the bar. Robinho notched two goals, one created by a slip from Vermaelen and the other was crafted from a cut back after Ibrahimovic's daring run to the by-line.  Ibrahimovic added to the score sheet with a penalty won by a deft cross body drag in the box.

Arsenal looked as bad as I have seen them, and the look of despair on Wenger's face as he mashed his hands deeper into his coat pockets was almost comical as it's becoming a regular occurrence due to Arsenals form. I swear I'am going to make a montage of his fits from the sideline, and watch it when I'am having a bad day.

Arsenal is struggling in the league, and now that they're are certainly out of the Champions League, one must look beyond bringing Thierry Henry back to salvage the clubs reputation.

David Luiz Blesses Fernando Torres in CL match vs. Genk (video)

Fernando Torres is back scoring in the Champions League netting twice for the blues in their match 5-0 win over Genk last night. This is all due to the blessing bequeathed upon him by witchdoctor David Luiz, summoning the sprits from the past to aid the striker. 

Check video it's absolutely wild...

CL Action: Arsenal 1-0 Marseille

Arsenal: Ramsey (90'+)

Arsenal vs. Marseille was far from a classic, but substitute Aaron Ramsey added heart pounding excitement to Gooners around the world when he netted following Gervinho's mis-control from a Djourou cross.

Once again one nil to Arsenal, a welcomed score line to Arsenal fans at the moment....I would hope? This was Arsenal's first clean sheet away from home in the Champions League for three and a half years. Aaron Ramsey's goal perches the N. London club top of their group.

For the rest of the CL results.

CL Action: Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Valencia

Leverkusen: Schurrle (52')              Valencia: Jonas (24')

                     Sam      (56')

After one of the poorest first half performances I have ever seen, Bayer Leverkusen wised up and threw themselves a life vest securing the 3 points in their 2-1 win over Valencia.

Unable to have ball stick at their feet Leverkusen flopped around while Ballack complained and Valencia mounted attack after attack. Failing to punish Leverkusen with more than one goal, allowed the Germans to get back in to the game. In actual fact conceding the goal is what kick started them into life and the game continued to fluctuate between attacks from both sides until its resolution.

A sick volley from Andre Schurrle leveled terms to which the roar of the home crowd urged them to push on.

The second came in the form of a gallivanting run from Sidney Sam resulting in him shifting it to his left and  hitting a curling shot that rippled the net at the back post.

Unai Emery and Valencia should feel hard done by that they didn't put the game to bed when they had the chance, as now they now sit behind Chelsea and Bayern Leverkusen and in Group E.

The rest of this week's Champions League results.

The Great Wall Of Neuer Crumbles.

Bayern Munich's keeper Manuel Neuer's streak of I believe 12 game 1,146-minute streak without conceding was broken today as Munich surrendered an own goal from Holger Badstuber in their 1-1 draw with Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo.

Munich's 100% record in the Champions League group stage was broken in fiery match with Napoli in their Group A showdown. Not the best performance from the Italian's excluding Cristian Maggio, Keeper  Morgan De Sanctis and Ezequiel Lavezzi, but they squeaked out result.

Bayern, despite the result look like they could slay anything that steps before them, and will give the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United a run for their money.

Attack of the Green Laser pens....Champions League action

"Set lasers to stun boys!"

If you watched the Champions League clashes of Chelsea vs. Valencia and Dortmund vs. Marseille you would noticed a sickly green feature on the various players faces and bodies. This is not due to bad fish served at the team hotel, but childish troublemakers shining laser pens into the eyes of the players in both of the games. Having played with them myself I know how far they shine/ how painful they are if pointed into your eyes for a duration upward of 1.5 seconds. Now I don't think Dortmund's keeper Weidenfeller could blame letting Andre Ayew's goal on temporary blindness, but in the case of Solomon Kalou's groping of the ball in box, I would recommend the adverse. I might get some stick from the secret laser society  for not praising their organization, popping up in two different games across Europe. A successful achievement in the plot to annoy the piss out of players, refs and fans alike, the shenanigans  caused by laser wielding hooligans led to plenty of commentary from the match reporters, so I guess mission accomplished.  

Speaking of shenanigans: the players who participated got into the most for this round of CL action were Edison Cavani for his unparalleled forward play, notching the penalty in their match against a brittle Villarreal, and Super Mario Gomez, popping up with two pure poacher goals in the drubbing of a out of sorts Man City. Alexander Frei wasn't to shabby grabbing a brace against Man United, and Ramirez finally looks to be settling into Chelsea's midfield, showing blistering pace allowing him to catch up with his poor first touch. Honorable mentions go to Andre Ayew of Marseille, Marek Hamsik of Napoli, Frank Ribery, and Valencia's goalkeeper Diego Alves who came up with a myriad of peachy  saves defying Chelsea from taking the away win.

Team flops of this round had to be Manchester City, who as a team failed to make any impact whatsoever outside of the first five minutes. Neuer was working on his tan while Joe Hart was going bald over the slack marking that led to both goals. Mario Gomez is as in form as nature allows right now, and he came up with a masterclass in a positional sense, it's got to be that hair! The team looked like one tht has never layed in a European competition- yet the majority of the team has vast experience  playing for other teams that have. That set the adhesive that holds their team of individuals together suffered in the humidity, peeling away to expose the weak foundation that the squad is build on. They just plain and simply looked awful.

The second flop of the week Is actually a two parter, but both team wear yellow. The sub(par)marine yellow of Villarreal and the Gelb(yellow) of Dortmund. Villarreal I thought might be a surprise package in the so called group of death which includes Napoli, Munich and City, yet judging on results so far I'd reckon their hyde will be scared by whips come advancement time. They looked terrible going forward, with Nilmar lacking confidence and touch he made Nil impact on proceedings, whilst Giuseppe Rossi like the little engine that could, chugged his way to relevance, but couldn't break the deadbolt of Inler and Cannavaro. 

Dortmund played 10 times better than they did against Arsenal a fortnight ago, and all they got was a 3-0 defeat. Goetze looked lively yet he was left to forage for himself. Hummels and Subotic made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the back with a slip from Subotic leading the Marseilles first goal, and a poor back header from Hummels granting Remy the chance to run, chest and volley past Wiedenfeller in goal for the second. Like Man City, Dortmund look a team a bit overwhelmed by the task of vying in the Champions League. 

For a full summery of results and scorers hit the link. The Link 

Real Madrid's European (3rd) Kit

Knowing that I was turning on the T.V. to watch the Champions League game between Real Madrid and Dinamo Zagreb, It still took me about 5 minutes into the match to acknowledge that I was watching Real Madrid. This is because of the sole reason that they were wearing a bright red kit, which is their new 2011/12 third kit. This kit includes the CL star-ball patch in recognition of their 9 European titles, located  on the left sleeve. Having defeat Zagreb this week, the Los Blancos will face Olympique  Lyon, and Ajax in group play. A bit dodgy in my opinion, as I find their 3rd kit should always be blue.

Champions League Group Stage, Day 2

Dinamo Zagreb  v. Real Madrid


Ajax     v.       Lyon                                


Basel   v.    Otelul Galati


Inter Milan   v. Trabzonspor


Villareal  v. Bayern Munich               SpotKicks Pick To Watch


Manchester City  v. Napoli               SpotKicks Pick To Watch


Lille   v. CSKA Moscow                     SpotKicks Pick To Watch


Benfica   v. Manchester United


In about one half of an hour the second day of Champions league play will commence providing  World audiences with a few potentially cracking matches. Manchester City will take on Napoli, which for my money will be the best of the bunch with the likes of Cavani, and Lavezzi providing a possible banana skin for the sky blues.


Manchester City:
Hart,Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy ,Yaya Toure, Barry,Nasri, Silva, Milner, Aguero
Napoli:
De Sanctis, Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica,Maggio, Inler, Dzemaili, Dossena ,Hamsik,Cavani, Lavezzi
Keep your eye on the attacking spectacle of CSKA Moscow vs. Lille, with Eden Hazard keen as any to make an impact in his first CL appearance.
Lille:
Landreau, Debuchy, Basa, Rozenhal, Beria, Mavuba, Balmont, Pedretti, Obraniak, Hazard, Sow, With Joe Cole starting on the Bench.
Leave it to the Russians to make it impossible to find CSKA starting line-up for todays match, but I can tell you to look out for one Keisuke Honda,. with his blonde hair and attacking flair he should play a big part in this game.

Cue the music, the Champions League is back!

At last, The smell of a french roast brewing, as I pop a bagel into the toaster, excitement pounding like a hammer on my sensibility. Removing the bagel from its toasty caldron I finalize the necessities for a Champions League day, waiting with unbridled expectation for  the sweet serenade of the CL Anthem.  The games today should prove to be instant classics with CL new-boys Dortmund facing Arsenal, Chelsea hosting Bayer Leverkusen, and AC Milan at Barcelona...tasty.


The list of the games played today:

September 13, 2011
Soccer			Competition	Start Time
Plzen	v	BATE	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Chelsea	v	Leverkusen	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Genk	v	Valencia	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Olympiakos	v	Marseille	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Borusia Dortmund	v	Arsenal	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Porto	v	Shakhtar Donetsk	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
APOEL	v	Zenit	UEFA Champions League	2:45 PM
Barcelona	v	AC Milan	UEFA Champions League	2:45 pm

With the games being played live at 8:35 am Hawaiian pacific time, I will focus my sights on Chelsea V. Leverkusen, and/ or Arsenal Dortmund.

• Team News: Chelsea manage AVB has dropped John Terry and Lampard for their match with Torres, Sturridge and Mata starting up-top. 
• Chelsea:

Petr Cech; Ashley Cole, John Terry, David Luiz, Jose Bosingwa; John Obi Mikel, Raul Meireles, Frank Lampard; Florent Malouda, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge.

Leverkusen:
Leno; Castro, Reinartz, Toprak, Kadlec; Bender, Rolfes, Ballack; Sam, Kiessling, Schurrle

Ballack makes his return to London, so lookout for some hefty challenges as German will try to endear himself once again to the Chelsea faithful. 

Prediction: 2-1 Chelsea, Bayern gets the away goal through Kiessling

• Arsenal will have the likes of Gervinho back to face the German champions, in a match that might prove too much for the Arsenal. The fast pace and  quick movement of Dortmunds attack  lead by Kagawa and Grosskreutz my prove to much for the N. London Club. The line-ups:

Dortmund:

Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer, Kehl, Bender, Götze, Kagawa, Großkreutz, Lewandowski

Arsenal: 

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Song, Benayoun, Arteta, Gervinho, Walcott, van Persie

Prediction:  2-2 Dortmunds weakness in defense of late, ships two as they tear Mertesacker and 

Koscielny open with roaring pace.

Why An Italian Team Won't Win The Champions League In A Decade.

Inter Milan's Champion's League Win 2010.

          It hasn't been that long since a team from the Italian Serie A won the Champion's League. Inter Milan won it in 2010 after defeating the mighty Barcelona in the semi's and  Bayern Munich in the final.  Inter had a fantastic team that year, and an even more fantastic coach Jose Mourinho. This was a great year for Italian soccer in that aspect, but I don't see this happening again for a while.  This isn't due to the fact that there's not a stand- out team in Italy capable of dominating other teams in Europe, but in truth their isn't. This decline is due more to the internal workings of their domestic game. For one: the domestic game is rank with corruption and scandal. John Tague from the Independent explained it best by saying," This is a nation where the largest selling daily newspaper is dedicated almost entirely to football; where its former ruling party is named after a football chant; and where its former Prime Minister owns one of the league's most famous clubs." In my life time my knowledge of this corruption dates back  to the forced-relegation of Juventus in 2006, but I have read that it dates back to the 1920's. This scandal involving Juve was know as Calciopoli. This word is a spin off on the saying "Tangentopoli" or "Bribesville," often used to describe Italy's corrupt government. The "Calcio " in Calciopoli means football in Italian, pertaining it to recorded telephone conversations linking managers from Juventus and other Italian clubs to referee organizations, suggesting the clubs where  rigging matches. The  punishments in result of this varied between the teams implicated, but Juventus, the league winners, ended up the worst with the stripping of their title. 

You may wonder why this would impact a one-off game when any team, Italian or not could win on the day. True, off the field matters may not effect players in a game but, can have serious effects on how a club is run and is set up. This could be do to a lack of tactical nonce, philosophy of play or cases when official's of a club,  who know nothing of playing football, only running a club force managers into making decisions that see them profit in someway. Anyone of these reasons can explain why Italian teams have been performing poorly in the Europe. Don't get me wrong there're strong Italian teams, capable of beating any world powerhouse, but the chances of this happening are slimming. This is because Italy lost their  fourth Champions League spot, due to German teams performing better in the latter stages of the Champion's League competition.  This goes into effect for the 2012-13 season insuring only the top 3 teams in Italy will qualify for the competition.

Beyond the scandal and shrinking European prowess what's killing Italian football the most is the stadiums. They're simply not good enough. They are outdated, in need of renovation since the last time they hosted a major tournament, the World Cup in 1990. Many have running tracks around the pitch, putting fans farther away from the action than stadiums without. Attendance's are among the worst in Europe, clearly seen on t.v. with numerous empty seats, creating a flat atmosphere. Imagine introducing someone to Serie A, who is new to the game, sitting them down and having them see a vacated stadium. They want to see passion and atmosphere, that's what gets fans into the game and increases growth and interest, but if fans in Italy don't show up to games why should you make the effort? Building of new/ renovating and expanding old ones would increase attendances and atmosphere.

Italy flounders at the World Cup South Africa 2010.

In such a corrupt country,where everyone is just looking for the payoff, it makes me wonder how they can focus on growing the game internally. The answer can be seen at youth levels and the National team. It hasn't been so long since Italy won a World Cup which was in 2006, same year as the Calciopoli scandal. This was a high for Italian soccer but since then the team has struggled to bring up young talent, relying too heavily on the old guard of Pirlo, Del Piero, Cannavaro and Iaquinta. All fantastic players, but their time has come and past.  These players have been in the International set-up for years and have done well, but new talent is needed. This was most apparent last summer at the World Cup in South Africa where they absolutely capitulated not even progressing form their group. Recently coach Cesare Prandelli  has brought new faces into the mix like  Domenico Criscito, Claudio Marchisio, Giampaolo Pazzini and American born forward Giuseppe Rossi. Players who will be  integral in the success of the  Italian National Team for years to come, but I still ask for more. The fact is the youth in Italy don't get a shot at the senior squad. According to report on theoffside.com, their are only 18 players playing in Serie A that are getting regular first team action, after going through all the youth levels with that team. That's astounding! The best example of how the system seems to function in Italy can be seen in the case of Sebastian Giovinco. Giovinco known as the "Atomic Ant, for his short stature (5'4) and his sublime dribbling skills,is considered by myself and other pundits to be the future of Italian football. As an attacking midfielder he has been billed as a replacement for Andrea Pirlo, occupying the same play-making role, pinging passes and controlling the tempo. Not given a shot a Juve he was loaned out to Empoli and then Parma, who he signed for permanently just last year. It is not abnormal for a young player, Giovinco now 24, to be loaned out to another club to gain first team experience, but when  Alberto Aquilani was called back to Liverpool it left Juve with one less attacking midfielder. In response they go out and sign another player, instead of having kept a promising, youthful player that they could slot right into the first team. The player they signed is oddly enough Andrea Pirlo. The youth doesn't get a chance to play the game at the highest level, therefore their development suffers.

If you combined all these reasons you have why I don't think we will have a Italian Club Champion for 10 or so years.1.) Game embroiled in scandal  2.) Have one less Champions League spot, so one less team competing in the competition. 3.) Being seemingly opposed  to giving youth a chance, poor transfer policies, outdated style of play and set up, suffering national team 4.)Partly-filled stadiums possibly due to an uninterested public, making for poor, growth debilitating spectacles. 5.) Mediocre teams preforming poorly in Europe. Growing the footballing philosophy takes a while, and Italy's is crying out for renovations. What the future will hold,,, I don't know, but I will bet you on my nana's life that an italian team will not be lifting the trophy with the big ears any time soon.