Archive for August 28th, 2008

Napoli 5-0 Vllaznia – Party Time at San Paolo, Azzurri Qualify for the UEFA Cup

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

14 years. Believe or not, that’s how long Napoli supporters had to wait before seeing their team in Europe again. As the French would say, c’est maintenant chose faite (it’s a done deal): after a whopping win over an invisible Vllaznia, the Azzurri have qualified for the UEFA Cup And what better way to celebrate at San Paolo, than to crush your opponents with five unanswered goals?

This almost seems like a “come-back year” doesn’t it? Juventus are back in the UCL after 2 years of purgatory, Fiorentina have been absent for even longer (8 yrs), and now Napoli, returning to European Cup competitions after 14 long seasons. Life seems to be smiling on Serie A clubs lately, let’s hope it lasts.

Of course now, all Neapolitan eyes will be turned towards Monaco, where the next round draw will take place on Friday. The good thing for Reja, is that his team will avoid “home” clashes with AC Milan, Udinese, or Sampdoria. However since Napoli are not seeded, there’s a very real risk of facing teams like Benfica, Sevilla, Valencia, Ajax, or Tottenham.

Fingers crossed…

(From Gazzetta): Returning to Europe playing, in essence, a training match feels good doesn’t it? Yes, because “training match” is exactly the right term to define Napoli’s fixture vs. Vllaznia on Thursday: you can slap as many “UEFA Cup preliminary round” tags on it, it still doesn’t change the fact the match ended with five goals for the home team (much to the delight of the Stadio San Paolo crowd) and could have actually been far worse for the visitors.

Truthfully, the 3-0 away win of August 14 had already placed Napoli in a very comfy spot for this one, but Edy Reja’s boys were determined to provide their supporters with some entertainment. And the main provider of said entertainment was, much to everyone’s surprise, center-back Leandro Rinaudo. Two goals (the first and the third of his team) stemming from set-pieces, cooly finished with an instep shot. A la striker.

Speaking of strikers, the biggest expectations really came from Marcelo Zalayeta, back to his first starting role since his serious Winter knee injury. El Panterón certainly had a point to prove tonight after so many months on the sidelines, and animated the Napoli attack with great determination (alongside Inacio Pià). Zalayeta’s short-range accuracy was still deficient however, much to the contrary of his Brazilian counter-part (scorer of the 2-0 goal).

And while we’re on the subject of strikers, one must make a necessary reference to the “Napoli Argentine club”, Ezequiel Lavezzi in particular. El Pocho was, alongside Rinaudo, the main protagonist of tonight and this despite not even starting the game. His entrance in minute 70 litterally resulted in an explosion of joy for the crowd, which grew even greater after his 4-0 tally (too “easy” almost, after yet another Vllaznia defensive mistake).

To cap up a productive evening, Marek Hamsik put his signature on goal nº5, another easy tap-in well set-up by German Denis. A triumphant 5-0, to say the least. Let’s see now if Reja’s boys can repeat their performance for their Serie A opener, this Sunday against Roma.

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 S.S.C. Napoli NAPOLI-VLLAZNIA
5-0
[Match Highlights]
KS Vllaznia Shkodër
GOALSCORERS: 41’, 53’ Rinaudo (N), 52’ Pià (N), 79’ Lavezzi (N), 88’ Hamsik (N)
NAPOLI (3-5-2): Gianello – Santacroce, P.Cannavaro, Rinaudo – Montervino, Pazienza, Gargano, Dalla Bona (62’ Hamsik), Grava – Zalayeta (76’ Denis), Pià (68’ Lavezzi). (bench: Iezzo, Bruno, Blasi, Maggio). Coach: Reja.
VLLAZNIA (4-4-2): Grimaj – Beqiri, Smajlaj, Bashiq, Lici – Osja, Belisha (85’ Hoti), Doci, Bohadu (84’ Kaci) – Sinani, Nallbani. (bench: Ndoja, Rrabostha, Shtubina, Mohammed, Balaj). Coach: Canaj.

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UEFA Champions League 2008-09 – Group Stage DRAW

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

The draw for the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League 2008-09 took place in Monaco today, at 18:00 CET. (I LIVEBLOGGED the event over at Soccerlens by the way, for anyone interested)

Inter Milan got the best draw of the lot, Juventus and Roma will be facing tough opponents such as Real Madrid and Chelsea (respectively), while the one having it toughest is without a doubt Fiorentina (with Lyon, Bayern Munich, and Steaua Bucharest).

I’ll make a more elaborate analysis later on, but for now here are the draw results.

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Group A
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Group B
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Chelsea
Chelsea
Inter Milan
Inter Milan
AS Roma
Roma
Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen
Girondins de Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos
CFR Cluj
CFR Cluj
Anorthosis Famagusta FC
Anorthosis

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Group C
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Group D
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Barcelona
Barcelona
Liverpool
Liverpool
Sporting Lisbon
Sporting Lisbon
PSV Eindhoven
PSV Eindhoven
FC Basel
Basel
Marseille
Marseille
Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar Donetsk
Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid

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Group E
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Group F
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Manchester United
Man Utd
Olympique Lyonnais
Lyon
Villareal
Villareal
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich
Celtic
Celtic
Steaua Bucharest
Steaua Bucharest
Aalborg BK
Aalborg
Fiorentina
Fiorentina

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Group G
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Group H
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Arsenal
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Real Madrid
FC Porto
Porto
Juventus
Juventus
Fenerbahce
Fenerbahce
Zenit St. Petersburg
Zenit
Dynamo Kiev
Dynamo Kiev
FC Bate Borisov
Bate Borisov