champions league

Champions League: 2007 finalists in hot soup

Tuesday October 23, 2007


PARIS (AFP) - Last season's finalists AC Milan and Liverpool face disturbing crises ahead of the third round of Champions League group phase matches on Wednesday.

Champions Milan have hit a worryingly poor spell of home form in their domestic league, losing once and drawing three times in their four games so far this season at the San Siro.

Their only saving grace was a 2-1 victory over Benfica in their opening Champions League match last month.

And with a home match against Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk looming, the pressure is on Carlo Ancelotti's side, particularly as they trail Wednesday's opponents by three points in the group D table.

Vice-president Adriano Galliani admitted that AC Milan were in crisis following the 1-0 home defeat to Empoli at the weekend that has left them 11th in the table and 10 points behind champions and city rivals Inter.

"To say 'chaos' (Italian newspaper headline) is incorrect," said Galliani. "I think crisis is more accurate.

"It's a very difficult time but we are not going to dramatise it. We will get back on track as we always do.

"The players are not to blame. They are doing their best just the same as when they are winning but we will need to do what is necessary so this situation changes."

Liverpool's problems are entirely confined to the Champions League group A where they have picked up only one point from their two games.

A draw in Porto was followed up by an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Marseille, leaving Liverpool with a must-win game at Benfica in Istanbul to salvage their hopes of staying in the competition.

And the mood in the camp hasn't been helped by a rift between coach Rafael Benitez and captain Steven Gerrard.

Benitez hauled Gerrard off during Saturday's 2-1 Merseyside derby victory over Everton, a move that clearly angered the England midfielder, although Benitez claims the pair have made up.

"When you are a manager you need to make decisions, not just think about them," he said.

"You must think how you can win the game. Every player is the same for me when you are trying to win a game.

"We have talked because every player would be disappointed, especially Gerrard because it was a derby. He wanted to score the winning goal, but he is okay.

"After some time he'll understand that it was an idea and I was thinking about the best for the team."

"You know when you change a player he must show that he wants to play, but I think he was okay at the end."

In Madrid, Real will be hoping to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, at Espanyol on Saturday, with a victory over Olympiakos in group C.

Despite topping the Spanish table and trailing Olympiakos at the top of their Champions League group only on goal difference, Real have come in for a lot of critism this season, something veteran right-back Michel Salgado insists is unfair.

"There's been a lot of talk that Madrid have not been very convincing this season and everybody seems to have been worried about the change of coach in the summer and that the team is playing one way rather than another.

"But I don't think we are doing that badly," said Salgado.

In the same group both Werder Bremen and Lazio are in trouble having picked up nought and two points respectively in their opening two games. They meet in Germany knowing that a defeat for either will render their qualification task almost impossible.

In group B Valencia will be looking to bounce back from their home loss to Chelsea last time out as they travel to Norwegians Rosenberg, while the Londoners will be looking to stretch their lead at the top as they host Germans Schalke.


Fixtures:

Group A

Besiktas v Liverpool

Marseille v Porto

Group B

Rosenborg v Valencia

Chelsea v Schalke

Group C

Werder Bremen v Lazio

Real Madrid v Olympiakos

Group D

Benfica v Celtic

AC Milan v Shakhtar Donetsk