Title in Arial Bold 22 Pt TECHNICAL REPORT
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TECHNICAL REPORT 2008/09 Title in Arial bold 22 pt Subtitle in Arial regular 14 pt ENGLISH SECTION PARTIE FRANÇAISE DEUTSCHER TEIL STATISTICS PHOTO: POTTS / PA WIRE / PA IMAGES TECHNICAL REPOrt This report has been published as a record of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League, which was the competition’s seventeenth season. In addition to the factual and statistical data that make it a valuable reference work, it contains analysis, reflections and debating points which, it is hoped, will give technicians food for thought and, by highlighting tendencies and trends at the peak of professional football, also offer coaches who are active at the development levels of the game information that may be helpful in terms of working on the qualities which will be needed by the UEFA Champions League performers of the future. Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand can only watch as Lionel Messi jumps just far enough upwards and backwards to deliver the looping header which put FC Barcelona 2-0 up in the 70th minute of the final in Rome. THE ROADS THAT LED TO ROME Distance is meant to lend perspective, but it can also blur the vision. The fact that the neutrals who, when the group stage kicked off in September, predicted a Manchester United v Barcelona final were watching it just over eight months later gives the impression that the 124-match pilgrimage to Rome had been a relentless march towards a foregone conclusion. That was by no means the case. It is easy to forget that FC Barcelona won only half of their home games, or that they were being counted out during the final seconds of their heavyweight semi-final contest with Chelsea – only for Andrés Iniesta to produce the stunning drive which earned a trip to Rome. Sir Alex MAGES Y I Ferguson, when asked to name the ingredients for ETT success, always insists that you need a spoonful of luck. Barça certainly enjoyed their taste of what the Spaniards call la suerte de los campeones – the luck of V / AFP G the champions. But another Spanish saying maintains EMENO that “if you want luck, you have to look for it”. Josep : N OTO H Guardiola’s side never forgot how and where they were P going to look for their slices of fortune. Even when FC BATE Borisov locally born midfielder Igor Stasevich looks as though he playing with ten at Stamford Bridge, they remained can hardly believe he’s beaten Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved in a high- loyal to their philosophy. They wanted the ball, they kicking contest during the 2-2 draw in Minsk. treated it with affection, they passed it rapidly and beating AS Roma 2-1. A couple of weeks later, fellow continuously, and they probed in every area of the newcomers FC BATE Borisov were holding Juventus to attacking third. a draw and, a day later, Anorthosis Famagusta FC of Cyprus, a third debutant who had battled right through But turning hindsight exclusively on FC Barcelona is, in from the first qualifying round, beat Panathinaikos a way, blurring the vision. In today’s “breaking news” FC 3-1, going on to raise eyebrows even further by society, the tendency, at the end of a UEFA Champions putting another three past the normally impermeable League season, is to focus on the final and its winner, FC Internazionale defence. Aalborg BK of Denmark lost to the detriment of everything that went before it. only two of their group games and were applauded off And the pilgrimage to Rome produced cameos which the pitch after a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford. The fact that deserve to be recorded. Romanian champions CFR none of those teams qualified for the knockout stages 1907 Cluj, for example, made headlines on their debut highlighted two facts: firstly, that “easy matches” are at the venue for the final, the Stadio Olimpico, by hard to encounter in the UEFA Champions League, and, secondly, that consistency in conjunction with a big-match mentality are essential ingredients. So is goalscoring ability. A dozen of the 32 contestants averaged less than a goal per game. UEFA Cup champions FC Zenit St. Petersburg paid the price for converting 72 scoring attempts into four goals while Fenerbahçe SK, quarter-finalists in the previous season, achieved the same total from 67 attempts. FC Girondins de Bordeaux, who went on to take the MAGES French league title, converted 5 from 79. As Erik Gerets Y I commented after Olympique de Marseille’s 1-0 defeat ETT at Anfield, “we just lacked the certain something that makes the difference against the top teams.” And the / AFP G lack of an “end product” was a common denominator among those who failed to pass the cut in December. ASAMASSIMA : C Even though he has the ball, Julio Baptista illustrates AS Roma’s anxiety OTO during a shock 2-1 home defeat as he is challenged by CFR 1907 Cluj’s H P Portuguese midfielder Dani. 4•5 rounds of the 2007/08 season had been described as “lean and hungry”, they were, this time round, positively obese. FC Bayern München set records by defeating Sporting Clube 12-1, while FC Barcelona put four goals apiece past the champions of France and Germany in stunning first-half displays. The 16 games MAGES in the first knockout round yielded 45 goals, with the Y I ETT quarter-finals producing another 28 at an average of / G 3.5 per match. A dozen of them were scored during the fourth meeting in the last five seasons between ONGARTS Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC. “Normally, teams are / B happy with a draw at Anfield,” said the Chelsea coach, Guus Hiddink, after the first leg, “but we felt we could do more. If you feel that opponents can be HASSENSTEIN : hurt in some area, you’re stupid not to go for it.” The OTO H Londoners’ reward was a 3-1 win which produced P mutterings about a formality at Stamford Bridge. It Sporting Clube goalkeeper Rui Patricio spreads despairing arms as Lukas Podolski scissor-kicks the second of seven goals in Munich, where turned out to be a formality in which Rafa Benítez’s FC Bayern completed a record-breaking 12-1 aggregate win in the first team was 2-0 ahead, 3-2 behind, 4-3 ahead and, knock-out round. ultimately, eliminated by a 4-4 draw which epitomised UEFA Champions League virtues. At least a greater percentage of technicians did. In the 2007/08 season, the casualty rate among The same applied to the sheer intensity of the semi- coaches had been one in four during the group stage. final against FC Barcelona, in which Chelsea’s contain- The season started with CFR 1907 Cluj making the and-counter game plan was within seconds of earning novel move of changing their coach during the run-up a second successive final. A day earlier, the other to the first group game. Thereafter, Aalborg BK, FC semi-final had also been resolved in London but while Steaua Bucuresti and Real Madrid CF made changes the fans were settling into their seats rather than during the group phase, with Club Atlético de Madrid preparing to leave them. Arsenal FC had developed and Chelsea FC following suit during the winter break. into one of the dark horses of the competition after However, an end-of-season round-up reveals that staying afloat in the season’s stormy waters and 16 further changes have been made, underlining that getting key players back from long-term injuries. continuity and time for team building have become After a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford, expectations were luxury items in today’s elite game. high – but dashed when Manchester United scored two away goals in the opening minutes. “The game Seven national associations were represented when the was over before it started,” Arsène Wenger lamented ball started rolling in the knockout ties, but England, afterwards, “and that is the most difficult thing to Italy and Spain accounted for 11 of the 16 teams (10 swallow. We played with pride and desire but some in 2007/08) and 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists. For the part of the belief was gone. It is very disappointing third successive season, England’s Premier League to fight such a long way and then give it away.” The provided three of the four semi-finalists but, for the results of the 125 matches are easier to remember second time in the three seasons, it was the “odd one than the intense emotions they generated. out” who lifted the trophy. Contrary to widely held beliefs, only 7 of the 14 knockout ties were won by Anorthosis attacker Savio confidently wrong-foots the Panathinaikos pair the team playing the second leg at home. of Marcelo Mattos and No. 8 Giannis Goumas during the 3-1 home win for the Cypriot champions on Matchday 2. AS Roma were not among them. Even though Luciano Spalletti saved one substitution to send on a penalty specialist in the last minute of extra time, the Italians lost to Arsenal FC in the only tie to be decided in a MAGES Y I shootout. As usual, the switch to knockout format set ETT the scene for surprises with the two Madrid sides – both with new coaches – making exits and Real’s 5-0 / AFP G aggregate defeat against Rafa Benítez’s Liverpool FC IDES VV sowing seeds for radical changes at the club. It was by A no means the only knockout tie where eyebrows were : S OTO H raised by the margin of victory.