The Champions League won’t be around for us to sink our teeth into over the next couple of days, but we’ve still been scouring the continental goings-on with the action from La Liga to the Eredivise and beyond as we try and get the beat around Europe.
For our budding crop of UEFA Fantasy Champions League Fantasy managers, here’s what happened outside of the Premier League last weekend…
La Liga
Barcelona course-corrected in style from two consecutive two-all draws as they annihilated Osasuna 8-0 at the Nou Camp. Leo Messi was his superlative best, with Dani Alves and Cesc Fabregas in particular working brilliantly in tandem with the little Argentine. The seven-year stay in London for the latter appears to have seemed like just a short holiday the way that pair have been combining to date.
Sometimes words aren’t enough (83% possession!) so what follows instead is a simple list of the scorers and providers in this La Liga humiliation…
Goals: Messi (3), Fabregas, Villa (2), OG, Xavi
Assist: Alves, Messi (2), Abidal, Villa, Fabregas(3)
Less successful on the Saturday of La Liga action were Villarreal, who faced-off against newly-promoted Granada and ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 defeat. With the “Group of Death” (Napoli, Bayern, Man City) already on their upcoming plate this isn’t the kind of result wanted in preparation. Guiseppe Rossi missing a penalty won’t have done them any favours, either.
After failing to score away at Genk of Belgium last week Roberto Soldado shrugged off the weight of our first tips article by being the difference in Valencia’s 1-0 victory away at Sporting Gijon; a simple tap-in from the goalkeeper’s rebound was all it took.
While Barcelona fiddled at home Real Madrid burned their chance of staying ahead when Jose Mourinho’s men suffered a shock 1-0 defeat away at Levante. Even with Mesut Ozil and Christiano Ronaldo starting from the bench and Sami Khedira getting dismissed for a second yellow card late in the first half, there were little to no excuses for Madrid’s inability to convert their chances.
Bundesliga
The reigning champions of Germany continued their stutter of a start in the Bundesliga as Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 away at Hannover. Shinja Kagawa put the visitors in front early in the second half but two very late goals, and a red card, for the home side took the wind right out of BVB’s sails.
The pretenders to the throne over at Bayern Munich barely needed to put in a sweat as they casually strolled to a 2-0 victory away at Schalke on Sunday afternoon. Nils Petersen filled in for the injured Mario Gomez and opened the scoring from a Frank Ribery through ball and Thomas Muller closed the game after work from Rafinha down the right flank.
With three home games in their next four Champions League ties the Bayer Leverkusen squad might offer some good value options for Fantasy Managers. Losing 4-1 at home to fiercest rivals Cologne won’t have been on the playbook then. A consolation goal for Simon Rolfes and late red card to Andrea Schurrle (suspension will see him miss the trip to Bayern but leave him fit and raring to go for the visit of Genk) will be very slim positives.
Ligue 1
A certain Joe Cole made his first start in France’s top division as Lille wound out their second 2-2 draw in the space of just a few days. Eden Hazard converted a penalty and picked up an assist, while summer signing Benoît Pedretti also found the net for Rudi Garcia’s men. Mathieu Debuchy picked up two yellow cards and had to draw an early bath as a consequence.
One side in the Champions League disappointed, while another capitalised and went top of the table in the remaining French fixture under our watch. The dual Olympic sides of Lyon and Marseille had a Sunday evening kick-off and the home side ran out 2-0 victors. Michel Bastos set up the first goal for Bafe Gomis with an amazing curved cross before adding the second following a Maxime Gonalons break.
Serie A
Four games in and Inter Milan got through their first game of the season without the monkey of defeat on their back to worry about. A 0-0 draw at home to Roma, while technically an improvement, is hard to consider much of a step forward based on the evidence of the match undertaken. Gian Piero Gasperini and his side are clearly struggling right now.
Milan and Napoli, both sides high up on our fantasy radars, faced off in an entertaining Sunday fixture. Alberto Aquilani put the visitors ahead but an Edinson Cavani hat-trick condemned Massimo Allegri’s champions to a 3-1 defeat and leaves them -similar to Inter- with just one point on the board after two Serie A fixtures. Napoli’s win means they are one of only four sides to take the maximum points from both their opening fixtures.
The Rest of Europe
Ajax: Last season’s Eredivise champions grabbed their second draw in quick succession as they were held 2-2 away at PSV Eindhoven. Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and his replacement Dmitry Bulykin scored the goals with assists from Simon De Jong and Gregory Van Der Wiel.
Benfica: A comfortable 4-1 victory against Academica was enjoyed by the home fans as Bruno Cesar and his replacement Pablo Aimar both notched while Nolito continued his glorious start for the club with another 2 goals.
Zenit: After going two goals down away at Rubin, St. Petersberg came from behind to win 3-2 courtesy of a brace from Danny, following a Roman Shirokov goal.
CSKA: A 1-1 draw away at FK Rostov saw Seydou Doumbia carry on with his goalscoring form following his brace at Lille in midweek.
Porto: Andre Villas Boas’ old side kept a clean sheet but failed to score themselves as they wound out a 0-0 game away at Feirense on Sunday evening.
FC Basel: A second string side won 4-0 away from home at Enschenbach in the Swisscom Cup – there’s little to be gleaned here, unfortunately.
