The Champions League 2026-27 draw

There is not much point in writing about the Champions league draw when it is just oen big league with random matches. All this so UEFA, who continue to consider themselves better than FIFA, can make more money and not think of the fans.

So what remains to say is what will appear some of the matches to watch in the different stages (I have selected three matches from each phase).

Phase 1:

• Liverpool-Atletico Madrid
• Real Madrid-Inter 
• Napoli-Arsenal

Phase 2:

• Galatasaray-FC Barcelona
• Manchester City-PSG
• Roma-Real Madrid

Phase 3:

• PSG-Barcelona
• Bayern Munich-Arsenal
• Liverpool-Villarreal

Phase 4:

• FC Barcelona-Aston Villa
•  Fenerbahce-Liverpool
• Atletico Madrid-Bayern Munich

Phase 5:

• Arsenal-Borussia Dortmund
• Manchester City-Napoli
• Real Madrid-PSV Eindhoven

Phase 6 (specially this pahse has a number of great matches):

• Aston Villa-PSG
• Arsenal-Real Madrid 
• FC Barcelona-Manchester City

Phase 7:

• Manchester United-Bayern Munich
• Inter-Liverpool
• Bodø/Glimt-Atletico Madrid

Phase 8:

• PSG-Galatasaray
• Manchester City-Sporting Lisbon
• Shakhtar Donetsk-Real Madrid

Undoubtedly some great matches ahead, but also, because of the hapless way the CL is now structured, hard to make predictions besides the fact that the odds are stacked in favour of all the big teams progressing to the next round, with everyone hoping that some small teams can pull a surprise, like Bodø/Glimt, LASK, Sabah or Slovan Bratislava. 

Bla bla bla

There is a certain amused confusion in listening to FIFAs critics, now that FIFA have proposed a new more commercial mode of managing the organization after a hugely succesful World Cup, not least commercially. 

UEFA, who came out vociferously as the defender of community football, is hardly a small, altruistic grassroots organization: It runs the most lucrative club competition in the world through the UEFA Champions League, negotiates billion-euro media rights contracts, and behaves as much like a commercial enterprise as FIFA does (and let us not forget that Gianni Infantino himself, as Secretary General of UEFA, oversaw big commercially successful expansion for UEFA as well). 

Many national associations and other FIFA critics appear to be themselves perfectly happy to benefit from the enormous revenues generated by football. "Commercialization is fine when we do it." 

Football may be a public good, but it is clear that UEFA and FIFA packages it to their benefit; they organize and sell tournaments that we all love to purchase and criticize (one of the most important things on their product). 

We buy the apple, happily eat it, and then complain about its price and quality, but we still buy the same apple day after day…

Now, I have not studied the proposal, but truth is that this NGO that manages football, huge income and commercial deals, with no public funding, probably needs to change something. Governments routinely work with private companies, sovereign wealth funds, investment funds, and corporations managing sums far larger than FIFA's revenues. The argument that "private capital is involved, therefore this is unacceptable" is not, by itself, very convincing. The more relevant question is whether the governance structure protects the interests of the sport and us supporters. 

And that is the only part where criticism is valid: FIFA is an NGO with regulatory powers over world football. It is simultaneously referee, legislator, organizer, and commercial actor. When such an organization proposes a model that brings in private investors or adopts corporate structures, we should worry that maximizing revenues could increasingly drive sporting decisions. This is a legitimate concern.

It is just a pity that FIFA reform is not part of the criticism from football associations and others who themselves lack credibility. 

The proposal from FIFA may not be good, the process may have lacked transparency, I don’t know. But I think that maybe this is the occasion to discuss what FIFA should become, and not continue like it does now. Gianni Infantino was brought in with the support of UEFA to make reforms, but now it seems UEFA does not even want to discuss reforms, if it threatens their own interests and European commercial control of global football.

Finally, let us not be fooled that anybody frankly cares about the fans. Why should they? We will still be buying the product!

They appear to have ruined the Champions League

 I must admit I gave the new Champions League format the benefit of the doubt. I admit I am an old grumpy football fan, and perhaps the new format is better for the future.

I am now convinced I was wrong.  

Thins all against all league format with 36 teams may have more matches and thus more money for UEFA and the rich clubs, but it is to the detriment of excitement, simply because 24 teams go through to the playoffs, with the top 8 directly to a last-16. This means basically that the big teams will go through without much effort: take Real Madrid, who after 5 matches have 3 defeats and two victories. In the old format they would be struggling to go through before an all-important last match, but now they are 24th, and will still go through. Sure, some small teams will go through too, but it appears unlikely that Brest, Aston Villa or Celtic will survive a knockout round with sides like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City (all outside top 8).

Excitement is largely gone in this enormous league format and hard to get excited until the knockout. What a pity for what used to be the best tournament in the world.

Champions League in Mexico

Yesterday Mexico inaugurated its first female president, so I was off work as the focus was on this historical event. It was thus a good day to watch some Champions League.

There is scant interest for other teams than the Spanish teams in the CL, most of all, obviously, Barcelona and Real Madrid, so the only option to watch in a bar was Barcelona-Young Boys, even though there were so many interesting matches playing simultaneously.

And Barcelona-Young Boys was indeed as boring as expected, as Barcelona cruised to a victory with 5-0, and it comes at a good time after they lost their first match 2-1 to Monaco. That said, with all its crisis, Barcelona is doing great under German Hansi Flick: top of the Spanish League and giving chances to a lot of young promising players appears to be working for now, but is also what Barcelona needs as they are unable to sign super stars. And surely on the long-term it is better for Barcelona (and Spanish football overall) to be promoting so many young players from the outstanding Barcelona youth academy.

The new format of the Champions League is confusing though. As everyone is in a big league, but without everyone playing one another, one cannot study the teams against other teams that you will face, and most annoying for real football fans, adapt the tactics according to other results and new matches in smaller groups. In my personal view it takes away some of the excitement about the planning. As the 8 initial rounds come to an end, the excitement will not be about the top teams, but about the 7th-8th or 23rd-24th, who will snatch the last position for the play-offs. And the top teams will all go through....

 I appear not to be the only one annoyed at the new format. The fans of Borussia Dortmund (a team that incidentally is first in the league after two victories, the latest trashing Celtic 7-1) welcomed the new CL format at home with a huge banner: "UEFA Mafia", protesting against the new format that indeed appears to be a way for UEFA to make more and more money from the ones who love the game.

In Dortmund 

The Champions League 2024-25 draw

Usually I would post the groups after a CL draw, but with the format having been completely changed by UEFA, there is no point. That said, it is worth exploring the format a bit, and although I acknowledge that we football fans are generally conservative when it comes to the structure of tournament, I do find it a somewhat confusing structure.

I think simple is better, but perhaps the new structure may attract more interest? There will surely be more matches, more teams, and thus more money, surely what drives UEFA above any other consideration. But will there be better football? More drama? Better matches?

There are now 36 teams, and they will all have eight matches, four at home and four away, against randomly selected teams from four levels according to their rankings. Already sounds confusing, but the idea is that each team will face eight different sides, and then be ranked in a table that includes everyone (like a league table). The top eight teams will go directly into the last-16, while teams ranked 9 to 24 will play a knock-out phase to get the eight teams that will join the 1-8s in the last-16.

Teams ranked 25 to 32 will just go home.

The draw today was to see who each team would play for the first eight matches. The result is a huge table with the home and away opponents of each side, and there will surely be some interesting matches, such as Liverpool-Real Madrid, Manchester City-PSG and Barcelona-Bayern Munich, there are also matches that are bound not to attract much interest except for the involved teams, such as Brest-Sturm Graz, Girona-Bratislava or Young Boys-Crvena Zvedza.

The other part I have a hard time seeing is whether this will benefit the bigger or the smaller teams more. The smaller could have more chances by playing against other smaller sides, and then pulling surprises against the big teams, but at the same time the bigger teams could benefit from playing more matches against "smaller teams", getting their goals and points to progress in those matches. 

No matter what, it appears that even more than before, the most exciting part will be the knock-out stages, and the initial part appears mostly to draw out the smaller teams.

Hope it works and that we get a good CL season, and a great final in Munich next year.

Why not throw them out?

 Hungary’s fans behaved as racist animals in their enormous defeat against England in Budapest. Besides the happiness that we should all have when Hungary loses, and the way we should celebrate when these people don’t qualify for the World Cup, this again brings to the forth the football organizers’ lack of willingness to do anything about it.

Firstly, if Hungary has already been ordered to play three matches without fans by UEFA; how come FIFA does not act on this? Do they not talk to each other? Or just assume that the racists are not interested in World Cup qualifiers?

Secondly, why such feeble punishments? Three matches without fans and some fine that they can pay with pocket change? Why not something like banning them from playing home games, not for a few games, but for years? Or rather, in my view, why not show that we mean to combat the scourge of racism by simply throwing out the teams of the tournament?! This would not be new: countries have been banned from World Cups for “government interference” or even using overaged players… 

I know some people would argue that a majority should not suffer from the animal behavior of a minority. But when the racism happens consistently at every game and there is no internal rejection of this behavior by the “majority”, then the majority is, sorry to say, complicit in the behavior. This includes everyone; also those in and around the team: your fans are part of your team, not just when they are great, but also when they are beasts (England knows this…), and so you carry a responsibility too; don’t’ turn away from it.

So these teams should just be thrown out of the tournament. 

Nobody will miss them.

The League of Greed

The news that 12 European top clubs would form their own European Super League has surely shaken the football establishment, with top politicians even commenting on what most football fans seem to consider a stupid, not to say dangerous, initiative for the sport. 

I always try to be open to any idea. A Super League would get encompass 12 strong teams into what would be some interesting matches. However, this is also the only good thing I can think about the initiative, as much as I try: a closed league would destroy competition and the possibility of the little guy beating the giant; it seems more an initiative for these top clubs to protect themselves and the humiliation of losing to the likes of Alcoyano, Aston Villa, Red Bull Salzburg or FC Porto...

I cannot in any way see that the clubs involved in this league are thinking about the best for the game of football; they must have never played or watched the game in their lives! It seems to be only a question  of who controls the money; the eternal human impulse of greed. 

Although the Champions League also gives plenty of money for UEFA the entire conflict seems to be about who gets the footballing millions: Some football administrators or some of the richest businessmen in Europe, with the financial backing of JP Morgan? 

What will probably happen is that they all will reach some lucrative deal to share the millions, while the interests of the fans are put aside; although many fan groups have said they oppose the Super League, I would be surprised if these same fans are not cheering their teams in the very same tournament in a few years. 

As old-fashioned as it may sound I hope the Super League comes to nothing; that the clubs that have taken the initiative are suspended. That fans, managers and players from these clubs come together to reject the greedy plans that threaten to destroy the sport that they all profess to love. 

But I won´t bet on it.

The Europa League 2019-20 quarterfinals

During this past week I have enjoyed watching the Europa league last-16 fixtures that were seriously delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am in fact somewhat glad that football can provide a little relief in this my sixth month of lockdown, although I would love a pint in a pub while watching....
We now have the following EL quarterfinals:

• Shakhtar Donetsk-Basel
• Inter Milan-Bayer Leverkusen
• Manchester United-FC Copenhagen
• Wolverhampton-Sevilla

Both the Europa League and the Champions League will, due to the pandemic, take place as mini-tournaments over the next couple of weeks, in Germany and Portugal respectively. For fans (who will nevertheless be able to attend the matches), this will be a replacement for all the tournaments we have missed this summer, and maybe the format will be a success. More interesting will be whether these tournaments will lead to different outcomes than what would be expected from the more traditional format: teams focused completely on this and playing only one match, without spectators, after such long breaks. It would appear that this format will be more open for surprises, why it will be very interesting to follow!

UEFA appears to have taken strict measures regarding COVID-19. Beyond playing without fans, teams are completely isolated in their hotels (even from their management, which is perhaps only pleasant...), and players are routinely tested. But some measures appear more symbolic, such as not shaking hands before the match (appears redundant considering how close contact that players undergo during the match) or prohibiting the exchange of shirts after each match (after 90 minutes of close contact and the need to wash the shirts anyway, this appears redundant). 

In any case, someone recently told me that the virus spreads over a distance of 600 meters, which would make any measure redundant anyway, except for every human living in sealed bubbles 600 meters apart...

Bulgarian disgust

Today I read about the dreadful match between Bulgaria and England, with the awful racist behaviour by Bulgarian fans. While I am happy that the English players decided to let the football talk by showing their superiority to the fifth rate Bulgarian side (just because of their lack of quality, personality and courage, every single player should be disqualified) by trashing them 0-6 on their own ugly soil, this remains unacceptable. I do not understand that UEFA at the same time say that they will "wage war on racists", while they can be in any doubt about the punishment: disqualify Bulgaria from all football for at least four years! This is doable and would send an important signal about UEFA's real commitment to fight racism, although I would go even farther and ban Bulgarian clubs and players from playing outside their own country (if they are so proud of it, why not...?).
Otherwise, this is just another example of football's disgusting appeal to the worst of humanity. The English players reacted the correct and gentlemanly way, but that is a rare exception in the game of football.

UEFA 2-Concacaf 1

Another UEFA-Concacaf tie when Belgium played USA. USA were not convincing, but played with heart and spirit, and that always wins friends. I do think they need to take more risks; go more forward, instead of relying so much on defense. That said, great defense, and not least a fantastic Tim Howard! The first round of this tournament has been all about the strikers, but these knock-out stages have been largely about the goalkeepers, with some incredible performances. In my view, Tim Howard's was the best.

Belgium are now in the quarterfinals where they face and Argentinean side they should hardly fear and barely respect.

In the meantime one UEFA-Concacaf match remains, where Netherlands and Costa Rica will clash. UEFA will likely make it 3-1 to complete the routing of Concacaf.

Concacaf 1-UEFA 1

Yesterday two matches between Concacaf and UEFA teams ended with a victory for each of their representatives.

For a long time it seemed that Mexico would be able to upset the Dutch, leading 1-0 until almost the end of the match. It was not an impressive Dutch side, which is not looking unbeatable any longer. However, it is most often teams that combine skills, luck and cynicism who win the world cup, and on that count the Dutch are surely the foremost candidate to win the title now. Wesleyyy Sneijder's equalizer was a canonball at the right time, while Huntelaar did not forgive the penalty when it seemed it would go tto extra time.

Was there penalty? Arjen Robben had surely been looking for it the entire match, diving again and again. I guess at one point it had to work. The penalty can be defended, but it looked weak considering other offenses and the time of the match. 

The heat and humidity probably affected the referee as well.

Cosa Rica-Greece was another encounter between a team that plays football and one that awaits to strike back. Greece are not a team that wins many friends, while the Ticos are now the favourites of the world. So it was great when they went ahead, but disappointing when only one minute from the end, Greece equalized after what in Greek terms can be considered massive offensive. It all went to the most nerve-wrecking penalty kicks of the tournament. Keylor Navas was the Costa Rican hero when he saved a good Greek kickk, but truth is that the Ticos also were steadfast and cool, scoring on all their kicks.

Another fantastic Costa Rican match.

The quarterfinal is another Concacaf-UEFA match, as the Costa Ricans will face the Dutch. It will look to be similar to what we saw today, with the Europeans waiting and the Central Americans looking for goal. 

Same procedure as every year

Every second or third year Danish clubs do well in Europe. Last year Aalborg Boldklub had an excellent spell first in the Champions League and then in the UEFA Cup, and FC Copenhagen and FC Midtjylland both did well in the UEFA Cup.
So this season there were again great expectations that Denmark could ascend in the ranks of European clubs, perhaps even to the degree of having a team in the CL every year, or even another qualification spot!
Well, keep dreaming unrealistic dreams... Danish club football should not compare itself with Netherlands, Belgium or Romania, but should go one level down, to Austria or Hungary. Perhaps you could also say Cyprus and Switzerland, but these are already showing more steady participation in the European tournaments than Denmark has.

There were high hopes for the three Danish teams remaining in Europe this week. FC Copenhagen had an apparently good shot at qualifying for the Champions League, but were disappointing, not to say pathetic, in their elimination against Apoel Nicosia, where they looked like a team without motivation and power.
Brøndby IF looked excellent against Herth Berlin after winning 2-1 at home, and winning 1-0 in Berlin. But in the last 15 minutes of the match the Germans scored three goals against a Brøndby team that suddenly looked completely physically worn out!
Finally, we had Odense Boldklub, who never had a chance against a superior Italian side Genoa, and after losing 3-1 in Italy, played 1-1 in Denmark. However, the game was marked by physical games bordering violence, in particular the vicious attack on Genoa's Ivan Juric belongs in a criminal court.

So that is what we can take with us from Danish participation in Europe: lack of motivation, low physical strength and viciousness (unless FC Copenhagen, who will be playing the UEFA Europa League, does somewhat decently) .
But hey, surely in a couple of years one Danish team will have another good season, and everyone will be hoping again!

"Dommeren er købt"

There has already been much talk about last night's Norwegian referee, Mr. Henning Ovrebo, and I must add some thinking myself: I think that it was a pity and bad luck for Chelsea that they didn't win, but I preferred Barcelona. At the same time, I think that the referee was incredibly bad for both teams, but of course, it was more felt by Chelsea, who should have had two penalties called (and not six like some people are saying!).
Bad refereeing is unfortunately not an unseen phenomenon, and in particular not regarding Mr. Ovrebo, who in the Euro 2008 made such a poor performance on the Italy-Romania match, that he was not given any more matches in that tournament...
Need I say more...?

In the many years I have been a football-fan, I have always had a problem with referees. I have always found it suspicious that the apparently impartial guys in black have such an important role in the outcome of the matches, and at the same time there is so little on the part of the referees themselves in trying to improve their own position (for instance, referees are notably against using technological aids to improve refereeing). Also, I have always found it suspicious that referees who are consistently bad, are rewarded again and again by getting more and more big matches, just like happened with Mr. Ovrebo, or has even happened with the infamous Danish referee Jens Larsen.
Many friends of mine, have always made fun of me of when I have insinuated "partisanship" by referees. Because of this, I find it quite amusing that so many people (including Danish TV3 commentator Preben Elkjær and Chelsea player Bosingwa) now have few quarrels in insinuating corruption by Mr. Ovrebo in last night's Champions League semifinal.
Most referees are good and do their best, and very few are corrupt, but some are incompetent, what I personally just think Mr. Ovrebo is. But at the same time, I would be very careful about totally dismissing the possiblity of foul play. Unfortunately, it has been seen at top level in Europe in many instances:

• In 1984 Anderlecht (with three Danish players) defeated Nottingham Forest in a scandalous match in the semifinal of the UEFA Cup. The referee had been paid off by an Anderlecht official, something that only came to light 13 years later.
• In the 2006 Italian football scandal where Juventus was forcefully relegated, many referees, among them Italy's referee representative for the 2006 world cup, were found to be involved.
• In 2005, a match fixing scandal erupted in Germany, where the referee Robert Hoyzer, admitted to having fixed a number of matches, notably a cup match between Hamburger SV and Paderborn, where the former, leading 2-0, had its best striker red-carded and two doubtful penalties against them, made them lose the match 2-4. The scandal had connections to gambling.
• In the 1994 VA-OM scandal, where Olympique Marseille were forcefully relegated, it was proved that players had been bought. Nothing was directly proved about referees, but the extent of Olympique Marseille's corruption and match-fixing was enormous.
• In 1995, Dynamo Kiev was suspended from the Champions League after approaching a referee in trying to bribe him.

This is just what is known, and what I can immediately think of.
I can also think of a number of matches I have seen throughout my life where, looking at the broader picture, I suspect foul play; this includes a number of World Cup and European club matches.
While I think it happens more often than we think, I don't believe there is a wider conspiracy deciding the outcomes of the leagues, but rather, I think it happens on match-by-match basis, but I also believe that UEFA and the national football associations are not to keen to study the incidences too much, in order not to bring the game into disrepute. Whatever is done, is done quietly, and only selected few instances get out.
But finally, I do think it is naive to believe that in a sport that moves millions and millions of Euros, it is bound not to happen! Fortunately, I do believe it is the exception rather than the rule.

UEFA Cup Fantasy football

As we are now entering the quarterfinals of the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League, I am ranked 19,634 (out of 272,515) on UEFA CL Fantasy football, and have just reformed my team again to illustrate the coming quarterfinal matches:

• Goalkeeper: Pep Reina, Liverpool
• Defenders: Ashley Cole, Chelsea; John O'Shea, Manchester United; Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United
• Midfielders: Xavi, FC Barcelona; Markus Babel, Liverpool; Javier Mascherano, Liverpool; Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool
• Attackers: Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona; Samuel Eto'o, FC Barcelona; Carlos Tevez, Manchester United
• Substitutes: Michael Rensing, Bayern Munich; Lucio, Bayern Munich; Lucho Gonzalez, FC Porto; José Bosingwa, Chelsea

Rules change at this stage, as one can have as many players as one wants from a team, explaining the many Liverpool players I have on midfield. Nevertheless, one is still limited by the amoung of funds to spend, and add to that that I have wanted at least a balance, based on the teams I believe are going to be more lively in the round.

A lot depends on Liverpool and FC Barcelona progressing.

Champions League Quarterfinal draw

With the teams left in this 2008-2009 season of Champions League, any result of the draw was bound to be interesting. And indeed it has become very interesting with the following matches to take place in a few weeks in April:

• FC Barcelona-Bayern Munich

After a short periodn where the amazing attacking machinery of the Catalonians seemed to be weakening, they have apparently returned with force to pose as serious candidates for this years trophy. However, Bayern Munich is never to be underestimated: although not doing overly well in the Bundesliga, they seem committed to showing their strength in Europe.

Surely a difficult match, but I believe Barcelona will prevail.

• Chelsea-Liverpool

This is becoming an almost classic encounter, and will be a repeat of last season's semifinal, where Chelsea prevailed after John Arne-Riise's own goal in the first match. In the Premier League Chelsea is behind Liverpool, and has not looked as awesome this season as last, although the arrival of Guus Hiddink as coach may have given them new momentum.

Liverpool on the other hand increasingly looks as the team to defeat after their pounding of Real Madrid and Manchester United in the CL and Premier League respectively. I also think that is why Liverpool will prevail.

• Villarreal-Arsenal

This is a repeat of the 2006 Champions League semifinal, which was a first for Villarreal, but where Arsenal prevailed and made it to their first ever Champions League final (where they eventually lost to FC Barcelona). Arsenal is pretty much out of the fight for the English league title, but has a young team that are wanting to show what they can do in Europe. However, their striking force seems to be very poor, and I do believe that Villarreal, although not a strong team themselves (and with awful tendencies to underestimate their opponents) will win.

• Manchester United-FC Porto

Manchester United is looking awesome this season (in spite of their recent 1-4 loss at home to Liverpool in the Premier League) and in my point of view are still the favourites to lift the trophy in Rome. Against a confident and always-underestimated FC Porto they will nevertheless face difficulties. FC Porto is still a very strong team and they have managed to upset the Reds before: in the 2003-2004 Champions League season, when FC Porto ultimately won the title, the Portuguese champions eliminated Manchester United in the quarterfinals.

Still, I think Manchester United will prevail this time: the team this season is on a completely different league!

Champions League 2008-09 group draw

The draw for the 2008-09 UEFA Champions Legaue took place last night with the foolowing groups:

Group A: Chelsea is likely to win, and no tips on the runner-up. The Romanians will be interesting to watch.

• Chelsea (England): Last season's finalists enter the tournament as big favourites under a new coach. Will be exciting to watch them, and they are certainly contenders again as well as favourites in the group.
  
• AS Roma (Italy): The Italians are always strong, and AS Roma is an example of it. They won't get my support though...
  
• Bordeaux (France): The team coached by former French super-star Laurent Blanc will be interesting to watch, since they are relatively unwritten at CL level.
  
• CFR Cluj (Romania): These are the Romanian and should thus not be underestimated. Still, without knowing much about them, they are a completely unwritten team.
  

Group B: Inter Milan, as a serious contender to the title, is by far the favourite. The surprising Cypriots will be interesting to watch as well.

• Inter Milan (Italy): Under the new coach José Mourinho, and an already star-filled team, they should this season be even more serious contenders for the title.
  
• Werder Bremen (Germany): Not as strong as in previous years, but I still is the safest bet to follow Inter to the next round.
  
• Panathinaikos (Greece): Will have to hold up the flag for Greek football after Olympiakos sensational elimination against Famagusta.
  
• Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus): The surprising Cypriot team is in after a sensational win against the Greek champions of Olympiakos, but will have their hands full!
  

Group C: Barcelona is by far the favourite, and could get a flying start to the tournament. I think the other three teams will be fighting for the crumbs...

• FC Barcelona (Spain): A renewed Barcelona under Pep Guardiola will be interesting to watch, now without Deco and Ronaldinho, but with Messi playing a much more important role.
  
• Sporting Lisbon (Portugal): Portuguese teams are always hard to play against and so will Sporting (don't check their web-site though: it is crap!).
  
• FC Basel (Switzerland): Their second CL appearance, the Swiss will be interesting, but I don't think they will make it far.
  
• Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine): The defending Ukrainian champions are becoming a common team in the CL. Last season they finished last in their group, let us see what they can do this time!
  

Group D: This group has some of the most interesting encounters in the group stages! Liverpool-PSV is a classic encounter, and Fernando Torres facing his old club Atlético will surely also cause talk!

• Liverpool (England): Always better at European level than in the Premier League, they will probably be hard to beat again, although the group surely looks difficult!
  
• PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands): Dutch champions doesn't that say it all?
  
• Olympique Marseille (France): Good to have the southern French giants back in the CL!
  
• Atlético Madrid (Spain): Hungry for European success, they will be hard to beat, as well as good to have them back in the CL!
  

Group E: Manchester and Villarreal usually have some good clashes, and the Scots always put up an entertaining fight. However, Manchester United should be considered the favourites by far.

• Mancherster United (England): Defending champions, they will surely be the team to beat, and will have to fight very hard to win again.
  
• Villarreal (Spain): The "yellow submarine", siilver winners in Spain last season, are in the second CL; in their first one, two years ago, they tied Manchester United twice and reached the semi-finals...
  
• Celtic (Scotland): Awesome champions of the Scottish league, Gordon Strachan's team will as always be liked in Europe, but will have to fight much more for the points!
  
• Aalborg B (Denmark): The Danish champions are in their second CL ever, but will probably have an early exit.
  

Group F: Olympique Lyon and Bayern should be fighting for the top-spot in this group, and I would give the Germans the edge. Nevertheless, the two other teams are strong outsiders and may tease the other two.

• Olympique Lyon (France): Continuing as the most awesome team in French football (seven titles in a row now), and having played well in the previous CL's, success has nevertheless eluded them. Will this be their year...?
  
• Bayern Munich (Germany): Good to have the Germans back after their notable absence last season. They are German champions, and under Jurgen Klinsmann, I would consider them a contender for the title.
  
• Steaua Bucharest (Romania): The most traditional Romanian club has been in the CL many times, and won highest European honours in 1986. The participate as Romanian runners-up this season, but should nevertheless not be discounted (and an addition here: great for Romanian football!)
  
• Fiorentina (Italy): Hard to beat, boring to watch... Farewell!
  

Group G: Difficult group where all have an option, perhaps with FC Porto and Arsenal with a slight edge. I tip the Portuguese to go on top.

• Arsenal (England): Arsene Wenger's team came closest to European success when they reached the final two years ago. This season the team looks less strong, and I doubt they can reach that far, although they can never be discounted.
  
• FC Porto (Portugal): Portuguese champions and two-times winners of the CL/Champions Cup (1987 and 2004) they are again a potential outsider for the title.
  
• Fenerbahce (Turkey): Turkish runners-up last season, but managed to qualify for the CL with an experienced and capable side which surely will be hard to defeat.
  
• Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine): The traditional Ukrainian side ended second in Ukraine last season, but qualified to the CL after destroying Spartak Moscow in a Soviet-era traditional clash.
  

Group H: Probably the hardest group as both Real Madrid, Juventus and Zenit St. Petersburg must be considered some of the best teams in Europe. Every match will be interesting. Borisov will be facing some expensive first-hand training....

• Real Madrid (Spain): Spanish champions and as always, serious contenders for the title.
  
• Juventus (Italy): "The old lady" is back in Europe after their forced relegation in 2006, and they are very welcome! They will be interesting to watch, and will surely want to show they belong in the CL top! A serious outsider for the title.
  
• Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia): The defending UEFA Cup champions and Russian champions are playing their first CL, and will be a team to count on, and will give everyone a serious fight. Another outsider for the title!
  
• BATE Borisov (Bielorussia): I know nothing about these Bielorussian champions besides the fact that they are sensationally in the CL after defeating Levski Sofia.
  

Standard Liege-Liverpool

I rather enjoyed last night's spirited fight between Standard Liege and Liverpool in the Champions League qualifier. Although it ended 0-0, it was a good match - one where both teams knew that the promised land of the Champions League would not come by itself.
Standard Liege, in front of a great crowd in the Belgian city, has every reason to be disappointed: missed penalties and some huge chances were not used, and that will make it very difficult when they face the reds in Liverpool.

It is a pity that one of these teams has to be out of the Champions League already; they would both be great!

Pathetic Glasgow Rangers

In last seasons' UEFA Cup final the Russians of Zenit St. Petersburg were far superior to a poor Glasgow Rangers side.
With a new Champions League season starting, Glasgow Rangers had the opportunity to get a qualifier against the Danish champions AaB - all they had to do was defeat the Lithuanian champions, FBK Kaunas. One would expect that for a team like Glasgow Rangers this should not even be an issue, but in one of the first surprises of this seasons Champions League, the Lithuanians eliminated the UEFA Cup finalists.
On the one hand it is positive that we will have a team in the Champions League from such puny leagues as the Danish or Lithuanian, on the other hand it is pathetic that Glasgow Rangers can't manage to go through (all due respect to the Lithuanians).

Top 10 bummers of Euro 2008

It is not because I feel it was a bad tournament, quite on the contrary, but I can unfortunately think of a number of things that were a bit of bummers in this tournament – on the other hand, some of these things are also what made the tournament memorable!
So here comes the top then bummers of Euro 2008:

10) Boring teams: It has been a great tournament, with great matches and good football. And although the winning team, Spain, swore for the beautiful and attacking football, a few teams seem to be stuck with their defensive style.
9) Austrian football association: An Austrian brewery promised free beer for life to any Austrian player who scored. But when Vastic scored for Austria against Poland, the Austrian FA said no to the price…
No to free beer!!?? Please…!
8) UEFA referee rules: Inconsistency in the implementation of rules seems the most consistent thing in international football. This Euro 2008 was no exception, mostly during Ruud Van Nistelrooi’s first goal against Italy: everyone thought it should have been off-side, since the last Italian player was outside the pitch. However, rules say that he was still “in play” – shattering what everybody else thought.
Now, why should such a rule be kept secret…?
7) David Villa’s injury: David Villa became the top-scorer of the tournament with four goals in only two matches. He could have gotten many more.
6) Gomes: The German striker was a complete flop. I think nobody even got scared when he was put in in the final against Spain, and his missed goal against Austria was one of the biggest misses I have ever seen.
5) Czech Republic: The ageing Czechs were not so much a disappointment because of their mistakes (like Peter Cech’s against Turkey – he still is a great goalkeeper), but more because of the lacking capacity in closing off a match. The Czech team seems to be arrogant: we saw some of the same in the 2006 World Cup, and think a game is finished before the 90th minute.
Fortunately the Turks proved them wrong.
4) Portuguese spirit: While the Turks showed incredible fighting spirit, the Portuguese super stars were completely opposite. While rightfully hailed as favourites when the tournament started, it took only an organised and efficient German side to take away their arrogant confidence. In the last half hour of the quarterfinal the Portuguese players seemed like tired and defeated old ladies.
Portugal didn’t win because they lacked winner-mentality.
3) Greece: The defending champions of 2004 were poor to say the least.
2) France & Domeneqc: France was a huge disappointment. With the players they have their performance bordered the pathetic in spite of good moments against the Netherlands. And here, I must blame a coach which seemed too arrogant, superstitious and disrespected to lead a top-rate team of super-stars to anything.
France was hugely disappointing and that is a pity for football.
1) Swiss TV: It was completely unproper when Swiss TV used a text from the old Nazi lyrics to the German national song for the Germany-Austria game. Not only unproper I guess, but also disgusting and an insult to the great German team and people (and please, this does not mean I will support them!)

España Campeón!

Spain became a deserved European champion today. Six games resulting in five wins and one tie (against the defending World champions and winning on penalties) speaks for itself: Spain was by far the best teams of the tournament.
Lifting an international trophy (besides their somehow meagre 1964 victory, which I wouldn’t really count) has finally come to Spain. I must humbly admit that I doubted whether I would ever see this happen, but I am now delighted I did. Spain, the greatest footballing nation that had never won anything, has finally done it to take its rightful place among the greatest.
The best thing about this Spanish team was its depth: even with the top-scorer Villa out, new excellent players were there to take over. All players out-did each other in what must be a new generation of Spanish players who manage to look beyond the petty nationalisms that have overshadowned Spanish football.
Viva España!