By Myles Palmer
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TODAY’s draw was fantastic for English clubs.
Celta Vigo v Arsenal
Porto v Man United
Stuttgart v Chelsea
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
Sparta Prague v AC Milan
Deportivo La Coruna v Juventus
Real Sociedad v Lyon
Lokomotiv Moscow v Monaco
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ARSENAL have never won in Spain.
But that could change on Tuesday February 24th because most of the Spanish teams Arsenal have played in the past were better than this Vigo side, who squeezed through ahead of Ajax in the AC Milan-Bruges group.
Celta Vigo are 4th bottom of the Spanish League.
Luckily, Arsenal have avoided Deportivo,who have a better defence, and Sparta Prague, who have loads of flair in attack.
Celta’s star is Mostovoi,one of the finest-ever Russian imports to the Primera Liga. A playmaker of genius, but he is 35 now.
Silvinho will want to show Arsene Wenger that he is still a terrific left back.A lovely guy and a fine player. Such a shame that his passport was measured at Fahrenheit 451.
SAVO MILOSEVIC, an enigma at Aston Villa, is a far more skilful striker than Benni McCarthy, the man he replaced.
The South African was sold to Porto for 3 million euros.
I love watching Porto, especially Deco, but I can’t see them beating Man United.
MOST OF THIS week’s Champions League games were predictable.
Tuesday night I watched Man United v Stuttgart for 25 minutes. When I realised that Stuttgart could not be the new Leverkusen, because they don’t have anybody with the flair of Basturk, Ballack or Ze Roberto, I switched over to Besiktas v Chelsea, which was more interesting.
Luckily, I switched back in time to see Van Nistelrooy’s header just before half-time andthe Giggs goal for 2-0 and then I switched back and saw Hasselbaink score in Dortmund, where the Turkish fans disgraced themselves by throwing objects onto the pitch.
DAMIEN DUFF is now one of the superstars of the Champions League.
If Italian clubs had any money they would be trying to sign him. But there is no chance of that.
ARSENAL started by pressing fiercely against Lokomotiv, scored an early goal, and played quite patiently after that.
Henry played in Pires for the first and Ljungberg for the second. Two Kanu-esue assists, especially the second. Freddie likes to run beyond Kanu, but close to him,but here he ran past Henry, who hooked the ball through to give him a one-on-one.
Maybe this performance is a template for future home games in Europe.
If you know the visitors will defend deep and en masse, you HAVE TO start with a high tempo.
Arsenal did not do that when Fulham played 4-1-4-1 and it was a 0-0 draw. They lacked urgency and venom, especially in their shooting, and Edwin Van der Sar was excellent positionally.
If Van der Sar had been playing for Lokomotiv it might have been 0-0.
The Loko keeper Sergei Ovchinnikov lacks the concentration needed at this level.
When Lehmann wasn’t busy he was pacing up and down,psyching himself up, doing exercises, keeping his concentration going.
The bulky, pony-tailed Ovchinnikov is a very poor keeper and they were lucky to qualify.
Kiev are a superior team, but could not do better than a 1-1 at home to Inter.
Ironically, Rincon’s late equaliser put their Moscow rivals through.
Roll on, February. And roll on Backburn on Sunday.
PATRICK VIEIRA was rusty against Loko, but he has now played 90 minutes twice. He needs another three games to get back to his best.
His return, at this crucial moment in the Premiership season, is vital to Arsenal.
12th December 2003.