Thursday, 15 September 2016

Ahmed Musa Has a Fight & The Other UCL Talking Points (1)


The Match Day 1 of the Group Stages of the UEFA Champions League has come and gone with the thrill and excitement of years past.
Here we bring you some of the interesting points from the games.

Ahmed Musa Has a Fight on His Hands
After scoring two super goals against Barcelona everyone thought Ahmed Musa was set to take the City of Leicester by storm.
Many bridges have been crossed from pre-season to real-season and the Nigerian now finds himself a regular bench warmer.
He can't start Premier League games and despite being Leicester's most experienced Champions League striker, he was left on the bench yet again in favour of recent Algerian recruit Islam Slimani - starting alongside Jamie Vardy.
Everyone knows Vardy is virtually untouchable. This leaves Musa, Slimani, Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa to fight for the other center-forward role in Leicester's duopoly.
Musa's other favoured role is the right-wing, but with a certain Riyadh Mahrez owning that spot... don't count on it.
READ ALSO: Football can be unfair sometimes – Morata
Renaissance or Relapse for English Teams
Between the years 2005 and 2012 English teams were amongst the most dominant in the Champions League.
That has changed drastically recently, despite huge financial gains, with sides from La Liga and the Bundesliga, in particular, stealing a march on their EPL rivals.
This year, with Man United and Chelsea conspicuously out of the competition the onus is on the quartet of Man City, Arsenal, Leicester and Tottenham to redeem the English name.
Arsenal and City, both pre-scheduled to play on Tuesday night, did their best to save the queen.
City's 4-0 thumping of Monchengladbach was impressive as Arsenal's 1-1 away draw at PSG was commendable.
While not much can be made of Leicester's 3-0 trouncing of lowly Club Brugge, another French side, Monaco returned the English favour by beating Arsenal's North London rivals, Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
 In the circumstances there is a lot yet to do to convince the viewers that the English are truly back.

The Old Lady Fail to Get on their Feet
After five years of Calcio dominance, Juventus' summer transfer activities have been geared in one direction and one direction only; conquer Europe.
Despite the undesirable yet financially rewarding loss of Paul Pogba they have managed to make their squad look stronger in readiness for the task of matching the likes of Madrid.
A goalless draw at home to another Spanish side, Sevilla was sure not on the table when the budget of Lagos State was spent to acquire Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli.
The Bianconeri must now return to the barracks and strategize for a more successful foray.
Sevilla, on their part, now appear willing to put up some Champions League fight after three consecutive years of unprecedented Europa League success.
Atletico as Sturdy as Ever
If you were asked to predict a team that will seal a one-nil victory in the Champions League your answer won't fall far from La Liga side Atletico Madrid.
For years now under Diego Someone their greatest strength has been their ability to shut teams out and grind out narrow wins.
Despite the pretence of a 4-0 win in their last Liga game at the weekend against Celta De Vigo they went back to their typical habits, squeezing out a 1-0 win in the Netherlands against Dutch Champions PSV Eindhoven; the same opposition Atletico knocked out on penalties in the round of 16 last season.
 No surprises there.

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