By Myles Palmer
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THIS WEEK should tell us a lot about the contenders for the Champions League.
The 13th CL final will be in Istanbul next May and it won’t be Porto v Monaco again.
My starting points are (1) look for stable clubs rather than big-spending teams, and (2) “My Brazilians are better than your Brazilians.”
The latter is a comment I first made four years ago, suggesting that the players who make the difference in the last eight of the Champions League are often the top Brazilians.
Stable clubs? Arsenal, Juventus, AC Milan.
Big-spending clubs? Inter, Chelsea.
Big-spending stable club: Juventus, who have signed Capello, Cannavaro, Ibrahimovic.
Outsiders? Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk.
In those 13 seasons of the modern Champions League, only ONE English club has reached the final- Man United in 1999.
Time for a second Premiership club to get there, I reckon.
PSV EINDHOVEN are in good form and top of the Dutch league.
They now have two big men in central midfield: Cocu, back after 6 years at Barca, and Van Bommel, who is scoring goals again and still captain.
Cocu is 34 and well past his best.
Gooners will remember his crafty dive over Tony Adams at Wembley, a phoney penalty which triggered a masterclass and a 4-2 defeat.
A 4-2 win for Arsenal would not surprise me.
But a 1-0 win would set the tone for a long journey to the city where Asia meeets Europe.
ARSENAL’S 45-GAME unbeaten record IS intimidating referees, as Fulham boss Chris Coleman suggested after three goals in nine minutes gave Arsenal the points at Craven Cottage.
No ref wants to make history by making a decision which ends that run.
Ref Mark Halsey was in no position to see who got the last touch in the Cole-Cole incident, when Ashley brought down Andy in the box.
That was one of many tricky calls and Halsey got it right, eventually.
Volz felled Henry, but that was a very hard penalty call at such high speed.
Where Halsey blew it, big time, was in disallowing a good goal by Collins John,the Liberian-born Dutch striker.
John’s header at 0-0 was a fine goal which would have made the game interesting.
Halsey cited body language as a reason for consulting his linesman on the Cole-Cole incident.
The body language on the Collins John header told him EVERYTHING.
The three nearest Arsenal players were Toure, Lauren and Cygan – and none of them said a word or produced a gesture of any kind !
All three defenders just walked towards the halfway line, accepting that they had conceded a fair goal.
The good news for Arsenal was that Freddie Ljungberg had his best game for ages : sharp, positive, getting in where it hurts, finishing like the old Freddie.
Is the Swede up for the PSV game?
Just a little bit, I’d say.
PSG v CHELSEA brings together Jose Mourinho and Vahid Halilhodzic.
The Bosnian has always wanted to manage a big club and may see Paris as a stepping stone.
Beating Chelsea would be a massive scalp for his new team, but that will be a tall order if Pauleta is still depressed after a goalless summer in Euro 2004.
Pauleta must eventually benefit from the brainy Rothen, who makes chance after chance from the left.
I never bet on a 0-0, but often expect one in games like this.
BRAZILIANS?
Well, Bayer Leverkusen v Real Madrid is Franca v Ronaldo.
Franca is a skinny Brazilian predator that Leverkusen wanted to sign the season they played Arsenal.
Now they have Franca, who once scored a terrific close- range goal against England at Wembley, when Gary Neville was asleep at a corner.
Rivaldo has joined Giovanni at Olympiakos.
Porto now have Luis Fabiano, who is quicker and more slippery than Adriano, who will be hammering them in for Inter this term.
SAVIOLA will score goals for Monaco this season.
As you know, he is not Brazilian.
September 13th 2004.