If English giants and 2005 winners Liverpool lose to Lyon in France on Wednesday night their Champions League dreams could be all but over. Should Fiorentina beat Hungarian outfit Debrecen (a very likely occurrence) Liverpool will be six points adrift with just two games left.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been picking out the biggest derby fixtures from around the Premier League and elsewhere for my soccerondish articles. This weekend two of London’s biggest clubs, and indeed historically London’s biggest clubs before Roman Abramovic started the Chelsea revolution, meet in what is always massive fixture. Needless to say, in footballing terms Spurs fans and Arsenal fans aren’t the best of friends and local bragging rights are important to both. Over the last few years (well a lot longer in all fairness) Arsenal have been the stronger team by quite a way but there is a feeling around White Hart Lane that all that could change this season.
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It may still only be October but should Liverpool lose to Manchester United on Sunday their title challenge will effectively be over. They’ve already lost four times in the league this season and boss Rafael Benitez’s woes continued in midweek when French outfit Lyon pulled off a surprise 2–1 victory at Anfield. That result has left Benitez needing victory in their next Champions League game to stand any chance of reaching the knock-out rounds, while he also has the tricky task of United’s visit on Sunday.
To make matters worse for the home side it looks very likely they’ll be without captain and talisman Steven Gerrard. The talented midfielder is suffering with an injury and looks highly-doubtful to take part, although Spanish striker Fernando Torres should be available for selection after missing the defeat to Lyon in midweek. Make no mistake, if Liverpool lose this fixture or only secure a point it will be catastrophic for the Merseysiders and their title hunt may well be over.
On Wednesday night two of the world’s biggest clubs meet in the Champions League. La Liga giants Real Madrid take on Serie A outfit AC Milan in a game that should really whet the footballing appetite.
There are just two rounds of qualifying left in the European World Cup qualifying groups and there has been some mixed news for all the sides still with a chance of making the tournament in South Africa from Fifa this week. The ruling body have announced that the teams who finish second in their Euro qualifying groups will be seeded before their play-off match. For the Republic of Ireland this will come as a massive blow, should the hold on to second spot they will face one of the higher ranked teams in the Fifa rankings, such as France, rather than a draw which may have thrown up a much more beatable team.
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Scottish football may have fallen behind some of the other European leagues in recent years but no one can deny that the Old Firm is one of the hottest contested derbies in world football. Both Rangers and Celtic have a massive fan base who create an intense atmosphere and Sunday’s Old Firm at Ibrox should be a tight and hard fought contest.
Rangers are the current holders of the SPL title but they trail league leaders Celtic by four points at this early stage of the season. The two Glasgow sides have dominated Scottish football throughout their history, with Rangers lifting the title on 52 occasions and Celtic 42, and the Old Firm games are vital to the team who will lift the trophy at the end of the season.
Both sides played in Europe in midweek but don’t expect that to affect the player’s performances. Rangers were frankly hammered by Sevilla who defeated them 4–1 in Glasgow, while Celtic failed to take revenge on Rapid Vienna and were held to a 1–1 draw at Celtic Park. Despite their European obligations the season is young enough for the palayers to have had time to recover and the fans will not forgive them if they put in a lackluster display. As the home side Rangers will have to attack from the off and put pressure on their fierce rivals. This will allow Celtic the opportunity to get forward on the break and if star man Aiden McGeady is declared fit for the fixture he could be vital for the visiting side.
Rangers Utility man Lee McCulloch knows the importance of Old Firm success as his side bid for their second successive SPL title.
“Old Firm games have a big say in what happens in the title race and not just because of the result,” he told Scottish newspaper the Daily Record. “If you come out on top it can give you a lift and you tend to take your momentum into the couple of matches that follow.”
The key men for the current champions could well be Nacho Novo, who scored a terrific goal against Sevilla, frontman Kenny Miller and midfielder Pedro Mendes. Make no mistake, even though the season is only six games old victory is vital for Rangers. If they lose they will trail Celtic by seven points and the pressure will really be on them. They have also drawn their last three SPL ties 0–0 and need to get scoring again, striker Kris Boyd appeared as a substitute in the game against Aberdeen last weekend and he could well be the man to solve that particular problem.
This is Celtic manager Tony Maowbray’s first Old Firm fixture since he took charge at Celtic Park. However, Mowbray spent four years during his playing career at Celtic and is no stranger to the passion and the atmosphere of one of football’s most famous derby fixtures. The key men for Celtic could well be their defenders as you would expect Rangers to put pressure on the visitors backed by the loud support of the home fans. Though Aiden McGeady, Greek striker Georgios Samaras and Scott McDonald are all talented forwards who will cause the Rangers defence problems.
McDonald insisted the Celtic players will be up for the big occasion and is targeting three points, he told the club’s official website: “We have a massive game against Rangers and we need to pick ourselves up for it. Rangers have been saying they are ready for it after their disappointment in Europe and so are we.
“I’m pretty confident it will be an attacking game and I love these matches as they are such great challenges.
“Rangers at Ibrox is a tough one and we’ll be well up for it, I managed to score there last season and it would be nice to repeat that.”
Old Firm derbies are always great occasions and this should be no different. The two sides meet at 12.30 (GMT) on Sunday afternoon.
Written by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer promoting Irish horse racing tips for Betfair.
Real Madrid spent plenty of money in the summer to rejuvenate their faltering team. After falling way short of eventual Spanish and European Champions Barcelona last season Los Merengues forked out huge transfer fees on the likes of Ballon d’Or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, while Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso also completed big moves to the Spanish capital. So far it seems to be working and Madrid sit top of their Champions League group table (albeit after just one game) and La Liga table (level on points but with a superior goal difference to Barcelona). Real will have another chance to prove their Champions League credentials when they face Marseille at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
