Categoría: UEFA CHAMPIONS

It came as a shock to many supporters of FC Barcelona when it looked as if Barça management was at loggerheads with their star goal keeper over an agreement to extend his contract beyond 2010, when it was due to expire.

Eventually negotiations between FC Barcelona and the manager of Victor Valdes broke down entirely, with the club’s president insisting that he would only speak to Valdes directly, with the aim of resolving the standoff.

Valdes is every inch Barcelona, and it is difficult to imagine the squad without him. Highly opinionated, he is a real force to be reckoned with both as goalie and as third team captain, behind Puyol and Xavi.

The good news is that the dispute is over and an extended contract agreed. Victor Valdes is now contracted to play for Barcelona until 2014, where he believes he will finish his playing career aged 32.

Valdes career as first team keeper is curious; brought up in the Barcelona youth system he had been in the main squad since 2002/03. He’d joined the club in 1992, although moved with his family to Tenerife for three years. Initially Barcelona had bought Rustu Recber as keeper for the 2003/04 season – the year that Laporta took over and brought in Frank Rijkaard as coach – but for a variety of reasons he was not up to the job and so it was Victor Valdes who played in goal for the 2003/04 season.

Valdes won the Zamora Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper in Spain, in 2004/05, but perhaps his real moment of glory was in the Champions League win of 2005/06 when he won a lot of fans thanks to two fantastic point-blank saves from Arsenal’s Thierry Henry.

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Firm followers of UEFA competitions and most especially the Champions League, can attest to the reality that there have been EPL sides in the semi-final of the champions league for the previous six seasons i.e. 2003-2009.

In the past six seasons, EPL sides regular in the champions league (Liverpool FC, Manchester United FC, Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC) have all some way featured in the semi-final of the champions league in the past six seasons, which made English and even foreigners marvel at their absence this season, in the semi-final of Europe’s elite club competition.

In 2005, Liverpool (the all red) and Chelsea (the true blues) locked horns in an entertaining semi-final with both sides led by managers who have managed his team for barely two seasons, Liverpool went on to win the encounter, after a closely contested semi-final match. Liverpool eventually emerged triumphant in that year’s Champions league, after defeating Ac-Milan in an epic final which saw one of the greatest comebacks in football history, 3-0 to 3-3 and then victory.

The proceeding year, Arsenal featured in both the Semi-final and final of the Champions league, to mark a turn-around in their footballing history, but were not so lucky to win the trophy after only qualifying for their first final match in the champions league. They battled with Barcelona in that year’s final, i.e. 2006 final, but got beaten by 2 goals to 1, with Jens Lehmann sent off in that match.

In 2007, Liverpool and Chelsea once again were drawn to do battle in the semi-final of the 2006/2007 season. With the first leg drawn to be played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea had the opportunity of progressing, and they took full advantage of the home factor by defeating Liverpool by a lone goal after a highly contested fixture. At Anfield, Liverpool played with caution while also surging forward in search for the goal that will put them on level terms with Chelsea, luckily for Liverpool the goal came. A low cross from Steven «general» Gerard found an unmarked Daniel Agger, who sliced the ball through the bodies of Chelsea players and bang into the net early in the first half. Liverpool preserved the one goal lead even after 90 minutes until the extra time was over, then it was time for the ultimate decider; penalty kicks, Pepe Reina was the hero of the day as he saved the deciding spot kick to send Liverpool into the final for the second time in three seasons and a replay of 2005 final with AC-Milan, that dispatched Manchester United in the other semi-final clash by 5 goals to 3 on aggregate.

The final was a highly anticipated one, as two of Europe’s power houses in club football go head-to-head to decide the winner of the 2007 Champions League, eventually two Pippo Inzaghi goals, which made him the highest goal scorer in the Champions league, won Ac Milan the trophy for the seventh time in their footballing history.

The following year saw the best from English teams in the Champions League. All four English representatives made it to the quarter final, with three (Liverpool, after ousting Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United) out of the four progressing onto the semi-final, Liverpool were eventually dumped by fellow English team Chelsea. The progression of Chelsea into the final in 2008 was the first time they were playing in the Champions League’s final; they battled with Manchester United for the coveted trophy, matched United strength for strength, skill for skill, technique for technique, but were just unlucky to miss out in the spot kicks, as United went on to win their third and Sir Alex Ferguson’s second UEFA Champions League trophy, which also aided Cristiano Ronaldo in winning the world player of the year award.

The year 2009, saw a different football style displayed by a team. 2009 Champions League was won by Barcelona of Spain, after showing the footballing world how the game should be played; neat defending, accurate passing, and clinical finishing: characterized the play of Barcelona en-route to winning the trophy for the third time in their history, after triumphs in 1992 and 2006.

2010 came with a lot of promise for the English sides, after bright starts from all the sides in their respective groups; Liverpool won its first game against Debrecen at Anfield, by a lone goal scored by Dirk Kuyt, which made him the club’s third highest goal scorer in Europe with 12 goal to his name. Chelsea also won its first game against FC Porto by a lone goal scored Nicolas Anelka, in a dull encounter due to the water soaked pitch.

Manchester United didn’t do badly in its first game; same was the case for Arsenal, all the English representatives representing well to the delight of English stalwarts. Things started becoming shaky as the competition progressed further to its crucial stage. Liverpool were ousted very early in the competition, as they were ousted in the group phase, even before the last group game. The victory of Fiorentina over Olympique Lyonnais in the game before the last, meant Liverpool were forced to the Europa league were they have solace recently, making an impressive run to the semi-final, having not scored lower than three goals on aggregate in the previous rounds, i.e. round of 32, round of 16 and quarter final, which has earned them a clash with Athletico Madrid away in Spain.

Chelsea were next up for elimination, after a partly successful run in the group onto the round of 16. Chelsea had great scares during a few of their group phase games, Athletico Madrid away in Spain was one those, where they had to settle for a 2 all draw after going through Didier Drogba, only to see a Sergio Diego Aguero brace give Athletico the lead, but Drogba proved to be very clinical in finishing when he slotted his second past Athletico’s goal. The most surprising of Chelsea’s group phase result came on the last day of the group. Apoel Nicosia making only its debut in the Champions League held all conquering Chelsea, with a full first team squad, to a 2 all draw at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal had the most impressive group phase performance where they picked up 16 of the 18 available points in a group which consisted of Olympiakos, Standard Liege, and Az Alkmaar, which are low pedigree teams with frequent Champions League due to inability to make it through the preliminary.

Manchester United, I would say, had an indifferent group campaign. Had a great start, but flattered during the crucial mid games, needed the last game to confirm qualification but put threw any doubts into the thrash after a Michael Owen hat-trick cancelled out Edin Dzeko’s opening goal, for VFL Wolfsburg at Old Trafford.

With the progression of three tops teams from England into the round of 16, hopes and expectation were extremely high. The English teams, however, didn’t get the perfect draws, Chelsea were billed to face Inter-Milan, tutored by Jose Mourinho, Manchester United drawn to do battle with 7 times European champions, Ac-Milan, and Arsenal getting a re-match of the 2009 group game against Porto Fc, 2004 winners.

The first legs saw the English teams face real test of strength, skill and technique.

Manchester United were tested for all the mentioned above against Ac-Milan, first in Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro and then in Old Trafford, but then they emerged victorious on both legs, winning 7-2 on aggregate, with Wayne Rooney scoring four of the seven goals, i.e. 2 goals in each leg.

Arsenal had a similar situation, against Fc Porto, the Portuguese representatives giving them a good run for their money, most especially in Portugal, where the first leg was hosted, which Fc Porto won by 2 goals to 1, in a match which Porto’s second goal by Falcao, was a bit controversial, appearing to be an offside goal.

At Emirates stadium, Arsenal showed no mercy, firing 2 goals past Helton in goal for Porto in quick succession, and at half time, it was Arsenal 2 Porto 1. Porto started brightly in the second half of the game, attacking Arsenal from all angles of the pitch. As the game grew, Arsenal became for more confident, and began playing like the Arsenal we are use to watching in league games. Samri Nasri threw the Emirates into ecstasy, when he dribbled past three Porto defenders and slotted past helpless Helton, who tried to rush out to prevent the goal, but all to no avail. Super sub, Emmanuel Eboue, came on minutes later and sealed the victory, with a clean finish, after he outran the Porto defenders and was set up by Andre Arshavin, with only the keeper to beat, he rounded him neatly before netting Arsenal’s four to cap a fine performance from truly smoking gunners. Nicklas Bendtner, who had earlier netted 2 superb strikes, added a third to mark his first hat trick in his Arsenal career.

It wasn’t a bed of roses for Chelsea neither, as they had to suffer defeats in the hands of Inter-Milan on both legs, which put paid to their Champions League campaign. At the magnificent Giuseppe Meazza, Inter tested Chelsea for wits, work rate and technique, as both teams played out their lives to progress in the competition. Chelsea partly outplayed, but all the «ball possession» could not fetch them the win which they set out to achieve. The ball possession favoured Chelsea in the first leg match, but these were not translated into goals neither were they translated in the goal attempt, shot-on-goal, and so on. Of all the teams which started European campaign in September, Liverpool can be deduced to be the most disappointing of all, due to the fact that it was knocked out in the group phase.

Presently, there are only two English teams in European competition, Liverpool FC and Fulham FC and they both have interesting fixtures in the semi-final, having to face Athletico Madrid and Hamburg, respectively.

There is the possibility of an all English Europa league final, a feat which has not been achieved for over 6 seasons.

The absence of premier league teams In the semi-final of the champions league, in my own estimation, does not connote the fall of the premier league, rather the sole reason is the reality that we have come to face, which is the fact that teams form other countries have sat down and reviewed the methods of English teams, which they have applied, and it has worked magically and very effectively too.

English teams were neither totally outclassed, outpowered nor outplayed, but rather the element of luck was against them, and also the English teams have had a good run in the past, so let other teams enjoy same, so people won’t say the Champions league is an English competition. The English teams will rise up to take what’s rightfully theirs, which is the prestige it has earned over the years, a prestige which in my estimation, is in jeopardy considering the inability of making it to the semi-final of Europe’s elite club competition.

Upon this I settle, the absence of English teams in the semi-final of the champions league is by no means equal to the fall of the premier league, and besides which other league is so unpredictable as the premier league? A league where any team can beat any team, home or away; name the league.

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Valencia: Canizares, Miguel, Marchena, Helguera, Moretti, Mantoro, Albelda, Joaquin, Arizmendi, Morientes and Silva

Barcelona: Valdes, Puyol, Marquez, Milito, Abidal, Xavi, Toure, Inietsa, Gudjohnsen, Messi and Etoo

Chance for Eidur Gudjohnsen in 30 seconds but he could not find Samuel Etoo as his first touch was not very precise.

Bad first touch by Etoo as Messi found him with only Canizares to beat but he fluffed it in the 3rd minute.

Good chance for Yaya Toure from a corner kick but his header was straight at Canizares and he palms it over in the 9th minute.

Fantastic goal by Etoo, as he skips past the challenge of Marchena and Mantoro; and rifled the shot past Canizares in the 13th minute.

Another chance for Etoo as Puyol won a header and it fell kindly towards Etoo but his header was straight at Canizares in the 21st minute.

Absolutely brilliant 2nd goal for Barcelona as they passed and moved the ball between 6 players, it finally came to Etoo, he passed to Iniesta who passed it to Messi back to Etoo and its 2-0 in the 26th minute.

Another fantastic piece of football from Barcelona, started by Gudjohnsen, continued by Messi to Etoo then to Iniesta, whose cross was just missed by Messi to make it 3-0 in the 31st minute.

First attempt of any note by Valencia in the 33rd minute as Arizmendi cut inside Puyol but his shot was well over.

Another chance for Etoo, as he makes a great run behind the Valencia defence but Marchena was able to stick out a leg to prevent Etoo’s hattrick in the 36th minute.

Morientes has to come off injured for Vicente in the 39th minute.

Etoo is at it again, this time he went through 2 defenders and was just about to release the trigger when a desperate lunge by Marchena stopped him from making it 3 in the 42nd minute.

Lionel Messi is off due to an injury that may be muscular in the 43rd minute replaced by Giovanni.

Half Time

Valencia 0 Barcelona 2

As poor a performance as Valencia have given all season and they have been dire this season to be fair. Barcelona were so superior with Etoo being on supreme form, it was embarrassing.

It was just too easy for Barcelona and some of their players did not have to break sweat. The only downside for them is that Messi went off injured and may miss the big clash next week against arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Valencia can surely not play worse than they have in the 1st half.

Etoo has another chance in the 47th minute after he skipped past a challenge and his shot was straight at Canizares though.

Good defending by Milito to stop Joaquin from putting a cross and the resulting throw-in was hit by David Silva that Valdes saved with difficulty in the 51st minute.

Great shot by Giovanni but it was saved by Canizares in the 53rd minute.

Its 3 -0 with another piece of good passing involving Xavi and Giovanni, who passed unselfishly to Gudjohnsen to just tap home in the 61st minute.

Chance for Valencia from a Vicente free kick and again Valdes fumbles the ball over the crossbar in the 65th minute.

Deco is on for Toure and Mata is on for Joaquin in the 65th minute.

Etoo comes off for Bojan Krkic in the 67th minute.

Lomban is on for Moretti in the 71st minute.

Chance for Giovanni to make it 4 but as he collceted a pass from Xavi in the 73rd minute but his shot was well wide.

It really should have been 4 as Barcelona started a move from their own half with Deco, who gave the ball to Giovanni and his cross field pass was well controlled by Gudjohnsen; he skipped past 2 challenges, passed a cute ball to Xavi, he went round Canizares, crossed to Giovanni but his weak shot was cleared off the line by Miguel in the 76th minute.

Nice shot by Bojan as he controlled a pass from Xavi well on his chest but was straight to Canizares in the 80th minute.

Half chance for Vicente in the 81st minute as Marquez was very sloppy with his pass out and it went straight to Villa and he passed to Vicente but the angle was too acute for him to score from.

Free kick in a dangerous position for Valencia, in the 90th minute, taken by Vicente, but clawed to relative safety by Victor Valdes.

Full Time

Valencia 0 Barcelona 3

It was too comfortable in the end for Barcelona as Valencia were just marginally better in the 2nd half but still nowhere good enough at the highest level.

There were a lot of good performances from Barcelona players with Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Toure, Deco, Giovanni, Abidal and especially Etoo all in top form.

The only players that came out with any credit for Valencia are possibly Canizares and Miguel, the rest were awful.

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Professional football as a competitive sport has had its unfair share of tragedies over the years. Apart from tragedies on the field of play, spectators have not been spared also.

Africa’s darkest day in soccer, perhaps remains the plane crash of April 27, 1993, when 18 members of the Zambian national team and 12 technical and crew members perished when their plane plunged into the sea off the coast of Gabon.

Tragedy cuts across continents, and that fact was confirmed during a League match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirate. A stampede at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg resulted in the deaths of 43 people, the worst disaster in South Africa’s sporting history.

Africa again witnessed another sporting tragedy when a local League match between Lupopo and TP Mazembe on the 30th of April 2001, led to the death of 14 people during a stampede following crowd trouble at a major league match at city of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Nigerian sporting family witnessed one of the most horrific football tragedies on the 23rd of December 2008, when nine female amateur footballers and two coaches were burnt to death in an auto crash on their way from Jos, Plateau state.

The tears of sorrow had hardly dried up, when 15 members of an amateur team, F.C Jimeta from Adamawa state, Nigeria, died in another auto crash on the 26th of January 2009.

Twelve of the dead were players, while the remaining three were trainers.

Severe heat and overcrowding resulted in the death of 4 football fans at a Ghanaian League match between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oaks in Kumasi on Sunday 8th February, 2009.

On the 21st of February 2009, 13 Football supporters of Nigeria Premier League side Ocean Boys F.C of Yenegoa were killed by persons suspected to be cultist, on their way to attending a premier league match involving their team and Bayelsa United at the Ughelli Township Stadium in Delta State, Nigeria.

Tragedy struck at the Stade Felix Houphout-Boigny stadium in Abidjan, when Cote d’ivoire played host to Malawi, as 22 football fans were crushed to death when a fence collapsed as they tried to gain entry into the already jammed packed stadium, during a 2010 World Cup Qualifier.

Footballers are not also spared of these tragedies, which oftentimes occur either on or off the field of play.

Below is a list of African footballers who have died on the field of play.

• Samuel Okwaraji(Nigeria)- died of heart attack on August 12, 1989
• Amir Angwe(Nigeria)- died of heart attack on October 29, 1995
• George Iginewari(Nigeria)- died of gunshot wound in 1995
• Tunde Charity(Nigeria)- died of head injury in 1997
• Emmanuel Nwanegbo(Nigeria)- died of heart failure on August 30, 1997
• Shamo Quaye(Ghana)- died while training with team on November 30, 1997
• John Ikoroma(Nigeria)- died of heart attack on February 2000
• Charles Esheko(Nigeria)- died of cardiac arrest on July 14, 2001
• Marc-Vivien Fo(Cameroon)- died of heart attack on June 26, 2003
• Sam Okoye(Nigeria)- died after a brief illness on August 2005
• Chaswe Nsofwa(Zambia)- died of heart failure on August 29, 2007
• Guy Tchingoma(Congo DR)- died of heart related ailment on February 9, 2009
• George Katete(Congo DR)- died of heart attack on March 5th 2009
• Orobosa Adun(Nigeria)- slumped and died on May 26, 2009
• Endurance Idahor(Nigeria)- died of attack on March 13, 2010

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I saw the other day a club chief executive moaning about the wages the club pays to the players at the club, I can’t remember who he was but it just annoyed me. There he was smoking a big cigar, driving a brand new Bentley, doing nothing for the club, bar taking a big fat pay packet of his own while not actually getting out on the pitch and making a difference for the club.

Now don’t get me wrong I think he had a point. There are players at every club that just because they are being paid at all means they are receiving too much. But it’s the fact that the people that are telling us players get too much are the ones that are taking money away from the game that makes me think that maybe players are not getting paid too much.

Though having said that a lot do get riches beyond the amount their ability deserves. A few examples spring to mind immediately: Robbie Savage, OK a good player but is he really that good, that he is able to afford to drive a Ferrari? Not in my eyes he’s not. He is far too busy play acting for my liking. Then there is Tim Sherwood, OK he may of won a League Championship medal while at Blackburn but was he really anything other than a good player?

Again I would say no, he was just lucky to be playing in the EPL before the big star influx raised the level of ability needed to make it. but at a time when the big money had entered the game. But in my view the biggest example of an overpaid footballer is Ian Walker, surely the worst ‘keeper the EPL has seen, even when he dropped down a flight with Leicester he was no better than average.

However, when you see the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Pavel Nedved. These are players that make a match worth watching just to see them, it doesn’t matter what team they play for it’s all about them and their ability to produce magical skills that make your jaw drop in admiration.

Maybe a better answer to the question would be yes some are, but no others are not. Though of course that doesn’t make for good headlines when a player signs a new contract.

Lets be honest how many Manchester United fans begrudge Roy Keane a single penny he made from the club? But that didn’t stop the newspapers whining about the massive sums he was making, well so what? It is nothing compared to the sums that the likes of Martin Edwards made from Manchester United yet Edwards was not the one out on the pitch knowing that his career could be over tomorrow if he receives a bad challenge.

Sometimes I think its just jealousy that creates these headlines about overpaid players, or maybe its just a complete lack of anything interesting to write that leads to it? Either way I would rather they gave both sides of the story before whinging about it. I mean how about a list of the directors and shareholders of a club and how much they took in wages, bonuses and dividends? So that we can have a reference point to compare player’s wages to. I would especially like to know how much the likes of Peter Ridsdale made from Leeds.

To my mind the only way forward is to take clubs back into the hands of the fans, like Wimbledon AFC and FC United. Let’s have all their finances completely transparent, and get rid of agent’s involvement in transfers. Surely the PFA could offer that as one of their services to their union members, after all they certainly have the money. Surely all clubs need to do transfers between themselves is a solicitor, a representative and an FA, UEFA or FIFA or whoever representative to make sure it is all legal and above board.

I know this will never happen as too many people are busy creaming off money from the game to line their own pockets. But at the end of the day it should be about the fans – the players should all be on performance based contracts so they can earn massive amounts but only if the club does well and the ticket prices should be as low as possible so that as many fans as possible can afford to go.

Still this will never happen because too many people would lose out and at the end of the day football is no longer a sport it is a business and that will unfortunately never change.

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