Champions league: Group B: CHELSEA vs. VALENCIA

There really isn’t much to play for in this group B match, except for Chelsea to add another home game to their unbeaten record, which they don’t want to lose. Valencia’s season is starting to fall to pieces very quickly; they were held to a boring goalless drew in La Liga on Saturday against Osasuna and are having one hell of a time trying to score goals. They have now gone four games without hitting the back of the net and you would have to go back to the tenth of November to see the last Valencia goal. They can still qualify for the UEFA cup by finishing in third spot in their group, but who would back them winning at Stamford Bridge when so many others have failed?

The most surprising of Valencia’s problems has to be in front of goal. It’s not as if they don’t have the players. David Villa, Fernando Morientes and Zigic have all proven themselves as adept goal scorers. Coach Ronald Koeman has decided to use players from Valencia’s inferior category instead of his usual choices, as he also has a lot of injury problems to deal with. So out is David Albelda, who got a red card in the last Champions match against Schalke 04, and Miguel Ángel Angulo, Joaquín Sánchez, Marco Caneira, Rubén Baraja Alexis Ruano have all been ruled out owing to various physical problems.

Chelsea, who struggled to beat Sunderland at home in the Premier league at the weekend, have their own injury worries, too. Didier Drogba has just had knee surgery and will be out for a while, and when he does get back to full fitness he will travel back home to take put in the African cup. That leaves Chelsea flop Andriy Shevchenko to fill his boots. But in this game I don’t think Chelsea needs to worry too much. They have only conceded one goal in the last seven matches and have scored twelve. Just don’t put all your money on a runaway victory for the home side, though. This is going to be a bitter fought, untidy game with very few chances for either team. I’m going for a one nil win for Chelsea, who will be thinking of the Premier league match against Arsenal the following weekend.

Prediction: Home win (1-0)

Champions league: Group A: MARSELLA vs. LIVERPOOL

If you were a club needing to win your last group stage match against Marseille to qualify for the next round of the Champions League, you wouldn’t want to lose your first domestic league game of the season. Oh bugger. Liverpool might have had a lot of confidence in beating the French outfit a couple of weeks ago when they bounced back into contention in group A by beating leaders Porto, but now after losing to modest club Reading by three goals to one at the weekend they may have lost some of it. The Merseyside club is now in fourth place in the Premier and three points behind third placed Chelsea, although they do have a game in hand. Off the pitch problems between Spanish coach Rafa Benitez and the American owners is also something which needs to be sorted out and quickly, too. Luckily for Liverpool, they don’t have to worry about injury problems and I can see this match being the scene where Fernando Torres becomes a man. His arrival in the summer provoked some to question whether he was worth the twenty four million pounds Liverpool paid Athletico Madrid for him, but since then he has shown what a great striker he is and also the potential he has for becoming one of the best in the world. He has adapted to life in the English Premier very well indeed and his eleven goals so far this season will easily be doubled by the end of it. He has scored some very important goals for the club in his short time with the club, most notably the opening goal against Chelsea in the league which was his first in an official game. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he scores the winner here in this game too.

Marseille must be wondering what they have done so wrong to be in such a position now in group A. A couple of games ago they were leading the group and after beating Liverpool at Anfield were sure of classification. But since then they have drawn against Porto and a surprise defeat to Turkish side Besiktas has meant they go in to their last group match needing to get at least a point to go through. Liverpool can also carry on if they draw on Tuesday night, but only if Besiktas do them the favor of beating the Portuguese champions.

In times like these you really have to go for Liverpool. Rafa Benitez’s job is said to be hanging by a thread and defeat will almost certainly end his Liverpool career. The players are behind him and will go all out to save their manager’s job. I’m going for a short Liverpool victory here, and watch out for the above mentioned Torres and heart of Liverpool Steven Gerrard to get on the score sheet, but they might have to come back from behind in classic Liverpool style.

Prediction: Away win (1-2)

Champions league: Werder Bremen vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid arrived in Germany and for once the players weren’t the center of attention. All the media were following coach Bernd Schuster, who is one of the most famous, or infamous, figures in German football.

Madrid need a point to qualify to the next round, and I am pretty certain a point is all they are going to get from this match. Their away form in this year’s competition hasn’t been that impressive, with a two-two draw at Lazio which they should have won easily, and another draw, this time goalless, in Greece against Olympiacos.

Werder Bremen will also find hope in Madrid’s historically dismal away record in Germany. The Spanish side have played in the country twenty one times but have only won once, losing fourteen others. Added to this, The Spanish giants can only boast one away win in the Champions League from the last eight tries.

Bremen meanwhile, are bottom of Group C with three points and need something of a miracle to pass the group stage. Beating Madrid at their stadium would be a good start, but they will have to hope the other game between Lazio and Olympiacos ends in a draw. This is in sharp contrast to their domestic form, where they are second in the Bundesliga and just one point behind leaders Bayern, who aren’t even qualified for the Champions League this year.

The first game between Real and Bremen earlier this year at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium ended in a narrow win for the home side, where Bremen put in an impressive display and were unlucky to go home empty handed.

Real Madrid will be without Argentinean defender Heinze, who is out with a knee injury, as well as Sneijder, Drenthe, and Soldado. As for Bremen, their attack force will be dealt a huge blow by the suspension of their Brazilian star Diego, who received a red card in the last Champions League game against Lazio.

I don’t think Real Madrid will be able to pull off a win here as Bremen at home are extremely strong, but I can’t see the host side picking up the three points they so desperately need, either. A draw then, I think will be the most probable result. Good for Madrid, who face Lazio at home in the last match, but bad for Lazio, who will have to say goodbye to the Champions League again this year.

Prediction: Draw (1-1)

 

Champions league: Valencia vs. Schalke

This game is the first of two match points for Valencia. They have to win here against the German outfit, then travel to London and beat Chelsea if they want to qualify for the next round. Something tells me they won’t do it.

Their home record this season has been absolutely atrocious. They have won just one game in both their domestic and European games since September, and still don’t know what a draw is. Seventeen games, nine wins and eight defeats is not the form to inspire hope among the Valencia faithful, and come the end of the season they are going to find it difficult to qualify for even next year’s UEFA cup.

Schalke 04 find themselves in a similar predicament, although not as bad as the Spanish team. They won in the Bundesliga at the weekend with a good away performance to Hannover 96, which puts them into sixth position in their domestic league a whopping nine points behind leaders Bayern. Valencia couldn’t even manage a win, however. They fell one goal to nil on their visit to Racing de Santander and dropped out of the Champions League spot to also land in sixth position. With the level of competitiveness that exists in the Spanish league at the moment, maybe being kicked out of the Champions League would be a blessing in disguise and they could then begin to focus on their league form. New coach Ronald Koeman was supposed to have been the revolution the club needed and ordered after the sacking of Quique Sanchez Flores, but I don’t think even the Dutchman realized how big the problem in Valencia really was. He opted to put Cañizares back in goal for the Racing game, but this proved to be a mistake as the aging goalkeeper’s gaff cost them the match. Valencia’s attack, unusually dull this season, had another bad night and failed to score for the fifth match this season. They have only managed to find the net twice in this current edition of the Champions League, and I really can’t see them scoring in front of their home crowd in this clash either. Valencia fans are quite famous for punishing their own side, and if Schalke manage an early strike get ready for some fireworks.

I’m going for a close away win here. The Valencia players know full well they won’t win against Chelsea, and for that reason won’t have their hearts set o this match.

Prediction: Away win (0-1)

Champions league: Rosenberg vs. Chelsea

After Rosenberg’s shock victories over Valencia, they go into this Group B clash full of fire and determination to seal their pass to the next round. There’s only one problem. They aren’t facing a Valencia squad full of doubt but Chelsea. Still, in the first game between these two teams Rosenberg did earn a draw at Stamford bridge which in turn resulted in the dismissal of Jose Mourinho. Rosenberg’s Norwegian league has finished and they haven’t played a game since beating Valencia in Spain two weeks ago. Not the kind of thing you’d want before taking on mighty Chelsea but still, they will have the weather on their side. No one in their right mind would want to go to Norway in November and play a game of football, and it will be interesting to see how the Chelsea players react to this, especially those who come from more temperate climes.

Chelsea are without a number of key figures, most notably keeper Cech and Ivory coast international Didier Drogba. His place is probably going to be taken by Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko, which might be a good idea owing to the weather.

Chelsea should be very careful going into this match. Valencia went there thinking it would be an easy game against the minnows of this group and ended up being comprehensibly beaten. All their players will be fully rested after finishing their domestic league almost a month ago, and I don’t see why the Norwegian side can’t earn a good draw. While Chelsea are getting the right results in the Premier league, their football hasn’t been as impressive as those above them, especially Arsenal and Manchester United. Some of the players look tired, and this will have an adverse effect on this match. Also, they haven’t really been playing nearly as good in this edition of the Champions League –two wins and two draws- when they really should have been runaway leaders.

I’m going to stick my neck out on this one and go for a one-one draw. Not the most exciting result and I doubt if it will be an exciting game, but one point for each side might well be enough to put them both through to the knock out stages.

Prediction: Draw (1-1)

Champions league: Liverpool vs. Porto

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez’s job is hanging by a thread and Porto could well be the ones who cut the strings. Amazing as it would seem, the Liverpool coach –who brought Liverpool their first Champions League title in decades- pretty much looks set to be fired by the American owners. The question is will it be sooner rather than later? If Liverpool don’t win this game it will almost definitely be sooner. The American owners have been angered by Benitez near constant complaining about not having the players he needs to win the Premier league title. Of course, his bosses don’t see it that way and feel he should be concentrated on coaching the players he has. While it is obvious to see both points of view, I don’t see Liverpool capable of taking on either Arsenal or Manchester United for the domestic trophy, which leaves the Champions League as the only other competition worth going after. Judging by Liverpool’s European form of late though, this isn’t going to happen this season. They have made a dreadful start to this year’s campaign, losing two and drawing another. They went some way towards their goal (and giving fans an enjoyable night) by beating Besiktas in an historic eight nil thrashing in their last European outing, but they still have work to do, and might not even qualify if they win both their remaining two games. There is talk of a crisis at Liverpool, but I don’t see it. They are still unbeaten in the league, had a great win at the weekend against Newcastle, and when they have a full strength squad could do some important things. But they just have to get past Porto.

The Portuguese side are having something of a holiday at the moment. Runaway leaders of the Portuguese league, they too haven’t lost a game this season and are also top of group A in the Champions League. What makes them really dangerous for Liverpool is that they haven’t qualified yet.

I don’t think Porto will be good enough to beat Liverpool at Anfield, but a draw is quite within their capabilities. This of course, would result in Liverpool’s exit from the competition and you have to then wonder what will be the fate of Benitez.

Prediction: Draw (2-2)

Champions league: Sevilla vs. Arsenal

Sevilla play hosts to Group H leaders Arsenal hoping their unfortunate league form won’t follow them to the Champions League. The Spanish side are out for revenge after losing in London on the opening day of the competition by three goals to nil, and being made to look like complete novices in the process. Since that game Sevilla have improved, but are still having some unlucky games. They aren’t playing that badly but seem to have problems concentrating at key points. The home defeat at the hands of Mallorca at the weekend is a perfect example. They should have won, as they are the better team in front of their home crowd, and for the better part of the game did play better. But they ended up losing by two goals to one and slipped even further away form the top of La Liga.

Arsenal aren’t having any of those problems, however. Their form is becoming increasingly solid, and this was proved by another victory on Saturday. This time the victims were Wigan and Arsenal didn’t really have to change out of first gear to beat them by two goals to nil. That victory made it twenty eight games without losing and I can’t see Sevilla altering this fact come Tuesday night.

Sevilla can field a full strength side in this match and will probably need it. Arsenal o the other hand, will have some important absentees, most notably Van Persie, Gilberto and Walcott. The real soul of the team - Cesc Fábregas- will be there on the night though, and will want to impress on his return to his country.

Sevilla will probably be hoping Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger leaves his most talented players at home and gives the younger players some experience, as the London club have already qualified for the next round. I doubt this will happen though, as Wenger is too cautious a man to do that.

I’m going for an Arsenal win here. Sevilla have the players and the talent, but just don’t have the puff or the confidence to win. Watch out for Fábregas having a huge game and will probably be the deciding factor.

Prediction: Away win (1-2)  

Atalanta vs AC Milan

Atalanta return home after a superb victory away Catania in Round 11. It’s been a remarkable season for the Bergamaschi so far as they have been exceeding all expectations. The victory over Catania puts them in 6^th place of the league table and in line to make a decent run at qualifying for a continental competition. The play of veteran Cristiano Doni and Floccari in attack has been superb with Doni tied for third in Serie A in scoring with 6 goals. There is even more good news for Del Neri’s side this week as left back Gianpaolo Bellini is back after a one month layoff due to injury.

As for the Rossoneri, they are going through one of their worst seasons in recent memory. Last season, AC Milan had been penalized by the FIGC and had points deducted at the start of the season. This led to their hovering around mediocrity for most of the campaign. That was not the case this year but yet Milan have struggled to find their top form in the domestic league. Despite a squad list that is an embarassment of riches, Carlo Ancelotti’s side are in 9^th place of the league table with just 14 points form 11 matches. They are coming off of a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Torino.

In truth, AC Milan’s struggles have been due in part to the turnover employed by Ancelotti. As the defending UEFA Champions League title holders, the Cup has been the priority at the San Siro and they have not used their best starting eleven for some matches. That will not be the case this week. Save for Ronaldo and Gilardino, who will start on the bench, and the injured Emerson and Jankulovski Milan will go with their full complement of players for this fixture. Kaka’, Pippo Inzaghi, and Clarence Seedorf are set to start.

While Milan are the road side this week they have actually played better on the road than they have at the San Siro where they remain winless this season. At the same time, Atalanta have won just 2 of 5 matches at home and appear to be playing a bit over their heads. Look for Milan to pull off the 3 points on the road.

Prediction: Road win (0-1)

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