Tag Archives: UEFA

UEFA’s regulation uncertainty, economic woes cause few transfers

“As most economists will tell you, the more times are uncertain, the more folks hunker down and count every penny. Judging by transfer activity (or lack thereof) this summer, most clubs feel the same way. As of Thursday, the Premier League’s traditional ‘big four’ of Arsenal, Cheslea, Manchester United and Liverpool had signed just two players for more than 10 million euros ($13 million): Laurent Koscielny, who joined the Gunners, and Ramires, whose move from Benfica to Chelsea is all but wrapped up. Last summer, those same clubs made five signings north of the 10 million range. Serie A’s big three of Juventus, Milan and Inter broke the 10 million mark six times a year ago.” (SI)

Inter v Bayern: Champions League final preview

Jose Mourinho
“This is what the Champions League is all about: England’s best side against Spain’s best side in last season’s final in Rome, Italy’s best side against Germany’s best side this season in Madrid. This is an intriguing match-up between two sides who have underachieved in Europe in recent years, and between two of the greatest tacticians in modern times. The Italy v Germany clash is emphasized when you consider the situation regarding both countries’ UEFA coefficients (which determines the number of European places each national league is allocated) where Germany currently leads Italy by 0.155 points.” (Zonal Marking)

Champions League Final Preview
“The most anticipated event of any European season, this year’s Champions League final looks set to be yet another intriguing battle both on and off the field, with several fascinating plot lines running through the pre-match build-up to further stoke the fire of what should be a wonderful spectacle and, perhaps more appealingly, a struggle for tactical supremacy between two of the game’s most astute Coaches. As one-time Barcelona manager Louis van Gaal’s Bayern Munich and his former translator, Jose Mourinho’s Inter prepare to face off in the magnificent surrounds of Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, The Equaliser looks at the potential line-ups of both sides and tries to get the measure of the personnel and systems these two prestigious sides may look to use on Saturday evening.” (The Equaliser)

CL Comment: Five Ways Inter Can Beat Bayern Munich
“Keep The Tempo Running High. Inter are not a team generally linked with fast flowing football, and many believe that they’d struggle were they plonked straight into a Premier League fixture list. Besides that being a pointless argument, it also overlooks the fact that some of Inter’s better performances this season have come against teams who like to play the ball around at speed (see Chelsea, Barcelona, Genoa, Milan, Palermo…) Therefore, should they go for the spoiling approach in trying to deal with Arjen Robben et al, they may be on the wrong track. By allowing the game to be played at a decent pace it will give them extra opportunities to punish Bayern on one of their notorious counter-attacks.” (Goal)

Champions League Final Is Clash of Coaches
“As Bayern Munich and Inter Milan take the field for Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final, even the most ardent football fan could be forgiven for taking a second glance at the match program: Just who are these guys? In a tournament that’s supposed to be dominated by the world’s greatest players, the 2010 final is conspicuously short on star power.” (WSJ)

The Toughest Call for Serie A

“The most important result in Italian football right now isn’t the upshot of the Serie A title race, which saw Inter Milan secure a fifth consecutive championship on Sunday, or even the outcome of this weekend’s UEFA Champions League final. It’s actually the decision from a Milan appeal court judge scheduled for later this week over the league’s television broadcasting rights deal. Late last week, Claudio Marangoni heard an appeal from Conto TV, a small satellite operator, which contends that an agreement between pay-TV network Sky Italia and the Italian football.” (WSJ)

Bursaspor claim their place in history

“It has been quite a long wait – 26 years to be exact – but finally Turkey can claim to have a league that is not completely dominated by the big boys. Besiktas (in the early 90s) and Trabzonspor (in the late 70s/early 80s) have offered resistance to the dominance of Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe in the past, but all too often a smaller side’s challenge for glory has fallen short. Lowly Sivasspor, last year, were the ones to fail at the final hurdle and, just 12 months on, found themselves fighting a relegation battle which they only just won.” (ESPN)

Memories Of The UEFA Cup

“When I was growing up in the 1970s, it was always the UEFA Cup, of the three European club competitions, which caught my imagination. This was mainly, but not exclusively, because my team at the time, Tottenham, were winners, beaten semi-finalists and beaten finalists during my first three years following the game. It was never properly explained to me why the unlamented Cup Winners’ Cup remained officially regarded as Europe’s second tournament behind the old-fashioned Champions’ Cup (the historical reasons I’ll touch on below). It wasn’t just in England that some dippy teams won the Cup.” (twohundredpercent)

Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham: Spurs deservedly into the Champions League

Andrea Mantegna, Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue
“Tottenham emerged victorious from this Champions League playoff, primarily because they created more clear-cut chances. Peter Crouch’s winner was slightly fortunate, but it was no more than Spurs deserved. Manchester City played their expected line-up in a game they needed to win – two strikers with Emmanuel Adebayor as the targetman, and Carlos Tevez dropping off in behind, in a position he seems to prefer, judging by his recent display at Arsenal. Craig Bellamy and Adam Johnson continued as inverted wingers.” (Zonal Marking)

Manchester City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 1: match report
“Fortune favoured the brave last night and the brave now inherit a fortune. Adventurously set up by Harry Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur hit the heights of the lucrative Champions League and it was the 6ft 7in Peter Crouch who lifted them and their ecstatic support into dream-land.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)

Match Of The Midweek: Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
“When the Champions League play-off suggestion was made earlier this season (and laughed out of court accordingly), few would have guessed that we would be where we are with four and a half days of the Premier League season left to play. Aston Villa’s wobbly second half of the season coupled with Liverpool ably demonstrating that the abjectness that they displayed during the first half of the season was absolutely no flash in the pan have set up something approaching what the originators of the plan had envisaged. With two matches left of the season, either Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur will be taking their chances in the final qualifying round of the Champions League. It has been a very odd season indeed in the Premier League.” (twohundredpercent)

Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur – Video Highlights and Recap – EPL – 5 May 2010“The battle for the last UEFA Champions League spot in the English Premier League was at stake on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 as Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs had a one point lead over City before the match and would clinch a top four finish with a victory. Both teams will be playing in Europe next season in either the Europa or Champions League.” (The 90th Minute)

Cambiasso praises Inter’s forward thrust

Jose Mourinho
“Esteban Cambiasso praised the ‘extraordinary work of our three forwards’ after FC Internazionale Milano’s 3-1 win against FC Barcelona in the first leg of their semi-final tie at the San Siro, a sixth consecutive UEFA Champions League victory for José Mourinho’s side.” (UEFA)

Inter 3-1 Barcelona: Why did Pep Guardiola play Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
“It’s not often during his two seasons as Barcelona manager that you can conclusively say that Pep Guardiola got his tactics wrong – but tonight that was the case, as Inter take an important two-goal lead to the Nou Camp. Both sides essentially played their standard formations. Inter were 4-2-3-1 with Samuel Eto’o and Goran Pandev wide, and Javier Zanetti continuing at left-back. Barcelona played a similar team to the first leg at against Arsenal – Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line, Lionel Messi behind him, Pedro in a wide-right role and Seydou Keita playing from in to out on the left.” (Zonal Marking)

James Lawton: Mourinho calls the shots to make Italy think again about his style
“Even Jose Mourinho has rarely known a night like this, one in which not only a second Champions League title but perhaps even the keys of European football may have been at least halfway into his grasp. If Mourinho had some substantial gifts from his Portuguese compatriot referee, including a third goal that was plainly offside, there was no questioning that he had produced from his Internazionale a magnificent response to the challenge of facing the reigning champions of Europe, a team with the potential, some of us may still believe, to touch new levels of excellence.” (Independent)

Italian Football Faces Tough Times
“The most important league table in Italian football right now isn’t the Serie A standings, where AS Roma and Inter Milan are locked in a titanic tussle for the title, or even the Serie B championship, where Torino—one of the country’s most historic clubs—is hoping to secure a top-flight return. It’s actually an obscure ranking of European’s football nations known as the UEFA coefficient table, a mind-boggling complex formula that has produced one very simple conclusion: Italy’s days as a football superpower could soon be at an end.” (WSJ)

Champions League: Inter Milan 3, FC Barcelona 1
“Inter Milan meets Barcelona tonight in the first leg of a mouthwatering Champions League semifinal that many fans think should have been the final itself. With Lyon and Bayern Munich meeting in the other semifinal tomorrow, the glamor — and global attention — will all be at the San Siro in Milan this evening. The visitors are Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona: Spanish league leader, defending European champion and for many, currently the best team in world soccer. The side also, of course, fields the planet’s best player, by popular acclaim, in Argentinian forward Lionel Messi.” (WSJ)

‘It Will Not Be Inter-Barcelona, It Will Be Inter or Barcelona’
“Inter Milan counter attacked with great effect Tuesday against Barcelona, coming back from a goal down to win the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal, 3-1. Barca went up early, scoring a crucial away goal by way of Pedro Rodriguez. He tucked away an angled pass from Maxwell, whose run down the left flank past Cambiasso to the goal line was unchecked by Maicon and Lucio, who both stopped dead in their tracks. But Inter responded with determined counter-attacking play, as per Manager Jose Mourinho’s instructions.” (NYT)

Inter Milan vs. Barcelona
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Inter Milan (Internazionale) 3-1 FC Barcelona – Recap and Video Highlights – Champions League – Tuesday, April 20, 2010
“The UEFA Champions League kicked off its semifinal round with a 1st leg match between Inter Milan (Internazionale) v FC Barcelona at the San Siro. Either team would be favored to win the competition if they were to make the final. Barcelona has been in very good form in the Champions League while Inter Milan has knocked out favorites like Chelsea.” (The 90th Minute)

Milan’s No. 10 on the Champions League Semis, Messi and Kaka

“In his regular discussion with New York Times readers, Clarence Seedorf discusses the UEFA Champions League semifinals, some of the brightest stars of the international game, and whether or not he thinks doping is a major problem in international soccer. Read the AC Milan midfielder’s responses post your comments below.” (NYT)

Champions at Home Too?

“One of the curious aspects of this season’s UEFA Champions League is that three of the four semifinalists—who square off in their first-leg encounters on Tuesday and Wednesday—are all also embroiled in legitimate title races domestically. Inter Milan and Barcelona are neck-and-neck with Roma and Real Madrid in Serie A and La Liga, respectively, while Bayern Munich is nursing a slender two-point lead over Schalke in the German Bundesliga. The same held true for Olympique Lyonnais, the fourth semifinalist, at least on April 7—the day it actually reached European soccer’s final four—when it was two points off the top of the table. (It now sits third, nine points behind league-leading Marseille.)” (WSJ)

Technology and Justice

“It happens every few months, like the change of seasons or the media’s en masse attempt to wring some fresh significance out of Sarah Palin: a referee misses an important call, a fan base is outraged, a UEFA executive looks on in silence, and lights flare to life over the metaphoric phone banks at the metaphoric talk-radio stations that, in the imaginations of writers, suggest a groundswell of popular interest. One minute Thierry Henry practices saxophone fingerings on the ball and stops Ireland from reaching the World Cup, the next Didier Drogba whaps like a volleyball player and helps secure the title for Chelsea (twice, actually, if you remember Man City 2006).” (Run of Play)

Cardozo hits 10-man Liverpool

“Whether it is called the Stadium of Light or the Estadio da Luz; whether it is by the Wear or the Tagus, it is a venue that this season Liverpool have left with bleeding, self-inflicted wounds.” (Independent)

Benfica 2-1 Liverpool: Benfica scrap to a victory, but it should have been more resounding
“A decent game for the neutral tonight, but fairly underwhelming from a tactical point of view. Both sides played as expected, the result was no surprise, and all the goals came from defensive mistakes rather than attacking brilliance. Benfica played with a variation of their usual shape, because of the injury to Javier Saviola. Pablo Aimar moved forward into a more offensive role behind Oscar Cardoso, whilst Carlos Martins came into the centre of midfield. This change meant that Ramires and Angel di Maria played slightly wider than usual, and the two swapped wings throughout the game, although di Maria was always more effective on his natural left-hand side.” (Zonal Marking)

Benfica turn their attentions to Liverpool
“One league title in the past 15 years hasn’t done much to expand Benfica’s trophy room. Fruitless seasons have witnessed a long line of increasingly inept managers – 15 of them since 1995. Only Giovanni Trappatoni could leave with some integrity after Benfica stumbled to the title in 2005. The lack of continuity had left its mark on the club and success seemed as distant as ever, until the arrival of Jorge Jesus.” (WSC)

Benfica 2-1 Liverpool – Recap and Video Highlights – UEFA Europa League – Thursday, April 1, 2010
“Portuguese side Benfica hosted Liverpool in the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal 1st leg on Thursday, April 1, 2010. Both sides are favorites to win the entire tournament but for Liverpool it’s much more important to salvage their season. Liverpool are struggling to qualify for the Champions League next season and could be in serious financial troubles unless they can find success in the Europa League.” (The 90th Minute)

UEFA & “Financial Fair Play” – The Book Of The Film

“The UEFA Financial Fair Play proposals were scrutinised by the British press this week. Mark Murphy thumbs through it, takes a look at the press reaction to it and concludes that, unless there is a fundamental shift in the attitudes of football clubs or the loopholes are great enough for them to be able to squirm through, the game’s civil war – a war against regulation – may be just around the corner.” (twohundredpercent)

Ultras in Britain are wrongly persecuted

“For many, the word “ultra” conjures up images of violence on the terraces or on the streets around the stadiums in countries such as Italy or Greece and in some parts of South America. Incessant chanting, mass crowd participation, choreographed displays and fireworks are all integral parts of the ultra culture throughout the world. But ultras and hooligans are different things and eventually the authorities here will come to realise that. The first group to endorse the phenomenon in the UK were Aberdeen fans, the Red Ultras. Formed over a decade ago, the group announced recently that they would be disbanding with immediate effect.” (WSC)

‘Galacticos’ in Hell

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The Hell, Coppo di Marcovaldo
“It has become a sign of spring: as swallows crowd the sky over Madrid, Real is eliminated at the knock-out stage of the European Champions League. Yet again, the richest club in the world has spent obscene amounts of money with the sole intention of winning the most important club competition in the world, but on March 10, they were knocked out from the last 16 for the sixth year in a row (in 2003, they were eliminated from the last eight).” (The New Republic)

The changing Champions League

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“UEFA officials at this morning’s Champions League quarter-final draw will have been delighted that the number of nations represented is at its highest since 1999. Indeed, it’s exactly what UEFA president Michel Platini was aiming for when he talked about democratising the top level of European club football. A major surprise this year is the inclusion of two French teams in Lyon and Bordeaux.”(WSC)

Barcelona 4 – 0 VfB Stuttgart

“Lionel Messi staged another masterclass to power holders Barcelona into the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Stuttgart. Messi struck a brilliant opener after just 12 minutes to put Barca on track, and then played a key role as Pedro Rodriguez made it 2-0 soon after as the Catalan giants built a 3-1 aggregate lead.” (ESPN)

Messi happy to help those in need
“A man who torments opposing defenders is equally adept at helping children in need. FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, as part of the UEFA.com users’ Team of the Year 2009, received a cheque for €100,000 from the adviser to the UEFA president, William Gaillard, before last night’s UEFA Champions League first knockout round second-leg encounter with VfB Stuttgart at Camp Nou – before going to on to score twice in an outstanding display as Barcelona charged into the quarter-finals.” (UEFA)

Forget Rooney, magical Messi is the world’s best
“The famously insular world of English football has been quick to crown Wayne Rooney as the best player in the world in recent weeks – unsurprisingly perhaps in a World Cup year – but in Barcelona on Wednesday night, Lionel Messi demonstrated exactly why those claims ring hollow with a masterful performance in a 4-0 rout of Stuttgart.” (ESPN)

EPL – The Rashomon Effect

“With eight games to go (9 in Chelsea’s case) and this being the closest league finish in many many years, it presents endless opportunities for the dreamer in me to fantasize – a la that Kurosawa classic, Rashomon. Presenting two of such tales with four crucial fixtures (chapters) taken as the crux.” (BigFourZa!)

Oliver Kay Interview: EPL Talk Podcast

“Six weeks ago, Oliver Kay joined us ahead of the onset of UEFA Champions League’s Round of 16, venturing a prediction that the English Premier League teams would find this year’s tournament rougher than those of the preceding seasons. Today, Oliver joined me to reflect on the knock-out round performances of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Also, we look forward to this Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Liverpool and ask what Liverpool needs to go to maintain their string of good performances over Alex Ferguson’s side.” (EPL Talk)

France Is Back in Football Hunt

“It’s elementary sports psychology: To produce their best in the biggest moments, athletes are advised to recall peak performances from the past. But as Bordeaux prepares to face Olympiakos for a place in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals tonight, Laurent Blanc, coach of the French club that’s been the surprise of this year’s tournament, will focus his team’s attention not on the six European matches it’s won this season, but the only one it didn’t.” (WSJ)

Mid-Week Review Show: EPL Talk Podcast
“Looking back on the mid-week action for Premier League sides in Champions League, Europa, and within the Premiership, analysts Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer join host Richard Farley on this version of the EPL Talk podcast.” (EPL Talk)

Match Of The Midweek: Chelsea 0-1 Internazionale
“How would you feel if you were Roman Abramovich after this evening’s Champions League match between Chelsea and Inter? When he disposed of Jose Mourinho just over three years ago, it was reportedly a show of player power the likes of which the English game had seldom seen before.” (twohundredpercent)

Different Routes Yield Same Result
“One of the joys of sports is that they confound just about any theory that attempts to explain them. When Real Madrid was eliminated from the Champions League last week, and Manchester United produced one of the biggest victories in its history, it was reasonable to conclude that stability counted for something.” (NYT)

Italian press celebrate Inter’s victory over Chelsea
“Having held a grim-faced silenzio stampa (press silence) for the past week, Jose Mourinho’s relationship with the Italian media had reached a new low on the eve of Inter’s Champions League return leg against Chelsea. A touchline ban, a pitiful display against Catania and ongoing grief with Mario Balotelli had formed a simmering backdrop to the game, with the Nerazzurri lumbered with the added burden of being Italy’s sole survivors in the competition.” (WSC)

Chelsea vs. Inter Milan
(footytube)

English football’s huge debts vindicate Michel Platini’s plans

“The timing could hardly have been more acute for the release by UEFA of a report into the financial excesses of Europe’s top clubs, just as Portsmouth were placed, insolvent, into the knacker’s yard of administration. UEFA’s report, ‘The European Club Footballing Landscape,’ a mammoth comparison of 654 clubs in the top divisions across Europe, showed that more money is coming in than ever before, but almost half of clubs overall, 47 per cent, still made losses in 2008. European football, the richest club sport in the world, lost €578million (£513m) in total.” (World Soccer)

Saint Lloris, Savior of Les Bleus

“The lasting image from France’s anemic, controversial, but ultimately successful campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup will be the un-penalized handball by Thierry Henry that helped Les Bleus slip by Ireland in a two-match playoff last November.” (NYT)

Frugality Is European Goal

“Faced with their toughest opponent for a generation, Europe’s leading football clubs have been forced to adopt a new tactic: frugality. Creditors have caught up with the beautiful game in recent weeks, raising fears that spiraling wages and reckless spending could put the future of some of the world’s most iconic teams at risk.” (WSJ)

Notts County: The Long View

“Notts County might not be a name that sets the pulses of football fans around the world pulsing. It doesn’t even do that for most of the city of Nottingham, never mind the rest of planet football. In recent decades County has been comprehensively outshone by its near rivals just across the River Trent at Nottingham Forest.” (Pitch Invasion)

English Football Clubs Face Heavy Debts

“The full extent of the debts engulfing English football has been laid bare in a report that shows Premier League clubs are carrying more debt than the rest of Europe’s clubs put together. The findings are contained in a study from European football’s governing body into the state of football’s finances and come as the Premier League’s bottom club Portsmouth FC prepares to file for administration—a form of bankruptcy protection—on Friday as a result of debts of roughly £70 million ($105.5 million).” (WSJ)

Barça pep talk for Ibrahimović

“FC Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola was pleased to see Zlatan Ibrahimović silence his critics after the striker helped the UEFA Champions League holders to a first knockout round first-leg draw away to VfB Stuttgart.” (UEFA)

And Then There Was One

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England against Scotland in 1877
“Let’s talk about Scottish football for a bit. We’ve obviously visited this ground before; back in November, Fuse did an incredibly intricate and in-depth series of posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) looking at the troubles of the Scottish League, In it, he surmised that the easiest way to fix the problem of declining revenues and quality was to consolidate several local clubs into one team; the revenues to keep lower league teams (and, truthfully, some upper league teams) are just not there to support one club per 20,269 citizens.” (Avoiding the Drop)

Breathe and Stop… Manchester United: ‘An Italian Team from Another Era’

“… Where else to start but Manchester United’s impressive 3-2 win over AC Milan at the San Siro, which hands them a desirable advantage heading into the 2nd leg of their Champions League round of 16 knockout clash. United have become a truly masterful European outfit over the last three seasons, winning the tournament once and reaching two finals, and on the evidence of Tuesday’s game they look capable of making it all the way to Madrid for round three.” (Just Football)

Play-Offs For A Champions League Place: Game 39 Revisited?

“Small wonder that Ian Watmore’s brain-child of ‘reforming’ the FA Cup senseless was leaked to the press at the weekend. No more than forty-eight hours after the story broke in the press (with more or less no fanfare anywhere other than in The Times, which broke the story), the Premier League comes up with its proposal to jazz up the end of the season. Their answer, a play-off for the fourth Champions League place, is an act of evil genius so simple that one is almost tempted to stand and give grudging applause. And let’s make this absolutely clear, this idea has nothing to do with evening things out or redistribution of money. It’s about the Premier League snatching the end of the season away from everybody else.” (twohundredpercent)

European heavyweights meet again

“While the Champions League takes centre stage this week with the ever enticing first knockout round, arguably the biggest fixture of all is scheduled in the backwaters of Thursday night’s Europa League. Ajax vs. Juventus has been played out as a European Cup final as well as a Champions League final, and the sound of the fixture may well have the same effect on the ears of lovers of football history as the Madeleine cake in the mouth of Marcel Proust.” (ESPN)

Beckham to put emotion to one side

“AC Milan’s press conference on the eve of their UEFA Champions League first knockout round first-leg tie against Manchester United FC was even more animated than usual as the massed ranks of the media jostled for positions at Milanello.” (UEFA)

Dear Rafa Benitez – Beforeza #2

“Note : This post was written after the defeat to Fiorentina in the Champions league. With me still lost for words over the loss at Emirates, I’d like to make a re-visit to continue my support for the man who cares for the club the most. So some of the readers who are new to this blog kindly have a look. (For the old ones, yeah the ‘Psycho’ part was re-edited for obvious reasons.” (All Four One..)

Brazil hurt by its power structure

Adriano
“We don’t yet know where the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 will be played. But some of the bidding countries have already worked out which cities they will use to stage matches if the circus does come to town. It’s unfortunate Brazil wasn’t so quick off the mark.” (SI – Tim Vickery)

UEFA’s New Financial Controls: Some Clarification

“UEFA’s plan to introduce a Financial Fair Play initiative in time for the 2013-14 season whipped up an enormous amount of speculation, including claims that evil Frenchman Michel Platini was deliberately targeting English clubs to get them excluded from European competition.” (Pitch Invasion)

A Brand History of the European Championship

“Mountains. Flowers. Hearts. Stars. These are not elements of a new children’s breakfast cereal, but visual signifiers of the world’s second-most prominent international football tournament. Since 1996, UEFA and the local organizing committees have commissioned ever-more elaborate (and expensive) brand identities to define the European Football Championship.” (Pitch Invasion)