Finally, the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League season is about to commence and 32 cracking teams will be fighting out for one of the the most coveted trophies on the planet. Last season, FC Barcelona outclassed the others and won it the third time in five years. This season too, the Catalans look all poised but others in Europe have strengthened themselves and it will definitely not be easy for FC Barcelona.
The 20th edition of the UEFA Champions League promises to be extremely exhilarating as the top 32 teams in Europe prepare themselves for the battle of strength, resilience, courage and grit. Who will emerge at Allianz Arena, come May 2012, your guess is as good as ours. TheHardTackle presents to you the match previews of Day 1.
Group E – Valencia (Spain), Chelsea (England), Leverkusen (Germany), Genk (Belgium)
Perhaps one of the tougher groups, Group E promises us a lot of excitement and also the element of surprise. The top three are equally likely to make it to the next round and KRC Genk are the Belgium champions and have all it takes to spoil the party or even slalom their way to the next round. Albeit Chelsea look to be stronger than the rest, but what happens on the pitch goes beyond the realm of bookish vigor. The biggest challenge for Villas-Boas will be to get the coveted Champions League to London, a feat which even Jose Mourinho failed to achieve.
Chelsea v Bayer Leverkusen – Stamford Bridge, 13th September, 2011
Both these teams have new managers – Villas Boas for Chelsea and Robin Dutt for Leverkusen. What might be intriguing is that Dutt is perhaps the only manager of Indian origin in the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League. However, both teams will be playing for all three points with the intention of making a point to their fans and administration. The Chelsea manager has a tricky task at hand as he has an off-form Fernando Torres on bench, a highly moody Anelka, who can score loads one day and fire blank in the very next match and talented young Sturridge, who scored quite an exceptional goal against Sunderland last weekend.
Leverkusen, on the other hand, have lost a key personnel in Vidal to Juventus and how the team copes with the loss on the continental level is yet to be seen. The form of Sidney Sam, Stefan Kiessling and Eren Derdiyok will be as heartening for Leverkusen as it’ll be threatening for Chelsea. Their form in the first match against Augsburg was good and fans of the German outfit will be expecting something similar. The midfield combination of Bender, Ballack, Rolfes and Sam look competent enough to give the English side a run for their money.
THT Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Leverkusen
THT Players To Watch Out For: Michael Ballack (Leverkusen), Juan Mata (Chelsea)
Trivia: Michael Ballack will be returning to Stamford Bridge to play against his old employer.
KRC Genk v Valencia – KRC Genk Arena, 13th September, 2011
Genk will be playing Champions League after a hiatus of nine years. The Belgian champions reserved a berth in this edition of Champions League after fighting it out with Maccabi Haifa of Israel. Undoubtedly, the Belgians should owe their qualification to László Köteles, who was immense in the match and also saved two penalties to see his team through. Belgian international David Hubert is perhaps one of the youngest captains this season and at 23, he is an inspirational figure at the centre of the park. Although not much is expected of this side, but they are more than capable of spoiling the party for the others and might just produce a few upsets.
Valencia has one of the finest squads. With Soldado, Banega, Piatti, Canales, the Spaniards have an incisive offense. Valencia has seen a few of its superstars departing in recent years. The loss of David Villa, David Silva and very recently Juan Mata might render other teams helpless, but the Los Che have always stood upto the challenge. This time too it shouldn’t be any different. Under the tutelage of Unai Emery, this team is expected to do well. On the flipside, this team is defensively extremely porous. They had only 13 clean sheets last season in 52 matches. Not an impressive piece of statistic for a Champions League team.
THT Prediction: KRC Genk 1-2 Valencia
THT Players To Watch Out For: Soldado (Valencia), David Hubert (Genk)
Trivia: David Hubert, at 23, is one of the youngest captains in this edition of UEFA Champions League.
Group F – Arsenal (England), Olympiacos FC(Greece), Olympique de Marseille (France), Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
By no figment of imagination, is this group an easy one. Arsenal might just be coping with the loss of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, but on deadline day, they have bolstered their squad quite a bit. However, whether these players fit into the Arsenal puzzle is yet to be seen. Dortmund is perhaps one of the most lethal forces in Europe and despite the loss of Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid, the Die Borussen have a squad good enough to go to win the group. Marseille, the runner-up in France last year, under the tutelage of Didier Deschamps are a stong contender for the next round. Olympiacos are the reigning Greek champions and can cause trouble no matter who the opponent is.
Dortmund v Arsenal – BVB Stadion Dortmund, 13th September, 2011
The last time these two teams met was way back in 2002-03, when Arsenal was one of the most prominent forces in Europe and Dortmund wasn’t quite the team that they are now. The Gunners won the home tie 2-0, but succumbed to the German outfit in the return leg. Arsene Wenger lost Fabregas and Nasri, but the Frenchman has the reputation of building a squad from scratch and there’s no reason that he cannot do so once again. In inclusion of Mikel Arteta, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker, Yossi Benayoun and Park Chu-Young will add to the team’s quality and under Wenger, they can soon regain the lost sheen.
Dortmund are the German champions and have an extremely delightful style of football. Jürgen Klopp, a master tactician, joined Dortmund in 2008 after an eight-year managerial spell with Mainz and he has been visionary with his concept football, where a lot depends on the mental aspect of the game. Rather than sticking to one single plan, the approach is to adjust the formation in line with the demands of the game and opposition at hand. Arsenal will be in for a tough test, especially when Dortmund has the 12th man in their favour – The Home Crowd.
THT Prediction: Dortmund 2-0 Arsenal
THT Players To Watch Out For: Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Mario Gotze (Dortmund)
Trivia: Tomáš Rosický scored both the goals for Dortmund last time these two teams played at BVB Stadion Dortmund.
Olympiacos v Marseille – Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, 13th September, 2011
The champions of Greece take on the runners-up from France. This match might not have the hype but has the promise to be an eventful encounter. Olympiacos, despite being the champions of their domestic league, might just find it difficult to cope against a Marseille team led by World Cup winning captain Didier Deschamps. In Gignac and Remy, Marseille has a potent offense, capable of troubling most defenses in Europe. How the Greeks cope to that will be an interesting affair!
Olympiacos, on the other hand, has a decent squad but not exactly one which can trouble the likes of Marseille or Arsenal or Dortmund. Chances are high that the Greeks will go home after the first round, but stranger things have happened in football and many expected something on these lines during Euro 2004.
THT Prediction: Olympiacos 1-1 Marseille
THT Players To Watch Out For: Ariel Ibagaza (Olympiacos), Stephane Mbia (Marseille)
Trivia: These two teams met only once in the 1994-95 UEFA Cup.
Group G – FC Zenit St Petersburg (Russia), FC Porto (Portugal), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), APOEL FC (Cyprus).
Without an iota of doubt, Europa League champions Porto are favourites to top the group and quite rightly so. Although the Portuguese champions have lost two of their stalwarts – Villas-Boas and Radamel Falcao, they have enough quality to cope with the loss. However, to understand the significance of these two gentlemen – Falcao scored 41 goals in 51 matches for Porto and Porto went almost unbeaten last season. Shakhtar and Zenit will offer strong resistence and it will be one of two progressing to the next round. Unfortunately, the competition in this group looks to be a bit too much for the club from Cyprus, who at most can be party-spoilers.
FC Porto v Shakhtar Donetsk – Estádio do Dragão, 13th September, 2011
The Europa League champions might have withered a bit due to the departure of Falcao and Villas-Boas, but are strong enough to make it to the next round probably as group champions. More so because James Rodriguez and Juan Itrube, two of the most promising young players in the world, are back from their respective youth championships and have added to the depth of the squad. In Moutinho, Guarin and Defour they have enough creativity in the centre of the park and the name Hulk should be sufficient for them to get out unscathed from the group.
Shakhtar Donetsk is perhaps the second strongest team in the group. Although the Ukranian outfit were dismantled by the eventual European Champions Barcelona last season, Shakhtar are a far better team than they were made to look. In Srna, they have a veteran and the likes of Jadson, Willian, Douglas Costa, Teixeira, Adriano amongst others can cause some real dent on opponent’s aspirations. Under Mircea Lucescu, they are a strong unit and might just be a little ahead of Zenit to progress as the second favourites.
THT Prediction: FC Porto 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
THT Players To Watch Out For: Hulk (Porto), Srna (Shakhtar)
Trivia: The last time these two teams met in a continental championship was way back in 1983-84UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals. Porto defeated Shakhtar 4-3 on aggregate.
APOEL FC v Zenit St. Petersburg – GSP Stadium, 13th September, 2011
Despite the fact that APOEL are just playing in their second Champions League, they have an impressive home record. The team from Cyprus are yet to taste defeat at their home stadium and manager Ivan Jovanović will be looking to keep the record intact. Realistically, the Cypriots have very little chance of progressing and a point from the the match against the Russians will be a fair result for the home side.
Luciano Spalletti’s Zenit are the Russian Champions and look firm favourites to win this match. However, APOEL will offer resistence and their home record is good and Zenit too haven’t done too well in the last few away games, which eventually ended in defeat. The former Roma manager will want to set that straight. In Aleksandr Bukharov and Danny, Zenit have a good offence and the likes of Aleksandr Anyukov, Domenico Criscito and Bruno Alves offer a strong resistence at the back. A draw might not be a favouable result for Spaletti as they have Shakhtar Donetsk to compete with for a place in the second round.
THT Prediction: APOEL FC 0-0 Zenit St. Petersburg
THT Players To Watch Out For: Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit), Danny (Zenit)
Trivia: APOEL FC is one of the founding members of the Cyprus Football Association.
Group H – FC Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), Bate Borisov(Belarus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic)
Apparently it doesn’t seem to be a complicated group. FC Barcelona, current Spanish and European Champions and AC Milan, reigning Italian Serie A title holders are firm favourites to go to the next round. However, the point to be noted here is the rank they acquire while progressing. Both will loathe the scenario of finishing second as it’ll incur a match with one of the favourites, in the next round. Viktoria Plzeň and Bate Borisov might not be able to progress, but they might just jeopardise the group standings.
FC Barcelona v AC Milan – Camp Nou, 13th September, 2011
The Spanish Champions start at the Camp Nou as favourites but Guardiola will definitely not take the Italians lightly. As a matter of fact, Milan has one of the best squads in Europe and the likes of Cassano, Boateng, Pato, Aquilani can cause severe damage. Barcelona too have Carles Puyol available after the talismanic captain underwent a knee surgery. The bad news for the Catalans is that they will be devoid of Alexis Sanchez who is out with a muscle injury for 6-8 weeks. Nonetheless, Guardiola and his men will be up for a challenge against Milan.
Milan has finally regained a part of their lost glory and the second most successful team in the history of the European Cup/Champions League will go all guns blazing to reach the pinnacle of success, a stratam they actually belong to. Massimiliano Allegri will be aware of the threat posed by Barcelona at their home ground and will be fully prepared despite the unavailability of Ibrahimovic and Robinho.
THT Prediction: FC Barcelona 2-1 AC Milan
THT Players To Watch Out For: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan)
Trivia: Barcelona played Milan 5 times at the Camp Nou and each side won twice and one match ended in a deadlock.
FC Viktoria Plzeň v Bate Borisov – Eden, 13th September, 2011
Although these two teams are not quite favourites to win the group but none would like to end at the bottom either. While Bate will be playing for the second time in the Champions League (first being in 2008-09), Plzeň are making their debut in Champions League this season. Bate’s first venture in Europe elite club competition ended in frustration as they were grouped with Real Madrid, Juventus and Zenit St. Petersburg. They drew half their matches and lost the rest while scoring 3 goals and conceding 8. The Belarusians will be hoping to put up a better show this time. FC Viktoria Plzeň too will be hoping for a decent outing but might just end up at the bottom due to lack of experience at the top level.
THT Prediction: FC Viktoria Plzeň 1-1 Bate Borisov
THT Players To Watch Out For: Mateja Kežman (Bate Borisov)
Trivia: Mateja Kežman has played in as many as 12 clubs in the last 15 years.