Depth emerges as crucial factor as Europe’s top club competition has been turned into marathon
The Champions League has, in its 45th season, been turned into an endurance contest.
No longer do talent and experience- with a modicum of luck – suffice to win Europe’s top competition. Teams must be loaded to endure two games a week – the rule, no longer the exception.
When play resumes Nov. 23 with the first day of play in the competition’s second group stage, it will be, by the standards used last year, as though the competition has just begun.
Here’s a ranking of the sweet 16:
1. BARCELONA (Spain). Rarely in recent years has the favorite emerged so quickly.
Barca has it all.
Talent: The top player in Europe this season is Brazilian left winger Rivaldo. Portuguese Luis Figo, who plays on the opposite side of the Barcelona attack, could be the most underrated player in Europe.
Experience: Michael Reiziger, Frank and Ronald De Boer, Jari Litmanen and Patrick Kluivert all won the European Cup under current Barca coach Louis Van Gaal with Dutch club Ajax in 1995.
Depth: Barcelona’s resources were underscored when the Catalans, already assured of a berth in the next phase, beat AIK Stockholm, 5-0, with a reserve team in the fifth week of group play.
What can undo Barcelona? Not much at this point. Probably the most fragile element of the Catalan club is Van Gaal, who has had a stormy relationship with the Barcelona media and some of his players.
But even that shouldn’t get in the way of Barcelona, which is celebrating its centennial season.
2. LAZIO (Italy). No team besides Manchester United has been as consistent over the last two seasons.
The Romans won the 1999 Cup Winners’ Cup and led the Italian Serie A until the final two days.
They opened the 1999-2000 season with a victory over Manchester United in the European Super Cup.
They are the only team left in the Champions League that is still unbeaten at home (six wins and three ties in Serie A) and in Europe (four wins and two ties in the first group stage) this season.
The loss of Christian Vieri, arguably the best striker in the world today, to Inter Milan hasn’t hampered Lazio.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson recruited well to add Argentines Juan Sebastian Veron and Diego Simeone to his deep midfield.
And in the back, Yugoslavia Sinisa Mihajlovic is the most feared free-kick specialist in Europe today.
3. MANCHESTER UNITED (England). United, winner of the treble last season, only third in our Champions League rankings?
Retaining the title won’t be easy. No team has repeated since league play was introduced in 1992.
Much has been made of United’s decision to skip the English FA Cup in favor of FIFA’s club championship in Brazil. But the move also alleviates its crowded schedule in the spring. It can concentrate on the Premier League and Champions League without having FA Cup dates piling up.
Alex Ferguson – they call him Sir Alex now — spent little money to reinforce his team during the offseason, making United’s depth suspect.
Then again, didn’t Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer come off the bench to provide the heroics in last year’s Champions League final?
The return of ‘FC Hollywood’
4. BAYERN MUNICH (Germany). The Bavarians well remember the ’99 final in Barcelona, where they blew a 1-0 lead in stoppage time.
They’re still recovering from the shock.
The summer was marked by the return of “FC Hollywood.” Mario Basler, who was so effective in the final against Manchester United, has been suspended indefinitely. Frenchman Bixente Lizarazu slugged captain Lothar Matthaeus.
Bayern was lucky to beat out Glasgow Rangers for second place in Group F, but it’s too good a team to not go far.
While the defense, which will have to be rebuilt when Matthaeus leaves for the MetroStars this winter, is a big question mark, the Bayern attack is much improved.
Brazilian Elber is back after missing last spring through injury, and countryman Paulo Sergio and Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz have been added.
5. REAL MADRID (Spain). Real, winner of a record seven European Cup titles, is an enigma.
It’s doing well in Europe — where it won its first stage group, scoring 16 goals in six games — but is again struggling at home.
A 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano Nov. 6 has for now silenced the critics, but it figures to be a long season for Coach John Toshack.
The burly Welshman has an abundance of riches to work with up front, but they may prove to be his downfall.
Does Toshack stick with buddies Raul and Fernando Morientes on the frontline? What if Frenchman Nico Anelka doesn’t come around? Should Steve McManaman and Savio start on the wings? And is there a spot for Clarence Seedorf in the lineup?
6. CHELSEA (England). Are the Blues really European contenders?
Even its most loyal fans would be hard-pressed to believe Chelsea is championship material, but it has a lot going for it.
Experience, for one thing.
Marcel Desailly (Marseille and AC Milan), Albert Ferrer (Barcelona) and Didier Deschamps (Juventus) all have won European Cup titles.
Coach Gianluca Vialli, who played with Deschamps on the ’96 Juve team, has a deep squad: 18 foreigners on the 25-man roster.
The Blues beat out Hertha Berlin, Galatasaray and AC Milan to win Group H, but they will be in for an even tougher test when they go up against Lazio and Marseille (along with Feyenoord) in the next phase.
Problems at home, not in Europe
7. FIORENTINA (Italy). It was just a couple of weeks ago that Coach Giovanni Trapattoni had it in his mind to quit.
The problem was in Serie A, where the Tuscans had lost three in a row, not in the Champions League.
Fiorentina management would have nothing of it, and in its next game, Fiorentina eliminated Arsenal with a 1-0 win at Wembley.
Trapattoni is the most experienced coach in the Champions League (169 games in Europe altogether).
His only European Cup title was the Heysel game with Juventus in 1985.
With Gabriel Batistuta up front, Fiorentina is a solid candidate to last until the knockout phase.
8. VALENCIA (Spain). Valencia is a beneficiary of the new eligibility rules.
It finished fourth in the Spanish League in 1998-99 but still made the Champions League via summer qualifying.
Valencia currently lies in a tie for 18th place in Spain, the worst position of any of the 16 contenders, but it is a threat in the Champions League, where it emerged as the surprise winner of Group F ahead of Bayern Munich and Rangers.
Argentine Hector Cuper’s job will be safe as long as Valencia continues to do well in Europe.
He can count upon countryman Claudio “El Piojo” (“The Louse”) Lopez, arguably the No. 3 player in Spain this year behind Rivaldo and Figo.
9. MARSEILLE (France). One coach whose job is certainly not safe is OM’s Rolland Courbis.
Yves Marchand, owner Robert Louis Dreyfus’ new general manager, doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Courbis.
Courbis didn’t help matters by shipping sweeper Laurent Blanc off to Inter Milan this summer.
In his favor, OM has a recent history of success in Europe (’93 European Cup champion and ’99 UEFA Cup runner-up with a very average team).
Marseille’s fanatical support at the Velodrome gives it a chance of finishing in the top two in Group D.
10. BORDEAUX (France). The Girondins were one of two teams, along with Barcelona, to clinch berths in the second round after four games, but then they eased up.
Ties to Sparta Prague and Willem II in its final two games cost Bordeaux the Group G title to Sparta Prague.
As a result, the French champion landed in a group with Manchester United, Fiorentina and Valencia – a far more difficult group than it would have gotten if it had been seeded as group champion.
A feared opponent on the road
11. DYNAMO KIEV (Ukraine). Dynamo has had a difficult fall.
It’s the only to team to qualify for the second stage with a losing record.
Injuries hurt Kiev in the early going. More recently, Coach Valeri Lobanovsky was hospitalized with heart trouble.
Still, Dynamo is a feared opponent, in particular for its ability on the road.
12. PORTO (Portugal). Twelve years after winning its only European Cup title, Porto looks to return to the final eight.
Porto, winner of five straight Portuguese league titles, has Europe’s most prolific striker in Brazilian Mario Jardel. He recently celebrated his 100th Porto game with his 100th goal.
Porto is helped up a favorable draw: It has Hertha Berlin and Sparta Prague to contend with for second place behind Group A favorite Barcelona.
13. ROSENBORG (Norway). Rosenborg, the surprise winner of Group C, recently wrapped up its eighth straight Norwegian league title.
Problem is, the Elite Division is off until next spring, giving Rosenborg no competition to keep itself fit for the Champions League.
It hasn’t hurt the Norwegians in the past, though.
They beat AC Milan in December three years ago to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League and gave Juventus, the defending champion at the time, a tough fight in the quarterfinals.
14. HERTHA BERLIN (Germany). Tony Sanneh is the only American left in the Champions League after Claudio Reyna (Rangers) and Frankie Hejduk (Bayer Leverkusen) both went out on the final day.
Hertha hardly looks like lasting long, though.
It lost its last two matches in the Champions League and only qualified when AC Milan blew a 2-1 lead in the last five minutes against Galatasaray.
It is the Berliners’ poor form in the Bundesliga that is the most troubling. They fell to Eintracht Frankfurt, 4-0, Nov. 6 to drop to 12th, one point out of the relegation zone.
15. FEYENOORD (Netherlands). The Rotterdammers are the only Dutch club left in the competition after last-place finishes by PSV and Willem II in their respective groups.
If anything, Leo Beenhakker’s team was consistent. It tied its first five matches before beating Rosenborg, 1-0, on a goal with five minutes left to leapfrog Borussia Dortmund in the standings.
16. SPARTA PRAGUE (Czech Republic). The Czechs emerged as the unlikely winners in Group G, but the London bookmakers have seen through that.
Sparta was placed as the longshot (66-1) to win the Champions League following the conclusion of the first round.
by Soccer America managing editor Paul Kennedy