With Manchester City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea winning this weekend, all eyes now turn to the UEFA Champions League. As we reach the halfway through the group games, there are no easy games for the British contingent, as they all search for Champions League success. season. With Italy threatening English teams in the Champions League coefficient, the next two games for English teams could go a long way in deciding how many Champions League places would be available to the FA next
It’s a tricky tie for Arsenal FC who play Bayern Munich in two games. With the form that Lewandowski is, unless something special happens otherwise, Arsenal might well be on their way into the Europa Thursday League, and who knows? It might just be the way to finally win a European Cup under Wenger. Arsenal have never really looked convincing anytime they play in Europe or whenever they played under pressure, but with their backs to the wall now and something to play for, can they take advantage of the absence of Arjen Robben or would Bayern still be too much for them to handle? There can never be a good time to play Bayern, but with the injury list mounting at the Allianz Arena, there couldn’t be a better time but now to play Bayern Munich home and away.
Chelsea looked okay this weekend against Aston Villa, but the cobwebs still hang all over the Bridge as Mourinho finally returned back to the basics: defend as a team, concede less and look for the odd goal. A tricky tie awaits them in the cold in Kiev and then they host the same team in Stamford bridge in a double header. If Costa and Fabregas continue to show their hunger and desire to win in the next two games, they could well qualify and be concentrating on the Premiership after the round of games, but all is not entirely well at the Bridge.
Manchester City play Sevilla in two cracking games. Sevilla are European Cup veterans and know how to play and snuff opposition on the big European nights. The absence of Silva and Aguero was not felt against lowly Bournemouth at the weekend, but against the Spanish giants, that may not be the case. Can Sterling, DeBruyne and Boni step up to the plate? Let’s hope Tinkerman Pellegrini does not do too much tinkering with the team in terms of rotation.
Manchester United also travel to Moscow to play in freezing conditions. LVG is used to big European nights and I believe he would know to respect the opposition and play for a result, any result to take back to Old Trafford as United plough on under Van Gaal. Their form was impressive at the weekend and with the fast transition in the third half of the pitch against Everton, their attack would trouble any team at the moment. The introduction of Jones and Smalling in the middle of the pack means one to one battles can now finally be won at the back where Blind struggled as a lightweight previously.
PSG play Real Madrid in the tie of the round and Rafa Benitez has already started blooding in young players, employing his usual rotation policy that have sometimes destabilised his teams in the past, but that have also won him some titles. This one is a tough one to call, knowing that PSG strengthened with DiMaria at the beginning of the season and they’re already five points clear at the top of the table already in Ligue 1. Can Rafa harness the abundance of talent all around him or would he deploy the youths again in a bid to balance the squad and eliminate fatigue as Madrid march on in their quest for domestic and European success? Watch this space
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Finally, the elephant refuses to leave the room in Zurich, as FIFA continue the soap opera that is becoming increasingly popular all over the globe. As the ethics committee suspend Blatter and Platini, CAF president Issa Hayatou has taken over the helm of affairs, at least for now.
Yes for now, because nobody knows the next can of worms to be opened by the Swiss authorities, FBI or even the ethics committee. What we know is that ‘investigations are ongoing’ and this soap is not over by any means