08 December 2015
UEFA Champions League (CL) is the jackpot
in the European Football. Though the Europe is going through different crisis
such as issues of migrants and terrorism, the game football remains untouched.
Paris attack was very next to the venue of one of the most important team of
France, the Paris Saint. Germain. Still, the sheen of the game is not lost and
the entire world is waiting for the final 16. In the league round of CL,
English teams are struggling to reach the knockout round.
Football is a colonial game and still
carrying the hangover of it in several occasions. It will be interesting to
watch from the colonial history point of view. Predominant English teams,
Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal were facing the forces
from other colonial powers such as Portugal, Spain, Dutch and Germans and one
among them faces challenge from an ancient imperial power Greece. The winner
will lift the Holy Grail at San Siro, Milan.
The clubs from colonial industrial power
house Manchester will face challenges from German industrial hub Wolfsburg and Dutch
electrical city Eindhoven on one side and from German Gladbach and Spanish
Andalusian capital. Today and tomorrow nights will clear 16 teams for this year’s
Champions League knockout rounds. Both Manchester teams are playing today and
to London teams are trying their fortunes tomorrow. The clubs from London, the imperial
capital of yesterday will be facing the task from Portuguese power house Porto
and Greek champions Olympiakos FC.
ManU is struggling in EPL for goals but has
enough experience and quality in the team and will manage it. They have to travel
to Wolfsburg and defeat the club from the automobile City of Germany. If it
ends in draw they have to depend on CSKA Moscow's victory. Manager Luis van Gal
is not a new person to the CL. He won it with kids of Ajax in 1995 and did
pretty well with football giants like Bayern Munich and Barcelona and managed
ManU to reach in the Champions League in the post Ferguson period.
ManCity need to win the match against
Borussia ....(Something could not pronounce properly), but they have home
advantage. Because of the Saturday result, City will definitely get their best
team to face the Germans and prepare the best game plan. They are struggling with
injury crisis and the best attacking player Sergio Aguero and Captain and key
defender Vincent Kompany are yet to be back. They have enough depth in the team
with experience and talent, so better to hope that they will manage it.
Now the question of two London teams, one managed
by Best Manager in the World and the other by “Specialist in Failure” (S-i-F), comes
into picture. One is the holding champion and other one lost its memory on
success long ago but always manages the fourth place to reach in the Champions
League. Chelsea has a manager who won Champions League twice with different
clubs with limited budgets and forgot to repeat it with clubs with lavish
spending capacity. Jose Mourinho is facing his former club Porto at home and
needs nothing less than 3 points. Porto also needs the same result to move into
next round. Home advantage and his Champions League winning experience will definitely
help Chelsea to move further. Though the Blues are not doing well in Premier
League due to some unknown reasons, but their team depth and experience matters
a lot.
Specialist in Failure this time draws the funniest
picture of failure. When they had the best available team, they forgot to
defeat their opponents and now they are depleted in strength and numbers.
Specialist in Failure was successful in taking his unsuccessful team to the
Champions League every year and most occasions they managed to get into the
knock out round and made enough money. They have experience to squeeze in to
the next 16 and proved it several times but this time it is too difficult. They
are in the third position in the group and needs a win with minimum 3 goal
difference from the away match. It is quiet impossible, especially when they
are playing without their key players.
Crucial factor is the loss of major income
avenue. Champions League is the financial foundation of many major clubs.
Arsenal is the biggest beneficiary of this system by reaching regularly in the
last 16. If they won’t make it this time, Arsene Wenger will have a tough time
from the management. They accommodate him because his managerial skills brings
money, though they fail to win titles.
