The red peril are in town tonight to play my favourite Turkish team Beşiktaş. Tickets are a not unreasonably priced 75 lira (30 quid / 50 dollars) Will I be going? Will I buggery: here’s why. United’s comical elimination in the 2006 group stage remains the only instance in the previous four seasons that any of the eight clubs drawn from pot one, the pot containing the top seeds, have failed to make it to the last 16 of the Champions League.
What does this mean? Well, quite simply, another Champions League group stage, another banal, humdrum set of results. That is how many of us who remember when football was good feel as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal prepare for the first of six matches that, barring a repeat of the disastrous form shown by Sir Alex Ferguson’s side 4 seasons ago, will lead to qualification for the last 16 with the minimum of bother.
The draw has been so generous to the four Premier League clubs that it’s tempting to wonder whether their managers will be able to treat the competition like a Euro version of the Carling Cup and experiment with lineups when qualification has been achieved with two or maybe even three games to spare. I do live in hope of a Beşiktaş win tonight but, as with their previous meetings with English behemoths, this will do little to dent the progress of the Premier League bully boys. To be fair, Beşiktaş have claimed a few English scalps, but have also taken a hell of a beating on occasion.
Liverpool 8-0 Beşiktaş
This was the biggest margin of victory in the history of the Champions League, which actually counts for something if you completely discount football before the early 1990s. Embarrassingly piss poor stuff from the Turks
Beşiktaş 2-1 Liverpool
A mere week later and Beşiktaş haumble the Merseyside giants, although this had as much to do with Liverpool’s problems as anything else.
The best Beşiktaş can hope for is to pocket the money and bow out graciously. This season, the 32 clubs involved in the group stage will receive a whopping £483,000 just for turning up for each match, and a further £703,000 for victory.
