New Inter Milan boss Gian Piero Gasperini has to remain respectful of his Group B opponents, but he must be smiling on the inside. Facing CSKA Moscow, Lille and Trabzonspor shouldn’t bother the Italian runners-up. Even the sale of forward Samuel Eto’o doesn’t reduce their superiority in firepower over the other three sides, especially if they can persuade Uruguayan star Diego Forlan to join from Atletico Madrid prior to the transfer deadline.
Led by Dutch maestro Wesley Sneijder, Inter chased their city rivals AC Milan all the way to the end of last season. Even without Eto’o, Diego Milito, Giampaolo Pazzini, and a host of others can score at any time. The Nerazzuri will be far too much for their less glamorous opponents.
While Inter can plan on spring European football, the battle for second spot should be intensely competitive. Lille won a French double, the league and the Coupe de France, last season, but has had to sell some players. Gervinho left for Arsenal. Pierre Alain Frau is gone. They did hang on to Moussa Sow who had twenty-two goals and young Belgian star Eden Hazard. That should keep them in the running. They also have two veteran goalkeepers in Mikael Landreau and Nigerian international Vincent Enyeama.
Coach Rudi Garcia is under no illusions. Following the draw, he gave his impression to UEFA’s web site: “The favourites? Inter Milan no doubt. Even though they have changed a number of players recently, they still have a lot of talent. We’re going to have to get our skates on to learn about how CSKA and Trabzonspor play, but our experience of playing Fenerbahce in Turkey last year should be useful.”
There is no shortage of confidence at CSKA Moscow. Defender Alan Dzagoev dismissed Trabzonspor in his post draw assessment on the UEFA web site, “I know nothing about Trabzonspor, but I think it’ll be us, the French and the Italians who will fight for the round of 16 places.” He could be right. CSKA has a terrific goalkeeper in Igor Akinfeev who was watched by some of the top clubs in Europe and at twenty-five still has years to improve along with plenty of experience elsewhere on the field.
For a Russian club CSKA has quite a cosmopolitan roster. They include Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez, a former Liverpool player, Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda, ex-Manchester United prospect Zoran Tosic, Brazilian striker Vagner Love, and an Ivorian striker named Seydou Doumbia who scored twice in their most recent league win over Tom Tomsk (3-0). They should have nothing to fear.
Trabzonspor only entered the UEFA Champions League after Fenberbahce were withdrawn by the Turkish FA as the result of an investigation into a match-fixing scandal. They had just drawn 0-0 with Athletic Bilbao in a Europa League qualifier when they learned of their promotion to the top tournament on the continent. The “happy to be here” attitude of club president Sadri Sener is easy to understand. He said on UEFA’s web site, “It is the best possible draw for us. We are as strong as our opponents in the group and want to represent Turkey in the best way we can in the Champions League.”
The best known players outside of Turkey are midfield anchor Didier Zokora and forward Halil Altintop. But, that shouldn’t lead opponents to expect an easy time, especially when travelling to Turkey. The fans there are notoriously enthusiastic, sometimes to an extreme. Opening away to Inter is a tough start, but at least they won’t have to travel to Moscow in December.
Certainly, Inter will be heavily favored in this group. The second spot in the last sixteen of the Champions League and the Europa League place for the third place team will be a tight contest as none of the other three teams stands out. Trabzonspor is the weakest team on paper, but bolstered by their home support they will make games very difficult for visitors to the Hüseyin Avni Aker stadium.
******Sources: www.uefa.com, www.espn.com