On Monday Rob Hughes was telling me about Fazio, an Argentinian defender who has been playing for Seville reserves.
Rob said the kid was very highly rated and his friend Frits Ahlstrom, Uefa’s senior media spokesman, had told him about the lad three years ago.
Federico Fazio, 20, is six foot five and played for the Argentina team that won the Under-20 World Cup in Canada in July this year. They beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the final.
It looks as Juande Ramos has taken one look at Adebayor’s powerful two-goal performance against Spurs and said , “Time for Federico to step up. We don’t want to be out-muscled by the big guy.”
Tonight’s game should be good football and it might be the most entertaining game of Matchday 1.
Let’s hope Almunia doesn’t make a kamikaze challenge on a forward, as Reina did last night in Porto, conceding a penalty that Lucho Gonzales scored in 8 minutes.
LAST NIGHT didn’t provide any 4-0 or 4-2 scorelines like Matchday 1 last season.
Chelsea reduced their ticket prices but the crowd was only 25,000 and they drew 1-1 with Rosenborg of Norway. Liverpool had Pennant sent off and drew 1-1 in Porto, Kuyt having headed in from four yards after Hyypia nodded a long free-kick to him.
Overall, experience and set-pieces were important last night. Proven goalscorers did their jobs, with goals by Shevchenko for Chelsea, and by Inzaghi and Pirlo for Milan in their 2-1 defeat of Benfica. That was never close, as the Nuno Gomes goal came in the 90th minute.
Most of the games were close and Valencia won for the first time in Germany, 1-0 at Schalke, with David Villa grabbing the vital goal.
Right now, for a moment, La Liga looks strong.
Both Spanish clubs won last night and Barcelona should beat Lyon, from whom they bought left back Adibal in the summer. Lyon also lost left winger Malouda. The trickery of Messi is unlike anything they face in the French league.
Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Sporting Lisbon with Manchester United and Wayne Roonaldo is back in the squad after a broken toe. That might be another 1-1 draw.
The main theme last night was proven goalscorers. At Chelsea it was : We’re 1-0 down, we really need a goal, and Shevchenko heads one in.
At Real Madrid it was : We’re level at 1-1 for 50 minutes and we really need a goal, and Ruud van Nistelroy slots the winner.
Tonight Arsenal fans will turn up for the season’s first big test. They will have high hopes, some doubts, a few questions. Is Almunia an accident waiting to happen? Is Senderos an accident waiting to happen? Is van Persie an accident waiting to happen? Is Gilberto at centreback the right call? Do we need Flamini’s energy against a very zippy Seville side ?
All will be revealed at 8 pm. And don’t rule out these sides meeting again later in the quarter-final or semi-final.
Last year Arsenal reached the round of 16 before being knocked out by PSV Eindhoven.This season they can do better than that, and if they are good enough to beat Sevilla tonight, most supporters will believe Arsenal can be top eight at least, maybe top four, even with this young side.
Gut feeling this morning ? A win would be great but 1-1 looks more likely.
Probable teams :
ARSENAL: Almunia; Sagna, Touré, Gilberto, Clichy; Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini, Rosicky; Van Persie, Adebayor.
SEVILLE: Palop; Alves, Escude, Fazio, Dragutinovic; Navas, Poulsen, Marti, Duda; Kanoute, Renato.
Referee: Peter Frojfeldt (Sweden).