ENGLAND’S CHAMPS LEAGUE FLOPS REFLECT BADLY
ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE
- BUT DON’T PANIC, WE’LL WIN IT NEXT YEAR!
BARRING a miracle, England will NOT have a single representative in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. As a fervent fan of English football, and an Englishman, that leaves me down and very sad. It reflects badly upon our brilliant Premier League and gives the impression – if you look at the simple stark fact of failure at face value – that our league is overrated and our teams are not as good as we would believe.
But I don’t agree with either of those arguments. OK, we have messed up on a mighty scale this season – with Man United and Man City exiting at the group stages and Arsenal and Chelsea surely on their way out now at the first knockout stage. And you don’t need to tell me that just a few years back we were dominating the competition – yes, we once even had three teams in the semis! And our participation in the last four and the finals was taken more or less for granted, much to the disgruntlement of our foreign rivals.
But now the wheel has turned and we are no longer granted easy entry to the top table. United and City are ploughing their furrow in the second-rate Europa League while Chelsea and Arsenal won’t even have that to fall back on if, as expected, they now complete their miserable surrenders to Napoli and AC Milan respectively.
So why has it happened – and will it now become commonplace? No chance, no way, stop worrying! It is a one-off – and is partly due to the two Manchester clubs not taking their matches seriously enough, and also due to the two London clubs going through a period of relative transition at the worst time of the season.
Put it this way: you really think United and City will go out at the group stage next season? Look at how they did last week in the Europa League – City beating the holders fairly comfortably in Porto and United waltzing to victory in Amsterdam over Ajax. Both Porto and Ajax have been regular competitors in the Champions League and so the victories hold some indication of how United and City are faring at this stage of the season.
I would contend that if they were both in the Champions League now, they would both advance to the next stage – providing they didn’t meet Barcelona or Real Madrid. Yes, both City and United are in the top four teams in Europe NOW – that is why it is more the pity that they are condemned to the Europa League. If City played Naples again now, with the experience they have gained from the Champions League and the form they are in, I would bet on them to knock the Italians out.
Also, if United played AC Milan, I would confidently expect them to beat the Italian veterans who crushed Arsenal 4-0 recently.
United, like City, have hit form – they went out at the group stage because Sir Alex tinkered too much with his team and didn’t give Basle and Benfica the respect they deserved. If he had played his first team, United would have cruised home.
As for Chelsea and Arsenal – well, one of the two London giants is unlikely to be in the competition next season, and I am not sure which one it will be. Their place will definitely be taken by the ever impressive Tottenham Hotspur. Chelsea are an ageing team who need a swift, powerful overhaul while Arsenal are a young team who need more strength in depth with their older players. It was interesting, for instance, how out of touch Mikel Arteta looked in the San Siro – while in the Premier League he has performed well. It just goes to show the extra level of player you need to achieve success in the bigger international club (and country) competitions.
But don’t panic – next season I am confident United, City and Spurs will make the last eight of the Champions League and I wouldn’t be surprised if either United or City won it, or finished runners-up. Lesson will have been learned – that is the only real consolation from this disappointing campaign.
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+++Motor Racing+++
HAMILTON AND
MASSA TO TURN
CLOCK BACK TO 2008?
FOR me, the best season ever in F1 was the incredible 2008 one in which Lewis Hamilton won the title in his second full campaign. It was a season in which his constant feud and battle with his then McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso hogged the headlines. But it was also a season in which he enjoyed a battle royal with the little Brazilian genius, Felipe Massa.
Indeed, at the end of the campaign, he had won the World Championship by a single point from Massa. After that relative high point, the likeable Massa struggled when he was badly injured in the summer of 2009 and has never really regained his form. Yet Ferrari have stuck by him and this week he is testing their new car with team-mate Alonso, who joined him at the Scuderi in 2010.
My two wishes for the new season are that Lewis wins the title again - and that Massa, whom I have a lot of time for and like, does really well, too.
A repeat of the one-two they achieved in 2008 would be terrific. And judging by Massa’s comments about the new car, he sounds as if he has got his love and ambition for the sport back. He told the Ferrari website this week: ‘There’s a lot of work to do to fine tune the F2012 but, as both Fernando and I said, I think this car has plenty of potential.’
Here’s to you realising your potential as well, Felipe. Good luck from me and all your fans in the UK.
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FRANKIE’S FLUTTERS
THE big match of the weekend is Sunday’s Carling Cup Final between Liverpool and Cardiff at Wembley. You have to think that Liverpool will surely win their first trophy in King Kenny Dalglish’s second coming. A win for Cardiff would be a really shock result. So I am going for Liverpool to win by 2-0, with goals from Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez.
Meanwhile, the big match in the Premier League this weekend is the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham at the Emirates, also on Sunday. I have a sneaking feeling Spurs could snatch a 2-1 win. They are in fine form and will be more rested than the Gunners, who had a tough Champions League clash in Milan on Wednesday.
FRANK WORRALL
(For more information on Frank and his bestselling sports books, see www.frankworrall.com)
Weekly Sport readers can buy Frank’s insightful book on Sir Alex Ferguson for the special price of only £2.74 on Kindle (retail price £17.99 for the hardback)…go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fergie-Wonderland-Biography-ebook/dp/B00603XJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326291046&sr=1-7
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