There is a
chance for us to talk about Champions League matches, but let’s wait with this
until we are closer to the second matchday. Before that we’ll make the
traditional week-end round-ups and talk about the two big surprising teams at the
Champions League – BATE Borisov and CFR Cluj. So don’t miss the next-week post
about Belorussian and Romanian champions.
In the week preceding the Champions League group stage kick-off Arsenal
sent a
positive messageIn the week preceding the Champions League group stage kick-off Arsenal
to its fans at the Emirates Stadium. They scored 6 goals in
their 4th Premiership match. Arsenal keeps on losing its best
players season after season, but Wenger is always capable to find brilliant
cooperation models. This year it is going to be the year of Oxlade-Chamberlain,
who will have some exclusive support by Podolski, Cazorla and Gervinho. And
while Walcott and Arteta are on their way to find their best shape, it is
getting clear what Arsenal’s ambitious goals for the season are going to be
based on. But the next week match in Manchester will be the hardest one so far,
so let’s wait and see what that one will bring to Arsenal. As concerned the
match against Southampton, the pure free kick goal of Podolski, a classy brace
of Gervinho, two own-goals “assisted” by Gibbs and Walcott’s strike were more
than enough for Arsenal to take three points in that match. The only negative
issue for Wenger is Szczesny’s stupid drop, which costed a conceded goal for
them.
Unhappy
Ronaldo was not able to score last week, despite a couple of good set pieces being
awarded. Mourinho’s side conceded a goal from a corner after only a minute of
play in the match, where they visited Sevilla.
62% ball possession and 19 shots are all they could achieve. Because
these accomplishments are normally not rewarded with a goal in football, the
score remained 1-0 in Sevilla’s favour.
Serie A
sensation was again related to Milan losing a home match and leaving the pitch
without scoring. Despite the calming announcements by the administration and
coaches, the team doesn’t really seem to be improving at the moment. The number
of Allegri’s enemies is increasing. Once a promising tactician is now
criticized for not having any tactics at all. Players run without a clear aim
in their heads. There is a huge potential within the 7-time Champions League
winners, so the performance has to get better in the upcoming matches. But for
now we had a bad match against Atalanta, where Boateng and Co. had no luck in
finishing. Atalanta’s Cigarini buried Milan’s chances for the first home points,
when he scored his goal on the 64th minute. Rossoneri’s bad form
continued in the Champions League match against Anderlecht, where the home side
was predicted an easy win. 0-0 was the final score.
The first
breaking news of the week-end had, however, come from Russia, where Zenit fell
down to the 4th place after a blow from the surprise leaders Terek.
Terek started the league with a 5-0 defeat from Alania, but has been
exceptional afterwards. And Zenit seemed to be ready to give anything just to
advance to Champions League match as soon as possible. The opponent was not
taken serious. The numerous goalless attacks in a spell of more than 80
minutes, where the super newcomers Hulk and Witsel got lost in Spaletti’s
tactics, and shocking two goals behind Malafeev’s net after 84 minutes is all
Zenit’s fans saw that evening. Zenit defense looked terrible in both of the
goals. The Italian coach can’t be happy about such performance in the last
minutes of the game, but as Champions League showed, the appropriate analyses
haven’t been completed yet.
Supermatches
of this week-end include Manchester City-Arsenal and Schalke 04-Bayern battles,
where all 4 teams are of a big interest for those who follow Champions League
closely. The same leagues will suggest historically important encounters of
Liverpool-Manchester United and Hamburger-Borussia Dortmund. The central match
in France is going to be the one between Lille and Lyon, and the last upsetters
of Lille will have a taugh match in the Romanian Liga 1, where they will be
hosted by the league leaders Pandurii.
They got a day off in Ukrainian League this week-end, to compete in the Cup last 32 round. There is a Shakhtar-Dynamo battle among others.
They got a day off in Ukrainian League this week-end, to compete in the Cup last 32 round. There is a Shakhtar-Dynamo battle among others.
| Club | Last Matches | Next match | Position in the domestic league |
| Ajax (Netherlands) | 15.09 Waalwijk (H) 2-0 | 23.09 ADO (A) | 3 |
| BATE (Belarus) | 15.09 Torpedo Zh. (H) 2-0 | 22.09 Dinamo M. (A) | 1 |
| Anderlecht (Belgium) | 15.09 Lierse (A) 1-1 | 22.09 Zulte War. (A) | 3 |
| Dinamo Z. (Croatia) | 15.09 Osijek (H) 0-0 | 22.09 Rijeka (A) | 1 |
| Arsenal (England) | 15.09 Southampton(H)6-1 | 23.09 Man. City (A) | 3 |
| Man. City (England) | 15.09 Stoke City (A) 1-1 | 23.09 Arsenal (H) | 4 |
| Man. Utd. (England) | 15.09 Wigan (H) 4-0 | 23.09 Liverpool (A) | 2 |
| Chelsea (England) | 15.09 QPR (A) 0-0 | 22.09 Stoke City (H) | 1 |
| FC Barcelona (Spain) | 16.09 Getafe (A) 4-1 | 22.09 Granada | 1 |
| Real Madrid (Spain) | 16.09 Sevilla (A) 0-1 | 23.09 Rayo Valec. (A) | 12 |
| Valencia (Spain) | 16.09 Celta (H) 2-1 | 23.09 Real Mallorca (A) | 11 |
| Malaga (Spain) | 16.09 Levante (H) 3-1 | 23.09 Athl. Bilbao (A) | 2 |
| Bayern (Germany) | 15.09 Mainz (H) 3-1 | 22.09 Schalke 04 (A) | 1 |
| Borussia D. (Germany) | 15.09 Bayer (H) 3-0 | 22.09 Hamburger (A) | 5 |
| Schalke 04 (Germany) | 15.09 Gr. Furth (A) 2-0 | 22.09 Bayern (H) | 4 |
| Benfica (Portugal) | 19.09 Celtic (A) | 23.09 Academica C. (A) | 1 |
| Porto (Portugal) | 18.09 Dinamo Z (A) | 23.09 Beira-Mar (H) | 2 |
| Sp. Braga (Portugal) | 19.09 Cluj (H) | 23.09 Rio Ave (H) | 7 |
| CFR Cluj (Romania) | 14.09 Dinamo Buc. (A) 1-0 | 23.09 Pandurii T. J. (A) | 5 |
| Galatasaray (Turkey) | 15.09 Antalyaspor (A) 4-0 | 23.09 Akhisar Bld. | 1 |
| Juventus (Italy) | 16.09 Genoa (A) 3-1 | 22.09 Chievo (H) | 1 |
| Milan (Italy) | 15.09 Atalanta (H) 0-1 | 23.09 Udinese (A) | 10 |
| Montpellier (France) | 14.09 St. Reims (A) 1-3 | 21.09 St.-Etienne (H) | 16 |
| PSG (France) | 14.09 Toulouse (H) 2-0 | 22.09 Bastia (A) | 4 |
| Lille (France) | 15.09 Troyes (A) 1-1 | 23.09 Lyon (H) | 11 |
| Nordsjæland (Denmark) | 15.09 Copenhagen (A) 1-2 | 22.09 Randers (H) | 3 |
| Olympiacos (Greece) | 15.09 PAS Giannina(A)2-1 | 23.09 Panthrakikos (H) | 1 |
| Shakhtar D. (Ukraine) | 15.09 Zorya (A) 3-0 | 23.09 Dynamo (H) | 1 |
| Dynamo K. (Ukraine) | 14.09 Karpaty (H) 3-1 | 23.09 Shakhtar (H) | 3 |
| Zenit (Russia) | 14.09 Terek (H) 0-2 | 23.09 Kr Sovetov (H) | 4 |
| Spartak M. (Russia) | 15.09 Kuban (A) 2-2 | 23.09 Rostov (H) | 7 |
| Celtic (Scotland) | 15.09 St. Johnstone (A) 1-2 | 22.09 Dundee FC (H) | 5 |
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