European Football Roundup

The Barcelona v Celetic second leg clash was on TV Tuesday, while I got to watch PSV beat Tottenham on Thursday. I would have preferred Man Utd v Lyon or Arsenal v Milan in the Champions League and Everton v Fiorentina in UEFA Cup, but I’ll take whatever is served up. I still have fond memories of watching the likes of Red Star Belgrade and Paris Saint Germaine in the Champions League when I was a kid. Back then, they showed about 4 Champions League games on TV each year in the United States. But onto the action this week.

The Barca / Celtic tie was all but over. At first, I was critical of Rijkaard for seemingly resting Messi against Atletico Madrid over the weekend. Of course, Messi wasn’t fit, and may not have been fit on Tuesday either. If that was indeed the case, I wouldn’t have even put him on the bench. With a 3-2 away win in the bag and another game of complete domination on the cards, Barca never needed to get anywhere near their best. Xavi scored after only a few minutes, and Barcelona spent the next 87′ basically passing the ball around as if in a training ground exercise.

The game highlighted a couple of problems for them, though. Messi picked up an injury that rules him out for 6 weeks, which is a huge blow for him and the club. He went off in tears, and you have to feel for the guy after coming off a long injury spell. They’ll absolutely miss his creativity and cutting edge in the games to come, but it’s good to see that he’ll be back before the end of the season.

The other two issues for Barca are the inadequacies of Henry and Valdez. The former has lost his pace, his touch, and his right to be an arrogant prick (not that it’s stopped him). The latter is simply not good enough to play for Barca. He’s had an extended period of good form the past couple of years, but there are several better goalkeepers around and Barca can afford any one they want. I’d look for someone like Kameni to come in over the summer.

All the other Champions League games went as expected. Chelsea eased past an Olympiakos side that was clearly out of their depth at this stage in the competition. Manchester United avoided a tricky tie against Lyon where I thought they might slip up. Real crashed out, which is counter to their recent run of form, but the writing was on the wall after they slipped up away against Roma. Liverpool still have to play Inter next week, and although I’d like Inter to turn around the tie, I have no great love for either club and expect Pool to go through.

On Thursday, I watched Tottenham v PSV, fully expecting the Juande Ramos revolution to continue, not withstanding their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Birmingham over the weekend. New signing Gilberto had a horrendous game and was lucky not to be sent off before gifting possession for Farfan for the only goal of the game. Farfan was lively all game, as were Afellay and Mendez for PSV. In fact, the Dutch side really impressed with their passing and offensive positioning. They let Spurs pass the ball around amongst their back four, but defended resolutely and broke dangerously. In Gomez, they have a keeper who isn’t afraid of being unconventional. Mostly, he chose to distribute the ball by throwing it down-field, not to any particular teammate, but just as far as he could. To his credit, it probably went as far as a kick, but it was certainly amusing.

Spurs have a good manager now but are full of problems. Soon, Berbatov will realize that his skills are too refined for the rest of the team. He and Keane are a good partnership with complimentary qualities, but the rest of the side simply aren’t up to snuff. They need intelligent midfielders with good technique to give them service and make runs into the box. Jenas, Malbranque, Lennon and Zokora don’t fit the bill. If they had Scholes, Fabregas, Cahill or Lampard in their ranks, they would be in the top 5.

They’ve also got some defensive problems. I haven’t seen Hutton play, but he’s cup-tied in Europe anyhow. Ledley King enjoys a reputation beyond what he’s earned. He certainly looked a smooth and assured defender, but he only lasted 60 minutes and general plays less than 1 of 2 games. It’s not good for him or the club if he’s in and out of the side, particularly when the deeply mediocre Dawson is his understudy. Gilberto on the left should be given time to settle, but doesn’t look too promising, either.

Elsewhere in the UEFA Cup, Bayern Munich proved they’re the team to beat by thrashing Anderlecht 5-0, while Everton went down 2-0 at Fiorentina. The Toffees ran into the Italians at the wrong time–both teams are in good form and the home side was always going to have the edge. They will be disappointed not to have gotten an away goal, and their European adventure is in serious jeopardy. There’s a silver lining to their cloud, though, in that crashing out of the Cup will help their chances to finish in fourth place in the Premier League. On the other hand, if they manage to overcome Fiorentina, they will have a very good chance of reaching the final.

This weekend, league action returns, while next week features a few more tasty European matches. It’s getting down to crunch time, and I can’t wait to see what happens.