After months of qualification and preliminary-round play, the European Champions League finally became worthy of its name last week.
The top 16 club teams on the continent began the second phase of group play Tuesday and Wednesday with the favorites coming through unscathed except for one–defending champion Manchester United.
Manchester suffered a 2-0 loss to Fiorentina in Florence, Italy. Gabriel Batistuta and Abel Balbo had the goals for Fiorentina to leave United at the bottom of Group B after the first round.
“There were no doubts about this victory,” Fiorentina coach Giovanni Trappattoni said. “We played one of our best games since we started this season. I have to say that the players were very concentrated and focused on the match.”
Fiorentina’s form didn’t hold through the weekend; it was held to a 0-0 tie Saturday in Bologna. Fiorentina is tied for eighth in Italian Serie A.
Real Madrid and Lazio posted impressive victories on the road. Madrid battled the cold and snow in its 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Kiev, Ukraine. Despite struggling in the Spanish First Division, which cost coach John Toshack his job, Madrid continues to impress in Europe.
“Under such playing conditions, I can call our performance simply a heroic one,” new Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque said.
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Lazio rebounded from a humiliating loss to city rival Roma in last weekend’s Serie A play. The Rome-based club, which suffered its first loss in league play to Roma, shut out Marseille 2-0 Wednesday. The loss was costly for Marseille coach Rolland Courbis. Under fire by the Marseille supporters before the match, Courbis was fired Thursday.
London club Chelsea, another squad struggling at home in the English Premier League, had little trouble in its 3-1 victory over Feyenoord.
Group play resumes Dec. 7 and 8. The top two teams from each of the four groups advance to the quarterfinals in April. The final will be played May 24.
Playoff time: The Mexican winter season begins its playoffs with Pachuca and Morelia playing for the eighth spot in the tournament. Toluca, UAG, Cruz Azul, Atlas, America, Necaxa and Guadalajara have already qualified.
Still wanted: Jorge Campos’ team, UNAM Pumas, did not qualify for the winter playoffs. MLS officials said last week that they would welcome a return by the colorful goalkeeper.
“Jorge Campos has been a good friend to MLS, and we expect to have him back,” said Ivan Gazidis, MLS executive vice president.
Sunil Gulati, head of Kraft soccer and a good friend of Campos, said he was invited to spend Christmas in Acapulco with Campos. One of the teams of which Gulati is in charge is the San Jose Earthquakes, one club that Campos has been rumored set to join.
“Jorge Campos can play any position anytime he wants on any club of mine,” Gulati said.
Conflicting reports: Last week Gazidis said that, despite reports out of Germany, Major League Soccer expects Lothar Mattheaus to report to the MetroStars in January. Mattheaus said Thursday, however, that he would stay with his German club, Bayern Munich, through March so he could play in Champions League matches.
“To achieve the most with Bayern and the (German) national team, it would be good for me to stay here to prepare for the European Championships,” Mattheaus said. “I would be ready to do that if the two clubs can reach an agreement.”
As of last weekend, Munich officials have yet to officially ask MLS to allow Mattheaus to stay. Mattheaus is under contract with MLS starting in January.
Break ’em up: What has made D.C. United’s success so impressive is that after every championship, it has had to unload one of its starters because of salary-cap limits. The trend continued Friday when it sent forward Roy Lassiter and his 18 goals to Miami to complete a midseason trade.