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Anelka: We Can Progress In The UEFA Cup!



FRENCH international Nicolas Anelka expects his team-mates to be strong enough to progress to the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup after being drawn against the likes of Bayern Munich and Red Star Belgrade in the group stages of the competition.

Wanderers will face two games at home against Portuguese outfit SC Braga and Greek side Aris Thessaloniki along with trips away to the Allianz Arena to face tournament favourites Bayern Munich and a difficult match in Serbia against Red Star Belgrade, who won the European Cup back in 1991.

Bayern Coach Fears Bolton



BAYERN MUNICH coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believes Bolton will pose the biggest threat to his side's chances of progressing in the UEFA Cup.

The two clubs were drawn together in Group F of Europe's second tier competition on Tuesday, and their clash at the Allianz Arena on November 8 could be crucial to deciding which team reaches the last 32.

"I see Bolton Wanderers and Red Star Belgrade as our strongest opponents," said Hitzfeld, who has won the Champions League with two different clubs, but has yet to lift the UEFA Cup.

Lepo je citati ali sve je to zbog njihove neinformisanosti i nekadasnjih Zvezdinih uspeha

Skidaju travu i postavljaju itison, zar neprocita sta onaj ubica napisa

Unhappy memories and a new destination
     
09.10.2007

Bayern’s first group fixture involves a trip to face FK Crvena Zvezda, perhaps better known under the anglicised name of Red Star Belgrade, a club provoking mixed emotions in Munich. The Bavarians recorded a narrow aggregate victory in the 1979-80 UEFA Cup Round of 16 with a 2-0 win on home soil followed by a 3-2 defeat in Belgrade, but the most recent meeting in the 1990-91 European Champions Cup semi-finals evokes painful memories for Germany’s leading club.

Bayern fell 2-1 at home despite taking the lead with a Wohlfahrt strike, but the Bavarians looked like turning the tables in the return as goals from Augenthaler and Bender saw Munich 2-1 ahead with full time fast approaching. Extra-time looked on the cards, until Augenthaler turned from hero to villain with an unlucky last-minute own goal to seal the Reds’ exit.

Domestic giants

Belgrade went on to win the European Cup and then the World Club Cup, the greatest triumphs in a roll of honour featuring 25 domestic championships and 22 Cup triumphs. Red Star, who play at a 55,000 capacity stadium locally known as the Marakana, remain the dominant force in Serbian football and have claimed back-to-back Cup and league doubles in the last two seasons.

The picture has been less rosy on the European stage of late. The Serbs fell in the UEFA Cup first round last term, and the clock has to be wound back eleven years to 1996-7 for their last campaign of note, when they reached the European Cup Winners’ Cup Round of 16. Red Star have routinely failed to qualify for the Champions League proper, only surviving this season’s first qualifying round on away goals against Estonian unknowns Levadia, before losing 1-0 on aggregate to Glasgow giants Rangers in the second round.

Outstanding youth section

The disappointing first round display led to the dismissal of coach Bosko Djurovski after less than six months in the job. New boss Milorad Kosanovic took the helm in mid-August and could not prevent the defeat to Rangers, but he at least oversaw a 2-0 aggregate victory over Polish side Groclin Grodzisk in the UEFA Cup first round.

Red Star remain unbeaten in the Meridian SuperLiga this term, but already lie seven points off leaders Partizan Belgrade, albeit with a game in hand. Coach Kosanovic’s squad largely comprises promising but as yet unknown youngsters, a highly typical situation at a club regarded as one of the greatest youth academies in the Balkans and which numbers Sinisa Mihajlovic, Robert Prosinecki, Dejan Savicevic and Dragan Stojkoviæ as prominent old boys . The last-named became club president in 2005 on a promise to restore past glories.

Braga struggling in seventh

Bayern travel for the second time on 29 November with a trip to Portuguese top flight outfit SC Braga. The northerners finished fourth in Portugal last season to claim a UEFA Cup berth, but Sporting Clube Braga currently lie a disappointing seventh in the table on ten points from seven matches, fully eleven points off leaders Porto.

The club was founded in 1921 but the trophy cabinet boasts just one major accolade, a Cup triumph in 1966. Their most successful foray into Europe came in 1997-8 with an appearance in the UEFA Cup third round, where they lost to Schalke 04.

'Golden Generation' provides coach and striker

Based at the 30,000 capacity Estádio Municipal de Braga and coached by 35-year-old former international Jorge Costa, a member of the Champions League-winning Porto squad in 2004, the Portuguese eliminated Swedish club Hammarby to qualify for the group stage.

The undisputed star of the nation’s sole remaining representatives in the UEFA Cup is three-time Portuguese Player of the Year Joao Pinto. The former international collected serial championships and Cups with Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, and was a member of the so-called “Golden Generation” including Luis Figo, Rui Costa and current boss Jorge Costa, which rose to prominence by winning the 1991 U-20 World Cup on home soil.

Old foe Anelka due back in town with Bolton

09.10.2007

Bayern will meet Bolton Wanderers for the first time ever when the sides cross swords in this term’s UEFA Cup, but one face in the English Premier League club’s squad will be all too familiar to Munich diehards: Bolton and France striker Nicolas Anelka, then a promising youngster with Real Madrid, struck twice to send the men in red tumbling out of the 1999-2000 Champions League at the semi-final stage.

Anelka is by no means the only big-name personality in the Trotters’ 35-strong squad, which also features Senegal international El-Hadji Diouf (ex-Liverpool), Spain’s Ivan Campo (ex-Real Madrid), Sweden star Christian Wilhelmsson (AS Rom), Wales veteran Gary Speed (Newcastle) and Greek EURO 2004 winner Stelios Giannakopoulos. Former Liverpool dynamo Sammy Lee took up the managerial reins at the start of the season.

Poor start for Wanderers

Despite the wealth of international experience at the club, Wanderers have made a thoroughly disappointing start to the new campaign: the four-time FA Cup winners (most recently in 1958) currently lie a lowly 19th in the Premier League. Long-term inspiration Jay-Jay Okocha moved on a year ago, and the shock departure of coach Sam Allardyce in late April this year may have hurt the club more than initially estimated.

Nevertheless, the Bolton camp expressed delight at the match-up with Germany’s biggest club. "We all said Bayern Munich in the group would be fantastic, so we're all very happy," declared Bolton chairman Phil Gartside, hoping the plum draw might re-invigorate the Trotters’ campaign this term: “You're looking for signs and things which might start your season off and this could be a great fillip for everybody,” he remarked.

Well-supported Aris boast few trophies

Bayern’s final group fixture sees Aris Thessaloniki visit the Allianz Arena on 19 December. The Greeks, who feature ancient god of war Ares on their club crest and are based in the country’s second city, rate as one of the biggest and most popular clubs in their home nation, but have yet to meet Bayern at any point in their history.

Thessaloniki boast a modest trophy collection, with their three national championships (1928, 1932, 1946) and solitary Cup triumph (1970) all belonging to the distant past. Aris have twice dropped into the Greek second division, most recently in 2004-5, although they immediately bounced back to the top flight and made their last appearance in the UEFA Cup as losing Cup finalists. As so often in the past, they failed to survive the first round.

Star coach

Thessaloniki’s greatest success on the European stage was reaching the UEFA Cup Round of 16 in 1979-80. The Greeks, who qualified for this season’s competition by finishing fourth in the league last term, currently lie eighth in the Super League with just one win in four matches, although the side coached by Dusan Bajevic remains undefeated.

Bajevic, who took the hot seat after former incumbent Carlos Oliva of Spain was dismissed after only one game in early September, is regarded as the sole true star at the club. The Serbian national is the most successful club coach in Greece, winning a total of nine championships with AEK Athens, Olympiakos Piraeus and PAOK Thessaloniki. Bajevic led his new charges into the group stage courtesy of a 1-0 home win and a 2-1 away defeat against Real Saragossa, igniting hopes of a new and successful era at Aris.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: “I don’t want to start debating whether this is a more or less difficult group. We’ve been given attractive opponents, but it’ll be anything but a stroll, especially against Bolton Wanderers from England and Red Star Belgrade, who knocked us out many years ago. But we’re Bayern Munich. We have a great deal of quality in the team and I’m certain we’ll achieve our target of qualifying for the next round.“

Uli Hoeneß: “It’s not an easy group. We’ll have to watch ourselves. Bolton Wanderers and Red Star Belgrade are big-name clubs. We’re up against Braga, another Portuguese side. Our experience with Belenenses showed that won’t be a stroll. And Werder Bremen know all about the strength of the Greek league after losing to Piraeus. But as third place is enough to get through, a lot would have to go wrong for us to miss out...“

Ottmar Hitzfeld: “We’ve been handed an attractive draw against some very good teams. It’s a demanding group. I rate Bolton Wanderers from England and Red Star Belgrade as our main rivals. But on the other hand, Bayern are favourites whenever we play, and that applies here too. We’ve set our sights high – we’re aiming to make the final.“

Miroslav Klose: “I like the look of the group. I faced Thessaloniki once with Kaiserslautern, we won and I scored. I’m looking forward to Bolton Wanderers, because I always enjoy it against English clubs, and Red Star Belgrade and Braga are interesting too. Provided we concentrate in all our matches, we should definitely get through.“

Mark van Bommel: “It’s not the most difficult group, some of the others are groups of death. But they’re all good teams. However, we can’t be contemplating anything less than getting through!“

Philipp Lahm:“It’s not an easy group, there are some tricky opponents. The away games in Belgrade and Braga will be tough. But we’re Bayern Munich, we’re the favourites.“

Michael Rensing: “I’m happy with the draw. Plenty of interesting opponents. I’m especially pleased about Red Star, my mother is Yugoslav by birth and we used to follow all Red Star’s matches. Bolton Wanderers are a good team too, but looking at the group, we’ve got to be capable of qualifying.“