Champions League 2012-13: Tribute to the teams eliminated, Part I

There were sixteen teams that said goodbye to the Champions League after the group stage. Some of them deserved a bit more, and some of them, as it happens regularly, were simply too unprepared for the biggest club tournament. The biggest names in this parade of losers are the English teams Chelsea and Manchester City, embarrassingly appeared on the wrong side of the Champions League play-offs. It was a huge blow for the two French teams from Montpellier and Lille to occupy the last position in their groups. Zenit and Benfica didn’t perform on the level expected. BATE, Anderlecht, Cluj and Olympiacos were the teams, enthusiasm of which will be missed in this Champions League.  

Ajax Amsterdam, Netherlands

Group D, 6+1=1-4 8-16, Position 3

Having a decent squad, the Dutch champions were one of the biggest
outsiders of the group stage anyway. They were unlucky to appear in the same group with the champions of the best three European leagues. They didn’t qualify to the next round, but surprisingly enough, managed to earn four points in the matches against Manchester City. This was already a big achievement in this “group of death”. Their matches with the two group winners showed that Frank De Boer’s team was not able to get better results. They conceded 13 goals in these four matches. The last chance was lost in the away match against Real, where the team got destroyed by Jose Mourinho’s team. Ajax’s captain Siem de Jong scored three goals in this tournament. The team will have better chances to go further in the Europa League.

BATEBorisov, Belarus

Group F, 6+2=0-4 9-15, Position 3

The team, claiming to become the biggest breakthrough of the Champions League 2012-13, lost all of its last four matches. Especially crucial was their third match, where the Belarusian champions had to play against Valencia. They couldn’t contain the pressure around them and lost that match, preventing themselves from going to the next round. The only target left was not losing Lille by three goals, which was achieved and the team qualified for the Europa League, where Viktor Goncharenko’s team might continue its amazing season. 7 players managed to score for BATE in this group stage, with Renan Bressan and Vitali Rodionov becoming the topscorers with 2 goals.

Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium

Group C, 6+1=2-3 4-9, Position 4

John van den Brom can be satisfied with his team in this Champions League. They were initially drawn in a group against three powerful teams. The situation didn’t turn to be chanceless, as all of the three had appeared in crises of various degrees. Anderlecht managed to show some decent performance once against each opponent. This was not enough to even qualify for the Europa League. The team had built a good base for good results, but the defeat in the home match against Milan decided all. Anderlecht had to concentrate on the domestic league for the rest of the season. Dieumerci Mbokani scored half of Anderlecht’s goals in this group stage.   

Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia

Group A, 6+0=1-5 1-14, Position 4

There is not much to say about a team, that scores its first goal of the tournament from a penalty on the 93^rd minute of the last match. The Croatian champions have been the weakest team of the Champions League 2012-13, and the devastating defeats had to follow, no matter which group they appeared. Compared to their last season performance, however, the Zagreb team was now strong enough not to concede seven in one single match. The replacement of Ante Cacic by Krunoslav Jurcic before the last Champions League matchday was targeted to the next Champions League edition.

Chelsea, London, England

Group E, 6+3=1-2 16-10, Position 3

For the first time in the Champions League history the defending Champions of Champions and the most scoring team of the group stage got eliminated from further participation. Everything was going all right. It seemed like a draw against Juventus, a mandatory win in Denmark and 3 points against Shakhtar were still leaving Chelsea good chances to go to the next round, however, there came the embarrassing defeat in Italy, where Chelsea players not only lost all they had gathered, but also their Champions League winning manager Roberto Di Matteo. Rafael Benitez did all he could, motivating the team to devastate Nordsjælland in the last match, but the damage had already been done. In fact, the team that won the Champions League last year and the team we saw now were two different teams. The first one including heroes like Drogba and Lampard was Villas-Boas’s Chelsea, which Di Matteo got as a legacy and succeeded. This season he had to build his own team with his own players. The problem is that the team was showing instable results. Roman Abramovich couldn’t tolerate any more. Chelsea was objectively weaker than Juventus and Shakhtar. Anyway, despite being deservedly eliminated, the London team discovered a new fantastic trio for us, introducing Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar. The talented Brazilian managed to score five goals in his six appearances.

Manchester City, England

Group D, 6+0=3-3 7-11, Position 4

Becoming one of only four teams in the Champions League group stage not winning a single match was definitely not what Roberto Mancini’s team had showed up to the tournament  for. Of course, the group was not an easy one, but this is not an excuse. The fact is that Manchester City showed some dreadful football, and in consequence got thrown out of the tournament, not even getting a chance to participate in the Europa League. Maybe things could have turned better, had Cristiano Ronaldo not scored that last minute winner in the first match, but in all the matches, including that first one, Joe Hart had to make a save after save, to keep his team alive. It is strange to see a team managed by an Italian and still making basic mistakes in defense. The players were apparently not too engaged in Mancini’s switches from three to four defenders and vice-versa. While the team was making these mistakes, the opponents were winning over the weakest team of the group, Ajax. Manchester City couldn’t do this, and appeared in the last position. They need to thank Joe Hart for conceding only 11 goals.

Benfica Lisbon, Portugal

Group G, 6+2=2-2 5-5, Position 3

The Portuguese club was believed to clinch the second place in the group and try to repeat its last year success, when the team reached the quarterfinals and lost to the eventual winners there. Jorge Jesus’s side wasn’t so passionate about the tournament, though. Failures in two important matches decided their faith, which is now related to the Europa League. The Lisbon team lost to Spartak in Moscow, thus becoming the only team to award the Russian team any points, and then failed to score in the last match, where they met Barcelona’s experimental squad. Had they been successful in any of these two matches, it would be their fans to dream of a better opponent in the Champions League Round of 16. Benfica’s leader Oscar Cardozo was the only one from the team that scored more than once in this tournament. It happened in the same match against Spartak at home, when Cardozo could even score his third, but missed a penalty.

Sporting Braga, Portugal

Group H, 6+1=0-5 7-13, Position 4

The unluckiest of all the Champions League participants were the players of Jose Peseiro. The group members were pretty likely to beat, but the circumstances went totally wrong for the team. For example, the team lost the first match to Cluj having attempted 35 shots. Then it was time to play against Manchester United. By the time the Englanders reached their encounters against Braga’s competitors, they were totally unmotivated, while the matches against the Portuguese were won uncompromisely. The last meaningful match was the one against the same Cluj. Braga lost this match and got relegated from the European tournaments. The best player of the team was surely Alan. The Brazilian forward scored five of his team’s seven Champions League goals.

Read Part II