Champions League’s Underdog Story 2013

While the British teams decided to quit en masse and grow sweet potatoes, and the only football team us Indians know — Manchester United — fell at the last 16, these underdogs went the distance... Sans Messi, sans Ronaldo.

Malaga FC

Estd: April 3, 1904. Owner: Abdullah Al-Thani. Rank: 59. Stars: Isco, Martin Demichelis and Jérémy Toulalan. Upsets: AC Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg.

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The fairy tale story began in June 2010 when Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani, member of the Qatari royal family, bought the club. He pumped in so much money that Malaga FC recruited players with the lure of high salaries. But after a year with investors wanting to pull out, the club had no other choice other than to sell top players. All was not gloom and doom as they made their debut in the Champions League. Pitted against AC Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Anderlecht, Malaga managed to win their first leg of the Group Stage matches and top the table. In the round of 16, they showcased their class and defeated FC Porto. Unfortunately, they lost to Borussia Dortmund by a narrow margin in the second leg, but no one can take the success away from them.

Playmaker: After offloading Cazorla, 20-year-old Isco has marshalled the midfield and created and scored goals. In eight matches, Isco has assisted 4 goals and has scored three times. Special mention must go to the duo of Martin Demichelis and Jérémy Toulalan, who provided rock solid defence and kept a check on the opponent’s strikers.

Manager of the team: Manuel Pellegrini has the ability to get inside the minds of his players and instil confidence in them. He’s now the only manager to have taken two different debutants to the quarterfinal stage after taking Villarreal to the semi-finals in 2006.

Borussia Dortmund

Estd: December 19, 1909. Owner: Club board members. Rank: 36. Stars: Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus. Upsets: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax.

This team showed promise by winning the Bundesliga for the last two years, but this season they tasted success in the continental league by topping the group of death and defeating Real Madrid, Dutch champions Ajax, and England’s richest team — Manchester City. The club believes in grooming young talent, mainly local players, rather than buying superstars since their limited budget doesn’t give them much of an option. After upsetting European powerhouses in the group stage, Shakhtar Donetsk was an easy opponent for Dortmund in the round of 16 while they made heavy weather of their quarter-final tie against Malaga. Dortmund continued their undefeated run as they beat Real Madrid 4-1 in the first leg of the semi-finals.

“Jur” the man: Jürgen Klopp has been the mastermind behind the team’s success. Since joining Borussia Dortmund in 2008, he has managed to win two consecutive Bundesliga titles and one German FA Cup. Klopp’s way of success is built on belief, passion, determination and great scouting.

Boy wonders: The midfielder Mario Götze is the toast of Borussia’s young talent. His passes pierce through the opponent’s defence and create goal-scoring opportunities for their striker, Robert Lewandowski. The Pole is the only player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final. Marco Reus has not only scored four goals but has also created scoring opportunities for his team.

Galatasaray

Estd: October 1, 1905. Owner: Club board members. Rank: 41. Stars: Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, Felipe Melo. Upsets: Manchester United, Schalke.

This Turkish club is a sporting institution that fields teams in many other sports like basketball, swimming, polo etc., and has been consistently taking part in this elite league. Strictly speaking, the only hurdle they had to face was Manchester United but their group stage matches started disastrously as they lost to the Red Devils and then to lowly Braga. But after that they remained undefeated till the quarterfinals. They also managed to defeat Man United at home. After finishing second in the group stage, Galatasaray faced a daunting task against Schalke. The Istanbul club drew at home but they made heavy weather of defeating the strong German outfit. The hard fought match ended 3-2 in favour of Galatasaray and they showed immense grit.

Mastermind: Fatih Terim may not have been able to fulfil his team’s dream of reaching the semi-finals but he has made everybody proud of the team. Terim’s plan was simple — get the best local talent and add some of the best players who’ve played this beautiful game.

Vintage performers: The January transfer period benefitted the team as they roped in the former Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba and the skilful Dutch captain, Wesley Sneijder. The striker has created two goals for his club. Sneijder, on the other hand, showed his passing during the quarterfinals second leg against Real Madrid. The defence is marshalled by Felipe Melo.

Paris Saint-Germain

Estd: August 12, 1970. Owner: Qatar Investment Authority. Rank: 19. Stars: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi. Upsets: Porto, Valencia.

The tale of PSG is quite simple. Qatar Investment Authority took over ownership of France’s most well-known football club and has successfully made it one of the wealthiest teams on the planet. But they have managed to justify their cash splashing policy with results like leading the domestic league and taking top honours in the group stage in the Champions League. PSG lost only one game to Porto, but the rest of the round robin matches were won clinically by them. After beating Valencia in the round of 16, many actually believed that this team could expose the great Barcelona’s weak defence and they almost did so, but two draws against the Catalans spelled doom for the team as they lost on the away goals rule. But technically speaking, the French outfit never lost to them.

Hitmen: Spearheaded by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi, PSG were a force to reckon with. With the playmaker Javier Pastore bamboozling the opponents with his dribbling skills, Ibrahimovic and company took care of finding the net. Lavezzi was the surprise leading goal scorer this time, but a lot of credit goes to team man Zlatan as he created goal-scoring opportunities.

Man in charge: Carlo Ancelotti is a seasoned coach who brought AC Milan out of the doldrums in 2001 and won many titles. He has a knack for understanding the limitations of his teams like PSG, and working on them to win titles. Carlo has managed to build a united team with superstar egos.

From the May 2013 issue of FHM India.