The
major matches of the week:
We had a
very intense weekend, full of important matches, and followed by some midweek football.
Portugal
was expecting a Sunday afternoon match between Sporting Braga and Porto. It was
a pretty balanced contest of Champions League group stage participants met. The
Portuguese teams, compared to their competitors from other leagues, have a much
lighter schedule. This is probably one of the reasons why teams from this
country show some beautiful football. However,
compared to Porto’s success,
beautiful football doesn’t mean positive results for Braga. There was not much
different in this case, too. Teams showed some lovely performance. Braga even
created more chances than the opponent, but Helton was not planning to concede
that evening. But as it normally happens to Jose Peseiro’s team this season,
luck was on the opponent’s side. On the 90th minute of the match
James Rodriguez’s simple shot hit defender Douglao, then ricocheted onto the
post and appeared in the back of the net. That was it for the hosts, but not
for the visitors. Another Braga defender was the reason in the episode, when
Porto scored once again. Leandro Salino cleared the ball poorly and it was
picked up by Jackson Martinez, who moved forward with the ball and triggered an
absolute beauty from a long range. Beto was helpless. The two goalscorers are
now in the top 5 of the league topscorers’ list. Braga is losing important
points, which leave only scanty hopes for them to earn the title this
season.
The biggest
match of the season’s Greek league took place last weekend. PAOK-Olympiacos
rivalry is in fact the most violent one in Greek football. On the 25th
of November there were traditionally lots of emotions involved around the match.
Despite the financial crisis in the country, this league beats any other
European league with its excess of fireworks. Rafik Djebbour’s fantastic goal
could become yet another winner for the champions, but Athanasiadis managed to
bring a point to the home side, scoring on the 88th minute. These
two players lead in the topscorers’ list, having respectively scored 9 and 8
goals. As concerned the table, Braga’s previous manager Leonardo Jardim’s side
is certain of earning its 40th league title this season, currently
having an advantage of 8 points over PAOK.
In a
Spanish league match Pellegrini’s team met Pellegrino’s. The visitors from
Valencia had to play without their main force captain Soldado. In these
circumstances it was Nelson Valdez, who had to win duels against Malaga’sdefenders and Toulalan. This didn’t happen, as the home side was showing some
decent defensive skills. Valencia’s wings weren’t helpful either: especially
Eliseu had a fine match as a fullback. But the match was all about Malaga’s
attack, led by young Isco. The former Valencia academy player was running all
over the pitch to get the ball and deliver it to another former Valencia star Joaquin,
or to the Portillo-Saviola couple. The Malaga number 22 scored the last goal of
his team on the last minute, making it 4-0.
Valencia’s
previous coach Rafa Benitez’s first match in charge of Chelsea had to be played
against champions Manchester City. The “Blue” Stamford Bridge, obviously
unsatisfied with Di Matteo’s expulsion, booed the new manager as soon as the “Red”
Spaniard appeared. Benitez introduced four Spanish players in his first
starting line-up. This was not much different from what we saw in Di Matteo’s
Chelsea. The difference was in the attitude, which was much stricter than
before. The full backs were primarily defenders, and the previous manager’s super-trio
had more concrete positions and tasks. Roberto Mancini left Carlos Tevez on the
bench and introduced Edin Dzeko. The champions created many more chances than
the home side, however they were too soft near the box, as their coach said. Already
a clean sheet in this match was a good achievement, but not scoring to
Mancini’s side was not satisfactory. Benitez should gradually give his cautiousness
up, if he wants to earn hearts of the Chelsea fans, and, of course, he needs to
make Fernando Torres score again. City is still the only unbeaten team in the
League.
Champions
of Italy visited San Siro for the first time this season. Coaches didn’t
introduce any new formations. With Lichtsteiner and Chiellini injured, Juventus
didn’t play bad in defense, considering the only goal from an unfairly awarded
penalty. Nevertheless, being obviously the stronger team, The Old Lady could
not possess the ball as much as it would like. Andrea Pirlo was well blocked by
Boateng, and the problems related to their offense hadn’t disappeared either. Milan,
on the other hand, probably showed the most organized performance in the season
so far. It was clear, that Milan players had been given personal instructions
on every particular Juventus player. Other than Boateng, there were two
hard-working full backs and three midfielders, who made the day for the home
side. Under Riccardo Montolivo’s command the team outperformed their opponents.
The Italian international was given the captaincy having played less than half
a season in a red-black shirt: not a situation we see very often in Milan. Conte’s
Juve still leads the table, but the difference between the Turin side and its
followers is not that impressive any more.
Highlights
of the week:
-
The
Belarusian League reached its finish with BATE’s victory, as mentioned earlier.
There is only one match left for BATE this season. Unfortunately the team will
leave for the Europa League, which we do not cover this season,
-
The
Belgian champions Anderlecht will also leave the Champions League after the
match in Malaga. They are having a day-off for this weekend after a hard cup
match,
-
Real
Madrid lost to Betis – a team, following the Royal team. Mourinho needs to do
something extraordinary to cut the eleven-point difference with Barcelona,
-
Lille
lost to Marseille last week-end, leaving the most optimistic football experts
with nothing. The season is simply lost for the team, that sold Eden Hazard in
the summer,
-
Zenit-CSKA
match was a chance for the Russian champions to reduce the six-point shortage with
the Moscow team. It didn’t happen, as the home side conceded a penalty 5 mintes
before the final whistle,
-
There
are big news from Moscow, where, after Spartak lost to rivals Dynamo 1-5, the
so-much-critisized coach Unai Emery was sacked. Valery Karpin will get back on
the bench again, to lead the team,
-
Van
Persie’s first minute goal brought Manchester United the long-waited
leadership in the Premier League,
-
After
another draw in the Premier League, champions of Champions League have now run
without a single win since the 20th of October. They have lost their
leading position in the league, in Champions League and their coach on this
road,
-
PSG
is now out of the French League Cup, after they lost the penalty shoot out to
St. Etienne. It was Thiago Silva, who missed for the Parisian team,
The
upcoming weekend:
There are
again lots of intriguing matches in the European arenas. Here are some of them:
Ajax-PSV: one
of the biggest rivalries in the Netherlands,
Dinamo-Lokomotiva:
the Zagreb derby in Croatia
Juventus-Torino:
the Turin derby in Italy
Real-Atletico:
the Madrid derby in Spain,
Bayern-Borussia
Dortmind: the biggest ever German rivalry of the last seasons.
Good luck
to your teams!
| Club | Last Matches | Next match | Position in the domestic league |
| Ajax (Netherlands) | 25.11 Roda (A) 2-1 | 01.12 PSV (H) | 4 |
| BATE (Belarus) | 25.11 Shakhter (H) 2-1 | 05.12 Bayern (A) | 1 |
| Anderlecht (Belgium) | 24.11 Beerschot (A) 4-1 27.11 Mechelen (Cup) 2-0 | 04.12 Malaga (A) | 1 |
| Dinamo Z. (Croatia) | 24.11 NK Zagreb (A) 0-1 | 30.11 Lokomotiva (H) | 1 |
| Arsenal (England) | 24.11 Aston Villa (A) 0-0 28.11 Everton (A) 1-1 | 01.12 Swansea (H) | 7 |
| Man. City (England) | 25.11 Chelsea (A) 0-0 28.11 Wigan (A) 2-0 | 01.12 Everton (H) | 2 |
| Man. Utd. (England) | 24.11 QPR (H) 3-1 28.11 West Ham (H) 1-0 | 01.12 Reading (A) | 1 |
| Chelsea (England) | 25.11 Manch. City (H) 0-0 28.11 Fulham (H) 0-0 | 01.12 West Ham (A) | 3 |
| FC Barcelona (Spain) | 25.11 Levante (A) 4-0 28.11 Alaves (Cup) 3-1 | 01.12 Athletic (H) | 1 |
| Real Madrid (Spain) | 24.11 Betis (A) 0-1 27.11 Alcoyano (Cup) 3-0 | 01.12 Atletico (H) | 3 |
| Valencia (Spain) | 24.11 Malaga (A) 0-4 28.11 Llagostera (Cup) 3-1 | 01.12 Real Sociedad (H) | 10 |
| Malaga (Spain) | 24.11 Valencia (H) 4-0 27.11 Cacereno (Cup) 0-1 | 01.12 Getafe (A) | 4 |
| Bayern (Germany) | 24.11 Hannover (H) 5-0 28.11 Freiburg (A) 2-0 | 01.12 Borussia D. (H) | 1 |
| Borussia D. (Germany) | 24.11 Mainz (A) 2-1 27.11 Fortuna (H) 1-1 | 01.12 Bayern (A) | 3 |
| Schalke 04 (Germany) | 24.11 Eintracht (H) 1-1 27.11 Hamburger (A) 1-3 | 01.12 Borussia M. (H) | 4 |
| Benfica (Portugal) | 24.11 Olhanense (H) 2-0 | 05.12 Barcelona (A) | 2 |
| Porto (Portugal) | 25.11 Sp. Braga (A) 2-0 | 02.12 Sp. Braga (Cup) | 1 |
| Sp. Braga (Portugal) | 25.11 Porto (H) 0-2 | 02.12 Porto (Cup) | 3 |
| CFR Cluj (Romania) | 24.11 Cluj-Napoca (A) 2-1 28.11 Dinamo B. (Cup) 2-1 | 01.12 Gaz Metan (A) | 5 |
| Galatasaray (Turkey) | 24.11 Elazigspor (A) 1-0 27.11 Balikesirsp.(Cup)4-1 | 30.11Gaziantepspor (H) | 1 |
| Juventus (Italy) | 25.11 Milan (A) 0-1 | 01.12 Torino (H) | 1 |
| Milan (Italy) | 25.11 Juventus (H) 1-0 | 30.11 Catania (A) | 9 |
| Montpellier (France) | 25.11 Bordeaux (H) 1-0 28.11 Nice (Cup) 3-2 | 01.12 Lyon (A) | 12 |
| PSG (France) | 24.11 Troyes (H) 4-0 27.11 St.-Etienne (Cup) 0-0 (3-5 on penalties) | 01.12 Nice (A) | 2 |
| Lille (France) | 25.11 Marseille (A) 0-1 28.11 Bastia (Cup) 3-0 | 01.12 Bastia (H) | 9 |
| Nordsjæland (Denmark) | 25.11 Esbjerg (A) 0-1 | 02.12 Brøndby (H) | 2 |
| Olympiacos (Greece) | 25.11 PAOK (A) 1-1 28.11 Panachaiki (Cup) 2-0 | 01.12 Platanias (H) | 1 |
| Shakhtar D. (Ukraine) | 24.11 Hoverla (H) 5-1 | 01.12 Kryvbas (A) | 1 |
| Dynamo K. (Ukraine) | 25.11 Arsenal K. (H) 4-0 | 01.12 Hoverla (A) | 3 |
| Zenit (Russia) | 26.11 CSKA (H) 1-1 | 30.11 Spartak (A) | 3 |
| Spartak M. (Russia) | 25.11 Dynamo M. (H) 1-5 | 30.11 Zenit (H) | 7 |
| Celtic (Scotland) | 24.11 Inverness (H) 0-1 | 28.11 Hearts (A) | 1 |
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