15 minute read
GAME OF CROWNS
STRIKING MASTERS
BY: FEARGAL BRENNAN
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
THE GOOD
The heavyweight Bundesliga Golden Boot race had looked in danger of being broken up at the start of the 2021-22 campaign. Erling Haaland’s rise to become the highest-rated young goalscorer in European football over the last 18 months at Signal Iduna Park has provided a timely rivalry for Bayern Munich hotshot Robert Lewandowski. Polish star Lewandowski has remained unopposed as the Bundesliga’s top gun since 2017, with goal records tumbling around him every season. Haaland’s arrival on the scene has breathed life not just into the Golden Boot battle, but also into the 2021-22 Bundesliga title race. However, the straight shootout was almost disrupted ahead of the new campaign, with Lewandowski linked with a final hurrah away from Bavaria and Haaland on the radar of clubs such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Neither player opted to push for a move away and now the Bundesliga will again play host to the tightest No 9 scrap in European football. Lewandowski has been the standard setter in the Bundesliga since his 2014 move from rivals Borussia Dortmund, with an incredible return of 30 or more league goals in five of the last six seasons at the Allianz Arena. That consistency is the benchmark for Haaland to follow, but his start to life in German football has shown he is more than capable of matching up to the prolific 33-year-old.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
Dates & times subject to change.
SEPTEMBER
Sat 11 Freiburg vs FC Koln Sat 11 Greuther Furth vs Wolfsburg Sat 11 Hoffenheim vs FSV Mainz Sat 11 Leverkusen vs Dortmund Sat 11 Union Berlin vs FC Augsburg Sat 11 RB Leipzig vs Bayern Munich Sun 12 E. Frankfurt vs Stuttgart Sun 12 Bochum vs Hertha Berlin Sun 12 Monchengladbach vs Bielefeld Fri 17 Hertha Berlin vs Greuther Furth Sat 18 Bayern Munich vs Bochum Sat 18 Bielefeld vs Hoffenheim Sat 18 FC Augsburg vs Monchengladbach Sat 18 FSV Mainz vs Freiburg Sat 18 FC Koln vs RB Leipzig Sun 19 Stuttgart vs Leverkusen Sun 19 Dortmund vs Union Berlin Sun 19 Wolfsburg vs E. Frankfurt Fri 24 Greuther Furth vs Bayern Munich Sat 25 E. Frankfurt vs FC Koln Sat 25 Hoffenheim vs Wolfsburg Sat 25 Leverkusen vs FSV Mainz Sat 25 RB Leipzig vs Hertha Berlin Sat 25 Union Berlin vs Bielefeld Sat 25 Monchengladbach vs Dortmund Sun 26 Bochum vs Stuttgart Sun 26 Freiburg vs FC Augsburg
Fri 1 Bayern Munich vs E. Frankfurt Fri 1 Bielefeld vs Leverkusen Fri 1 Dortmund vs FC Augsburg Fri 1 FC Koln vs Greuther Furth Fri 1 FSV Mainz vs Union Berlin Fri 1 Hertha Berlin vs Freiburg Fri 1 RB Leipzig vs Bochum Fri 1 Stuttgart vs Hoffenheim Fri 1 Wolfsburg vs Monchengladbach Fri 15 Dortmund vs FSV Mainz Fri 15 E. Frankfurt vs Hertha Berlin Fri 15 FC Augsburg vs Bielefeld Fri 15 Freiburg vs RB Leipzig Fri 15 Greuther Furth vs Bochum Fri 15 Hoffenheim vs FC Koln Fri 15 Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich Fri 15 Monchengladbach vs Stuttgart Fri 15 Union Berlin vs Wolfsburg Fri 22 Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim Fri 22 Bielefeld vs Dortmund Fri 22 Bochum vs E. Frankfurt Fri 22 FC Koln vs Leverkusen Fri 22 FSV Mainz vs FC Augsburg Fri 22 Hertha Berlin vs Monchengladbach Fri 22 RB Leipzig vs Greuther Furth Fri 22 Stuttgart vs Union Berlin Fri 22 Wolfsburg vs Freiburg Fri 29 Bielefeld vs FSV Mainz Fri 29 Dortmund vs FC Koln Fri 29 E. Frankfurt vs RB Leipzig Fri 29 FC Augsburg vs Stuttgart Fri 29 Freiburg vs Greuther Furth Fri 29 Hoffenheim vs Hertha Berlin Fri 29 Leverkusen vs Wolfsburg Fri 29 Monchengladbach vs Bochum Fri 29 Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich
OCTOBER
Thirteen goals in 15 games in the second half of 2019-20 indicated he was up to the challenge, with 27 goals from an injury-disrupted 28 games last season. With his fitness issues now behind him, Haaland looks well-placed to break the 30-goal mark this season, while Lewandowski shows no signs of slowing down in front of goal.
THE BAD
With Lewandowski becoming a goalscoring idol for a generation of Bayern Munich fans in the last decade, the club lost one of their most iconic stars at the start of 2021-22. Gerd Muller’s legendary status for both Bayern and the German national side has been safely shoehorned into football history. However, fans were plunged into mourning following the tragic news of his death at the age of 75, ahead of Die Roten’s first game of the season in August. Muller’s air of invincibility has been felt at the club since his retirement in 1981, with his record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga season from 1972 only broken by Lewandowski in 2021. The greatest years of Bayern Munich and Germany are interlinked, with Muller’s own personal golden era producing an unbelievable record of 398 goals in 453 league games from 1964 to 1979, as part of dominant Bayern teams alongside legendary pair Sepp Maier and Franz Beckenbauer. Muller picked up four Bundesliga titles with Munich, plus three European Cups, as part of their greatest period of success on the continent. The 1970s proved to be Muller’s greatest era with 38 goals in the 1969-70 season securing him the Ballon d’Or award, the first German player to win it ahead of teammate Beckenbauer’s success two years later in 1972. His performance in the 1970 World Cup has gone down in history as one of the most iconic tournament displays, as his 10 goals in Mexico secured him the Golden Boot despite West Germany’s failure to reach the final. He played a leading role again in 1974, as Helmut Schon’s side claimed a world title on home soil.
THE UGLY
The end of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season saw two of the highest-profile relegations in almost a decade. Werder Bremen made a late fight of preserving their top-flight status, as they ended up four points adrift of safety, with Schalke 04 sinking without a trace on a paltry 16 points from 34 games. Werder’s relegation brought to an end 30 years of Bundesliga football at the club, with only a second relegation in the club’s long history. Schalke’s exit from the top tier did not come as too much of a shock, with their fate essentially sealed by the end of 2020, but for a club that reached the Champions League last 16 in 2019, it is their first relegation since 1991. Both sides opted to dispense with their managers following their demise, with Florian Kohfeldt replaced by Markus Anfang and Schalke sacking three managers in 2020-21, as Dimitrios Grammozis arrived weeks before their fate was sealed. Relegation impacted both clubs over the summer, with key players exiting before the dust settled on their new situations. Werder have been forced to o oad over €25m worth of talent ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, with Milot Rashica and Josh Sargent joining Premier League new boys Norwich City and Ludwig Augustinsson moving to La Liga outfit Sevilla. Juventus activated their €15m purchase option on Weston McKennie, but Schalke were forced to raise more funds, with German international Suat Serdar joining Hertha Berlin. The enforced sales have created growing friction between the club and their respective fan bases with Anfang and Grammozis facing an uphill battle to bring their newly-reduced squads back to the Bundesliga in 2022.
ABOVE (OPPOSITE PAGE): Robert Lewandowski is arguably the finest striker on the planet
BOTTOM (OPPOSITE PAGE): Tomas Muler is a veteran pressence on the Bayern Munich lineup
ABOVE: Erling Haaland is one of the hottest properties in world football
RIGHT: The great Gerd Muller has sadly passed away at the age of 75
BELOW: (L-R) Bremen's Kevin Moehwald, Milot Rashica and Maximilian Eggestein react after being relegated
TOP RIGHT: Bochum's Goalkeeper Manuel Riemann reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between VfL Wolfsburg and VfL Bochum
BOTTOM RIGHT: Philipp Foerster and Stuttgart are in for a tough season VfL Bochum clinched top spot in the 2. Bundesliga at the end of 2020-21, sealing a first top-flight return since 2010, with Greuther Furth back in the big time for the first time since 2013. But third-placed Holstein Kiel missed out on promotion, after losing 5-1 in the promotion play-o final against Cologne.
GOING DOWN
VfB Stuttgart have looked to balance their squad in the summer transfer market, but outgoings outweighing incomings has put them in danger of slipping down the table in 2021-22. Florian Muller and Chris Fuhrich’s arrivals will not excite fans in the coming weeks, with Gregor Kobel and Nico Gonzalez leaving two major holes in the squad.
GAME OFCROWNS
LEFT: Chelsea beat Manchester City in last season’s Champions League final
BELOW, TOP LEFT: Brendan Rodgers is looking to add the Europa League to Leicester City’s growing trophy cabinet
BELOW, TOP RIGHT: Manuel Neuer lifts the Champions League trophy
BOTTOM: AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini (C) holds the Champions League trophy while celebrating with his teammates after defeating Juventus Turin during their Champions League soccer final in Manchester, Wednesday 28 May 2003
Some of the qualifying rounds for the three European club competitions started way back in June. But the group stages of the Champions League, the Europa League and the all-new Europa Conference League will kick o in September. There will be some familiar names in the list of favourites, but with even more clubs given the opportunity to play on the continental stage, there are bound to be a few surprises along the way as scores of clubs bid to add a European crown to their trophy cabinet.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Paris Saint-Germain’s wealthy owners want nothing more than to win the Champions League to prove that they have the biggest and best club in Europe, if not the world. An array of big money transfers over the years have not yet been able to bring the cup to the French capital, but that could change this season with the arrival of Lionel Messi. Arguably the best player in the world, Messi has left Barcelona and excited the PSG fans in a way that none of their previous superstar signings have quite been able to. Alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel Di Maria and other new arrivals such as Sergio Ramos and Gianluigi Donnarumma, Messi has made the Ligue 1 club the clear favourite to win the Champions League this season. How Mauricio Pochettino fits all his stars into a starting XI is another question entirely, but PSG could finally be about to go all the way. However, there are other sides out to ruin PSG’s European campaign once again. Another relatively newly-wealthy club from the English Premier League is just one example. Manchester City have only ever won one
GROUPS
GROUP A Manchester City Paris Saint-Germain Leipzig Club Brugge
GROUP B Atletico Madrid Liverpool Porto Milan
GROUP C Sporting CP Borussia Dortmund Ajax Besiktas
GROUP D Inter Real Madrid Shakhtar Donetsk Sheri Tiraspol
GROUP E Bayern Barcelona Benfica Dynamo Kyiv
GROUP F Villareal Manchester United Atalanta Young Boys
GROUP G Lille Sevilla Salzburg Wolfsburg
GROUP H Chelsea Juventus Zenit Malmo
The top two teams of each group will advance to the round of 16. The third-placed teams will be transferred to the Europa League knockout round play-o s, while the fourth-placed teams will be eliminated from European competitions for the season.
LEFT: Lionel Messi’s move to Paris SaintGermain has seen the Ligue 1 side installed as Champions League favourites
BELOW, LEFT: Real Madrid are the most successful club in European history
BELOW, RIGHT: Liverpool FC team captain Steven Gerrard lifting the Champion Club's Cup trophy after defeating AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League football final match in the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Wednesday 25 May 2005
BOTTOM RIGHT: Andres Iniesta celebrates with the 2015 Champions League trophy
FAR LEFT (SIDEBAR): Sheri Tiraspol will make their debut appearance in the group stage. They will be the first team from Moldova to play in the Champions League group stage.
European title – the lesser Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1970 – but Pep Guardiola knows that he is expected to deliver the Champions League trophy this season. City were hugely disappointed to be beaten by Chelsea in last season’s final, as their EPL rivals claimed their second Champions League title. Given their relative struggles in the striking department, there’s no wonder the Blues spent much of the summer transfer window chasing Harry Kane, a player the Citizens believe could take them all the way in Europe. Bayern Munich won their sixth European Cup/Champions League title in front of an empty Estadio da Luz in Lisbon in 2020, as the football world continued to deal with the e ects of the pandemic. There is a new coach in charge of Bayern this season, but Julian Nagelsmann will do well to dominate European football in the same way the club has domestically in recent times. The Bundesliga side are one of the favourites though, along with last year’s champions, Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel’s side were the surprise winners last season, having endured a di cult start to their domestic campaign. Alongside City, Liverpool and a Manchester United side that’s recruited well over the summer, Chelsea spearhead the EPL’s hopes of another triumph
and will be looking to new signing Romelu Lukaku to score the goals that could take the London club furthest in the competition. Tuchel has completely changed the way Chelsea play since taking over from club Chelsea in last season’s final, as their EPL rivals legend Frank Lampard last season, and it could claimed their second Champions League title. be his tactical know-how that gives the club Given their relative struggles in the striking the best chance of successful defending their department, there’s no wonder the Blues spent crown in May. much of the summer transfer window chasing A lot will depend on how the group stages Harry Kane, a player the Citizens believe could go, but the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus and take them all the way in Europe. Barcelona will also feel a favourable draw in Bayern Munich won their sixth European the knockout rounds might give them a chance Cup/Champions League title in front of an to add to their extensive honours lists. empty Estadio da Luz in Lisbon in 2020, as the football world continued to deal with the EUROPA LEAGUE e ects of the pandemic. There is a new coach The eventual winner of the Europa League is in charge of Bayern this season, but Julian always tough to predict at this stage of the Nagelsmann will do well to dominate European season, as all of the clubs who will eventually football in the same way the club has take part aren’t known. There is always a domestically in recent times. The Bundesliga strong contingent of clubs transferred in from side are one of the favourites though, along the Champions League in the knockout rounds, with last year’s champions, Chelsea. so the list of favourites is incomplete until Thomas Tuchel’s side were the surprise that stage. winners last season, having endured a di cult That being said, only eight clubs have dropped start to their domestic campaign. Alongside down from the Champions League and gone on to win the Europa League in the 22 years of UEFA using that format. There have been none at all in the last three seasons, a time
MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUBS IN EUROPE
With three more trophies up for grabs over the coming months, Dan Roberts looks back at the continent’s most successful clubs in terms of the number of major European titles won.
The names of the clubs here will not come as a surprise, as they are some of the biggest in the world. Although there have been some memorable upsets and surprises over the years – and new wealthy owners have tried to gatecrash the party – the most successful clubs in European tournament history remain very familiar.
REAL MADRID - 19 EUROPEAN TITLES Los Blancos famously won the first five editions of the European Cup in the 1950s and eventually lifted ‘la decima’ in 2014. There have been further triumphs since and Madrid have now won 19 major European titles in all.
BARCELONA - 14 EUROPEAN TITLES Now ever-present in the Champions League, it took Barca until 1992 to win their first title in Europe’s premier club competition. Without Lionel Messi though, they may have some trouble climbing any higher in this list.
MILAN - 9 EUROPEAN TITLES The Italian giants come next and can point to two separate eras of continental dominance, the 1990s and the early 2000s. There hasn’t been as much success recently, but the Rossoneri are back in the Champions League this season for the first time since 2013-14.
LIVERPOOL - 9 EUROPEAN TITLES The Premier League side were the biggest club in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s and spearheaded the English domination of the European Cup at that time. There was a long wait for more glory, but now Liverpool have won the big cup six times.
BAYERN MUNICH - 8 EUROPEAN TITLES Bayern may completely dominate the German game but they have not been quite as successful on the European stage. They did win the Champions League in 2020 though to complete a treble alongside the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal - as well as the European Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
