In my earlier article, Will the real 4th place team please stand up? we had a look at how incredibly tight was the fight for last place and how it was majorly due to inability of the teams to capitalize on other team’s failure.

By the time I’d written the previous article, the season had undergone 23 out of 38 games and the table stood like this.

In that post, I had touched upon the forms of Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Levante, Rayo Vallecano, Malaga and Osasuna. Valencia were enjoying a cozy cushion of 7 points above the 4th placed team.

It has been 10 more games since the last article that means everybody had 30 points up for grabs and I was certain that the races for the final Champions League playoff place (4th in the League) and Europa League places (5th and 6th) would have been more of less settled.

How wrong was I? Nothing like that has happened and almost all the teams which we’d discussed above have shown a tremendous inconsistent form and have failed miserably to achieve their goals. Their performances over the season can’t be termed anything but “Les Misérables” – the poor ones, the wretched ones.

Currently after 33 rounds, the table stands like

Now there are 2 battles have emerged. With 5 more rounds to go and maximum 15 points up for grabs, incredible 9 teams are separated by mere 6 points.

Although all the teams remain same except Getafe and Seville coming into contention, their form over last 10 games has been precarious to be considered as European football contenders.

Lets look at the progression of League positions of the above teams.

Los(t) Che: Highest League Position: 1, Lowest League Position: 7

Valencia’s 7 point cushion over the 4th placed Espanyol after 23 games has been evaporated. Their lead at the 3rd place has been reduced to just one point.

Have a look at Valencia’s form throughout the season.

After 22nd match, the wheels on Valencia wagon have come off. Midweek distractions (Champions League, Europa League and Copa del Rey) can be given as an excuse for many of these draws and defeats.

Valencia drew 1:1 with Barcelona in the 1st Leg of Copa del Rey Semi Final and a week later were defeated in the 2nd Leg 2:0. The game vs Atletico Madrid was sandwiched in Copa del Rey SFs, this game was drawn 0:0 in which Valencia fired just 1 shot on target.

Similar pattern was seen when 2 legs of Valencia’s Europa League round of 32 against Stoke were followed by an away trip to Nou Camp where they were hammered 5:1 and a 1:2 home defeat against Sevilla.

Valencia have raked up 1.75 pts per game at home and in 1.41 pts per game away from home. In their remaining 5 fixtures Valencia will play 3 games at home vs Real Betis, Osasuna and Villarreal whose away form has been 1, 0.87 and 0.56 respectively.

But Valencia will play Europa League semi final legs on 20th and 27th against Bilbao followed by a blockbuster showdown against Malaga.

Valencia will have to prioritize between,

Europa League title,
3rd spot in the League which will ensure direct qualification for Champions League group stage.
4th spot in the League which will take them to the Champions League playoffs.

My predictions for Valencia’s remaining fixtures are, Betis (H): D, Malaga (A): L, Osasuna (H): W, Villarreal (H): W, Real Sociedad (A): W.

Malaga: Highest League Position: 3 , Lowest League Position: 10 (not considering 1st day defeat)

In my earlier post Project Malaga, we’ve seen How Malaga were yet to arrive despite big spending and their form earlier in the season was nothing near to ‘Champions League playoff contenders’

But finally it seem like slowly but surely the ‘Project’ has finally taken a destined direction. 5 impressive wins in 6 games and drawing 1:1 against Real Madrid at Bernabeu, had seen them leapfrogging Levante, Espanyol, Bilbao.

Malaga had displaced Valencia from their 3rd place after week 31, but In their last defeat to Villarreal, Malaga conceded 2 goals in last 7 minutes to go down 2:1 and a draw against 10 men Sociedad. They have a very talented squad in the League, but 2 losses and a draw in their last 4 games again cast some doubts about the temperament, desire and ability to lift the game of the players.

Malaga’s Home form is 3rd best in the League behind Barca and Real Madrid with 2.1 points per game, but their away form has been equally disastrous (0.93 per game). Their 2 out of 4 away wins have come recently.

3 out of 5 of their remaining 5 matches are away from home against Osasuna, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid whose home form is 1.9, 2.8 and 1.9. These fixtures are 34th, 36th and 37th in the league calendar.

My predictions for Malaga’s remaining games are, Osasuna (A): W, Valencia (H): W, Barcelona (A): L, Atletico Madrid (A): L, Gijon (H): W

Levante: Highest League Position: 1, Lowest League Position: 7 (not considering 2 initial draws)

Best romantic story of La Liga. Club haunted by serious money problems, unpaid wages and a poor league form last season have managed to turn things around on the pitch. Their 7 consecutive league wins saw them at the summit which they held for 2 weeks.

Then followed 2 bad streaks for them. First was 3 consecutive losses (10,11,12) and another 8 match win less streak without wins which had 3 draws and 5 losses (16-23). They bounced back with 4 wins in 5 matches and went level on points with Malaga and exchanging 4th spot, but they failed to capitalized on this form and lost their last two games. Other teams were unable to take advantage of this slip up and allowed Levante to retain their 5th spot, Malaga’s 1 point off 2 games meant the gap between them remained only 3 points.

Levante’s away form has been decent with 1.12 points per game and at home they’re formidable proposition with 1.76 points per game. Levante will play 3 of their remaining 5 matches away from home against Seville ( 1.68 points / game at home), relegation threatened Zaragoza (1.18 pts / game at home) and Real Mallorca (1.43 pts / game at home).

Of all the teams fighting for 4 spot, Levante will fight hard as some Champions League money will do much good to their financial cause.

My predictions for Levante’s remaining games are, Sevilla (A): L, Granada (H): W, Zaragoza (A): D, Mallorca (A): D, Bilbao (H): W.

Osasuna: Highest League Position: 5, Lowest League Position: 15

They are a surprise package of the league and certainly most unlikely team to compete for a European spot.

Only 6 teams out of 20 have scored less goals than Osasuna, and only 3 teams out of 20 have let in more goals than Osasuna, but most importantly only 3 teams out of 20 have lost less matches than Osasuna.

Stats stand heavily against Osasuna in the final flight. 37 goals scored and wooping 53 goals conceded in 33 matches is certainly not an exciting stat also their longest winning streak lasted just 2 games. Osasuna’s league position has been helped by failure of other teams to pounce on their losses.

Osasuna’s home form is incredible. They have picked up 1.88 points per game at home, winning 9 games out of 17 including a famously gunning down mighty Barcelona (3:2). But away from home, their form is precarious. They have only 2 wins, 8 draws to their credit away form home, and 6 losses. Out of those 6 losses, 8-0 against Barcelona, 7-1 against Real Madrid and recently 6-0 against Rayo Vallecano have been real thumpings.

Osasuna’s run down is pretty difficult. They’ll host Malaga and Sociedad and will travel to Villarreal, Valencia and Racing Santander.

My predictions on Osasuna’s remaining games are, Malaga (H): L, Villarreal (A): L, Valencia (A): L, Sociedad (H): D, Santander (A): W

Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Espanyol and Getafe all are tied on 45 points, 6 points adrift of current 4th placed Malaga.

Have a look at their away form throughout the season. It really a poor statistic by some of the giants of Spanish football. Sevilla has been UEFA Cup winner in the past and Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao along with Valencia make 3 out of 4 Spanish teams in Europa League’s semifinalists.

Athletic Bilbao:

Although Athletic Bilbao have been sensational in Europa League knocking out Manchester United and Schalke, in the League they haven’t been able to exert their force. Their haven’t been able to win more than 2 matches on the go, and this feat too they could achieve only once. On the other hand they’ve managed to lose 3 games in a row twice in the season.

Bilbao initially went 6 away games unbeaten, but in their last 6 away games they have managed only 2 draws and losing 4.

Bilbao will travel to relegation bound Santander, Zaragoza and 4th spot contender Levante. Their home games are against unstoppable Real Madrid and resurgent Getafe.

Another Europa League semi finalists Atletico Madrid share the similar tale and yet more disappointing away form.

Just 4 wins, a draw and 5 losses in their last 10 matches meant they could win secure only 13 points out of possible 30. Out of these 10 matches 5 were at home and Atletico managed 3 wins and 2 losses, which were against Barcelona and Real Madrid. Their performance in both of these matches were excellent.

Out of remaining 5 matches, Atletico will play 3 at home against Espanyol, Sociedad and Malaga.

I’ve been impressed by Getafe so far who had a disastrous start to the league campaign. After 10th game, they found themselves at the bottom of the league with only 7 points to show. They managed 4 wins in next 6 games. Getafe could manage only 19 points after first 16 games and managed a respectable 12th place.

Well, if a 12th place team can have only 19 points after 16 games, the inconsistency of the entire league barring top two is brutally exposed.

However Getafe have managed 26 points from next 17 games with 7 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses. They just thumped another contender Sevilla 5-1 at home last night. Unbelievably 26 points in 17 games is a highest tally among the above teams involved.

Getafe’s run seem to be the easiest and their recent form is decent too. They’ll play Granada (A), Mallorca (H), Santander (H), Athletic Bilbao (A) and Zaragoza (A).

Relatively weekly points progression of the teams will show the fact that how closely these teams are knit and how a couple of good result or a couple of bad results can change the standings completely.

Parting Shot:

I don’t want to start a debate on which league is best in Europe or in the World, but I couldn’t resist the temptation of checking out the League standings across the Europe after 33 games and checking out where a team closer to 52 points does stand.

In no other leagues does team with 1.58 points / game stands a chance for a direct qualification in group stage of the Champions League, rather those teams are struggling for their chances to play in Europe.

In the following table shows 3rd place teams in Major European Leagues and their performance in terms of points per game.

In Major European Leagues, La Liga has a team with lowest points/game at 3rd place in the League.

Well, Spain maybe the European Champions and World Champions and they might have a best shot in conquering European Championships again.

Valencia, Athletic Bilbao maybe playing beautiful football, Malaga may have a best assembled petroleum squad, Levante might be defying all the odds stacked against their existence, but unless you perform consistently in terms of results, and rely on mediocrity of other teams to secure better positions, you won’t stand a chance in Europe’s élite club competitions.

The Number Game: What’s Your Number?

April 3, 2012

World Football

5 Comments

Numbers, the world revolves around them. Numbers keep ticking us on. We spend most of our lives chasing the numbers and numbers relentlessly chase us. We deal with them so much in our day to day lives that we remember them even in our deepest sleep.

Bank Account Numbers, Telephone numbers, Credit Card Numbers, Social security numbers, Birth dates, Anniversaries, Finances, Fixture Dates, Stats and even players’ Jersey numbers.

Hang on a minute. Is it Jersey Numbers?

Yes.

We do remember our favorite players and their Jersey numbers. Not only that, we also remember entire squad and their numbers year by year.

Football has always been associated with the jersey numbers and the players who wear them. According to the archives, the numbers were used in football for the first time in 1928, in a match between Sheffield Wednesday and Arsenal. In that game, the numbers were strictly assigned by field position.

The numbers were allocated as per the standard 2-3-5 (‘Pyramid’) Formation. As the game evolved with the new formations, the conventional numbering system also changed.

Although there were no hard and fast rules as to which number represented which position (especially given football’s varied formations), a de facto standard emerged over time and was employed by most teams, with few exceptions:

Goalkeepers generally wore the number 1 shirt. This convention has become almost universal.

Defenders generally wore numbers between 2 and 6.

Midfielders most commonly wore numbers 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 (11 and 7 were typically used for the left and right wings, respectively).

Strikers wore 9 and 10, and less commonly 7, 8 and 11.

Now many teams have adopted following convention for assigning numbers as per player positions.

When substitutions were introduced to the game in the 1965, the substitute typically took the number 12; when a second substitute was allowed, they wore 14. Players were not compelled to wear the number 13 if they were superstitious.

Till 1993 in England it was mandatory for player in the starting line up to wear the squad number between 1 and 11. FA decided to adopt permanent squad numbers and used it for the first time in 1992-93 League Cup Final ironically between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. It was fully implemented with effect from 1993-94 Premier League season.

In Spain, the permanent squad numbers started in from season 95-96. Germany adopted the system in 1993-94 season and Italy in 1995-96.

Now in England and Italy, Players may now wear any number (as long as it is unique within their squad) between 1 and 99 but in Spain the system is different and stringent. In La Liga players in the A-squad (maximum 25 players, including a maximum of three goalkeepers) must wear a number between 1-25. Goalkeepers must wear 1, 13 or 25. When players from the reserve team are selected to play for the first team, they are given squad numbers between 26 and 50.

But some numbers have their own tale.

Number Keepers:

Though it is traditionally the goalkeeper’s number, Pantelis Kafes a playmaker from AEK Athens has been wearing no. 1 jersey since his Olympiacos days (2003-06).

On other hand, Parma goalkeeper Luca Bucci wore the numbers 7 (2005–06) and 5 (2006-08) jerseys. Also Crisiano Lupatelli, a wandering goalkeeper wore No. 10 Jersey at Chievo and No. 3 in his second stint at Roma. He’s now at Genoa wearing No. 22 at Genoa.

Gigi Buffon however got into trouble for his No. selection. At the beginning of the 2000 season, he bizarrely decided to switch to No. 88 from No. 1. Apparently this move caused a huge rage in Italian Jewish community. They pointed out that 88 is a neo-Nazi symbol as “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 equates to HH, or Heil Hitler.

Buffon later spoke in the press that, “I have chosen 88 because it reminds me of four balls and in Italy we all know what it means to have balls: strength and determination,” he said. “And this season I will have to have balls to get back my place in the Italy team.” He changed it to No. 77.

The Honor of becoming the first ever player to don no. 99 jersey in the final of major European competition goes to Vítor Baía of Porto in 2003-04 final against AS Monaco.

World’s highest scoring goalkeeper Rogério Ceni who has scored 101 goals for São Paulo, 55 Free Kicks and 46 Penalties wore the No. 618 for Sao Paulo in 2005 to commemorate his 618th appearance for the club. However, this was just a one-off appearance, before Ceni reverted to his regular number 1.

In 2006, when Chelsea signed defender Khalid Boulahrouz from Hamburg, he took No. 9 which was apparently vacant.

Also William Gallas surprisingly wore no. 10 which was vacated by legendary Dennis Bergkamp. Arsene Wenger explained this decision in an interview to Arsenal’s official magazine. Arsene said, “Number three was uncomfortable for him and I had given the rest of the numbers out. In the end I thought it might be a good idea to give the number ten to a defender, because a striker would suffer a lot with the comparison with Dennis. At first I was reluctant to give Dennis’s number out, and especially to a defender, but overall I think its better that way.”

During his second spell at German giants Bayern Munich in 2005, French World Cup winner Lizarazu chose the squad number 69. With obvious connotations, many saw this as a disrespectful choice from the left-back, but he claimed that he chose it as it was his ‘lucky number’ (as he was born in 1969, measured 169 cm, and weighed 69 kg).

Iván Zamorano, a Legendary Chilean striker who has been selected in the FIFA 100, a list of the best living football players in the world compiled by Pelé, got involved in some bizarre number game.

Zamorano had won La Liga with Real in 1994-95 and individual awards like two EFE Trophies and Pichichi, got transferred to Inter in a crazy swap deal of €1m + Roberto Carlos in 1996. Having played for Real Madrid in No. 9 jersey, he continued to wear the same for Inter till 1998 when they signed Roberto Baggio. Baggio demanded No. 10 Jersey which he had always worn in the past. So Ronaldo, who had to give up no. 10 for Baggio, took up no. 9 which already belonged to Zamorano. Therefore he chose retain same No. 9 with a twist. He then chose to wear bizarre No. ‘1+8’ jersey for two remaining years.

In 2008-09 summer AC Milan signed Ronaldinho from Barcelona, Mathieu Flamini from Arsenal and Andriy Shevchenko from Chelsea. Upon their arrival in Milan, they chose their respective birth years as their jersey numbers, 80, 84 and 76 respectively, as their old No. 10, 16 and 7 were already held by Clarence Seedorf, Željko Kalac and Alexandre Pato.

In Scotland, Hibernian signed a striker Derek Riordan in 2008, and gave him No. 01 as No. 10 was already occupied by another striker Colin Nish. When Steven Fletcher moved to Burnley in 2009-10, Nish took vacant No. 9 and Riordan finally got his No. 10. Hicham Zerouali, a Moroccan striker was allowed to wear No. 0 when he was in Aberdeen (1999–2002) as it was his Nickname ‘Zero’.

The Mexican forward Bautista has gained a reputation for being somewhat of a show-off, and his strong personality has won him both friends and enemies. While a Chivas player, Bautista chose the squad number 100, and is the only player to regularly wear a triple figure squad number. However, after a fall-out with both his manager and his team-mates, ‘Bofo’ was transferred to Chiapas, where he currently wears the number one shirt – one which is normally reserved for goalkeepers.

Mexican league has no restrictions on the numbers, but when Mexican clubs enter any FIFA authorized CONCACAF competitions, they have to wear double digit jerseys only.

Currently following players in the Mexican league are having triple digit Number are,

Legendary Goof up:

Pele, who has always been associated with No. 10, began to wear the number in 1958 World Cup. But it has been found out that he got that number as a goof up.

Brazilian Football Confederation forgot to send the player number list to FIFA. Thus FIFA randomly distributed the numbers to players. No.3 was given to their World Cup winning Goalkeeper Gilmar, Garrincha and Mario Zagallo got No. 7 and 11 as they were playing on the wings and Pele got No. 10. Pele finished the tournament with six goals in four matches played, and was named young player of the tournament. He never looked back and never wore another number again.

Argentine debacle:

During 3 consecutive World Cups (1974, 1978, and 1982) Argentina numbered the team alphabetically by surname. In consequence, starting goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol wore the number 5 jersey during the 1978 World Cup and the number 7 in 1982 letting the number 1 to an outfield player. In 1982, Argentina adopted the same method but allowed Diego Maradona to wear No. 10 instead of sequential No. 12.

When the Argentinean FA announced in 1986 that they would be doing a repeat of 1982 and ordering the shirt numbers alphabetically, apart from Diego Maradona who would swap again to number 10, captain Passarella and Real Madrid striker Jorge Valdano pulled rank and insisted on keeping their own numbers too, so Passarella kept his favored number 6 and Valdano wore 11.

After Maradona’s retirement, every next No. 10 player was burdened with lot of pressure to justify that number’s legacy. Ariel Ortega was given No. 10 for 1998 World Cup. Ortega was supposed to carry playmaker’s flag, but he failed to deliver.

In September 2001, the football authorities of Argentina decided that, starting from November 14th, the #10 shirt of Argentina will be retired forever, as a tribute to Diego Armando Maradona. The decision was taken from all the members of the committee of the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA).

For 2002 FIFA World Cup, Argentina submitted their squad list of 23 players and assigned them 1-24 numbers and No. 10 was left blank, which was against FIFA’s tournament regulations (Point 4, Article 26). FIFA sent the list back and ordered no. 10 to be given to any player. And the Man himself Sepp Blatter gave a bizarre suggestion to award No. 10 jersey to third choice goalkeeper Roberto Bonano. So it was given to Ortega again.

Now it has been claimed by Maradona’s apt successor Lionel Messi. Although he’s world’s best footballer, doing miracles for Barcelona, the jury is still out on him for his contribution to the national team.

Swapping Game:

There has been a long chain of players’ swaps between Real Madrid and Manchester United involving No. 7.

When Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford in 2003 he asked for the no 28 shirt he had worn at Sporting Lisbon, which was held by Mark Lynch. But Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him to be a legend and gave him the shirt of a legend – vacated by David Beckham (who had taken the 23 at Real Madrid as there was no budging Raul). Ronaldo said: “After I joined, the manager asked me what number I’d like. I said 28. But Ferguson said ‘No, you’re going to have No. 7,’ and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honor.”

Apparently when Luis Figo moved to Real Madrid from Barcelona, he too wanted No. 7, but Raul’s refusal made him take a vacant No. 10. Next year when Zidane moved to Real, he wanted No. 10, which was held by Figo, who wanted No. 7, which was held by Raul.

Zidane’s bad luck about numbers goes back to Juventus days. Zizou used to wear No. 7 at Bourdeaux, but when he moved to Juve, Angelo Di Livio held No. 7 and Alessandro Del Piero held No. 10. Zizou had to opt for a strange No. 21 at Juve and No. 5 at Real Madrid.

Raul had held No. 7 for 14 years at Real Madrid and was vacated only when he got transferred to Schalke in 2010. At Schalke he has taken No. 7 from Chinese player Junmin Hao, who has been moved back to No. 8.

Ronaldo has not only lived up to the legacy of No. 7, but he also has elevated the stature so high that next No. 7 of Real Madrid will suffer the same fate as Argentina’s no. 10.

Retiring Numbers:

Another game with Jersey numbers is of those which are being retired in honor of their icon players. This way of expressing gratitude is more common in Basketball in America.

To name a few, Chicago Bulls have retired the No. 23 of Michael Jordan and 33 of Scottie Pippen, LA Lakers have retired No. 32 of Magic Johnson, No. 33 of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and No. 34 of Shaquille O’Neal, Boston Celtic have also retired No. 33 of Larry Bird and many more. Although Michael Jordan has never played for Miami Heat, they have retired his No. 23 for his contribution to the game. This is certainly a unique way of paying tribute to the Legend of the game. Football too isn’t far behind in this.

Some of the famous retired Numbers are below.

Legendary No. 14:

On 25^th April 1957, a 10 year old kid joined the youth academy at Ajax and he left them in 1973 for Barcelona as a 26 year old superstar. In his illustrious career at Ajax, he won all the trophies which a club footballer can win. With 8 Eredivisie titles, 5 KNVB Cups, 3 consecutive European Cups, 2 UEFA Super cups, 1 Intertoto Cup and 1 Intercontinental Cup, the lad was already a world superstar. After hanging his boots as a player, he returned to Ajax as a manager as a 38 year old man. Not only he won 2 KNVB Cups and a Cup Winners Cup, he also installed a strong football philosophy which is stilled used at Ajax and Barcelona. His name is Johann Cruyff.

He started his career at Ajax with a traditional No. 9 but in 1970-71, he insisted on wearing no. 14 shirt, although being in the starting lineup.

On his 60^th Birthday on 25^th April 2007, Ajax retired the number 14 jersey, which in their best period was worn by Johan Cruyff. His contribution for the Ajax jersey is immeasurable, and he brought world fame to the club, said the president of the club, John Jaakke.

El Diego again:

Claudio Bellucci is a luckiest man in Naples. He became a last player ever to wear legendary No. 10 jersey, which was graced by Diego Maradona. Diego’s impact on Napoli can’t just be captured in words. As a tribute to him, Napoli retired No. 10 Jersey from 2001-02 season.

But Maradona wants Napoli to being No. 10 out of retirement only if fellow countryman Ezequiel Lavezzi wants it. But Lavezzi has decided to keep his current No. 22 Jersey as he wants to establish himself as first Lavezzi rather than being second Maradona in Naples.

The Divine Ponytail:

After a disappointing season with Inter in 1999-00 and being left out of Italian National Squad, Roberto Baggio decided to resurrect his career with small team Brescia. Baggio joined Brescia at the start of 2000-01 season and helped them to achieve a respectable 8^th place. In 01-02 season, he tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee and had a lengthy absence. He played his last game on 16 May 2004 at the San Siro against Milan. In the 88th minute, Brescia coach Gianni De Biasi subbed Baggio off so he could get his curtain call. The 80,000 present at the San Siro gave him a standing ovation. He scored 45 goals in his 4-year tenure with Brescia and they decided to pay their respect by retiring his No. 10 Jersey.

Curious Case at AC Milan:

AC Milan became the first team in Europe to have two No.s retired, when they retired Paolo Maldini’s No. 3 jersey after he hung up his boots after his 25 year stint with Milan. They had already retired Franco Baresi’s No. 6 jersey as a respect to his 20 year service. Both Maldini and Baresi have spent their career only at Milan.

Apparently Maldini’s jersey has been semi retired. His sons Christian (15) and Daniel (10) have already been signed by AC Milan’s youth team. Paolo has given his consent to bring the shirt out of retirement if anyone of them makes it to AC Milan’s first team. So he has made sure there’ll only be a Maldini wearing No. 3 jersey.

Seven clubs in England and Scotland have retired a number, but most as a result of a player’s sudden death. Hartlepool (Michael Maidens, No. 25), Manchester City (Marc-Vivien Foe, No. 23), QPR (Ray Jones, No. 31), Wycombe (Mark Philo, No14) and Aberdeen (Hicham Zerouali, No20 and who also wore No. 0) have all withdrawn numbers in the wake of tragedy. West Ham too, has retired No.6 shirt’s withdrawal as a tribute to Bobby Moore.

Usually fans that are also referred as a “twelfth man” can get their share in the team’s history in a unique way. Many teams dedicate a number to their fans. The most common number for this practice is 12. Some of the teams who have retired No. 12 are,

Sparta Prague, Portsmouth, Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Lazio, Parma, PSV Eindhoven, Fenerbahce (had to be) and Lech Poznań (remember their goal celebration?).

Heartwarming Tale:

Undoubtedly, an award for most romantic number story goes to Hungary’s Ferencváros TC.

Hungarian legendary goalkeeper Gyula Grosics nicknamed Black Panther, who was a part of Hungary’s Golden Team of 1950s, played for Budapest Honvéd FC along with Ferenc Puskás. After an ill fated South American tour of 1957 where the club was declared as invalid by FIFA, Ferenc Puskás signed for Real Madrid, but political pressure forced Grosics to return home. Although Grosics wanted to play for Hungary’s most prestigious club Ferencváros TC, he was transferred to modest provincial outfit Tatabanya against his wishes as Hungarian authorities had opposed his move to Ferencváros.

He ended his career with Tatabanya in 1962 with a massive regret of never being able to play for Ferencváros.

46 years after his retirement, Ferencváros decided to amend this mistake. In 2008 officials at the club organized a friendly match against Sheffield United and signed Grosics to allow him to appear on their team sheet at least once.

Before the kickoff, 82 year old Grosics lined up with a squad dressed in his usual black, with his white hair slicked back. He took up position between the posts and got a touch on the ball before being substituted for regular keeper Adam Holczer.

After the game, Ferencvaros retired the No.1 shirt in his honor and, every year, his name features on the list of players which the club sends to the Hungarian Football Association. Till date Grosics is still a registered member of the club.

Forty-six years on from his retirement, Gyula Grosics’ dream had finally come true.

Who says “It’s just a number”?

Three Horse Race: A Decade Ago

March 26, 2012

Italian Football

2 Comments

A decade back world was a different place. A year of 2001 has been an iconic year and it will be remembered for demise of George Harrison, Sir Don Bradman, Robert Ludlum, horrors of 9/11 and Afghan war which was brought upon us. But it also gave us something to remember.

It happened in Italy. The season of 2001-02 gave us a thrilling chase for The Scudetto. It has been by far one of the best Serie A season in my memory. Of course there have been seasons all over the world where the titles have been decided on the last day. But this season was like no other. After so many twists and turns throughout the season, three teams headed into the final day with a chance to win the title.

With the fate in their own hands Inter, Juventus and AS Roma entered into final day all with a chance to clinch the title. But it was Juve who snatched the title as Inter suffered a dramatic meltdown in Rome.

The world also saw return of El Fenómeno, Ronaldo on the pitch after a lengthy absence of one and half year due to horrific injury. Ronaldo again got injured but regained full fitness just in time to return in last 4 matches for Inter.

Juventus having lost previous two titles to Roma and Lazio by 2 and 1 point were eager to shake up nervousness in the final run in and claim their 26^th title. Roma were defending champions and were looking solid under Fabio Capello.

Crazy Transfer Season

With the World Cup looming large in the summer of 2002, Italian teams got super busy in the 2001 summer transfer window. Among 18 teams, staggering 230 players were signed and 198 were transferred out. With an average of 12 players per team signed in and 11 signed out, it surely must’ve been a craziest transfer season.

Juventus sold Zinédine Zidane to Real Madrid for a record fee of €86.5M and paid exuberant €54M to Parma for Gianluigi Buffon, making him world’s most expensive Goalkeeper. Juve also paid Parma €36.5M for Lilian Thuram and also bought Pavel Nedved from Lazio for €41M. Inter certainly had been a busiest team in the League. They actually bought an entire additional squad as an addition to their current players. Have a look at Inter’s second XI below.

Subs: GK Fontana, DF Padalino, MF Guly, Brncic, FW Adriano, Ventola

Lazio bought Manchester United defender Jaap Stam, Valencia midfielder Gaizka Mendieta and the promising Stefano Fiore and Parma bought Japanese superstar Hidetoshi Nakata and goalkeeper Sébastien Frey. AC Milan They bought young Italy U-21 superstar Andrea Pirlo from Inter, and executed a very strange deal with Juventus. Milan had bought youngsters Cristian Zenoni and Massimo Donati from Atalanta, but within hours had sent Cristian Zenoni and cash to Juventus in exchange for Filippo Inzaghi. One of the big sagas of the summer was the destination of new superstar Antonio Cassano, who had Juventus and Roma fighting for his signature. Cassano chose Roma, defending champions.

This merry go round was for the managers as well. After 2 disappointing seasons, Juventus sacked Carlo Ancelotti in the summer and brought back Marcello Lippi from Inter. Inter signed Héctor Cúper from Valencia as their manager. Milan was hoping to not repeat last season’s disappointment, and hired Turkish manager Fatih Terim. He was sacked in midseason and was replaced by Ancelotti. Lazio had fired Dino Zoff in the summer and signed Alberto Zaccheroni.

Fiorentina confirmed Roberto Mancini as their coach but after a run of poor results, sacked him and appointed Ottavio Bianchi. Bianchi too was sacked within 2 months and then was replaced by Luciano Chiarugi. Venezia, Udinese, Leece and Fiorentina all changed coaches during the season. Renzo Ulivieri at Parma was sacked in November and was replaced by Daniel Passarella, but he too was sacked within a month and replaced by Pietro Carmignani.

Season Unfolding

Above four components made the season very interesting. Newly promoted Chievo Verona under Luigi Delneri, stole the hearts of the football lovers and heartbeats of the opponents by their incredible performances. They not only finished 5^th in the league, they actually led the league for 5 weeks and were one of the strong contenders for the title.

In the wake of World Cup starting in June 2002, Serie A started in August than usual September.

Juventus’s blistering start

Matchday 1-2

In the season opener Mohammed Kallon and Christian Vieri scored twice to give Inter a 4-1 thrashing of Perugia at Home. In Turin David Trezeguet’s 2 goals in 2 minutes and 2 by Il Capitano Alessandro Del Piero helped Juventus to score 4 unanswered goals against Venezia while Chievo travelled to Florence for their first even top flight game, shocked the world by beating Fiorentina 0-2. Defending champions Roma threw away lead against Chievo’s city rivals Hellas Verona and could only draw 1-1.

Corradi and Cassato scored for Chievo against Bologna at home in Matchday 2. Del Piero and Trezeguet ensured an easy 0-2 away win at Alatanta. Inter conceded an 85^th minute equaliser against Parma and salvaged 2-2 draw. Roma’s bad luck continued as they too conceded 90^th minute goal against Udinese at home and posted a 2^nd consecutive draw.

Matchday 3

In the top of the table clash Juventus hosted Chievo at Stadio delle Alpi and produced a thrilling spectacle. Del Piero had 2 chances within 8 minutes from the start. The deadlock was broken by Chievo through a mistake from Buffon when he spilled the ball from the corner in front of Marazinna and he just slotted the ball in the net. Chievo shocked the Old Lady by taking 0-2 lead within 20 minutes. Tacchinardi’s volley a minute later brought one goal back. Juve then created host of chances and scored an equaliser through Tudor’s header on 40^th minute. On the 83^rd minute, Marcelo Salas’s chip hit the crossbar and hit the defender’s hand on the rebound. Referee awarded the penalty to Juve which Salas coolly converted. The match ended in 3-2 score line although there could’ve been many more goals.

Inter’s match against Venezia too provided thrilling finish. Inter took a lead through Kallon’s penalty and conceded an 89^th minute equaliser. It was Adriano (remember him? Yes, he was signed in the summer from Flamengo for €7M before being loaned out in January) in the injury time pounced on a loose ball when his header was saved and scored a dramatic winner.

Roma slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Piacenza.

Flight of “The Flying Donkeys”

Next 6 games were no less than miraculous for Chievo. The Flying Donkeys grabbed 14 points out of 18 available by winning 4 games and drawing 2.

In Matchday 4 they beat Piacenza 4-2, 1-2 victory against Udinese in Matchday 5. In Matchday 7, Chievo could’ve made a history by winning 3 games in a row but they conceded 80^th Minute equaliser against Brescia and earned a 2-2 draw. In Matchday 8 Parma was beaten 1-0, In Matchday 9 Chievo put 3 goals past Torino and in Matchday 10 they played out 0-0 draw at Venezia.

AS Roma quietly got on with their business and started a voyage of 24 unbeaten games. Roma too picked up 14 points from maximum 18 available in 6 games.

In Matchday 4, Roma came back from behind to beat Fiorentina 2-1 at home, thanks to Panucci’s 87^th minute goal. Matchday 5 was an emphatic 0-2 win against Juventus at Stadio Delle Alpi. After playing a boring 0-0 draw against Perugia, Roma thrashed Leece 5-1 in Matchday 8 at Home. Matchday 9 was a “Derby della Capitale” against Lazio which was won 2-0 by Roma. In Matchday 10 Roma drew 1-1 against Atalanta.

Matchday 4 saw Ronaldo making comeback for the 1^st time after a lengthy absence of one and half year due to Injury and 2 operations on his knee. Ronaldo was an unused sub in a 0-1 victory against Torino. He did not feature in 1-0 victory against Bologna and in a 1-1 Draw against Udinese. Matchday 8 was a “Derby della Madonnina” and Inter suffered a humiliating 2-4 defeat in the hands of AC Milan which was their 1^st of the season. Next up was a trip to Juventus which ended in a 0-0 draw. Inter recovered from this mini slump and beat Leece 2-0 at home. Ronaldo didn’t feature in any of these 3 games as well.

Juventus however had a miserable run of 6 games in which they could manage to pick up only 5 points. Juve drew with Leece (0-0), Torino (3-3), Bologna (0-0), Inter (0-0), Hellas Verona (2-2) and lost to Roma in the Matchday 5.

AS Roma tightened the screws

Matchday 11-15 and 6.

Matchday 6 was played between Matchday 15 and 16.

Roma continued their resurgence and posted 4 wins in a row (1-3 vs. Bologna, 1-0 vs. Vicenza, 1-2 vs. Parma and 1-0 vs. AC Milan), sandwiched between 2 draws (0-0 draw against Inter in Matchday 11 and 0-0 draw in Matchday 6). They picked up 14 out of 18 points and surged up to 3^rd place.

Inter too, posted 3 wins in a row in Matchday 12, 13 and 14 against Fiorentina (2-0), Atalanta (2-4) and Brescia (1-3) respectively. In the match against Brescia, Ronaldo played for 66 minutes and opened the scoring for Inter. In Matchday 6 against Hellas Verona, Ronaldo again scored a brace in 3-0 win.

Chievo maintaining their impressive form won 2-0 vs. Perugia and a hat trick of wins in Matchday 14, 15 and 6 against Leece (2-0), Inter (1-2) and Lazio (3-1). They however lost to first ever Verona derby against Hellas Verona 3-2, after squandering a 0-2 lead. Chievo squandered 1-2 lead against AC Milan in Matchday 13 and lost 3-2.

Juventus too, had a series of mixed results. Apart from winning against Parma (3-1), Perugia (2-0) and Piacenza (2-0), Juve drew against Milan and Fiorentina and lost to Lazio (1-0).

Chievo’s 2 defeats saw their lead at the summit reduced to only 1 point and Inter ready to pounce on any slip up. Steady performances by Inter and Roma, Juventus’s erratic form saw them in the 4^th place, 7 points adrift of the leaders Chievo.

Old Lady joins the party

Matchday 16-21

Although Juventus were 7 points behind, they were unbeaten in their last 4 games and were firing all cylinders. Juve now had turned the tide. They extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games and posted 6 wins in a row, picking 18 out of 18 points.

In Matchday 16 Juve thumped Brescia 0-4, and Inter defeated Piacenza 2-3. Chievo met Roma at home and were hoping to maintain the lead at the summit. Roma got a corner on the 25^th minute and Emerson’s header was heroically saved by the goalkeeper but resulted in another corner. This time Emerson rose again and headed the ball in the net. But in the 53^rd minute Roma’s goalkeeper Antonioli got sent off for stupidly bringing down Marazzina on the edge of the box. This sending off galvanised Roma and they scored 2 more goals without a reply. Chievo were comprehensively beaten by the defending champions.

In the next game, Juve put 3 goals past Udinese while Roma and Chievo too got 1-0 and 1-2 victories respectively. Inter’s 0-0 draw at home against Lazio meant Roma take the lead at the top of the table for the first time in the season.

Chievo threw away 2-1 lead against Fiorentina when Adriano (on loan from Inter) scored another 90^th minute goal to salvage 2-2 draw for the Violas. Roma hosting Hellas Verona went down 0-2 within 53 minutes through Adrian Mutu’s brace. But an incredible fight back saw Roma equalising through Assunção and Cassano by 63^rd minute. Fabio Capello had brought on Gabriel Batistuta for Zebina in the 46^th minute. Batigol scored a winner in the 89^th minute to maintain Roma’s lead at the top.

Juventus now in top gear, went on to comfortably beat Atalanta (3-0), Chievo (1-3) and Leece (3-0). Roma and Inter could only win once and draw twice while Chievo’s slump had started. They lost twice in a row and drew against Piacenza saw them losing ground to leaders by 7 points.

Matchday 16 saw Ronaldo getting injured again and faced another lengthy term on the sidelines.

Relentless Inter at the Summit

Matchday 22-29

Roma and Juve both hit some sort of mini slump and lost the ground on Inter. In the next 8 games, Inter lost against Bologna (2-1), and then won their next 3 games in a row against Hellas Verona (0-3), Udinese (3-2) and a derby victory against AC Milan (0-1).

Juve meanwhile played a goal less draw against Roma, defeated Fiorentina (2-1), drew 2-2 in the Turin derby against Torino and had beaten Bologna (2-1).

Matchday 26 was between Inter and Juve at San Siro. Clarence Seedorf hit a 30 yard bullet shot in the 6^th minute to put Inter ahead. David Trezeguet scored a headed goal in the 13^th minute to bring parity. In 81^st minute, unmarked Igor Tudor scored a header to put Juventus ahead. But Seedorf had another plans. In the injury time he unleashed another missile in the top left corner, this time from 40 yards. Match ended in a pulsating 2-2 draw.

Roma meanwhile had managed 3 win and 3 draws in their 6 games. After drawing to Juve in the matchday 22, they drew blank again against Brescia. Roma managed to beat Perugia by a solitary goal and drew again to Leece (1-1).

While Inter and Juve were locked in an epic battle at San Siro, Roma played “Derby della Capitale” at Stadio Olimpico against Lazio. Roma annihilated their eternal arch rivals 1-5 in which Vicenzo Montella scored incredible 4 goals.

Blessed by Seedorf’s lifeline, Inter won their next game against Leece (1-2).

Matchday 28 was a top of the table clash between Inter and Roma. Both teams went in the match on same points. Inter mercilessly thumped Roma 3-1 and on the same day Juventus too, lost to Parma after conceding 87^th minute goal.

Juve came from behind to draw their next game against Lazio (1-1). While Inter and Roma both posted wins against Fiorentina and Bologna respectively.

This Juventus’ slump pushed them down to the third spot and opened up 6 point gap to the leaders Inter. With 5 games to go in the season and 3 point lead over Roma, it was surely Inter’s title to lose. And it turned out to be exactly that way.

Old Lady’s heat starts a meltdown

Matchday 30-33

What happened next is some sort of miracle.

Old Lady of Turin suddenly woke up from her cocoon and posted 4 wins in a row. First Juve beat Perugia (4-0) and then a lucky own goal by José Antonio Chamot helped them to nick a 1-0 victory against Milan. Juve held on to their nerves and through Pavel Nedved’s 88^th minute goal, beat Piacenza (1-0). In the penultimate game against Brescia, a Trezeguet hatrick and Del Piero brace helped them to thump Brescia 5-0. Juve sneaked past Roma into the 2^nd spot with this win.

Sluggish Inter lost to Atalanta at home (1-2) but the next game against Brescia saw the return of El Fenómeno to the full fitness. Ronaldo inspired Inter and scored a brace in defeating Brescia 2-1. In the next match against Chievo, Dalmat and Ronaldo put Inter in the lead (1-2) but they went off to sleep in the injury time when unmarked Cossato coolly slotted the ball past Toldo to make it 2-2. Inter woke up by this alarm and then thrashed Piacenza 3-1 in the penultimate game and maintained the lead in the table.

On the other hand, AS Roma recovered from being 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against Venezia, defeated Parma (3-1), drew a crucial game against AC Milan 0-0 and in the penultimate game thrashed Chievo (5-0) in which Montella again scored a hat trick. Roma lost a ground on Inter and traded the place with Juve because of these draws.

Capital Meltdown

So after so many twists and turns, on 5^th May 2002, all teams entered into the final Matchday for a simultaneous kick off.

The points table and head to head results meant all three teams had an opportunity to win the Scudetto.

Inter had the title in their own hands. A win or same results by all teams would be insuring the title for Inter. But Inter’s draw and Win by Juventus would take the title to Turin. A draw by Inter and Juve but a Roma win would mean Roma will be the Champions. Juventus would have had to better Inter’s result and Roma would have had to better Juventus AND Inter’s result for the championship.

Interestingly all the three teams travelled away from home for the last game. Inter travelled to Lazio (AS Roma’s Rivals), Roma travelled to Torino (Juventus’ Rivals) and Juventus travelled to Udinese. All the three stadiums were packed by Away fans, hoping for their team to clinch the title. All eyes on the ground and ears on their radios, fans sat nervously watching the game.

An interesting factor was developing between Lazio and Inter game. Lazio ultras ‘Irriducibili’ have a strongest friendship with the ultras of Inter. So on the last day many fans of Lazio were supporting Inter, their opposition, hoping they would claim the Scudetto instead of hated rival Juventus and Roma.

What happened on the Matchday can be termed as a Meltdown in Rome.

Juventus’ David Trezeguet opened the scoring with a simple header in the 2^nd minute.

Trezeguet’s cross from the left side of the half line on 11^th minute, released Alessandro Del Piero in space on the right. Del Piero gave a perfect first touch to the ball and let it roll perfectly in front before unleashing a fierce right foot shot in the bottom corner of the net. 0-2 up.

Title was going to Turin.

Stadio Friuli full of Juventus supporters held on to their breath and switched their ears towards Rome.

Switch to Rome.

12^th Minute in Rome. Inter got a corner and the ball was swung in. Lazio keeper Peruzzi rose to claim it but very conveniently spilled the ball in the feet of Christian Vieri, who put the ball in the net and immediately took his shirt off and ran emphatically. 0-1 at Rome.

Title was going to Milan.

19^th Minute in Rome. Lazio’s Karel Poborsky pounced on a loose ball in the box and scored for Lazio against the run of play, the plan and mainly the fans. 1-1. Pin drop silence in the stadium. Both sets of fans became unhappy.

Title was again heading towards Turin.

23^rd minute in Rome. Inter got a corner after Fernando Couto needlessly put the ball behind. Diego Simeone failed to mark Luigi Di Biagio at the near post and he flicked a header in for a goal. 1-2. Stadio Olimpico erupted.

Title again made a U-turn towards Milan.

45^th Minute in Rome. Inter’s Vratislav Greško’s header towards his own keeper fell short and in the feet of charging Karel Poborsky. Poborsky could do nothing but slot the ball into the net. 2-2.

Half Time in the Capital, and the Title was heading towards Turin.

55^th Minute in Rome. A free kick to Lazio. Critiano Zanetti failed to mark Diego Simeone and he scored an easy header. 3-2.

Meanwhile Alessando Nesta of Lazio made a goal like clearance. Inter’s hopes were quickly fading into obscurity.

73^rd Minute in Rome. Unmarked Simone Inzaghi scored a header past Toldo to make it 4-2. Ronaldo had given his all and was clearly spent. He was substituted in the 77^th Minute. Ronaldo had barely made it to the bench and couldn’t keep his emotions and started sobbing.

Inter had blown it up.

News of Inzaghi’s header sent Juve’s supporters in Stadio Friuli into hysteria. Lazio’s ultras were getting unhappy to see their team win.

Meanwhile Antonio Cassano scored for Roma against Turin and that rubbed further salt in Inter’s wounds.

Full time whistle brought happiness in Turin, sorrow in Milan and anger in Rome. Juventus grabbed their 26^th Scudetto.

Incredible thing about Juve’s win was they led the table for only 5 weeks. After leading the table for initial 4 weeks, Juve returned to the top only after Matchday 23 before getting knocked down to 3^rd place again.

Have a look at their standings after each match day.

Juventus kept their cool while Roma and Inter simply choked up at crucial stages.

This act of betrayal by Lazio players was taken seriously by ‘Irriducibili’ Ultras and they demanded Lazio manager Alberto Zaccheroni to be sacked.

Not only Lazio sacked Alberto Zaccheroni but also transferred two goals scorer Karel Poborsky to Sparta Prague.

After all those wrong things in 2001, the season finale will always be remembered.

Stanley Rous, ex FIFA president had correctly said,

“If this can be termed the century of the common man, then soccer, of all sports, is surely his game…. In a world haunted by the hydrogen and napalm bomb, the football field is a place where sanity and hope are still left unmolested.”

The Unconquering Invincibles

March 21, 2012

Italian Football

Russian Evolution

March 14, 2012

World Football

Of The Stars

March 13, 2012

World Football

1 Comment

We all love football. We have our favorite teams and we buy their jerseys to show the support. We value those jerseys (due to the sentiments associated with the clubs and maybe due to the incredible high cost we have to pay for them). We also buy the jerseys of our national teams (and sometimes jerseys of other national teams too).

We worship our stars on the pitch and we buy the jerseys having their name on the back.

But what about the front? Do we notice the changes? Other than changing the design and the sponsors, something else changes too.

The STARS.

Sometimes it gets added above the badge for the first time, and sometimes it gets added to the existing one.

Do we really know what is the significance of those stars?

It is pretty obvious when it comes down to the national teams and the stars above their badges. When you win a world cup, you add a star.

Brazil can take the credit for being the first team to add the stars for the World Cup wins. After winning their 3rd World Cup in 1970, they added 3 stars above their badge, Italy followed them after 1982 and now it is being followed by all the World Cup winning nations.

As per the FIFA, section 18.2 in the Equipment Regulations for FIFA competitions, “Those Member Associations that have won the FIFA World Cup may put a symbol on the playing shirt representing this accomplishment and the number of times won.”

Have a look at the table below.

National Team	Title(s) represented	Number of stars
Brazil	World Cup	5
Italy	World Cup	4
Germany	World Cup	3
Uruguay	World Cup and Olympics	2+2
Argentina	World Cup	2
England	World Cup	1
France	World Cup	1
Spain	World Cup	1

Here, a question arises, Why Uruguay are allowed to don 2 stars for their Olympic Gold Medals?

Uruguay won the Olympic Gold Medals in 1924 and 28. Since FIFA hosted its first edition of World Cup in 1930, Uruguay consider their Gold Medals equivalent to the World Cups. Uruguay’s jersey for 1930 World Cup had 2 stars above their crest. They added 2 more stars after their consecutive World Cup wins in 1930 and 1950 (they did not participate in 1934 and 38 World Cup).

Apart from these World Cup winners, African teams like Egypt (7-Stars), Cameroon and Ghana (4-Stars each) and Tunisia (1-star) have added the stars in order to commemorate African Cup of Nations titles.

The style of including the stars was adopted by the clubs much later compared to National teams. In 1950, Colombian outfit ‘Once Caldas’ modified their badge to include 1 silver star after their first Premiera A victory. Now Caldas’ badge dons 4 silver stars within their badge for 1 league title teach. Caldas had won the Copa Libertadores in 2004, and since then have added 1 gold star over the badge.

Juventus, however can brag the rights of introducing this trend in the Europe. Juve added one gold star above their badge in 1958 to celebrate their 10th Serie A title. Italian league adopted this concept of awarding 1 star for 10 league titles. Now Juve have 2-stars above their crest for their 27 League wins. After Juve, Inter added 1-star above their crest after winning 10th Serie A title in 1966. AC Milan clinched their 10th title in 1978-79, they too adopted 1 star.

Many European countries have now adopted the system of awarding one star for every 10 league titles. Notable star winners (for 10 titles) are in the table below.

Team	Country	No of stars
Rangers	Scotland	5
S.L. Benfica	Portugal	3
R.S.C. Anderlecht	Belgium	3
AC Sparta Prague	Czech Republic	3
Olympiacos	Greece	3
Rapid Vienna	Austria	3
PFC CSKA Sofia	Bulgaria	3
Ajax	Netherlands	3
Rosenborg	Norway	2
APOEL Nicosia	Cyprus	2
KF Tirana	Albania	2
Steaua Bucharest	Romania	2
Dynamo Kyiv	Ukraine	2
Ferencvárosi TC	Hungary	2
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi	Finland	2
Partizan Belgrade	Serbia	2
FC Basel	Switzerland	1
Saint-Étienne	France	1
AIK	Sweden	1
Maccabi Haifa	Israel	1
Wisla Kraków	Poland	1
Shamrock Rovers	Ireland	1

Turkey, however have adopted a system of awarding 1 star per 5 League titles. Thus eternal rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, both share 3 stars.

The concept of German stars is entirely different. In 2004, Germany introduced the honor of “Verdiente Meistervereine” (distinguished champions clubs). In Germany the practice is to award one star for three titles, two stars for five titles, three stars for ten titles, and four stars for twenty titles. But they consider the titles only since the establishment of the Bundesliga, which was in 1963-64. Any league titles won prior to that season haven’t been considered for stars. Hence, the stars table in Germany looks like this,

Team	Bundesliga Titles	Stars
Bayern Munich	21	4
Borussia Mönchengladbach	5	2
Borussia Dortmund	4	1
SV Werder Bremen	4
Hamburger SV	3
VfB Stuttgart	3

The controversy aroused, when former East German side Berliner FC Dynamo claimed that since they had been East German Premier League Champions for 10 seasons in a row, they needed 3 stars to be awarded to them. The DFB initially refused this claim to recognize anything but the Bundesliga, but eventually allowed teams who have won the titles prior to the Bundesliga and in East German League to wear 1-star. But the teams who have been awarded stars for the Bundesliga titles, can’t add this star to the current tally. For eg, Borussia Dortmund have won total 7 German championships, out of which 4 have been since Bundesliga inception. Hence although according to the German star system, they should get 2-stars, Dortmund will wear only 1-star as a star awarded for the earlier victories can’t be added.

Although the Americans have a simple system of 1-Star per MLS Cup title, the twist to this system is, a team can add a star to their crest only after 2 years of winning the MLS Cup. The defending champions will have to wear MLS Cup badge for one season before adding a new star to their club crest. DC United are leading in US and have added 4th star to above their crest in 2006 after wining the MLS Cup in 2004.

I’m sure you must be thinking about the missing nation from the Euro list.

Yes. England.

To begin with England has no standardized system for the stars. The table below illustrates the few teams in England who have adopted the stars above their crest.

Team	No of Stars	Reason
Bury	2	For winning FA Cups in 1900 and 1903
Burnley	2	For winning English First Division titles in 1921 and 1960
Nottingham Forrest FC	2	Silver Stars for Winning European Cups in 1979 and 1980
Ipswich Town	3	For winning English First Division (1962), FA Cup (1978), UEFA Cup (1981)
Huddersfield Town FC	3	For winning English First Division titles in 1924,25 and 26
Aston Villa FC	1	For winning European Cup in 1981

Manchester United have worn a single star in their special European kit between 1997-1999. After winning the Champions League in 1998-99, United added one more star to their European kit for 99-00 season.

Liverpool likewise, wore 4-stars over their crest for 2001-03 Champions League games and have added 5th star to their Champions League kit after winning in 2004-05.

In Scotland, Celtic have added 1-star for winning European Cup in 1967 and Aberdeen have added 2-stars for winning European Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cup in 1983. Red Star Belgrade in Serbia have added 2-stars for winning European Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 1991. Marseille too sport 1-star over their crest for winning the Champions League in 1993.

Instead of giving stars, UEFA have introduced two special badges to be worn.

1) Multiple Winner Badge: This badge has been introduced in 2000-01 for clubs who have been awarded the trophy permanently (for winning 5 Champions Leagues or 3 in a row). This badge is to be worn on the left sleeve. Only Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Liverpool and AC Milan can wear this badge.

2) Title Holder Logo: Other 31 teams in the Champions League wear a Star-Ball Badge on their right sleeve. But the Defending Champions will wear a special badge on the right says Champions and the Year and stars of from ball of the Champions League Logo will be illuminated.

While all these teams above have adopted stars to represent illustrious history, there are Oil dipped Manchester City, who also don 3 stars above their crest just to give them a continental feel. Ah! Come On..

The 2014 FIFA World Cup will see another star being added to some crest. Barcelona have a fantastic chance to win the Champions League for the 5th time and sport both the special Badges for the next year.

If you don’t believe in the article above, go to Google Images and search for the crests for all these teams mentioned. 😛

What is the future of “The Future”?

March 1, 2012

World Football

2 Comments

Ajax is without a doubt, one of the greatest clubs in European football. Just a look at the achievement numbers will make your eyes roll.

30 League championships, 18 KNVB Cups, 7 Johann Cruijff Shields has made them most successful club in Holland. Furthermore with the haul of 2 Intercontinental Cups, 4 European Cups, 1European Cup Winners Cup, 2 UEFA Cups and 2 UEFA Super Cups, Ajax has elevated themselves as one of the premier clubs in the Europe.

And we know the reason behind it.

Ajax Youth Academy named De Toekomst, which literally translates as The Future is a foundation on which whole success structure has been built. The Academy recruits children, put them through hard training for years and shape them up into better players. Some of them make it into first team and shine well. Year after year Ajax keeps on selling their academy players from their first team to other European giants for enormous sum so that it can cover the expenses towards running the academy.

They have produced superstars in every decade. The 70’s has seen Johann Cryuff, there was Marco van Basten in the 80’s, Dennis Bergkamp in the 90’s and Wesley Sneijder in 10’s. There are literally hundred odd players which have come through the De Toekomst and shone on the big stage of football. In the current Ajax team, 22 out of 35 have come through the youth academy. Last season the number of players who had come through academy was 24 out of 35.

Look at the table at 2011-12 squad of Ajax.

Name	Position	Ajax Youth	Span	Apps
Kenneth Vermeer	GK	Y	1999–2005	32
Jeroen Verhoeven	GK	Y		0
Gregory van der Wiel	DF	Y	1996–2007	21
Toby Alderweireld	DF	Y	2004–2008	30
Jan Vertonghen	DF	Y	2003–2006	31
Vurnon Anita	DF	Y	1999–2005	34
André Ooijer	DF	Y	1986–1994	9
Nicolai Boilesen	DF	Y	2010–2011	7
Daley Blind	DF	Y	1998–2008	16
Ruben Ligeon	DF	Y	2000-2011	4
Ricardo van Rhijn	DF	Y	2002-2008	9
Dico Koppers	DF	Y	2003-2011	8
Christian Eriksen	MF	Y	2008–2009	34
Siem de Jong	MF	Y	2005–2007	29
Derk Boerrigter	MF	Y	2005–2006	19
Lorenzo Ebecilio	FW	Y	2005–2010	20
Aras Özbiliz	FW	Y		10
Jody Lukoki	FW	Y		7
Davy Klaassen	FW	Y	2004-2011	7
Lesley de Sa	FW	Y	2002-2011	1
Jasper Cillessen	GK	N		6
Bruno Silva	DF	N		0
Eyong Enoh	MF	N		23
Theo Janssen	MF	N		28
Nicolás Lodeiro	MF	N		18
Thulani Serero	MF	N		10
Ismaïl Aissati	MF	N		8
Miralem Sulejmani	FW	N		31
Kolbeinn Sigþórsson	FW	N		11
Dmitry Bulykin	FW	N		21
Mounir El Hamdaoui	FW	N		0

But since last few years, Ajax is no longer a dominating force in Europe as they used to be earlier. Domestically too, they has been able to win the league only 3 times in the last 10 years. As only League winner gets a direct entry in the Champions League and runner up gets a playoff spot, Ajax are feeling the pressure to finish in the top two.

The problem is, after selling Wesley Sneijder to Real Madrid in 2007-08 for exuberant € 27 million, Ajax hasn’t been able to produce that kind of talent. From the recent squad, till now only Gregory van der Wiel and Christian Eriksen have been linked with a move to the bigger clubs.

Let’s look at all the players from the academy that has been sold to other clubs by Ajax in last 4 years.

Name	Position	Season	Type	Fee
Sergio Padt	GK	2011-12	Sell	€ 300,000
Maarten Stekelenburg	GK	2011-12	Sell	€ 6,3 million
Jeffrey Sarpong	MF	2010-11	Sell	€ 200,000
Urby Emanuelson	MF	2010-11	Sell	€ 1,7 million
Thomas Vermaelen	DF	2009-10	Sell	€ 12 million
Rydell Poepon	FW	2008-09	Sell	€ 1 million
John Heitinga	DF	2008-09	Sell	€ 12 million
John Goossens	MF	2008-09	Sell	€ 900,000

* Free transfers have not been considered.

The figure of €34.4 million that Ajax has earned over last 4 years by selling their players may look impressive. But income from the sale of non academy players has been € 54.5 million.

Name	Position	Season	Type	Fee
Demy de Zeeuw	MF	2011-12	Sell	€ 6 million
Luis Suárez	FW	2010-11	Sell	€ 26,5 million
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	FW	2008-09	Sell	€ 27 million

* Free transfers have not been considered.

Thus for each of these 8 academy players that have been sold, Ajax has managed to get €4.3 million only comparing to €18.67 million for each of those 3 non academy players.

Ajax traditionally has never been a buying club. Instead they rely on their Academy to bring the kids through the ranks and giving the exceptionally talented youngsters a chance to make their dream come true, by giving promoting in the first team.

Although more than 62% of the players in the Ajax roster have come from the academy, they have spent € 63.8 million over 27 players, out of which 11 were free transfers. Almost 1/4^thmoney has been spent in this season. That means Ajax has paid almost €4 million for each of these 16 bought players.

Another problem is, Ajax hasn’t been able to produce any quality strikers through their academy. In last 2 decades Ajax had produced classic forwards like Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert. Last time any academy striker had scored maximum goals in the league, was in 1992-93 when Dennis Bergkamp had scored 26 goals. In this season, number of goals scored by all the ‘Dutch’ Strikers from the Ajax Academy are 3 (Lesley de Sa, Davy Klaassen and Lorenzo Ebecilio have scored 1 each). This lack of firepower by the academy strikers mean Ajax had to go in the transfer market to buy them. So out of those € 63.8 million, they’d spent € 25.75 million on the strikers.

The academy is of no use if it produces only trick stars, or ball magicians who are indulged in solo performances. Instead they have to produce more players who can successfully adapt to the team work and who are ready to put team’s interest before individual glory.

Any club’s youth academy’s success is measured by how many of those kids go on to contribute significantly to the success of the first team and from that first team, how many of those represent the national team.

A kind of cold conveyer belt means this blip has reflected on Ajax’s representation in the national squad as well. Since a very long time, none of the Ajax players have been called for Holland’s friendly against England. Similarly in a recent U-21 squad of Holland, there are no Ajax players.

This whole exercise reflects that in order to negate the expenses occurred in purchasing other players, Ajax has to keep on selling their star non academy players as well. This vicious cycle will not be slowed down till Ajax produces a streak of domestic league titles
and improved performances in the Champions League.

All the players do have a dream to play in the Champions League and Ajax has to deliver on that front. Progression in the Champions League will ensure more money is guaranteed through TV deals, sponsorships and gate receipts. Once you have adequate money, you no longer need to sell your best players and buy mediocre also rans from the other teams. By capturing the success on the pitch, the team can be built around those young stars and also attract more natural talent for the team as well as the academy.

All I can say, future of Ajax is in the hands of ‘The Future’.

Will the real 4th place team please stand up?

February 22, 2012

Spanish Football

2 Comments

I believe, this is a very strange season all over Europe. Football Leagues in every nation have a different story to tell.

Italy has a two horse race, England has a three where as Germany has a four horse race, everybody is losing in Holland, it is all but wrapped up in Scotland and Fuel rich PSG are being pushed to the limit in France.

In Spain, the season is promising a full drama till the end of the season. No, not for the the title decider, but in the middle of the pack.

While 15 fixtures are yet to be played, Real Madrid are sitting comfortably at the top of the table with a massive 10 point lead over Barcelona.

Barca have thrown away the league. Thanks to their terrible away form, Barca have picked up just 17 points from possible 33, where as Real have picked up 28. Even Rayo Vallecano have managed more away points than Barca, 18.

Barca will have to up their away form and hope for some miracles. Otherwise the Real seem to have wrapped up the league. As usual, Valencia are third placed. There is incredible 21 point gap between the leaders, Real Madrid and Valencia. These three teams will finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd and will qualify directly for the next year’s Champions League group stages.

But what about fourth place? Who wants to have a shot at Champions League playoff round next year? Who wants to be a millionaire?

No one.

Further 7 points adrift of Valencia and 28 points of Real Madrid, at 33 points from 23 games, the real drama starts.

Flight to the Fourth.

It is an incredible melee of 14 teams. Only 7 points separate 4th placed Espanyol and 17th placed Villarreal.

Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao are tied on 33 points but Espanyol are placed ahead of Bilbao on better head-to-head points (ESP 2-1 ATH and ATH 3-3 ESP). Thus in case of same points by the end of the season, Espanyol will always be ahead of Bilbao.

Atletico Madrid and Levante are tied on 32 points, but since Atletico beat Levante 3-2, they are placed 6th and Levante are 7th. If Levante beat Atletico in the reverse fixture, head to head goal difference will be taken into consideration.

Rayo Vallecano, Malaga and Osasuna have acquired 8th, 9th and 10th places and all have 31 points.

Seville and Betis are locked 11th and 12th with 29 points. Mallorca, Getafe and Granada are on 13th, 14th and 15th with 28 points. Real Sociedad and Villarreal are on 16th and 17th with 27 and 26 points.

Okay, the chances of Seville, Betis, Mallorca, Getafe, Granada, Sociedad and Villarreal getting a fourth spot are less realistic but from 15 remaining fixtures, if anybody manages to hit a hot streak of wins, it’ll go down to the wire.

Main reason of this situation is none of these teams have a consistent run of results. Lets have a look at the points picked up in their last 6 league games and the impact on their standings.

Position Now	Position 6 weeks back	Team	Points picked up	Points available
4	8	Espanyol	9	18
5	9	Athletic Bilbao	10	18
6	11	Atletico Madrid	12	18
7	4	Levante	2	18
8	13	Rayo Vallecano	12	18
9	6	Malaga	6	18
10	5	Osasuna	5	18

Despite Levante’s dismal form, Malaga and Osasuna couldn’t continue their initial good form and all three have been struggling recently. Even with huge spending spree and incredibly disastrous performances, Malaga too have a chance to get a playoff spot.

Espanyol and Atletico Madrid had a great chance to change the table scenario but they too could manage 2 and 3 points respectively in their last 3 games.

Rayo Vallecano have been promoted in La Liga this season. And they are playing some good football in the league. With 3 consecutive wins Rayo Vallecano have surged ahead, and are deservedly claiming their stake on that 4th spot.

Nobody is showing a true potential to be worthy of a Champions League playoff spot. Instead of good performances and consistency, it seems they all are waiting for others to press self destruction button. Lets see if the coming week will help reshuffling of this pack.

Next week’s fixtures
Espanyol vs Levante: It is a potential 6 pointer game and the winner will be either 4 or 2 points clear of each other. But Levante’s away form has been disatrous. They have lost all 6 previous away matches in the league. Although Espanyol themselves are not in a great form, I still think they’ll beat Levante comfortably at home, maybe 2-0.

Villarreal vs Athletic Bilbao: Although it is a battle between 17th and 4th placed team, only 7 points separate these two. Both the teams have picked up 10 points in their last 6 games. Historically Villarreal have been good against Bilbao at home. But they’ll have to wipe out last week’s 4-0 drubbing by Mallorca, where as Bilbao have thrashed mega rich Malaga 3-0. This one is tough to call. I guess Villarreal can nick it 1-0.

Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona: Atletico have been formidable at home against Barcelona. They have beaten Barca 4 times in last 6 seasons. Barca’s away form hasn’t been too good either. In last 6 away matches, they have picked up only 8 points, where as Atletico have picked up 13 points in last 6 home games. I can see a draw here. Probably a 2-2 result.

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid: They say all good things must come to an end. Rayo Vallecano are on a impressive form, whereas Real Madrid are on exceptional form. Rayo have notched up 5 wins in 7 games, but Real have been on a steam roller, winning all 8 out of 8 previous games. I don’t see anything else but Real winning this one. Predicting scoreline is like throwing two dice and read the numbers on top. Real can score any no. of goals between 1-6.

Malaga vs Zaragoza: Sunday Lunch time kick off. Zaragoza are at the bottom of the league and on a paper it should be a comfortable win for Malaga. But the football is never played a paper. Although Zaragoza has beaten Espanyol in two weeks back, I don’t think they’ll be able to repeat the miracle. Malaga to win 2-0.

Osasuna vs Granada: Granda are playing good football considering they’ve returned to the top flight after 35 years absence and they’ll go on to beat Osasuna, maybe by a goal to nil.

If all the above predictions come true, then we might see Espanyol pulling themselves clear by just 3 points ahead of Athletic Bilbao. If the same trend and inconsistent form continues in the weeks to come then likes of Seville and newly promoted Betis will join the gang. Whoever presses the panic button will drop out of the race. I guess Levante have already done it.

The joke is, just because everybody is playing badly, cometh the end of the season, they will still have a chance earning themselves a Champions League playoff spot.

Will the real 4th place team please stand up?

Hell’s Kitchen

February 17, 2012

World Football

A to Z of the UEFA Champions League

February 15, 2012

World Football

1 Comment

UEFA Champions League or European Cup as it was earlier called has entered its 57^th season in 2011-12. Champions League is European football’s most prestigious club competition and according to few players and managers, it is better than even the World Cup.

Champions League casts its unique spell on the viewers. While watching Barcelona trying to defend their crown by beating Bayer Leverkusen in the away leg, I decided to write A-Z of the Champions League.

Away Goals are the most precious asset in the Champions League. But this rule was first introduced in 1967-68, that too only for the first round. Till that time, if both the teams were tied on the aggregate scores from both the legs, a playoff used to be played at a neutral venue.

The honour of being the first club to qualify for the second round of the European Cup belongs to FC Valur of Iceland. In the first leg at Reykjavik, Valur drew 1-1 against Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg, and the return fixture at Esch-sur-Alzette ended 3-3. Thus Valur qualified for the second round on away goals. The Away Goal rule for the second round and quarterfinals was applied in the 1968-69 and in 1970-71 for the later rounds.

Benfica hold the overall record of “Biggest two legged wins”. They beat Stade Dudelange of Luxembourg 18-0 in the preliminary round in 1965-66. Pedras scored a hat-trick in first leg in which Benfica scored 8 unanswered goals. The next leg in Lisbon turned out to be more emphatic. Eusebio scored 4 and Jose Augusto scored a hat-trick. Benfica ran riot and won 10-0.

Coin toss was used as a tie breaker in the pre away goals and penalty shootout era. The first coin toss was used in the 1963-64 playoffs to decide a winner between FC Zurich and Galatasaray, after the tie ended 2-2. Galatasaray lost the coin toss and hence the tie, but in 1969-70 they won the coin toss against Spartak Trnava in the second round. Apparently that match was the last time when coin toss was used in the European Cup as a tie breaker.

Defending the Champions League has been some kind of Holy Grail for the winners. Ever since European Cup was renamed The Champions League, none of the Champions have been able to successfully defend the trophy. After winning the Champions League only AC Milan, Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United, have been able to reached the next season’s Finals, but without any success.

El Classico in the European Cup was held in 1960-61 season. Barcelona had to overcome Belgian side Lierse 5-0 over two qualifying legs. This set up first round clash between five time defending European Cup Champions Real Madrid and qualifiers Barcelona. The Legend Luis Suarez of Barcelona scored 88^th minute penalty to draw the first leg 2-2 at Bernabau. Two weeks later Barcelona beat Real 2-1 in Camp Nou in front of 120,000 spectators. Barcelona lost to Benfica in the final.

“Football, Bloody hell”. This is by far most acute summation of the sport. Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich in an extraordinary climax by scoring two goals in the injury time. United thus became first club in the Champions League era to achieve a historic treble. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson deliriously summed up the experience in the post match interview.

Watch it Here…

Gabriel Hanot, editor of L’Equipe newspaper is a mastermind behind the launch of the European Cup. Having been impressed by the success of South American Championship of Champions Clubs, he proposed the idea to UEFA. When British press announced Wolves as “World Champions”, Hanot finally convinced UEFA to host a pan European club tournament, to determine best club in Europe. L’Equipe selected the 16 participating clubs on the basis of being prestigious and most representative in Europe.

Hans-Jorg Butt holds a distinction of being an only goalkeeper to have scored goals in the Champions League for three different teams. Butt has scored for Hamburg, Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. Burg’s all three goals have come from the penalty spot. A unique feature about these goals is, all three of them have been scored against Juventus.

Watch Hans Jorg-Butt scoring against Juventus.

Istanbul, in May 2005, hosted one of the incredible Champions League Finals has ever been played. Liverpool having played 3^rd qualifying round, progressed through very tight group stage, thanks to Steven Gerrard’s wonder strike. By dismissing Chelsea in the semi final, they set up final showdown with AC Milan. Paolo Maldini scored for AC after 53 seconds and went 3-0 up at half time.
Liverpool scored 3 goals in 6 crazy minutes to draw level. Jerzy Dudek pulled off a double save in the injury time. As the game went to penalties, Milan chickened out and Dudek saved 2 penalties and Liverpool miraculously lifted their 5^th Champions League trophy.

Johann Cryuff turned out to be most successful managers who

themselves had been great players. He had won three consecutive European Cups with Ajax as a player in 1971, 72 and 73 and as a coach with Barcelona in 1992. His apprentice Josep Guardiola, having won a European cup as a player in Cryuff’s team, has gone on to win two Champions League as a coach with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.

Klaus-Dieter Sieloff of Borussia Monchengladbach, became a first player to score on a penalty kick in the first ever penalty shootout in the European Cup history. Both the legs in the second round ended in 1-1 draw and after the extra time, penalty shootout had to be used as a tie breaker. Everton’s Joe Royal could’ve had this honour but he missed his penalty and Sieloff converted first spot kick for the Germans.

Lisbon Lions have nothing to do with any team coming from the Portuguese capital. But it is a nickname given to Legend Jock Stein’s Celtic which beat Inter 2-1 in the 1966-67 European Cup final. Celtic became the first British club to win European Cup. A unique feature about this team was, all the team members were born within 30 miles of Glasgow. Celtic achieved a unique Pentagram by winning Scottish League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, Glasgow Cup and European Cup.

Marouane Chamakh is the only player to score in six consecutive Champions League fixtures. His first goal in this hot streak came against Olympiacos in the Round of 16’s second leg, 2009-10 season. Chamakh then scored in both the legs of Quarterfinal against Lyon. He scored next 3 goals for Arsenal in 2010-11 season against Braga, Partizan and Shakhtar.

Nottingham Forrest became unlikely winners of the European Cup in 1979. Nottingham Forrest had to play defending champions Liverpool in the round 1. Forrest under their talismanic manager Brian Clough, not only won European Cup of 1979, but also successfully defended the cup in 1980. Apparently Nottingham Forrest has become the only winners of European Cup who have won more European titles than the domestic league.

Olympiacos FC hold an honour of maximum as well as successive representations in The Champions League Group stage by a Greek side. Apart from being a first Greek side to feature in European Cup, from 1997-98 season onwards, they have featured in the group stage for 11 consecutive seasons till 2008-09. Olympiacos again qualified in 09-10 and 11-12 seasons. Olympiakos has reached Quarter Finals once and five times have been defeated in round of 16.

Peter Palotas became the first player to score a Hat-trick in the European Cup. Palotas’ scored the goals on 25, 59 and 80^th minute for a Hungarian outfit MTK Budapest in 6-3 victory against Anderlecht. MTK lost to eventual runner up Stade Reims in the quarter final on the aggregate 8-6. In the second leg which ended 4-4, Palotas scored 2 more goals. Palotas missed out on a first player to score two hat-tricks in the same season.

Qualifying rounds have not always proved easy fixtures for the big teams. Teams finishing outside the automatic group stage qualification spot, have to play the qualifying rounds. But failing to qualify automatically in the group stage does not mean you are a weaker side. Manchester United in 98-99, AC Milan in 2002-03 and 06-07, Liverpool in 04-05 and Barcelona in 08-09 have gone on to win the Champions League from the third qualification spot.

Raul holds the record of scoring most goals (71) and most appearances (144) in the Champions League. He has scored 66 goals for Real Madrid and 5 for Schalke. Raul has appeared 132 times for Real Madrid and 12 times for Schalke in the Champions League.

Steaua Bucharest lifted the European Cup in 1985-86 by beating Barcelona on penalties. The match ended 0-0 in the normal time and after having played through the extra time, in came the penalty shootout. The nerves started to show as both the teams missed initial two penalties each. Steaua goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam hand a “Hand of God” and saved all 4 penalties by Barcelona. Steaua Bucharest became the first Eastern European side to win a European Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur when they drew their final group stage match 3-3, against Dutch side Twente in 2010-11, they became a first side to score at least 2 goals in each of their group stage matches. Spurs scored 18 goals in their 6 matches, 10 at home and 8 away. Spurs topped their group and knocked out AC Milan in knock out tie, but went down tamely against Real Madrid in round of 16.

Undefeated European campaign is a definitely one to savor. It certainly not a very easy task to play continental games home and away without tasting a single defeat. Only nine clubs have lifted the European Cup without being defeated. Only Ajax, Liverpool, AC Milan and Manchester United have been able to achieve this feat twice. Apparently Manchester United’s dramatic victory in 1998-99, is only time any club has been victorious by winning fewer number of games. United could only win 5 games throughout the campaign.

Victoria Plzen FC made the debut in Champions League as they secured the entry to the 2^ndqualifying round as winners of the Czech league. Plzen won 2^nd, 3^rdand playoff qualification round and gained the Group Stage spot for the first time in its history. Plzen were drawn against Barcelona, AC Milan and BATE Borisov. Plzen’s highest point in the Champions League came when they held AC Milan to 1-1 draw in Minsk. They finished 3^rd in their group to qualify for the Europa League.

Wembley has had a privilege of hosting maximum (6) finals of European Cup and Champions League. Manchester United and Barcelona have played 2 finals on Wembley including the one against each other in 2010-11. Barcelona having outplayed United, have won both the finals where as United have beaten Benfica 4-1 to lift 1966 European Cup.

Xavi produced a sensational display in the 2008-09 Champions League Final, against Manchester United. He outmanoeuvred United’s midfield and set up a wonderful cross to Lionel Messi to score a winner. Xavi was duly awarded Man of the Match and Midfielder of the year award. He repeated the similar performance in the Wembley final in 2010-11. He, along with niesta, detonated Manchester United’s tactically naive midfield.

Yugoslavian outfit Red Star Belgrade became a second Eastern European side to win the European Cup when they defeated Marseille on penalties. Even this game ended 0-0 in normal time and extra time, went on penalties. Red Star converted all the 5 of their spot kicks. This Red Star team had all but one Yugoslav players in their squad. The only non Yugoslav player in the squad was a Romanian, Midorag Belodedici, who had earlier helped Steaua Bucharest to become first Eastern European country to win the European Cup.

Zinedine Zidane, arguably one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, has only one Champions League winner medal to show. Zidane in his first season with Juventus in 1996-97, ended up on runners-up

side against Borussia Dortmund. Five years later, Zidane made a world record €75 M to Real Madrid, and again reached up to finals in the first reason, against Bayer Leverkusen. However, he unleashed a stunning left foot volley for one of the best goals scored in any finals, which turned out to be a winner.

—The Bottom Three

Football from my perspective.

Les Misérables: Sad story of La Liga’s Inconsistent Performers

The Number Game: What’s Your Number?

Three Horse Race: A Decade Ago

The Unconquering Invincibles

Russian Evolution

Of The Stars

What is the future of “The Future”?

Will the real 4th place team please stand up?

Hell’s Kitchen

A to Z of the UEFA Champions League

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Zenit St. Petersburg	30	61
2	CSKA Moscow	30	59
3	Dynamo Moscow	30	55
4	Spartak Moscow	30	53
5	Lokomotiv Moscow	30	53
6	Kuban Krasnodar	30	49
7	Rubin Kazan	30	49
8	Anzhi Makhachkala	30	48
9	Krasnodar	30	38
10	Rostov	30	32
11	Terek Grozny	30	31
12	Volga Nizhny Novgorod	30	28
13	Amkar Perm	30	27
14	Krylia Sovetov Samara	30	27
15	Spartak Nalchik	30	24
16	Tom Tomsk	30	20