(Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Besiktas (Turkey)
With their first title win in six years, Besiktas ensured their place in the group stages of the Champions League after a year’s absence. And the club is intent on using their return to Europe’s top table to attract many new signings to the club.
Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen has been linked with the club, as well as Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. Italian defender Matteo Ferrari has already signed on, with Turkish international striker Nihat returning home from Spanish side Villarreal to join the Instanbul-based club.
“Intense negotiations are going on right now,” said manager Mustafa Denizli. “We have choices, and we're trying to make the best of what we have. We are negotiating according to our means and will continue to do so.”
The squad is littered with homegrown players, so perhaps it is understandable Denizli is looking for foreign talent to increase the continental experience at his disposal. It seems this season, the club is not prepared to fall out of the competition at the group stages like they did last time out, in 2007-08 (they finished fourth, and lost 8-0 at home to Liverpool).
“The important thing is that our team exceeds itself in the Champions League,” Denizli said this week. “There are teams that spend more than 150, 200, 250 million euros for transfers. We cannot afford such figures, so we need to enhance the limits of our players to exceed their potential.”
Besiktas are certainly talking a good game at this early stage, but even if they do add many of their rumoured targets to the squad, you feel it will take a kind draw and some fortunate results for them to find their way out of the group stages.
Sevilla (Spain)
Another side with European pedigree, having won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and 2007, Sevilla, like Besiktas, are back in the Champions League after a year’s absence, courtesy of finishing third in a hotly contested La Liga race.
Led by former player Manolo Jimenez, Sevilla are blessed with talented players across the pitch. They have two solid goalkeepers in Spanish international Andres Palop and Italian Morgan De Sanctis, along with the highly touted Federico Fazio in defence.
In attack is where their main strength lies, however. Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano showed his quality on the way to becoming top scorer at the recent Confederations Cup, and youth products Jesus Navas and Diego Capel provide a constant threat from the wings. Navas’s acute homesickness, however, might reduce the team’s threat if they are drawn against clubs that ply their trade many miles from the Iberian peninsula.
Sevilla might compete in the shadow of Barcelona and Real Madrid, but—depending on the draw—they will nevertheless be expected to progress beyond the group stages with relative ease. A quarterfinal appearance is a reasonable target for the Rojiblancos, as striker Frederic Kanoute recently stated:
“We have the desire in the Champions League to get as far as we can,” the Mali international said last week. “To get to the quarterfinals will be difficult but we will be trying to get there.”
AC Milan (Italy)
After an embarrassing season spent in the unfamiliar surroundings of the UEFA Cup (expected to challenge for the cup, Milan went out in the first knockout round to eventual finalists Werder Bremen) the 2007 Champions League winners are back on a stage they are more accustomed to.
However, they may find that the competition has got a lot stiffer in their absence.
Much will depend on how the Rossoneri cope with the loss of their talisman Kaka, who joined Real Madrid in the summer. Former world player of the year Ronaldinho might be given the chance to reclaim his form and reputation within the game, although the loss of manager Carlo Ancelotti (to Chelsea) might not have as positive an effect on the majority of the squad.
Ancelotti, while sometimes falling short in Serie A, often seemed to be tactically astute in Europe—leading his side to two finals in three years between 2005 and 2007. New manager Leonardo will not be given long to prove he has a similar ability.
The fans will expect their team to breeze through the group stages, and with the quality of players still at their disposal, they should easily achieve that. But you feel that their new Brazilian manager will have to add some fresh blood to the squad, get the tactics correct, and get his compatriots (Alexandre Pato, Ronaldinho, new signing in defence Thiago Silva) playing to their full potential if they are to progress much further than the quarterfinals of a competition they once used to dominate.
AZ (Holland)
What is with Champions League teams and a change of managers? Dutch side AZ won the Eredivisie for the first time in 25 years last season under the guidance of legendary manager Louis Van Gaal, who then promptly agreed to join German giants Bayern Munich.
Former Dutch international Ronald Koeman is the man charged with maintaining what Van Gaal got started, but with many bigger clubs circling around the team’s man stars (in particular, strikers Mounir El Hamdaoui and Moussa Dembele) most fans will be happy with a solid showing in Europe this season.
Koeman is certainly not prepared to raise expectations:
"It will be a nice season,” he said. “Playing in the UEFA Champions League is something to look forward to for everyone; players, coaches, staff, and fans."
Back in the early 90s, Dutch teams were among the most feared in Europe. AZ might be the emerging power in domestic football, but even their fans will not be expecting their side to do more than finish third—and so continue their European adventure in the newly-formed Europa League—this year.
That would do nicely.
Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)
For a couple of seasons left in the shadow of cross-city rivals Celtic, the 2008 UEFA Cup finalists took their first SPL title in four years to book their place back in the Champions League.
With Walter Smith at the helm, ably assisted by former striker Ally McCoist, the team have a wealth of coaching experience on which to draw. But the Scottish league is not the strongest, and additions will have to made to the squad if they are to challenge in Europe.
Last season, Celtic struggled valiantly but failed to make it out of the group stages. Rangers may be the equal of their rivals on the paper, but the lack of recent experience in the competition will undoubtedly make their task very difficult.
Few fans of the Gers might admit it, but privately they will be satisfied if their team acquit themselves well against more prestigious opposition, and prolong their European adventure via the Europa League.
The other clubs already qualified for the group stages are: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bordeaux, Olympique Marseille, Inter Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Porto, Bayern Munich, and Dynamo Kyiv.
The remaining ten teams will be decided at the conclusion of the qualifying stages.
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