Champions League Talk

It’s been a great season for many of the domestic leagues in Europe, as their title races have gone right to the wire. Today we are going to focus on the race in the Czech republic where Slavia Prague are on the verge of winning their first league title since 1996 after a 3-1 win at Sigma Olomouc. Macedonian striker Goce Toleski and Marek Jarolim fired Slavia into a 2-0 first-half lead and Martin Abraham sealed their win after Jakub Heidenreich had pulled one back. With one match left, Slavia now top the standings with 59 points while defending champions Sparta have 57 after a disappointing 2-1 home defeat at the hands of third-placed Banik Ostrava.

Adding to the drama is that Sparta Praha have replaced coach Michal Bílek even though he announced his intention to quit at season’s end following the loss on Saturday. “Immediately after the game I announced to the club chief Mr. Kretinsky and players in the dressing room that I will quit at the end of the season,” Bilek said in a news conference following the game. Daniel Kretinsky is chairman of the Prague club. Sparta’s club president Jozef Chovanec will take charge of the team for their final match.

The 43-year-old Bílek had been in charge since September 2006 and won a domestic double last season. The 48-year-old Chovanec won several Czech titles with Sparta as a player and one as a coach in 1997. He managed the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2001 and then spent short spells at FC Marila Príbram and Russian side FC Kuban Krasnodar before taking on the club president role with Sparta.

Further adding to the drama around the final league matches of the season, Sparta must play Liberec in the Czech Cup final on Tuesday before meeting them again in the league on Saturday. However, the outcome of that game will be of little consequence if Slavia win their final game of the season at home against FK Jablonec 97.

One quick sidenote, Slavia recently opened their new stadium, the Stadion Eden, with a friendly against Oxford University Association Football Club. Now at first, this might seem like a strange pairing but Slavia’s relationship with the English club goes back to 1899, when Slavia hosted the Blues as the first English football club to travel to Prague. The players were met at the train station by Slavia delegates and taken straight to the pitch, where they proceeded to secure a 3-0 victory before being entertained in the most expensive hotel in the city.

A few days later, the Blues played Deutscher Club, with whom Slavia had such a heated rivalry that there had been no match between the teams for numerous years. Oxford’s convincing 9-0 victory was thus well received by the Slavia contingent it gave them the bragging rights within the city having secured the better result against the common opponent.

Above is a shot from a webcam overlooking the stadium. There are also a couple of YouTube videos (one of the opening ceremony and one of construction)of the opening ceremonies, as well as a Radio Prague article on the match and of course a Wikipedia article on the stadium itself.

The new stadium was built on the site of a dilapidated ground in the south of Prague which the club had to leave in 2000 after around half a century. They had first moved to the Eden site in the early 1950s when they were forced to leave their stadium at Letná because of a project to build a massive statue of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stadion Eden has a capacity of about 21,000 people and it is the most modern football stadium in the Czech Republic.

Slavia’s lineup for the opening of the stadium included some well-known former players like Lukas Jarolim and Patrik Berger, who now play for Siena and Aston Villa respectively. With a stacked lineup that also included one of my favourite players — former Liverpool midfielder Vladimir Smicer (currently back at Slavia as a player), as well as Ivo Knoflí?ek and former Fiorentina, Metz and Chicago Fire standout Luboš Kubík, Slavia cruised to a 5-0 win over the Oxford lads.

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Chelsea have reached an agreement with Porto for the £16.2m transfer of right-back Jose Bosingwa. Though he is just 25 years old the full-back helped has been a part of the first XI since the 2004-05 season and was instrumental in their dominant championship run this season. Bosingwa was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but moved to Portugal as a child. He signed for Port in 2003 from fellow Portugese club Boavista.

He has become a capped international for Portugal and will feature for them in the upcoming Euro 2008 tournament. He was also a target for Manchester United but reports are they felt the fee for him was too high. Now that he has landed a Chelsea, he will now face stiff competition for a place in the starting XI from compatriot Paulo Ferreira and Brazilian Juliano Belletti, although one of them will reportedly leave the club in the summer. Bosingwa replaced Ferreira in Porto’s starting XI when he moved to Chelsea in 2004. There are question marks over both Ferreira and Belletti though as midfielder Michael Essien has often been preferred as a right-back over either of the two. It’s possible with the new signing that both could be given their walking papers.

Converted from a midfielder to a right-back, Bosingwa has great pace going forward but according to Alberto da Silva, a journalist for World Soccer magazine, Bosingwa has been overvalued by Chelsea. “He’s a good player but he’s not worth that much money,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Chelsea’s current right-back Paulo Ferreira is a better player. I don’t know who negotiated the deal, but he did well for Porto.” He added: “I don’t believe Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson would have been willing to spend that much money on Bosingwa.”

Meanwhile, the agent of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has claimed that an unnamed European club are set to bid around 25 million pounds for his services. The identity of the club remains unclear, but both Barcelona and Milan are known to be looking for new number ones after putting Victor Valdes and Dida on the transfer list respectively. In Valdes’ situation, I think he’s been let down by his defense and is still a world-class keeper. However, the mood around Barcelona is grim and a purge of players is set to take place.

In a bigger rumour, Didier Drogba has agreed a summer move to AC Milan, according to The Mirror, which claims the Chelsea striker will sign a three-year deal with Rossoneri in order to link up again with former Blues manager Jose Mourinho, whom the paper says will be replacing Carlo Ancelotti for next season. Of course, current AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti insists he has no interest in signing Chelsea striker Didier Drogba this summer. If Milan finish outside the Champions League places, look for Ancelotti to get the sack. AC Milan are currently fifth after a loss on the weekend to Napoli. They were outplayed by a very motivated side who proved to be stronger on the day and lost 3-1. They now sit two points back of Fiorentina for the last qualifying spot for next season’s Champions League.

If Drogba departs it would leave a huge hole in Chelsea’s attack considering that Andriy Shevchenko has only given brief glimpses of the goal-scoring form he had for AC Milan. Neither do Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou or Claudio Pizarro look up to leading the line. Kalou has been effective running out on the flank as an ersatz winger but I am not convinced about his abilities as a out-and-out striker. None of them has shown the ability of Drogba, who when suitably motivated can rip apart a backline with his power and pace.

It looks to be another intriguing summer of transfers at Stamford Bridge. Stay tuned for all the developments.

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Manchester United won the English Premier League title for the second year in a row and it is the 17th time overall they have been champions of England. They defeated Wigan 2-0 on the last day of the season, but it was Ryan Giggs who became the star of the show. The former Wales winger appeared in his 758th game for Manchester United, tying the record set by Bobby Charlton four decades ago. Giggs can, and likely will, break the record in the Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow.

Until Giggs’ goal nine minutes from time there was always a slight threat of a Wigan intervention. Unfortunately for Wigan, their best player on the day was Chris Kirkland. Kirkland excelled in goal, keeping United at bay numerous times and giving Wigan a brief flicker of hope. A draw and a Chelsea win would have cost United the title. However, when Giggs came on there was a sense, at least to me, that a storybook finish was to be had. Sure enough, the Welsh wing-wizard found himself in clear on the keeper after a great pass from Wayne Rooney and cooly slotted home to end any doubts about the title.

Though Giggs may surpass his record for appearances, no one will eclipse the legend of Sir Bobby Charlton. He is a survivor of the 1958 Munich air crash that killed eight of his teammates and not only survived but went on to win English league titles, a European Cup (predecessor of the Champions League) and a World Cup with England. It’s not a stretch to say that he is one of the greatest English players of all time. Charlton also has ties to Wigan FC having been a director and caretaker manager for the club. He was on-hand yesterday to congratulate the current team and one would not fault him if he took a sense of responsibility for the team’s fortunes. It was Charlton’s pleas for the United board to keep faith with Alex Ferguson during his difficult early years that had a large part in keeping the Scot on the job and giving him the time to build a winning side.

United will take a moment or two to celebrate but they will refocus for next week’s Champions League final against Chelsea. Chelsea, who drew 1-1 with Bolton yesterday, were handed a major blow as captain John Terry dislocated his elbow and at the moment is doubtful for the final in 12 days. To his credit, Terry gave every indication he try to be ready. He said his elbow was “popped back in” while in the ambulance and he added: “I need three of four days rest but I should be fit for Moscow.” You certainly have to applaud his toughness!

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As mentioned over at La Liga Talk, it was announced that Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard will be leaving Barcelona at the end of this season. After two dominant seasons and a subsequent two seasons without trophies, combined with the 4-1 loss to Real Madrid (Sid Lowe wrote an excellent piece on the match in his Guardian blog), Barcelona has opted to terminate his contract. Rijkaard took charge of Barcelona in 2003 and led them to back-to-back league titles and victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006.

In announcing the termination, club president Joan Laporta made it clear that Rijkaard’s assistants Johan Neeskens and former player Eusebio would also be leaving the club.

Fans and management of the club were disappointed by the inconsistency shown this season — the football on display was at times beautiful but far too often was also beastly and lacklustre. Fans and management were also not happy with the club’s exit from the Champions League at the hands of Manchester United. The irony of Barcelona’s defeat was that although they played the more attractive football for much of the tie against United, it was their lack of fire-power up front that ended up sealing their fate. Sporting director Txiki Begiristain told Barca TV that if the club “had got to Moscow almost nothing would have changed.”

There have been conflicting reports coming out of the Barcelona camp all season whether the club have used injuries to hide the fact that a number of players have been sidelined for indiscipline.The president of Barcelona’s economic commission, Xavier Sala Martin, said the club had used injuries as a way of camouflaging disciplinary action against certain players.

“Look at these gentlemen who aren’t working, who aren’t doing anything, who haven’t played for quite a few weeks. Well, they were sidelined by the club some weeks ago,” Sala Martin told Catalunya Radio.  “Although we are disguising things by saying there are injuries and all that, these gentlemen have been sidelined and they are trying to isolate them from the rest of the squad.” Martin is not part of the board of directors but his position as the head of the economic commission means that he takes charge of the club during a presidential election as he did in 2006.

Txiki Begiristain contradicted that claim in an interview with Canal Plus television during halftime of Barcelona’s 1-0 Champions League win over Schalke 04 at the Nou Camp. Begiristain said that players who were absent had legitimate medical reasons for not being in the lineup and that no players were being disciplined by disguised methods.

So, what will happen at Barcelona over the summer? We can expect some player movement as new boss and former Barcelona captain Pep Guardiola takes over. Guardiola, who was a key member of Johan Cruyff’s so-called “Dream Team” which won four consecutive league titles between 1991 and 1994 and the European Cup in 1992, has been the coach of Barcelona’s B side last June and has steered the team to the top of their group in Spain’s regionally-based tercera (fourth tier) division.

Ronaldinho was plagued by fitness problems resulting in a mysterious succession of injuries. There were also rumours that a lack of motivation led to the former World Player of the Year being a non-factor in Barcelona’s season.

Ronaldinho seems certain to move summer though Laporta has stated that Ronaldinho will not be sold for less than 40 millions euros. He may be joined on the discard list by midfielder Deco, defenders Sylvinho, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram and striker Thierry Henry.

At the start of the season with the arrival of Henry from Arsenal, the talk had been of a “fantastic four” in an attack comprising the French striker, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho. The reality has been very different, however, and Barca’s season stalled because of their inability to score goals in key matches. Unsettled by personal problems and struggling to adapt to a new position on the left flank, Henry has failed to live up to his billing in his first season at the Nou Camp.

Both Eto’o and Messi saw their seasons hampered by injury and Eto’o was absent for the African Nations Cup. Many feel that the Cameroon striker lacks the spark and predatory instinct that made him such an effective player two seasons ago but I think perhaps a change of scenery is all that is needed to revive his form. Messi was Barca’s most dangerous player when healthy though he often looked to be fighting a lone battle up front.

All is not gloom and doom at the club though. Some bright spots that come to mind immediately are the emergence of Bojan Krkic, but the 17-year-old is not quite the finished product yet. Yaya Toure showed in his first season with Barcelona that he is capable of holding and protecting the ball in midfield which frees Xavi to be more creative. Xavi also had another good season for Barcelona. Josep Guardiola will be happy to have two deep laying playmakers like Yaya and Xavi to build his side around.

Barca will also be able to rely on Víctor Valdés in goal as he had another solid season and at age 26, he has many good years ahead of him. Rumours are saying that he is no longer an “untouchable” but I don’t think Barcelona will cast him aside so swiftly. In addition to the players likely to move on, Gabriel Milito recently had to undergo major knee surgery and will be out for about 6 months and thus Barcelona need a couple of signings at the back to add depth.

It will be an important summer for the Blaugranes and I’ll be keeping an eye on the goings on at Camp Nou. My transfer list would shape up like this:

Out:
1) Deco
2) Sylvinho
3) Thuram
4) Thierry Henry

In:
1) Daniel Alves
2) Diego
3) Adriano
4) Phillip Lahm
5) Karim Benzema

I would keep Ronaldinho and try to get him back to his best. I don’t know what’s wrong but I’d be very remiss to part with someone with talent beyond 99% of the other footballers out there.

Adriano is a bit of a gamble but if he can get his mind right he is still a dangerous forward and a physical presence up front that Barcelona lack. Adriano has been playing well for Sao Paulo helping them reach the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals. Lahm and Alves would give Barcelona a deadly one-two punch on the flanks allowing them to press the play wide on either side as they chose. The fullback support this season was not sufficient this season for an attacking team like Barcelona. It is unlikely that an incoming manager would be able to institute a system other than one in which attractive football was the focus so more attack-minded players are of essence.

If you were the new manager of Barcelona, who would you try to sign? Who would you cut loose?

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Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky has announced that he will not be taking part in next month’s European Championships due to a recurring knee injury.

Rosicky held a news conference to announce the decision. “I’m not capable of starting the European Championships. My injury requires an operation. I will go (for it) at the start of next week. I’m maybe enduring the worst period in my career. I lost out on most of the season with Arsenal. I was really looking forward to the championships.”

Rosicky, 27, was cleared by Arsenal to recover in his homeland in mid-April and he had declared an improvement in his health at the end of the month. Speculation has mounted that Czech manger Karel Bruckner would be forced to try and tempt Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved to return to the national team. Nedved retired from international football soon after the 2006 World Cup.

“The ball is now with Pavel,” commented Czech Football Federation spokesman Lukas Tucek. “He must decide if he wants to return.”

Reading’s Marek Matejovsky, Osasuna’s Jaroslav Plasil or Hamburg’s David Jarolim are other options for the key playmaker role should Nedved not return.

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This leg of our European tour starts in France where Bordeaux revived their Ligue 1 title hopes when Pierre Ducasse’s stunning 25-metre strike in stoppage time earned them a 2-1 win at Olympique Marseille on the weekend. Second-placed Bordeaux, on 71 points with two games left, are two points behind leaders and six-times champions Olympique Lyon, who drew 0-0 at Nice on Saturday. Marseille now sit fourth, two points behind Nancy, who hold the qualifying spot for the Champions League third preliminary round following their 3-0 thrashing of strugglers Racing Strasbourg on Saturday. St Etienne stay fifth, four points adrift of fourth-placed Marseille with Lille a further point behind.

On to Germany, where there were some mid-week games and of importance was Werder Bremen winning 1-0 at Hamburger SV despite finishing with nine men. The win clinches a top-three finish for Werder, and at least a place in the Champions League qualifiers, for themselves and Schalke 04. Hamburg and VfB Stuttgart are in fourth and fifth on 51 points, meaning the best they can now hope for is qualification for the UEFA Cup. Bayer Leverkusen, who were beaten 2-1 at home by Hertha Berlin on Wednesday, remain in sixth place on 48 points.

Next we stop off in Romania and say congratulations to CFR Cluj, from the city of Cluj-Napoca, who were crowned Romanian champions for the first time on Wednesday after a 1-0 win over Universitatea Cluj. CFR finished on 76 points, one point ahead of Steaua Bucharest who ended their campaign with a 5-0 rout of Gloria Buzau. CFR Cluj becomes the first team outside of Bucharest to win Liga I in 17 years. A penalty 15 minutes into the second half from Manuel Riccardo Cadu, after Brazilian Correia Edvan had fouled Argentine substitute striker Diego Ruiz, handed CFR victory. Unfortunately it was not all happy times as riot police had to fire tear gas to disperse Universitatea fans who attempted to attack CFR supporters. A special congrats to Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld after leaving Norwegian club Rosenborg BK.

In Bulgaria, CSKA Sofia claimed their 31st Bulgarian league title finishing well ahead of Levski and Lokomotiv Sofia, both of whom will take part in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. CSKA Sofia are entered into the 3rd Qualifying Round. CSKA had a truly dominant season allowing only 9 goals in 28 matches while scoring 50 times.

In Serbia, Partizan Belgrade recently won their 10th national cup with a 3-0 rout of second division neighbours Zemun thanks to a hat-trick by Senegalese striker Lamine Diarra. Zemun could become the first third-division Serbian side to play in Europe as they are four points adrift of safety with as many matches remaining in the second tier but they will qualify for the UEFA Cup if league leaders Partizan complete the double. They are currently 3 points up on last year’s champions FK Crvena Zvezda. The winner of the league is entered into the Champions League Second Qualifying Round, while the runner-up is in the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round.

The champions of Croatian football are once again Dinamo Zagreb, who won the league title last month with six games to spare. They will enter the competition at the very first qualifying round of the Champions League while runners-up Hajduk Split will be entered into UEFA Cup qualifying.

In the Czech Republic, Sparta Prague are closing in on their 35th league title but dropped valuable points at the weekend after a 2-0 loss to FC Brno. That allowed their bitter city foes Slavia Prague to come within a point after a win over Olomouc. With two games left Slavia’s title challenge is back on after leading the table through much of the early season then faltering in form. In recent weeks Sparta and Slavia have taken turns faltering which has made the run-in quite exciting and unpredictable. Whoever wins the league will get a place in the Third Qualifying Round while the runner-up starts in the Second Qualifying Round.

Next door we check in on the Slovakian Corgon Liga where FC Artmedia Petržalka (FC Artmedia Bratislava) can now claim their first ever league and cup double after taking home the Slovakian Cup (Slovenský Pohár) by defeating FC Spartak Trnava 1-0 in Zilina. Artmedia are sitting six points ahead of second-place side MSK Zilina in the league.

In Turkey, Galatasaray held off the challenge of rivals, and this year’s surprise package in the Champions League, Fenerbahçe. Shabani Nonda led the way for Galatasaray with 14 goals after his transfer from A.S. Roma. Nonda also had a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers before moving permanently away from Italy. The real strength of the team was at the back as they only allowed 23 goals in 33 games in a league that can be quite high-scoring. The backline was bolstered by the emergence of Emre Güngör who pushed former Liverpool defender Rigobert Song to the substitutes bench in the second half of the season. The 23-year-old was rumoured to be sought after by Fenerbahce but he ended up signing with Galatasaray and they will hope to keep hold of him for a few seasons.

Finally we stop in Greece, where the Super League was won by Olympiacos finishing ahead of AEK Athens by a mere two points. Caretaker manager José Segura has done an admirable job guiding the team to the title after Takis Lemonis was fired for sub-par league performances despite a strong run in the Champions League. A special attaboy to Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski who finished fourth in the Greek league scoring with 14 goals from 21 appearances for AC Skoda Xanthi.

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The summer spending sprees will soon start but Tottenham have already started their work with one purchase and heavy rumours of a sale in the very near future. Tottenham manager Juande Ramos began his shopping early with the capture of young Croatian star Luka Modric and the £16 million splashed out on that deal is the first step in the summer overhaul of his current squad. [Read more →]

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As we wait for the Champions League final, it’s a good time to look at the leagues around Europe and see who will be part of next season’s competition. In this first report, we look at what I would call the “bigger” leagues in Europe — England, Italy, Spain and Germany. In part two, we’ll look at the other leagues such as France, Holland, Portugal, Austria, etc.

We start in Spain where Real Madrid claimed their 31st La Liga title with a 2-1 win over Osasuna. Fabio Cannavaro did his best to make it tough for his team to clinch as he was sent-off early in the second half after he was booked for a second poor tackle. Punal put Osasuna up a goal after converting from the penalty spot on 83 minutes but Real pulled out some late magic with goals from Arjen Robben and Higuain. [Read more →]

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Let me start this by saying that I expected Bayern to progress but not without a fight. My reasoning was that Zenit St Petersburg would be missing a number of key personnel including the suspended Andrei Arshavin, Radek Šírl and Fernando Ricksen, as well as Nicolas Lombaerts and Kim Dong Jin through injury. This left them with only two available defenders – Ivica Križanac and Aleksandr Anyukov. Their back four for yesterday’s match was rounded out by Roman Shirokov, a midfielder recently converted to the centre-half position, and 38-year-old midfielder Olexandr Gorshkov who was deployed as a makeshift left-back. [Read more →]

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Now that’s what a semi-final should be! Chelsea finally achieved their dream of a place in the UEFA Champions League final by holding off Liverpool FC by an aggregate of 4-3, 3-2 in yesterday’s match. [Read more →]

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