Champions of Europe ----- 's second most imporant competition

Germany embraces the UEFA Cup. With Bayern Munich playing in Europe’s 2nd tournament for the first time in a decade, the rest of Germany is trying to keep up with the country’s biggest club. That includes Werder Bremen, Schalke 04 and Stuttgart, who are currently in the Champions League.


The going has been tough for the three Champions League teams. Werder Bremen and Stuttgart find themselves in 4th in their respective groups, having failed to secure draws this past week to secure the coveted 3rd spot, a position that drops teams into the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Schalke currently find themselves in 3rd spot, but questions at Chelsea following the dismissal of Jose Mourinho and Valencia’s inability to finish, leave the current second place team in the Bundesliga in a dubious position. A positive result in either of the upcoming fixtures with Chelsea could see the Gelsenkirchen side slip into second place.


It wasn’t like manager Mirko Slomka didn’t try. He employed a midfield with no width against Rosenborg, who dominated the midfield, but his team unfortunately countered for two goals. Werder Bremen’s Thomas Schaaf will be disappointed with his team’s loss to Olympiakos. The goal they so desperately wanted to concede after dominating possession by over 60% during the match, escalated into two others quickly, meaning they need to win one of the games approaching with Lazio to move up one space. Stuttgart have to hope they are less sucktacular than Lyon to secure third.


Meanwhile in the actual competition, Leverkusen, FC Bayern, Hamburg and even lowly Nurnberg made it to the group stages. Leverkusen gave away two early goals which seemed to jeopardize their chances, but pulled through at Uniao Leiria. Nurnberg used the away goals rule to get by Rapid Bucharest. Hamburg demolished a Lycra/Spandex blend from Bulgaria, while Bayern made short work of another Portuguese side. All four will find their group pairings this coming Tuesday.


If things go according to plan, the Bundesliga could see seven teams through to the quarterfinals of the competition, which is now being called “das Ligapokal Zwei” colloquially in Germany. It would undoubtedly give Germany a half-decent chance of capturing its first UEFA Cup since Bayern and Schalke’s double of 95/96 and 96/97. The closest the Bundesliga have come since was Borussia Dortmund’s loss in Rotterdam to Feyenoord in 2002. It was a tragedy, really, as Dortmund awaited the return leg only to find out the competition had changed to a one-leg final three years prior.

Leverkusen 0 - 1 Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen put the greatest team in the world, nay the greatest team ever (if the German media is to be believed) to the stick today. And they showed some of weaknesses that can be exploited to keep the race close or, in the case of Europe and the F.A. Cup, catch Bayern out.

Klose/Toni

They work well together and they are both phenomenal forwards. However, when they play together, Bayern is a weaker team. There reason for this is that Bayern lose the midfield in a 4-4-2, and it is their ability to press offensively that keeps their opponents at bay. Coming into the game Bayer and Bayern shared the lead with least goals allowed at three. But for Leverkusen, it is because of their solid back line and wunderkind Adler. For FC Bayern, their defensive record is in large part due to the fact that they don’t concede goal chances by controlling the midfield. Coming into the game, Bayern had conceded 15 shots on goal the entire season. Today they conceded 11.

Leverkusen controlled the midfield completely until the 51^st, when Klose was injured and Schweinsteiger came on to change the formation to 4-5-1. At that point, the double teams that had harassed Ribery out of the game stopped, Leverkusen’s tendency to win the ball and start play within Bayern’s half stopped, and Bayern’s beautiful counter attacks suddenly appeared. Van Bommel who was largely absent for the first half, suddenly became a force when he set further back and Altintop became effective as he was allowed to run at defenders.

Otto Hitzfeld will play Klose with Toni when both are healthy. They can be had with an energetic performance at midfield as shown by Michael Skibbe’s side today.

Christian Lell.

He is the fourth choice at back, behind Lahm, Sagnol and Jensen. He played today due to injuries, as will be required often this season, and was piss-poor to say the least. Leverkusen focused their attack in the first half on his side and was unlucky to have not seen Tranquillo Barnetta score on two excellent chances down the left hand channel. In addition, Lell who was warned in the first 10 minutes, garnered a yellow in the 63^rd and spent the last 30 minutes arguing with the referee to the point that he should have been booked a second time. His rash challenges and brash behavior may well see him with a red when he faces a less assured ref.

Demichelis’ Height

At 6’ he is short for a central defender. On a day that saw Lucio man-mark Theofanis Gekas, 6’3 Stefan Kießling became Demichelis responsibility. Demichelis struggled at times against Keißling in his first questionable performance of the season. Could he be susceptible in these situations in the future, and will managers see this and prepare accordingly?

Weather

Even when Bayern took over the game, their passes were off. It was endemic of the whole side, including the usually reliable passing Ze Roberto. It was a cold and rainy day in a country that is going to only get colder and rainier for the next five months. Wet pitches are not a passing team’s friend and it will be interesting to see how a team that matches Barcelona and Arsenal in beautiful football fare in the following months in central Europe.