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Spanish Inquisition: How Far Can Barcelona, Real Madrid & Sevilla Go In The Champions League?
Goal.com's Cyrus C. Malek previews what is sure to be one of the most exciting Champions League seasons in Spain that recent memory can recall...
| Bet: | Returns: | Real Madrid £10.62 | Draw £105.00 | Levante £290.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Real Madrid £10.80 | Draw £100.00 | Levante £260.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Real Madrid £10.83 | Draw £100.00 | Levante £260.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Real Madrid £10.80 | Draw £100.00 | Levante £260.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Real Madrid £10.80 | Draw £87.00 | Levante £170.00 |
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Feb 12, 2010 2:01:00 PM
By Cyrus C. Malek
In the last decade, four of the ten Champions League winners came out of Spain as Real Madrid and Barcelona each claimed two European crowns, outperforming teams from the rest of Europe in terms of titles by a multiple of two (the next closest countries were England and Italy with two titles each).
Today, the Spanish game is as strong (or arguably stronger) as it has ever been with the world’s biggest stars now calling the Iberian Peninsula home. And if some argue that stardom does not necessarily translate into talent, then one need not look further than the Castrol Performance Index Ranking System, a relatively new analytics tool that conducts a comprehensive statistical analysis using a variety of parameters to quantitatively rank players, in which eight out of the top 10 best-performing footballers ply their trade in La Liga - impressively, five of those eight players feature for Barcelona.
Thus, as this year’s Champions League season enters the thrilling knockout rounds, the stage seems to be set for one of Spain’s three teams - Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla - to once again mount a campaign for European supremacy and hoist the Champions League trophy in Madrid's own Bernabeu backyard.
The road to the Spanish capital is anything but easy and in such contentious affairs such as the semi-finals, lady luck can have a heavy hand in determining a given match’s winner. However, there are certain facets each of Spain’s teams can work on to put themselves in the best position to stand on the winner’s podium come May. In today’s Inquisition, we dedicate our attention to profiling these three teams and analysing their possibilities of being successful in their fight for the most coveted trophy in club football.
Barcelona
The reigning champions come into the knockout stage with the obligatory bull’s-eye painted on their chests. Last season’s Champions League title proved to be the second of six titles Barca would take from 2009, but the 100% record also has seen other teams pull out all the stops when facing them. The group phase in the autumn was testament to the extra attention opposing teams pay when taking on the Blaugrana and playing the ‘Pep team’ has become something of a measure that a rival will use to gauge their own mettle. Barca eventually qualified as group leaders, but not until some last-day drama in the final round of fixtures.
Much of the time, Barca have shown that they are, without question, head and shoulders above every other team in Europe and, as the current titleholders, they are favourites to win yet another Champions League title. But in other somewhat disconcerting moments, they have been made to look mortal.
They lost their first competition of 2010 as Champions League rivals Sevilla eliminated them from the Copa del Rey and they hold just a five-point lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Liga table as opposed to a 12-point margin at the same point in February last season, thus putting more pressure of the squad to secure full points domestically in addition to progressing in Europe.
What was not as much an issue last year as it has become this season is the problem of injuries. As Barcelona prepare to face Stuttgart in their first knockout match, they do so with a defence that, in a span of a few days, has filled the medical ward to capacity.
The mercurial Dani Alves, a pivotal component of Barca’s attack down the right flank, is out for three weeks with a leg injury. Starting left-back Eric Abidal is out for two months after picking up a muscle tear. Yaya Toure, who is a defensive strength in midfield and can also fill in at the centre of defence, is sidelined for two weeks with a knock. And more recently, Dmytro Chygrynskiy has been ruled out for one week after sustaining an injury in training. The Ukrainian is ineligible for Champions League action anyway, but his brief absence in La Liga will only add to the headache.
This only leaves a back line of Carles Puyol, who is currently battling minor injuries, but is expected to be fit for the Champions League, Rafa Marquez & Gerard Pique (who both picked up red cards in the last Liga match, but will be available next week), a resurgent Gabi Milito, and Maxwell, the not-yet-seriously tested Brazilian to take on the defensive duties and all signs seem to point to Guardiola relying on an inexperienced - albeit talented - member of the youth team to fill the gaps.
For Barca to be successful in the Champions League, they must be able to prove that they have the depth to win against top-class competition despite their injuries. They must maintain their free-flowing style of play, dominating possession and surgically cutting through opposing defences with incisive passing. Finally, they must receive a bit of Messi's customary magic. The world's best player has unequivocally earned the reputation and at just 22 years old, has begun 2010 with only the sky as his ceiling.
Real Madrid
With the final to be held in the Bernabeu and having suffered an early exit in the first round of the knockout stages for the past five seasons, the Champions League title represents Los Blancos’ ultimate aspiration this year - if not their undying obsession. With a record nine European cups, La Decima [the tenth] has become more and more elusive as last season, Madrid were dumped out of the competition by Liverpool on an aggregate score of 5-0, including a humiliating 4-0 drubbing in the second leg at Anfield.
But after a summer spending spree of nearly €1 for every Real Madrid fan on the planet (a Harvard study estimated that there were 287 million Real Madrid fans worldwide and Los Blancos spent €254 million to bring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, and others to the Spanish capital last summer), Los Blancos are back to regain their rich tradition of European supremacy.
However, there are some obstacles to success that could raise problems for the Merengues come crunch time. Featuring a squad that brought in eight new players to the team (and parted with 12), Madrid’s play, although showing attractive flashes of brilliance, has not yet matured. There have been glimpses of balanced, dominant team play in certain matches, where Los Blancos have emphasised recovering the ball in their opponent’s half of the pitch and scoring with lethal efficacy, but at other times they have looked disjointed and sparsely spaced on the pitch.
The biggest question mark is in defence, where the team can no longer rely on the services of Pepe who was lost for the entirety of the season with a torn ligament in his knee, although he hopes to recover in time to make the Champions League final in the event Madrid progress. The young Ezequiel Garay has filled in admirably alongside the sure-footed Raul Albiol, but his inexperience in high-pressure situations could prove risky and the prospect of an injury also puts the stability of the position in doubt.
The Argentine has spent the past two weeks in the infirmary with a minor knock and during that time Sergio Ramos has been stellar, leaving his customary right-back position to Spanish international Alvaro Arbeloa who has ceded the left-back position to Marcelo. However, despite his improvements, the Brazilian is still not up to Champions League calibre security in defence and if Ramos is called upon to fill in the central role, it is certainly possible that coach Manuel Pellegrini will use the versatile Lassana Diarra as a right-back and keep Arbeloa on the left.
One of the negative aspects of having a squad comprised of so many newcomers is the fact that a consistent starting line-up has not yet been established. The midfield tends to change from week to week as Lassana Diarra, Marcelo, Rafael van der Vaart, Guti, and now Esteban Granero have all enjoyed a fair bit of playing time as starters. Conversely, winter want-away Fernando Gago, Royston Drenthe, and Mahamadou Diarra have seen only a handful of matches.
Up front, the legendary Raul, all-time leading scorer in the Champions League, has been relegated to the bench except in cases where there is an injury or suspension to a starter. But interestingly enough, Pellegrini has yet to field a largely offensive line-up featuring his four offensive superstars in Ronaldo, Higuain, Benzema, and Kaka on the pitch at the same time. Injuries and run of form have conveniently dictated this situation for the Chilean (for next week’s fixture at Lyon, Benzema could be out with injury and looks unlikelye to face his former club, leaving the striking position to Higuain), but when all four are healthy and Madrid must dig deep to score a goal or two in a match, it is yet to be seen how these four weapons will function together.
It has been made abundantly clear that the Champions League is the priority, but just five points off the lead in La Liga, the domestic title is also an expectation in the Spanish capital, with each member of the Madrid squad set to earn nearly €1 million if the team wins the double. With the players they field and the steadily improving form they have exhibited, Los Blancos certainly are one of the favourites to stand as European champions. But even in if they win La Decima in the Bernabeu, they had better do so with style. For even the best of results can draw out a few whistles from the home crowd if they are not secured via entertaining football.
Sevilla
For those who do not closely follow La Liga, pay attention, as Sevilla could very well be the dark horse of the Champions League tournament. Sitting in 5th place and a longitudinal 19 points off the leader, the Liga title race is effectively over for Los Nervionenses. But make no mistake, as a team that beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou on their way to securing a berth in the Copa del Rey final, and one that finished at the head of their Champions League group stage - with relative ease at that - Sevilla are a team capable of beating some of the best in Europe.
Feeling somewhat short-changed since their last appearance in the Champions League two years ago, the same season in which Juande Ramos’ championship side that had won five titles in a span of two years was crippled by the death of Antonio Puerta, Sevilla are determined to make a real go at European glory this campaign.
The side has shown some inconsistency lately in La Liga, which could serve as cause for alarm, but Sevilla tend to turn it up quite a bit when playing against the traditional superpowers of the game. Sporting three very capable strikers in Brazilian hit man Luis Fabiano, Malian marksman Frederic Kanoute, and the club’s most expensive signing in history Alvaro Negredo (who, despite the buy-back clause embedded in his contract that could see him return to Real Madrid next season, is looking more and more at home in the Andalucian capital) Sevilla certainly have the offensive prowess to score vital goals in away matches.
Particularly threatening is the team's trio of wingers (all Sevilla youth players) in Diego Capel, Jesus Navas, and Diego Perotti, who will cause nightmares down the flanks for even the best European defences. All three players will be looking to showcase their talents on the Champions League stage with the hope of being called up into their respective national squads (Spain for the former two and Argentina for the latter) for the World Cup.
While the defence is solid, the loss of Sergio Sanchez to a heart ailment has created a yet unproven hole in the back-four as Marius Stankevicius was brought in on loan from Sampdoria to shore up the rearguard. Sanchez was an integral piece in defence, but as Sevilla have previously found through personal experience, such heart ailments are to be taken with utmost seriousness.
Sevilla’s best defence, however, may be their goalkeeper. It seems that in every match, Andres Palop manages to pull off a string of superhuman saves and nothing serves as a better example than him single-handedly (pun only somewhat intended) putting Sevilla into the Copa del Rey final by parrying nearly every shot Getafe sent his way, many of them in one-on-one situations.
In just their second time in Europe’s elite competition in club history, Sevilla come into this season’s Champions League with nothing to lose and everything to prove and as Manolo Jimenez’s side prepare to face CSKA Moscow in their first knockout match, they do so with the hope of showing the rest of Europe that there is much more football to be played in Spain than just in the Spanish and Catalunyan capitals.
Given the talent in the team and their dynamic style of play, Sevilla have the potential to recall the memory of Manuel Pellegrini’s 2005/06 Villarreal outfit who improbably progressed all the way to the semi-finals. Whether or not the Andaluz side can live up to that potential will be decided in the span of just a few short weeks. It certainly feels like much longer.
Today, the Spanish game is as strong (or arguably stronger) as it has ever been with the world’s biggest stars now calling the Iberian Peninsula home. And if some argue that stardom does not necessarily translate into talent, then one need not look further than the Castrol Performance Index Ranking System, a relatively new analytics tool that conducts a comprehensive statistical analysis using a variety of parameters to quantitatively rank players, in which eight out of the top 10 best-performing footballers ply their trade in La Liga - impressively, five of those eight players feature for Barcelona.
Thus, as this year’s Champions League season enters the thrilling knockout rounds, the stage seems to be set for one of Spain’s three teams - Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla - to once again mount a campaign for European supremacy and hoist the Champions League trophy in Madrid's own Bernabeu backyard.
The road to the Spanish capital is anything but easy and in such contentious affairs such as the semi-finals, lady luck can have a heavy hand in determining a given match’s winner. However, there are certain facets each of Spain’s teams can work on to put themselves in the best position to stand on the winner’s podium come May. In today’s Inquisition, we dedicate our attention to profiling these three teams and analysing their possibilities of being successful in their fight for the most coveted trophy in club football.
Barcelona
The reigning champions come into the knockout stage with the obligatory bull’s-eye painted on their chests. Last season’s Champions League title proved to be the second of six titles Barca would take from 2009, but the 100% record also has seen other teams pull out all the stops when facing them. The group phase in the autumn was testament to the extra attention opposing teams pay when taking on the Blaugrana and playing the ‘Pep team’ has become something of a measure that a rival will use to gauge their own mettle. Barca eventually qualified as group leaders, but not until some last-day drama in the final round of fixtures.
Much of the time, Barca have shown that they are, without question, head and shoulders above every other team in Europe and, as the current titleholders, they are favourites to win yet another Champions League title. But in other somewhat disconcerting moments, they have been made to look mortal.
They lost their first competition of 2010 as Champions League rivals Sevilla eliminated them from the Copa del Rey and they hold just a five-point lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Liga table as opposed to a 12-point margin at the same point in February last season, thus putting more pressure of the squad to secure full points domestically in addition to progressing in Europe.
What was not as much an issue last year as it has become this season is the problem of injuries. As Barcelona prepare to face Stuttgart in their first knockout match, they do so with a defence that, in a span of a few days, has filled the medical ward to capacity.
The mercurial Dani Alves, a pivotal component of Barca’s attack down the right flank, is out for three weeks with a leg injury. Starting left-back Eric Abidal is out for two months after picking up a muscle tear. Yaya Toure, who is a defensive strength in midfield and can also fill in at the centre of defence, is sidelined for two weeks with a knock. And more recently, Dmytro Chygrynskiy has been ruled out for one week after sustaining an injury in training. The Ukrainian is ineligible for Champions League action anyway, but his brief absence in La Liga will only add to the headache.
This only leaves a back line of Carles Puyol, who is currently battling minor injuries, but is expected to be fit for the Champions League, Rafa Marquez & Gerard Pique (who both picked up red cards in the last Liga match, but will be available next week), a resurgent Gabi Milito, and Maxwell, the not-yet-seriously tested Brazilian to take on the defensive duties and all signs seem to point to Guardiola relying on an inexperienced - albeit talented - member of the youth team to fill the gaps.
For Barca to be successful in the Champions League, they must be able to prove that they have the depth to win against top-class competition despite their injuries. They must maintain their free-flowing style of play, dominating possession and surgically cutting through opposing defences with incisive passing. Finally, they must receive a bit of Messi's customary magic. The world's best player has unequivocally earned the reputation and at just 22 years old, has begun 2010 with only the sky as his ceiling.
Real Madrid
With the final to be held in the Bernabeu and having suffered an early exit in the first round of the knockout stages for the past five seasons, the Champions League title represents Los Blancos’ ultimate aspiration this year - if not their undying obsession. With a record nine European cups, La Decima [the tenth] has become more and more elusive as last season, Madrid were dumped out of the competition by Liverpool on an aggregate score of 5-0, including a humiliating 4-0 drubbing in the second leg at Anfield.
But after a summer spending spree of nearly €1 for every Real Madrid fan on the planet (a Harvard study estimated that there were 287 million Real Madrid fans worldwide and Los Blancos spent €254 million to bring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, and others to the Spanish capital last summer), Los Blancos are back to regain their rich tradition of European supremacy.
However, there are some obstacles to success that could raise problems for the Merengues come crunch time. Featuring a squad that brought in eight new players to the team (and parted with 12), Madrid’s play, although showing attractive flashes of brilliance, has not yet matured. There have been glimpses of balanced, dominant team play in certain matches, where Los Blancos have emphasised recovering the ball in their opponent’s half of the pitch and scoring with lethal efficacy, but at other times they have looked disjointed and sparsely spaced on the pitch.
The biggest question mark is in defence, where the team can no longer rely on the services of Pepe who was lost for the entirety of the season with a torn ligament in his knee, although he hopes to recover in time to make the Champions League final in the event Madrid progress. The young Ezequiel Garay has filled in admirably alongside the sure-footed Raul Albiol, but his inexperience in high-pressure situations could prove risky and the prospect of an injury also puts the stability of the position in doubt.
The Argentine has spent the past two weeks in the infirmary with a minor knock and during that time Sergio Ramos has been stellar, leaving his customary right-back position to Spanish international Alvaro Arbeloa who has ceded the left-back position to Marcelo. However, despite his improvements, the Brazilian is still not up to Champions League calibre security in defence and if Ramos is called upon to fill in the central role, it is certainly possible that coach Manuel Pellegrini will use the versatile Lassana Diarra as a right-back and keep Arbeloa on the left.
One of the negative aspects of having a squad comprised of so many newcomers is the fact that a consistent starting line-up has not yet been established. The midfield tends to change from week to week as Lassana Diarra, Marcelo, Rafael van der Vaart, Guti, and now Esteban Granero have all enjoyed a fair bit of playing time as starters. Conversely, winter want-away Fernando Gago, Royston Drenthe, and Mahamadou Diarra have seen only a handful of matches.
Up front, the legendary Raul, all-time leading scorer in the Champions League, has been relegated to the bench except in cases where there is an injury or suspension to a starter. But interestingly enough, Pellegrini has yet to field a largely offensive line-up featuring his four offensive superstars in Ronaldo, Higuain, Benzema, and Kaka on the pitch at the same time. Injuries and run of form have conveniently dictated this situation for the Chilean (for next week’s fixture at Lyon, Benzema could be out with injury and looks unlikelye to face his former club, leaving the striking position to Higuain), but when all four are healthy and Madrid must dig deep to score a goal or two in a match, it is yet to be seen how these four weapons will function together.
It has been made abundantly clear that the Champions League is the priority, but just five points off the lead in La Liga, the domestic title is also an expectation in the Spanish capital, with each member of the Madrid squad set to earn nearly €1 million if the team wins the double. With the players they field and the steadily improving form they have exhibited, Los Blancos certainly are one of the favourites to stand as European champions. But even in if they win La Decima in the Bernabeu, they had better do so with style. For even the best of results can draw out a few whistles from the home crowd if they are not secured via entertaining football.
Sevilla
For those who do not closely follow La Liga, pay attention, as Sevilla could very well be the dark horse of the Champions League tournament. Sitting in 5th place and a longitudinal 19 points off the leader, the Liga title race is effectively over for Los Nervionenses. But make no mistake, as a team that beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou on their way to securing a berth in the Copa del Rey final, and one that finished at the head of their Champions League group stage - with relative ease at that - Sevilla are a team capable of beating some of the best in Europe.
Feeling somewhat short-changed since their last appearance in the Champions League two years ago, the same season in which Juande Ramos’ championship side that had won five titles in a span of two years was crippled by the death of Antonio Puerta, Sevilla are determined to make a real go at European glory this campaign.
The side has shown some inconsistency lately in La Liga, which could serve as cause for alarm, but Sevilla tend to turn it up quite a bit when playing against the traditional superpowers of the game. Sporting three very capable strikers in Brazilian hit man Luis Fabiano, Malian marksman Frederic Kanoute, and the club’s most expensive signing in history Alvaro Negredo (who, despite the buy-back clause embedded in his contract that could see him return to Real Madrid next season, is looking more and more at home in the Andalucian capital) Sevilla certainly have the offensive prowess to score vital goals in away matches.
Particularly threatening is the team's trio of wingers (all Sevilla youth players) in Diego Capel, Jesus Navas, and Diego Perotti, who will cause nightmares down the flanks for even the best European defences. All three players will be looking to showcase their talents on the Champions League stage with the hope of being called up into their respective national squads (Spain for the former two and Argentina for the latter) for the World Cup.
While the defence is solid, the loss of Sergio Sanchez to a heart ailment has created a yet unproven hole in the back-four as Marius Stankevicius was brought in on loan from Sampdoria to shore up the rearguard. Sanchez was an integral piece in defence, but as Sevilla have previously found through personal experience, such heart ailments are to be taken with utmost seriousness.
Sevilla’s best defence, however, may be their goalkeeper. It seems that in every match, Andres Palop manages to pull off a string of superhuman saves and nothing serves as a better example than him single-handedly (pun only somewhat intended) putting Sevilla into the Copa del Rey final by parrying nearly every shot Getafe sent his way, many of them in one-on-one situations.
In just their second time in Europe’s elite competition in club history, Sevilla come into this season’s Champions League with nothing to lose and everything to prove and as Manolo Jimenez’s side prepare to face CSKA Moscow in their first knockout match, they do so with the hope of showing the rest of Europe that there is much more football to be played in Spain than just in the Spanish and Catalunyan capitals.
Given the talent in the team and their dynamic style of play, Sevilla have the potential to recall the memory of Manuel Pellegrini’s 2005/06 Villarreal outfit who improbably progressed all the way to the semi-finals. Whether or not the Andaluz side can live up to that potential will be decided in the span of just a few short weeks. It certainly feels like much longer.
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