UCL Report Cover 06
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TECHNICAL REPORT 2005/06 This Report has been prepared by UEFA’s Technical Department to serve not only as a record of the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League but also with the aim of offering some data, reflections and opinions which, we hope, will give technicians food for thought and help to detect trends, analyse the present and lay the foundations for further enhancement of the club competition which is hailed by the critics as the best in the world. But, in football, there is no time to rest on laurels - least of all in the UEFA Champions League. The past, however, can be used as the basis for future improvement. ENGLISH SECTION PARTIE FRANÇAISE DEUTSCHER TEIL STATISTICS TECHNICAL REPORT COMPETITION REVIEW When the players left the pitch after the first knock-out round match at Highbury, a television commentator remarked that it had been the best goal-less draw he had ever witnessed. It was the match between Arsenal FC and Real Madrid, which was significant for various reasons. It marked the ‘premature’ departure of the nine-time champions. Victory signified a psychological turning point in terms of self-belief during a campaign which ultimately led the young ‘Gunners’ all the way to Paris. It was a win for the team rated as ‘underdog’, bearing in mind that Arsène Wenger’s side had long since been eliminated from PHOTO: FOTO-NET the English title race. And, although the first knock-out Juliano Belletti, scorer of the winning goal in the final, comes within a whisker of putting FC Barcelona ahead in the return round tie had produced only one goal in three hours, it leg of the semi-final against AC Milan. But with goalkeeper Dida adopting a pained expression, he watches in anguish as his had attracted record TV audiences. It was a compendium efforts rolls narrowly wide. of contrasts that reflect many realities of a fascinating season. Even though FC Barcelona’s league and UEFA Champions When the grand finale at the Stade de France culminated League double suggested otherwise, Arsenal’s run to the with FC Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol, lifting the trophy, club’s first-ever final in the competition in a season of critics were quick to compare Frank Rijkaard’s side with domestic disappointment illustrated how difficult it is to Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ which, fourteen years earlier, combine national and international successes. Only three had posted the Catalan club’s only previous success in of the quarter-finalists - ostensibly the best eight teams in this competition. There can be no doubt that the UEFA Europe - won their domestic championships and only six Champions League is the stuff dreams are made of. But the of the top sixteen, among them FC Bayern München and 2005/06 campaign clearly demonstrated that, on the park, Olympique Lyonnais. The former’s comprehensive defeat by there is no room for dreaming. The most successful sides AC Milan, coupled with Werder Bremen’s cruel last-minute were the ones who allowed their fans to dream but, on elimination in Turin, meant that the German flag was, the pitch, managed to blend fantasy football with strong again, not hoisted in the quarter-finals. Two late goals by doses of pragmatism. AC Milan at San Siro eliminated Gérard Houllier’s French champions, who had played some seductive football en route to the quarter-finals. At the other end of the spectrum, Real Betis Balompié made their UEFA Champions League debut while dicing with relegation in the Spanish league and fellow debutants Villarreal CF pursued the pot of gold at the end of the UEFA Champions League rainbow with such vigour that they jeopardised their European future by resting key players from league matches. But let’s go back to the contradictory theme of thrilling 4 but goal-less matches. Data on ensuing pages of this publi- cation confirm that the number of goals dropped sharply - alarmingly, some might say. During the group stage, only six teams averaged two or more goals per game. No fewer than 17 of the 32 starters ended their groups with more points With French referee Alain Sars watching carefully, FC Bayern München’s Willy Sagnol is dispossessed by SK Rapid Wien’s Peter Hlinka. But the Austrians were the only team to lose all six group games. PHOTO: FOTO-NET than goals. SL Benfica qualified for the knock-out phase by winning eight points out of 18. Werder Bremen did so with one point less. Rangers FC became the first Scottish club to reach the knock-out stage with seven points and bowed out of the competition with a balance of one win and six draws from eight fixtures. In Group D, Villarreal CF, SL Benfica, LOSC Lille and Manchester United FC shared 30 points but only 12 goals. Five of the dozen games were goal-less; four of the others troubled the scoreboard operator only once. Half of the goals were scored in the confrontations between SL Benfica and Manchester United FC. Villarreal CF’s run to the semi-finals provided a graphic PHOTO: FOTO-NET AFC Ajax’s Nourdin Boukhari pays no heed to Roberto Mancini’s example of the dividends to be gained by investing in directional signals as he breaks clear of the fallen Luís Figo during a pragmatic approach. In a dozen matches, they scored FC Internazionale’s 3-2 aggregate win in the first knock-out round. eight and conceded seven, coming through two knock-out rounds on the away-goals rule. But the Spanish debutants All this may have contributed to the ebb tide in goal- were by no means alone in maximising the dividends on scoring - but did nothing to subtract from the competition limited capital. In Group G, Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC as a spectacle. The record books will show that Arsenal conceded only one goal apiece, while scoring six and seven FC reached the final on the back of ten games without respectively. PSV Eindhoven won second place in Group E conceding a goal; and that FC Barcelona, also unbeaten despite scoring only four goals - all of them at home. on the road to Paris, conceded only one penalty and one own goal during the entire knock-out phase. The Catalans, Over a whole season, statistics rarely lie. But they don’t having scored 16 times in their group games, scored only always tell the whole truth. It is tempting to equate fewer six in as many knock-out matches. The Gunners, in the goals with defensive play and lack of excitement. DVDs of meantime, were scoring only four. Both finalists were that match at Highbury or Arsenal FC’s subsequent goal- defensively competent and compact but neither had a less draw in Villarreal refute that argument. It could be defensive philosophy. Frank Rijkaard was able to alter the argued that two goals in six hours of semi-final football was defensive complexion of his team by selecting the midfield tantamount to boredom. Yet both ties were rich in tension, anchor players most suited to each occasion, without intensity, near-misses, disallowed goals, penalty saves and affecting the ability of his magicians to produce trump sheer drama. There can be no doubting that defensive cards from their sleeves. He and Arsène Wenger were blocks were impressively efficient; or that counter- ultimately successful because, during the crucial knock-out attacking has become a crucial weapon in the modern ties, they calculated the risks correctly and found a winning armoury. There is little doubt that, among the more blend of flamboyance and pragmatism. regular competitors in the UEFA Champions League, players and coaches know each other so well that the surprise factor has been practically eliminated from the equation. 5 Werder Bremen’s goalkeeper Tim Wiese successfully reaches across Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and team-mate Naldo to catch the ball cleanly during the 3-2 home win in the first knock-out round. PHOTO: JOHN WALTON / EMPICS THE OPENING NIGHT Lights. Camera. Action. UEFA Champions League 2005/2006 opening night, and in one of eight matches scheduled for matchday one, Olympique Lyonnais faced Real Madrid CF at the Stade de Gerland in a match of historical significance. Fifty years ago to the month, the first game was played in the European Cup (i.e. Champions Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Cham- pions League) when Sporting Clube de Portugal and FK Partizan Beograd drew 3-3 in September 1955. At the end of that inaugural season, on 13th June 1956, the final was played at the Parc des Princes in Paris, and Real Madrid CF overcame Stade de Reims to win the first of their nine PHOTO: MIKE EGERTON / EMPICS European titles. Olympique Lyonnais’ head coach Gérard Houllier has a pre-match team-talk with UEFA’s Technical Director, Andy Roxburgh, whose ‘T1’ accreditation confirms that it is a Tuesday game on Matchday 1 With the 50th anniversary final also scheduled for Paris - - opening night of the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League. this time at the Stade de France - Olympique Lyonnais and Real Madrid CF, the 2005/2006 opening night protagonists, match, they were happy to exchange pleasantries, to be were anxious to make a good start to a campaign which superficially active and distracted, albeit momentarily, could propel them all the way to a glamorous, historically- from the stress and intensity of the impending contest. significant final, in the town where UEFA’s coveted Cham- Rivalry and respect sit comfortably in juxtaposition at such pions trophy made its first public appearance. moments. An hour before kick-off in Lyon, Gérard Houllier, the head The floodlights lit up the lush green ‘stage’; the UEFA coach of Olympique Lyonnais, met his counterpart Vander- Champions League anthem blazed out its rallying call; the lei Luxemburgo of Real Madrid CF, in the narrow corridor players and match officials faced the VIP tribune without under the main stand.