This week saw the semi final first leg of this season’s Champions League, played out to much hype and hysteria at Schalke’s Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen and the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid.
Yet while the eyes of many may have been on Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi & co., this writer was keeping a closer look out for Thursday’s Europa League semi final clashes.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the Europa League or Uefa Cup as it was known then was held in some regard by English football fans, with some classic matches and memories to savour. And whilst the memory of “that night in Istanbul” will remain fresh in the minds of many a Liverpool fan, few talk about arguably one of the greatest European finals ever featuring the Reds back in 2001.
Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion was the setting for an epic encounter between Liverpool and surprise Spanish package Alaves.
The Merseysiders had overcome some top teams to get their too, with the likes of Porto, Roma and Barcelona dispatched on route to the final. What followed was a glorious game of open attacking football coupled with often suicidal defending and a final score that read Liverpool 5 Alaves 4!
More recently, there was the extraordinary run of Steve McClaren’s Middlesborough in 2006, which culminated in a stunning semi final comeback that saw the Teesiders overturn a three goal aggregate deficit to win with four second half goals.
Last season Fulham were the English heroes in the competition, reaching the final after momentous wins over the likes of Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk. But whilst the Cottagers and Roy Hodgson engaged fully with the tournament, there’s been a growing sense that the Europa league is something to be dismissed by English sides, which see other competitions as being more important.
The rot started with Gary Megson and Bolton. Back in 2008 the Trotters had just beaten Atletico Madrid over two legs to set up a first ever appearance in the last 16 of a major European competition.
Yet despite claiming a decent 1-1 draw at home to Sporting Lisbon, Megson opted to field a reserve side for the second leg and consequently lost 1-0. The reason given was that Bolton were facing relegation rivals Wigan Athletic at the weekend. The problem was that they then lost to the Latics anyway, leaving their fans somewhat short changed.
Ask any Birmingham fan today whether they would have swapped survival for what proved to be a successful tilt at the Carling Cup for instance and they will tell you – they would take the chance at Silverware any time.
The recent malaise shown by some is best exemplified with Aston Villa. In back to back seasons, the very capable Midlands club have narrowly missed out on Champions League football, falling into the Europa League. Yet then in two years running, Villa opted to field weakened sides in qualifying for the tournament and promptly lost, thus depriving their fans of a season of European glory nights.
All of which is in stark contrast to two of Thursday’s semi finalists – Villarreal and Porto.
The Spanish side missed out of Champions League qualification last year but have been in fine form in the Europa League, scoring 23 goals on route to the semi final. The highlights have included an 8-2 aggregate demolishing of FC Twente and the 5-3 two legged win over the hotly tipped Bayer Leverkusen.
Whilst midfielders like Cani and Borja Valero have dazzled, the front pairing of Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi have won plaudits from fans and neutrals alike with a string of attacking displays.
Porto meanwhile, came off the back of a season to forget in their native land. Yet in what many brand Europe’s second class competition, they have produced football worthy of the Champions League.
Former Sporting favourite João Moutinho has been given a new lease of life, whilst up front the irrepressible Hulk has impressed yet somehow been eclipsed by the exploits of his strike partner Radamel Falcao. The 25 year old Columbian has had quite a journey in his career. A highly rated youngster at River Plate, Falcao suffered a cruciate ligament knee injury that many feared would curtail his career and any hopes of making a name in Europe.
But the youngster did make a full recovery and has never looked back since signing for Porto in 2009. At present, he is the top scorer in the Europa League with 11 goals, one more than Rossi and looks set to join recent gold boot alumni like John Dahl Tomasson and Henrik Larsson.
The Portuguese giants have put on quite a show so far, firstly with their dispatching of favourites CSKA Moscow, who maintained a 100% record through the group stage. In the last round too, Porto went into overdrive with a 10-3 aggregate with over CSKA’s compatriot’s Spartak Moscow.
With the second semi final offering up an all Portuguese affair between underdogs Braga and sleeping giants Benfica who boast the likes of Pablo Aimar, Nicolas Gaitán and Javier Saviola, there’s plenty to look forward to with both games.
Newcastle United fans may also catch a glimpse of former player Hugo Viana, who is back in form and pulling the strings for the minnows that have already dispatched Liverpool and Manchester City’s conqueror’s Dynamo Kiev.
With mainland Europe still engaged with the competition on a year in year out basis, the question remains. How do you get the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester City engaged in a tournament that is aimed at their level (those places just outside the top four) and which they could stand a chance of winning?
One simple way would be to do away with a system which allowed Atletico Madrid to win last year despite only actually “winning” three games in Europe all season. By taking away the consolation prize of the Europa league from the Champions’ League group stage, there may be some dead rubber matches but then the value of competition in the Europa knock out stages would not be diminished.
The second step is even easier, whilst the Europa League may offer little reward financially, by giving the winner an automatic spot in the group stage of next season’s Champions League, suddenly there is something very valuable to play for too.
Some, like José Mourinho and his Porto side of the early 2000s, have used Europa League success as a stepping stone to Champions League progression. And so if winning the Europa League made this progression automatic, Uefa could certainly have the likes of Spurs and Liverpool taking a different attitude to the tournament.
But for now, with the matches fast approaching and Thursday offering another chance to witness Porto’s “New Mourinho” Andre Villas Boas at work, there remains plenty on offer in the Europa League of today..