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Hello again! This is Gia Saralidze in the studio of Vestnik Kavkaza.
As I promised in the previous part of our program, now we will discuss the UEFA Cups.
Let’s start with the Europa League.
Even though it is the second significant cup, there are three representatives of Russia there,
and we will speak about them.
Unfortunately, in this part of the tournament,
despite the fact that our clubs are playing against teams
which are not the strongest and it seems it should be easier to play in this round,
the first matches were unsuccessful for our clubs.
Anzhi played against Newcastle at home – 0:0.
It would be difficult for Makhachkala players to play in the UK,
especially in the context of their failure in Saransk (Mordovia defeated Anzhi 2:0).
On the other hand, it might cheer them up.
They seem to go into euphoria or maybe they simply get tired.
To start the tournament so early, in early spring, the players didn’t get used to the winter break,
a lot of reasons can be found.
But the fact is obvious.
In England, in Newcastle, it will be very difficult for Anzhi to play.
Zenit was defeated by Basel 2:0.
Basel is an average European club which yields to Zenit in the spheres of squad, budget, achievements, and so on.
The Russian champion performed very poorly in this match.
The score could have been worse.
Can the St.-Petersburg club recover its losses?
Apparently it can.
They have to pull themselves together, forget recent failures,
including the defeat by Rubin Kazan, internal problems, permanent disputes about money.
This case shows that money can bring not only joy.
Zenit is a very bright example of this.
Rubin played draw a tie with Levante 0:0.
Here everything is clear.
Rubin plays good away.
It is able to tie the score.
Rubin confirmed it in the game against Zenit, when it played using counter-attacks only –
Rubin’s classic victory 1:0.
Probably the same will happen in the return game against Levante.
Rubin’s chances are a bit better.
To play a tie away and not to let in goals is a rather good result.
The other thing is that they must not let in goals at home, in either case the situation will be very bad.
Ahead of the second round of the Europa League we maintain moderate optimism.
It will be very difficult for Zenit and Anzhi, but chances are not hopeless.
We will support Rubin and hope that Russian clubs will stay in this tournament.
As for the key club tournament of not only Europe, but also the whole world,
unfortunately, Manchester United – I am a passionate fan of this club –
was defeated by Real and failed to move forward in the championship.
The first match ended with a 1:1 tie, the second – 2:1.
Manchester United scored the first goal, controlled the game.
I think the English team played very well, even though some of my colleagues disagree with me.
After the first few minutes, when Real tried to put pressure on MU,
no dangerous moments appeared near MU’s goal line.
At the same time MU permanently attacked, threatened Real’s defence.
Several dangerous moments led to a goal.
MU controlled the game in the second half as well, except for a red card.
The Turkish referee, of course, had a right to show a red card to Nani, who played rather roughly,
but if we speak about the logistics of the game and showing yellow and red cards,
I can say as a man who played real football, unlike many experts who formally treated the case,
they simply supported Real and considered Nani’s sending-off reasonable.
It is the Champions League, the second match.
Nani turned back.
Yes, he jumped too high and played too dangerously,
but I think Real’s player clashed into Nani on purpose.
Then we saw Spanish hysterics and Nani was sent off.
I think this decision was absolutely unreasonable.
The game was broken.
We should applaud Real, which used the situation brilliantly and scored two beautiful goals.
If Real managed to do it without the referee’s help, we would take our hats off.
Nevertheless, we cannot help it!
One of the strongest clubs in this Champions League left it.
If Real did it, I would say absolutely the same thing.
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Valencia.
This is the first Spanish loss.
The result of the first match was 1:2, and the second match – 1:1.
We haven’t seen French clubs at this stage for a long time.
Juventus easily defeated the Scottish champions Celtic.
The overall score was 5:0 in favour of Juventus.
The leader of the Italian championship deserves to move forward in the tournament,
but in the next round it will have a tougher rival than Celtic.
Borussia Dortmund devastated Shakhtar Donetsk – 3:0.
The first match was rather nervous.
A lot of mistakes were made, the score was 2:2.
In the second match Borussia played very well,
so the German representative moved on to the next round of this tournament.
We will watch the game between Milan and Barcelona.
I remind you that Milan won the first match – 2:0.
It was a rather surprising result.
If Barcelona leaves the tournament as well,
we will lose permanent finalists of the Champions League of recent years.
Barcelona and MU have always been among semi-finalists or finalists of the Champions League.
I cannot say that the absence of these teams will benefit the tournament.
Time will tell.
Football is football – sometimes it is full of surprises.
We will see a lot of football in the next few weeks, because spring has come.
Even though the weather is cold, football cannot wait.
So, we will see each other frequently on Vestnik Kavkaza
and discuss the most interesting events in the football world.