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EUROPE FIXTURES
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round of 16 draws went. His Manchester City side were drawn against Villarreal originally, but will now face Sporting. That should see the English club through, although they have struggled in the past in the knockout rounds. The club’s wealthy owners are desperate to get their hands on the Champions League trophy after pumping so much money into the transfer kitty in recent years – and this round of 16 tie seems very winnable. In three of the four remaining ties Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus will all feel fairly confident of progressing after being paired with Salzburg, Lille and Villarreal respectively. But none of those three will be pushovers for the bigger clubs. Lille might not have reached the heights of last season when they sensationally beat PSG to the Ligue 1 title,
TOP RIGHT: Pep Guardiola is one head coach that will be pleased with how both round of 16 draws went
ABOVE: Luis Suarez fights through Real Madrid defence during a La Liga match
RIGHT Juventus look to improve from last year's result
BOTTOM RIGHT: Napoli will take on Barcelona in the Europa League
EUROPA LEAGUE KNOCKOUT ROUND PLAY-OFFS PREVIEW
The runners-up in the Europa League group stage have to face o with the third-placed Champions League teams before the line-up for Round of 16 is confirmed, with some big names involved, writes Dan Roberts…
There was no repeat of a botched draw for the Europa League back in December – and with some very big names involved in the second tier of European competition this season, there is a lot to look forward to here. The headline news was always going to be about Barcelona, but La Blaugrana being paired with Napoli makes this match up sound much more like a Champions League tie. New Barca boss Xavi Hernandez would have been hoping that picking up some silverware in Europe would turn this season into a relative success after months of chaos and farce at Camp Nou. Yet Napoli have looked very impressive in Serie A this season and will fancy their chances of going through, especially with the second leg scheduled to take place at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. There are blockbuster ties wherever you look in the Europa League Knockout Round play-o s. Porto vs. Lazio is another meeting that could have come straight out of the Champions League, whereas RB Leipzig vs Real Sociedad pits together two clubs that have pushed themselves onto the main stage in recent seasons. Elsewhere, Atalanta and Borussia Dortmund will be confident of making it through to the quarter-finals, having been drawn against Olympiacos and Rangers respectively. But nothing is guaranteed in the Europa League and everyone still involved will now feel as though there is a chance of going further in the competition. Even the minnows of the round will have their confidence boosted after being drawn together. Sheri Tiraspol shocked everyone by beating Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage and now the Moldovan champions will look to progress here after being matched up with Braga. There are many football fans that believe that the Europa League always delivers and can be a more interesting watch than the supposedly more predictable Champions League. With the calibre of teams now taking part, the Knockout Round play-o s and Round of 16 could be some of the best games of the season.
but there are some dangerous players for Chelsea to deal with – and Burak Yilmaz will undoubtedly be a handful for Thomas Tuchel’s strong defensive unit. If Max Allegri is still at Juventus by the time the Round of 16 match days come around he will regard his team’s progress as a major confidence boost after what has been a dismal start to the season for the Bianconeri. Given how the first half of the season has gone, it is conceivable that Juve could miss out on qualifying for the next year’s Champions League altogether and the decision to return to the tried and tested Italian tactician to steady the ship looks to have been a mistake. But Allegri should be given the time to turn things around – and a favourable draw against Villarreal in the round of 16 was warmly welcomed in Turin in December.
TOP: The initial draw pitted Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo, with Paris SaintGermain set to play Manchester United
ABOVE: Lautaro Martinez of Inter jubilates after scoring a goal
LEFT: Sadio Mane (R) of Liverpool in action
RIGHT: Six-time European Cup winners Liverpool return to Milan – but this time it’s to face Serie A champions Inter
BOTTOM RIGHT (OPPOSITE PAGE): A Covid-19-enforced postponement meant a delay in discovering if Tottenham Hotspur or Vitesse Arnhem made it through in the Europa Conference League
2022 DATES TO KNOW
ROUND OF 16: February 15 March 16
QUARTER FINALS: April 5 -13
SEMI FINALS: April 26 - May 4
FINALS: May 28
KNOCKOUT PLAYOFFS: February 17 - 24
ROUND OF 16: March 10 - 17
QUARTER FINALS: April 7 -14
SEMI FINALS: April 28 - May 5
FINALS: May 18
KNOCKOUT PLAYOFFS: February 17 - 24
ROUND OF 16: March 10 - 17
QUARTER FINALS: April 7 -14
SEMI FINALS: April 28 - May 5 Robert Lewandowski will still be wondering what he has to do to win a Ballon D’Or after the year he had in 2021, but the possibility of leading his Bayern Munich team to another Champions League triumph edged a step closer when they were drawn against Salzburg. That was definitely a kinder pairing than Atletico, their original opponent. The Austrian outfit are arguably the weakest left in the competition and it would be a huge surprise if Bayern did not cruise through to the quarter-finals. Some of those round of 16 match ups will understandably attract a lot of attention, but the two games between Benfica and Ajax might turn out to be some of the most interesting. Benfica could not cope with Bayern in the group stage but provided the shock of the tournament by taking four points o Barcelona to go through as runners up and force the Catalan club to prepare for the Europa League for the first time ever [it was still the UEFA Cup the last time Barca were involved]. The Portuguese club may not go much further though, as they will come up against an Ajax side that won six out of six in a group that originally looked like being a potentially tricky assignment. But Erik ten Hag has produced yet another exciting looking squad in Amsterdam – and has turned Sebastien Haller back into the devastating striker that West Ham thought they were buying a couple of years ago. The Ivory Coast international is the top goal scorer in this season’s Champions League so far, managing to claim 10 in six games – including four away at Sporting and one each in both games against an Erling Haaland-less Dortmund. After the farce of the draw day back in December, UEFA will want the Round of 16 match dates to come around as soon as possible. Some of these ties look to be fairly predictable but the knockout stage has thrown up some surprise results before. These eight games are sure to provide some top quality entertainment and show why the Champions League is still the most popular club competition in the world.
TOP: Barcelona's goalkeeper MarcAndre ter Stegen reacts during the UEFA Champions League Group E soccer match between FC Bayern Muenchen and FC Barcelona
TOP (SMALL): Barcelona dropped into the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group and will play Napoli in the Knockout Round play-o
RIGHT: Bayern's Thomas Mueller (C) celebrates with his teammates after scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E soccer match between FC Bayern Muenchen and FC Barcelona
TOP SERIE A EUROPA PICKS CONFERENCE There’s a concern that Serie A has lost its lustre this season as Romelu Lukaku LEAGUE moved on, but there are still plenty of players to keep an eye on, says Ciro Di Brita. KNOCKOUT TAMMY ABRAHAM English striker Abraham arrives from ROUND PLAY-OFF Chelsea for a reported €40m fee, boosting Jose Mourinho’s attacking options after the departure of Edin Dzeko to Inter. The 23-year-old struggled to find minutes on PREVIEW the field last season when Thomas Tuchel took over at Chelsea but still managed to score 12 times in all competitions. A new competition for 2021-22 may be awkwardly named but it’s proving its FEDERICO CHIESA worth, Dan Roberts writes, as the Europa Fresh from helping Italy win the European Conference League Knockout Round playChampionship the 23-year-old will be o has some games to set pulses racing… hoping to continue the explosive form he displayed during the tournament. Forming Football traditionalists were overjoyed a potentially devastating front-three when UEFA announced that they were which also includes Cristiano Ronaldo and going to launch a third competition for Paulo Dybala, it will be interesting to see the 2021-22 season. After the scrapping of if coach Max Allegri takes the shackles o the old Cup Winners’ Cup and UEFA Cup, his attacking players. the new [rather clumsily named] Europa Conference League looked set to give OLIVIER GIROUD smaller clubs a chance of European glory. The France World Cup Winner has finally But as we reach the knockout stage there arrived in Serie A having been linked with are some fairly big names mixing with a move to the peninsula for years and will teams from some of the smaller leagues now team up with fellow veteran striker on the continent. The winners here will Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Giroud will be tasked progress to the round of 16, where the with providing the firepower and linkup likes of Feyenoord and Roma await. But play for the Rossoneri to compete in both this extra playo round looks just as the Champions League and Serie A. intriguing, with Marseille, Celtic, Leicester City and PSV Eindhoven all taking part. DENZEL DUMFRIES Sparta Prague against Partizan Belgrade Wing back Dumfries showcased the full and Fenerbache versus Slavia Prague array of his skills during the summer’s sound like some very interesting ties – but European Championship despite some of the others do look a little onethe Netherlands crashing out of the sided. The Europa Conference League – at tournament to the Czech Republic. The this knockout round playo stage – seems 25-year-old scored twice and looks ready to be a mixture of some well-known to fill the gap vacated by Achraf Hakimi’s clubs and some big fishes from some departure to PSG. little ponds. For example, Marseille will fancy their chances against Qarabag, VICTOR OSIMHEN even though this competition has already The Nigerian striker had a bit of a start shown that they should take nothing for stop season last term. Despite su ering granted. injuries and missing games through Aside from the prospect of those two Covid-19 the 22-year-old showed enough Prague clubs progressing, Celtic versus promise to make him a real danger man Bodo/Glimt pairs a European giant with a heading into this campaign. New Coach tiny club from within the Arctic Circle that Luciano Spalletti will be hoping he can get has been one of the most entertaining to the most out of the attacker and improve watch in the last few seasons. on his 10 goals from last year. There was much controversy over the case of Tottenham Hotspur and Vitesse Arnhem, as Group G wasn’t settled by the time of the draw after Spurs’ Covid-19 outbreak forced the postponement of their final group game against Rennes. Rapid Wien were waiting in the wings. The draw for the Europa Conference League Round of 16 will not take place until after these playo ties have been completed in February. But there is no doubt that the introduction of a third club competition into the UEFA calendar has been a good move.
PREMIER LEAGUE
fix it ralph
AS RALF RANGNICK BEGINS ANOTHER REBUILDING PROCESS AT MANCHESTER UNITED, OLI COATES WONDERS IF THE GERMAN’S ARRIVAL COULD BE THE CLUB’S SMARTEST APPOINTMENT IN 35 YEARS
Only three men have ever won the top-flight title as Manchester United manager. Ernest Mangnall was the first, delivering the club’s maiden league crown in 1908, before backing it up three years later. Sir Matt Busby added five more titles between 1952 o and 1967, either side of the Munich air disaster.
United have gone on to win a record 20 league titles, with a certain Alexander Chapman
Ferguson accounting for the remaining 13 of those. Sir Alex was no knight of the realm when he was appointed Manchester United manager in
November 1986, just a little over 35 years ago.
But Ferguson’s CV was remarkable even before his time at Old Tra ord. The Govan native had been an accomplished goalscorer during his playing career, before going on to manage East
Stirlingshire and St Mirren. It was at Aberdeen where he would truly flourish, though.
The great Scot not only broke the 14-year duopoly of Celtic and Rangers as champions in 1980 with his unfancied club, but he then led his team to two further back-to-back title triumphs in 1984 and 1985. Despite vastly inferior resources, Ferguson won four Scottish Cups in five years, completing a cup double in his final season in charge by winning the League Cup too in 1986.
As if that wasn’t enough, the minnows of
Aberdeen would even taste continental glory by lifting the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983, seeing o the might of Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals before defying all odds to beat
Real Madrid in the final.
To put his achievements at Aberdeen into even greater context, no other club has managed to stop either Celtic or Rangers winning the league in Scotland in any of the 36 seasons since
Ferguson left Pittodrie.
This is the man who David Moyes, Louis van
Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have all failed to live up to. No one has got close to adding to United’s record league haul, as bitter rivals Liverpool and Manchester City have become the Premier League’s dominant forces, along with Chelsea. Despite not having the CV or managerial credentials, Solskjaer must be given
ABOVE: Ralf Rangnick has joined Manchester United on an initial interim basis
LEFT: Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick (R) celebrates with Bruno Fernandes
SIR ALEX FERGUSON’S CV WAS REMARKABLE’
a huge amount of credit for the work he did at Old Tra ord, repairing much of the damage done by Mourinho and his predecessors. The Norwegian has rebuilt a distinctly average squad, and leaves behind a far healthier Manchester United than the one he inherited. Ralf Rangnick is the next man to try to emerge from out of Ferguson’s shadow, but he doesn’t have very long to do so. What he does have, is an impressive backstory, albeit a very di erent one to most managers. The 63-year-old has been coaching for the best part of four decades, and he is recognised as the godfather of German gegenpressing. Rangnick has spoken of his footballing epiphany when playing against Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s Dynamo Kyiv in a friendly in 1983, with the then-Viktoria Backnang player-coach blown away by the Ukrainian outfit’s intense and organised pressing. In the years since, Rangnick has adapted, finetuned and spread his footballing philosophy far and wide. First, he took village team Ho enheim all the way to the Bundesliga, albeit with significant financial backing. A brief yet successful stint with Schalke followed, before his masterpiece at the helm of Red Bull’s burgeoning football empire. Rangnick’s work with Salzburg and Leipzig is well known, with the tactician taking the latter from the fifth tier to the Bundesliga under titles of sporting director and then head of global football. He also had two spells as Leipzig’s coach, taking Die Roten Bullen into the top flight for the first time in 2016 and then into the Champions League in 2019. While Rangnick’s achievements as both an architect and builder are impressive in their own right, they have been accomplished with hefty resources at his disposal – something he’ll also have at United. However, the style of play he gets his teams to produce is arguably what impresses the most, and this is what United need significant help with. Swathes of German coaches have been either mentored or heavily influenced by Rangnick’s philosophy and pressing style. This includes current Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann, Borussia Dortmund boss Marco Rose, Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl and Thomas Tuchel, winner of last season’s Champions League with Chelsea. Without Rangnick, there would be no Jurgen Klopp, whose heavy metal football has gegenpressing coursing through its veins. Now he joins the Premier League as a competitor to the Liverpool manager, who stated Rangnick’s arrival at United was not good news for the rest of the English top
ABOVE: Sir Alex Ferguson’s success still casts a large shadow over Old Tra ord
BELOW: Mauricio Pochettino appears a good fit for Manchester United
BELOW (SMALL): Another good fit for Old Tra ord would be Brendan Rodgers
TOP RIGHT: Erik Ten Hag looks on
WHO’S GOING TO FOLLOW THE INTERIM?
With Ralf Rangnick only due to be in charge of Manchester United until the summer after taking the reins from caretaker Michael Carrick, Oli Coates identifies five candidates to take over as the Reds’ next full-time manager
MAURICIO POCHETTINO The man most fancied as the best fit for United is Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino. The 49-year-olds looks as though he’s leading PSG to a comfortable Ligue 1 title in his first full season at the Parc des Princes, but his success will be judged on the Champions League. The Argentine has often flirted with United in the past, and his potential move could be oiled by an apparent frosty relationship with PSG’s sporting director, Leonardo.
ERIK TEN HAG With two Eredivisie titles in four seasons as Ajax manager potentially becoming three in five at the end of this term, and an inspired run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019 also on his CV, Ten Hag is a credible candidate to take over at United. The Dutchman, who turns 51 in February, plays attractive football and is known for developing youth, which are two key components for the Old Tra ord hot seat.
BRENDAN RODGERS Despite his Liverpool connections and ongoing project at Leicester City, the Northern Irishman ranks highly among bookmakers as the man to be in the home dugout at Old Tra ord for the start of the 2022-23 season. However, it would be an astonishing decision for the populist United board to take, with few United fans likely to welcome Rodgers to the club with open arms.
ROBERTO MANCINI Although this one also appears unlikely due to his connection to a rival, namely Manchester City, some reports have suggested that Mancini has been considered as a wildcard option should United fail to land one of their top targets. His availability would surely depend on whether Italy make it to the 2022 World Cup.
ERIC CANTONA Another left-field candidate, Old Tra ord legend Cantona released a cheeky video joking he was to become the new United manager in the wake of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure. A ectionately known by fans as ‘King Eric’, the mercurial Frenchman has never hidden his desire to take over at his old club, but with no previous experience in management, those dreams aren’t likely to be fulfilled anytime soon.
