SPURS IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

 

It was time for another Champions League campaign to start...in theory. As a United fan, I didn't need to worry quite yet. We were only at the playoffs stage. The Red Devils, having finished in the Premiership's top 3 last season didn't have to show their hand till the group stages. Last season was the same but Arsenal still had to get through a playoff tie with Celtic. The first leg of that particular "Battle of Britain" was at Celtic Park but it was the Gunner that took the honours opn that occasion. A very smooth performance from Arsene Wenger's crew in the 2nd leg left his team 5-1 on aggregate winners and again there were four Premiership teams in the Champions League group stages.

This time around, it was Spurs that were the Premiership team finding themselves just one step away from the Champions League group stages. A surprising name at the top level of the competition this was arguably their biggest Cup tie for the best part of 50 years! Their opponents were Young Boys - a semi familiar Swiss name that certainly looked like a doable task for Harry Redknapp's crew. And so, this Champions League playoff tie was certainly on. Spurs had proven themselves a better outfit than the fading crew at Anfailed last season. Making the group stages would be one hell of an achievement but they certainly had the capability to deal with this task.

The 1st leg was at the Stade de Suisse. Unfortunately for Spurs, the home side were in no mood to bow down. Senad Lulic opened the scoring for them with Henri Bienvenu making it two and Xavier Hochstrasser making it three. Luckilly Sebastien Bassong pulled one back for Spurs before half time to keep them in the match. Spurs were certainly smelling a 2nd half comeback but it took them a while to find the net again. Roman Pavluchenk pulled one back before the end but they couldn't do better than that. Still, the Premiership side went home with only a single goal deficit to overcome which meant that this tie was still too close to call.

The 2nd leg was at White Hart Lane. This time it was Spurs that were in no mood to hang around with Peter Crouch opening the scoring. Jermain Defoe then made it two before Spurs had to survive an injury to their goalie going into half time. The change of goalie didn't weaken the Premiership side that much though as Crouch got his 2nd goal of the night before completing his hat-trick with a penalty. Young Boys never looked like coming back from that. So, congratulation to Spurs, who are back in the European big time for the first time since the 1960s! And for the 7th year in a row there will be four Premiership teams playing in the Champions League group stages.

And now the draw for the Champions League group stages has been made. United have found themselves in Group C alongside Valencia, Rangers and Turkish bunch Bursaspor. Now Rangers are certainly to give us a tough rumble, particularly at their place though we should still see them off a Old Trafford pretty smoothly. Valencia are not such a sure but, being that they're the stubborn gits of La Liga. Still, we should have the edge on them. Bursaspor? Well somehow they won the Turkish Superleague last season. Still it's their first Champions League campaign and they should expect a serious reality check. United to go through to the knockout stages and top the group.

Elsewhere, well Chelsea have been drawn in Group F alongside Marseille, Slovakian bunch MSK Zilina and Spartak Moscow. The Blues should survive and top that group. Arsenal are in Group H facing Braga, Partizan Belgrade and Shatkar Donetsk(the Gunners should be able to get out of that group) . Spurs await their first Champions League Group stage in Group A with Inter, Twente Enschede and Werder Bremen as the opposition. Harry Redknapp's crew are going to have to go some if they want to get out of that group intact. Overall though it could have been a lot worse for the Premiership sides and I expect us to have pretty good representation in the knockout stages.

Going down a level, the Europa League playoffs were taking place. Man City beat Timisoara 3-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at the Dan Paltriniscu Stadium. Villa were beaten 4-3 on aggregate by Rapid Vienna with the 1st leg at the Gerhard Hannappi Stadium. Liverpool beat Trapsonspor 3-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Anfield. Celtic were beaten 4-2 on aggregate by Utrecht with the 1st leg at Celtic Park. Dundee United were beaten 2-1 on aggregate by AEK Athens with the 1st leg at Tannadice Park. Motherwell were beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Danish side OB with the 1st leg at the Odense Stadion - finishing off the SPL challenge in the competition. TNS were beaten 5-2 on aggregate by Levski Sofia with the 1st leg at the Vassilli Levski Stadium which finished off the WPL's European challenge.

Still, the Europa League group draw has been made and the Premiership does have some representation there at least. Man City have wound up in Group A alongside Juventus, Salzburg and Lech Poznan. The Blues should be able to survive that combo. Liverpool are in Group K alongside Steaua Bucherest, Napoli and Utrecht. Assuming the Scousers can find something resembling half decent form, this should be able to survive that encounter. So fingers crossed, two Premiership teams out of two will be in the Europa League knockout stages and added to what will hopefully be a good Champions League contingent this should hopefully be another good season for Premiership sides in Europe.

Closer to home, Brentford faced Championship Hull City in the Carling Cup 2nd round at Griffin Park. Mark Cullen opened the scoring for the former Premiership side only for Robbie Simpson to equalise for the Bees and as the match went on it was them that looked like the better side! Hull tried to step in up early on in the 2nd half but weren't able to put the match to bed and were punished for that when Marcus Bean hit a late winner for the Bees. An amazing result for my former local team that puts them in the Carling Cup 3rd round for the first time since 1991/92. There they'll face Everton at Griffin Park, if they get past them I'll be surprised.

The 3rd round is also when United enter the Carling Cup and the Reds face Championship Scunthorpe at Glanford Park. Scunthorpe are the sort of team that we should be able to beat - yet they are also the sort of team who have mugged what is usually a reserve United side in the past. Assuming that it's our reserves they will be dealing with, what sort of threat might they pose? First impressions not much so my instinct is for optimism. Yes we should always be wary of getting mugged in this competition but if the players can learn the lessons of years gone by we should make it into the next round. The safe bet is to pick United to win this one.

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