Europa League Should Be Italy’s Fourth Spot In The Champions League

SOURCE: futbolgrad.com

Italian teams have become preposterous in some of their planning. Lovers of the Italian game simply cannot come to terms why Uefa under Michel Platini has come up with such a great idea that the winner of the Uefa Europa League would be given an automatic berth to the Uefa Champions League and Italian teams failed to capitalize on such a great opportunity when Fiorentina and SSC Napoli made it to the semi-finals of the competition last season.

This season seems to be a great season for the three teams carrying the flag of the Serie A thus Napoli, Fiorentina and SS Lazio. Napoli has been in scintillating form and Fiorentina seems to have finally found the ground to scoring goals and winning matches back to the days where Roberto Baggio and Gabriel Batistuta made Florence a place where beautiful women and football was sort after, but they would have to bounce back after the loss to Lech Poznan.

Italian Serie A must win the Europa League season in an season out although it might seem a daunting task, the last four competitions experienced in Europe being the Champions league and Europa league has seen La liga win them all, Barcelona and Madrid winning the champions leagues and Sevilla winning the Europa League back to back.

Where are the days of Claudio Gentile who were more interested in the pride of playing football, defending your team and the league at large? It seems the days of Gennaro Ivan Gattuso, Franco Baresi, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Giuseppe Favalli would never be seen again because of the less dedication and urgency being meted out by current footballers in the Italian Serie A.  

Serie A shocked the footballing world by spending more money than other leagues which came as a surprise from the footballing world because of the new crude method of joint ownership of players where players are bought from next to nothing. But frankly how has the Italian Serie A benefitted from such sales. It is not looking good for a league with so much tactics, abundance in skilled managers and great former footballers to be experiencing such embarrassment in Europe. The FIGC should not be there waiting for things to improve because contemporary footballers are more interested in making money than playing football.

Cristiano Ronaldo has broken Raul’s record but he still wants to score more goals. Lionel Messi has won the Champions league four times and would still want to win, why, because there is what we call urgency and a desire to do more.

Serie A needs to up their game; players in Serie A should in no way use the league as a stepping stone to getting bigger deals at other clubs because the Italian Serie A is the most competitive league this season with middle table clubs occupying the greatest spots.

This season lovers of Italian football are keeping a close eye on all the teams playing in Europe and once again they cannot fail Italian football. Forza Italia, Forza Serie A, Forza Football.

WILL LAZIO EQUALIZE TO MAKE IT 3-3 BETWEEN ITALY AND GERMANY IN UCL

Lazio won again against Bologna to extend the taste of victory to two wins out of two. Having won the first game of the Uefa Champions League tie against Bayer04 Leverkusen, Lazio’s win would be a massive boost and a strong psychological build-up towards facing the match.

       The weekend would soon elapse and the second legs of the Uefa Champions League would come to life and Lazio would play Bayer04 Leverkusen again. There are so many things up for grabs as Lazio would seek to make it 3-3 for Italian football so that Italian football would be represented by Juventus, Roma and Lazio, German football would be represented by Bayern Munich, Schalke and Wolfsburg.

        Lucas Biglia, Mauri and Antonio Candreva would be seeing to make it to the group stages of the Uefa Champions League proper. Bayer04 Leverkusen were no mean tasks last time round at the Estadio Olympico in Rome and would not be a mean side playing at home and having the twelfth man on the pitch.

         Whatever comes out of this game, an equalizer that makes it three all for Italian and German football from Lazio would see the Champions league lighten up with enough competition from across Europe and not centred around Spanish and English football. A win by a wide margin would see Bayer04 Leverkusen and Germany extend their representatives to four and make it 4-2.

         Both teams should prepare well and give fans the game that would thrill them and make it the tie of the qualifying phase aside from Valencia and AS Monaco.

WERDER BREMEN MUST WAKE UP

Great teams have come and gone Napoli did play their part, Deportivo La Coruna also did well but amongst others the 2009 UEFA CUP finalists are nowhere the places they deserve to be and they should fight back and come to the very top of the German Bundesliga and then transform their energies into the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

  

After the 2010 Champions League qualification, their tie against Sampdoria proved to be the match of the qualifying round and they did not disappoint, eliminating Sampdoria at the Estadio Luigi Ferrari in Genoa with two goals from Claudio Pizzaro and Arnautovic. Their qualification to the group stage where they drew Internazionale Milano and Tottenham Hotspurs proved to be the real performances they have churned out in the limelight in as many years but they could only manage third place and back to the renamed Europa League.

Werder Bremen seems to be gradually losing the spirit that saw them play against heavyweights Barcelona, Milano and Internazionale in recent seasons and would need to get that love back as soon as possible.

After losing 3-0 to Schalke 04 at the Weserstadion and with a trip to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Friday night, Bremen have an uphill task and would have to do more to realize the first points of the season.

The current players of Werder Bremen should know how it feels like to play for Bremen, although they cannot compete financially with the powerhouses of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the current players can do more to make the team attractive so that the team gets back to its former state.

The fans at the Weserstadion would support the team no matter what but unlike footballers who get paid whether win or lose, fans joy only comes when the team performs well.

 Raphael Wolf, Clemens Fritz and the other members who make the core group of the Werder setup should step up their game so that smiles start covering the faces of the faithful Werder supporters.

WINNERS AND LOSERS OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST LEG

Manchester United after making a shaky start to the tie after letting in an own goal by Michael had an uphill task and they replied in style with new boy Memphis Depay coming up with two goals in the first half. Marouane Fellaine capped it off in the dying embers of the game to see Manchester United take a 3-1 lead to Belgium.Whatever happens in the weekend against Newcastle United, Manchester United would feel more than relax but would negotiate the match against Newcastle knowing they have a two goal cushion which could be turned over by the Belgian side but their experience in the elite competition should see them through. The Belgian side did not disappoint and if they bad in a goal within the opening stages of the second leg, fans would fall in to watch a great game.

SS Lazio has given Italian Football hope, the late result they got against a great Bayer04 Leverkusen side was not the Lazio team but for the Italians and the league. They are not going to get it easy but would have to come out and play and win so that they would sail through and make the group stage. It is either they make it or see Italian Serie A represent themselves with only two teams.

Seydou Doumbia’s goal would prove vital for CSKA Moscow as the Russian club hold their heads high knowing that a goal would see them through in Moscow. Sporting CP played a massive goal and can hold on to advance to the group stage. The result of the tie makes the second leg one that’s worth waiting for and the football world is set to see and experience a great game and the first team that would make it to the group stage due to the early kickoff in Russia.

LAZIO MUST SAVE ITALIAN FOOTBALL WITH A WIN TO UCL GROUP STAGE

SS Lazio was the team to play last season in the Italian Serie A. The team boast of great talent and with the team fighting to make the Uefa Champions league in as many years shows the transformation and the difficulty the team has gone through in getting back to their old days.

Italian football has been reduced to fourth place in World and European football and with Lazio placing third and making the playoff against Bayer04 Leverkusen they should put in more efforts to save Italian football. The Champions league has not seen Italian teams make the semi-finals in five consecutive seasons after the exploits of Internazionale Milano under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho in 2010.

Antonio Candreva has been by far underrated by pundits of world football because he plies his trade in the Serie A which has gone down in recent years. But the level of pace and contributions Candreva adds to the game would be fancied by any manager who wants an all round player who does everything to track back and support the defence. With the likes of Filipe Anderson, Marco Parolo and captain Stephan Mauri still holding the sea blue and white stripes together, Lazio must ensure that the playoff game against Leverkusen would be the first step towards reinstating them back into the European game.

Italian football must rise and with Lazio playing a game that would see Italian teams have three teams in the group stage with the clause "if they win" should be taken seriously. The Spanish La Liga would see five competitive teams play this season and with the powerhouse of world football being FC Barcelona and Real Madrid winning the last two editions, La Liga would be favourites to win but Italians must have the numbers to be able to compete. If Lazio should lose and get eliminated from the UCL it means that Italian Football would see only two of its teams being Roma and Juventus in the Champions league.

This is a pleading call to all the management setups that make the core group of Lazio and lovers of Italian football to support them in making the group stages because they face a great hurdle and an uphill task against a very good Bayer04 Leverkusen side which opened their Bundesliga season with a win.