Europe’s Surprise Trio

Europe’s premier club competition is now well underway and 32 of the continent’s finest teams are all still in the running to reach the knockout phase next year. Mark Pickering assesses the credentials of three of the more noteworthy teams in this year's edition of the Champions League...

The tournament, which enters group Match Day Three on November 4th, is replete with squads that are the envy of world football and features no less than eight previous Champions League winners.  

While there’s the usual cast of mainstays like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, who are synonymous with the competition, there are also some little-known newcomers and returning sides in this year’s European showpiece.  

Three of the most intriguing entrants are Spanish standouts Atlético Madrid, Cypriot newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj.

The headline-grabbing trio have already made a splash in this year’s competition and are well placed to reach December’s draw for the knockout stages.  

Atlético are participating in the tournament for the eleventh time in their history and are intent on making up for lost time with their last appearance in the competition coming over a decade ago.  

Serbian Radomir Antić guided the Los Colchoneros to a famous league and cup double in 1996 and a much coveted Champions League berth.  

The double winners had a squad brimming with talent including Argentine legend Diego Simeone, Serbian playmaker Milinko Pantić, Madrid native Juan Manuel López and his widely popular countryman Kiko.  

The Spanish side won their group ahead of eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund but narrowly lost out 4-3 to defending champions Ajax in the quarter finals.  

Twelve years on and the Spaniards have a squad reminscent of their class of 1996.

Now under the stewardship of Mexican Javier Aguirre, whose best known for guiding perennial strugglers Osasuana to the brink of the Champions League, Atletico are well placed domestically and gearing towards European honours.  

The star-laden squad has a strong Argentine influence with 20-year-old prodigy Sergio Aguero, captain Maxi Rodriguez, veteran keeper Leo Franco, on loan midfielder Ever Banega as well as naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernia.

Aguirre’s ranks also prominently feature a Spanish core with namesakes Luis and Raul Garcia and their compatriot Antonio Lopez also holding key roles.  

The Mexican coach invested well in the summer, boosting his squad with a string of shrewd signings including Ajax’s John Heitinga, former French number one Gregory Coupet from Lyon, Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi and Porto’s Paulo Assunção.  

Their timely spending spree added much needed depth to the squad and all but ensured Atletico would be a force to be reckoned with this term. That has proved the case as the La Liga side produced a highly polished performance to convincingly beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in Holland in their opener and followed up with a gutsy 2-1 win at the Vincente Calderon against Marseille.  

Now Atletico lead the way in Group D with maximum points and have a mouthwatering double header against Fernando Torres’ Liverpool in their sights which will likely decide who finishes top of the group.  

With such a talented squad, an ambitious president and the astute Javier Aguirre at the helm the Spanish side were expected to perform admirably in their return to the competition but brushing aside Champions League regulars PSV and Marseille with such ease has raised eybrows.  

Atletico will keen to test their mettle against Liverpool and could well torment their former idol Torres.   

Elsewhere newboys Anorthosis Famagusta, who became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage and are one of the least fancied teams in the competition, are heroically topping Group B.

The little-known Cypriots overcome Greek giants Panathinaikos by three goals to one this week after a hard fought goalless draw away at Werder Bremen on Match Day One.  

Their resolute performance in Germany is the more commendable of their two impressive results as they kept out a free-scoring Werder Bremen side that had scored 18 goals in their previous six Bundesliga games and thumped Bayern Munich 5-2 a fortnight ago.  

Despite their stellar start to their first ever Champions League campaign their efforts have gone largely unnoticed.  

The Old Lady, who are coached by charismatic Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia, might be newcomers to European competition at the highest level but they do boast a wealth of international experience in terms of personnel and some familiar names.  

Former Real Madrid and Brazil star Savio, much travelled former Bordeaux man Paula Costa, former Portsmouth midfielder Giannis Skopelitis and towering Greek defender Traianos Dellas, once of AS Roma, all ply their trade with the Cypriot Champions.  

They may not be household names or at the height of their careers but collectively form a cohesive side who are relishing their first foray in the Champions League.  

The Cypriots have a daunting couple of games against Italian giants Inter ahead but will take heart from their two group games so far and strive to remain in the hunt for an unlikely place in the next round.  

Fellow newcomers CFR Cluj-Napoca have been the darlings of the tournament so far and attracted plaudits as well as unprecedented mainstream attention after beating AS Roma in Italy and holding last year’s finalists Chelsea to a stalemate.  

The Romanian Champions, who have an international flavour with ten South American players on their books, five Portuguese, three Ivorians, a Canadian and a handful of Romanians, have wildly exceeded expections.   

The Champions League newcomers stunned Roma in their first game in the competition with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and in doing so sent shockwaves through European football.  

CFR Cluj proved their result in Italy was far from a fortunate one by taking the game to Chelsea in Romania and could well have emerged with all three points.

Six years ago they were among footballing backwaters in the the third tier of Romanian football - now they’ve become the first team from outside Bucharest to win Liga 1 in 17 years and are more than holding their own against Europe’s elite.  

The latest chapter in their meteoric rise is being overseen by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta who will be looking for more of the same in the crucial double header against bottom placed Bordeaux. 

Mark Pickering