Olympiacos vs. Bordeaux
Overview: Bordeaux are leaders in France. Olympiakos are looking likely to win in Greece. What do either of those accomplishments mean? Not sure. I may be in a minority, but I love these sorts of match-ups in the Champions League because it is difficult to gauge the relative strength of either side. Certainly, Ligue 1 has performed better historically of late, but Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are hardly foreign to this round of the Champions League. This would come as a surprise to the casual soccer fan, but Olympiakos’ squad would be much more familiar to them than Bordeaux. Both sides have been winning. Both sides represent a step up in competition from their usual opponents.
Potential Mitigating Factor: If you look back at the group stage, Bordeaux steamrolled through its group and Olympiakos sort of glided to second behind Arsenal. However, Bayern and Juventus were not the clubs then that they are now, and Olympiakos fired Zico in January and have appeared much stronger of late. So, once again, it is hard to know how much to read into anything here.
Key Player: Antonis Nikopolidis. The world’s favorite grey-haired keeper has always impressed me. Good man to have in a big pressure situation. He’s been there before. He’s won. He will be needed to steady the defense and make some big stops.
Key Matchup: Avraam Papadopollous on Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh is the “it” forward right now if you want to stir up a transfer rumor without any evidence. Watch this… “United angling to sign Chamakh?” Right, now to send that around the internet… Anyway, the center backs need to do what Greece often seems to do best… make the game slow and ponderous, and deny the flair and expression of the French side. Bordeuax has a habit of slipping into boring games on the big stage, so the door might be open.
Best Chance for Funny: I’ve got nothing. Is there anything funny here? Maybe if Matt Derbyshire puts one in for Olympiakos? It’s sort of funny to think that an Olympiakos-Aris Salonika match could have a score sheet that said “(Derbyshire ‘38, Johnson ‘57).” Not exactly “‘A’ material.” All I have to ask of the football Gods is that AC Milan draw Olympiakos soon so we can get the famed Kaka-Dudu match-up.
Final Answer: The only way the winner would seem more arbitrary to me is if Tom Henning Ovrebo were officiating. What the heck – I’ll take the Greeks.
Barcelona vs. VfB Stuttgart
Overview: Is Cacau being coy by telling the press Stuttgart have a “20-30%” chance of going through, trying to put the pressure on Barcelona? Or, is he actually overestimating his team’s chances? This round has sleepwalk all over it for Barcelona. Count me on the sleepwalk bandwagon.
Potential Mitigating Factor: Stuttgart have played well of late in the Bundesliga, and Barcelona have some nagging injuries… not injuries enough that they are not still tops in Spain, but still… if we’re gonna clutch at straws. With earlier additions of Barcelona one might wonder about complacency, but with Guardiola in charge that is very difficult to imagine.
Key Player: Andres Iniesta. THE MOST UNDERRATED PLAYER IN THE WORLD. Their won’t be a key player in this round, as I assume Barcelona will overwhelm… instead I tip my hat to Iniesta (aka, THE MOST UNDERRATED PLAYER IN THE WORLD)
Key Matchup: Puyol vs. Cacau. If Barcelona can keep things sure at the back, we can be assured of a Barcelona on cruise control.
Best Chance For Funny: An embarrassment of riches.
- Alexander Hleb (affectionately called “Dribbly McNoScore” by the famous Arseblog) returns to Barcelona, where former teammates awkwardly try to remember who he is.
- Jens Lehman gets a rematch against the team who forced him to take a red card in the 2006 Champions League final (where he was replaced by a backup who clearly could not play the position at that level… I wonder what happened to that guy, because, you know, I can only assume that a Champions League finalist wouldn’t keep a guy like that around if they could afford to replace him… … [hangs head]).
- Maybe Thierry Henry can pair up with Martin Hansson again.
Final Answer: To quote Ray Hudson:
It was tremendous football by Barcelona – dynamic, adroit, clever, waspish, cheeky and zippy. Well, I may just have mentioned all the seven dwarfs there, Phil, but they were looking that good and hot.
Your welcome.
Steven Maloney is a contributing writer for Glorious Football and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He can be reached for comment at steven.maloney@gmail.com.
Written By Steven
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