Europe: Matchday 2 Previews

By: Sarah | September 28th, 2009

Champions League

It’s that time again already. The next couple of days will see Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse (Europa League) and Lille (Europa League) matched up against some of the strongest teams in Europe (and arguably the world).

Debreceni vs. Lyon (Tuesday, 9/29)

Preview: This may be Debreceni’s first time in the Champion’s League and they may have lost their first game to Liverpool, but the team is only feeling more confident since their narrow 1-0 loss at Anfield. The Hungarians will look to preserve their 100% home record on Tuesday as they face Puel’s team which will be missing several key players (Lopez, Boumsong, Bodmer and Bastos). Despite these setbacks, Lyon will look to add to their game 1 win. They can take confidence in their comparative wealth of experience and their fantastic away record in Europe (winning 10 and just losing two away games since 04/05). Also, check the The Offside-Lyon blog tomorrow to see if they post a match preview.

Prediction: Lyon will win 1-0. It will be close. Lyon’s injuries will make it even closer than usual. But, I think they will crank out a very close win.

Bordeaux vs. Maccabi Haifa (Wednesday, 9/30)

Preview: Haifa will hope their historical success against French teams continues on Wednesday when they travel to Bordeaux. Their most recent European match in France was in the 98/99 Uefa Cup group stage against PSG. Haifa managed a draw in Paris, went on to beat PSG 3-2 at home and rode the momentum of that victory until the Quarterfinals. They also managed a 3-1 win against Auxerre in the 06/07 Uefa Cup competition. Bordeaux, on the other hand, have never faced an Israeli team. But the Girondins are notoriously strong at home, having only lost one home game in their last ten European matches (3-1 loss to Roma last year). Also, check the The Offside-Bordeaux blog tomorrow to see if they post a match preview.

Prediction: Bordeaux will win 2-1. They are confident, in form and focused.

Real Madrid vs. Marseille (Wednesday, 9/30)

Preview: Check out Rich’s excellent match preview on The Offside-OM blog here. I agree with Rich– I think we have a chance. However, I am concerned about the team just rolling over and accepting defeat the moment they step out onto the pitch. In today’s press conference, our two most experienced players admitted that the team was nervous (including themselves). Morientes stated in today’s press conference that OM needed to be physical in order to get respect from Real, and that the OM team is at a serious disadvantage because most of the players had never played in such an intense atmosphere before. Heinze admitted that he was nervous about playing against his former team, especially Ronaldo. Let’s hope that these EXPERIENCED players can pull it together.

Prediction: 1-1 draw. Real will choke (as they often do in Europe), Sergio Ramos will go in for a ridiculous tackle and get a red card and Real will be forced to sit back with 10 men. I think that Benzema will continue to exert his in-front-of-goal dominance against Ligue 1 teams and be on target for Madrid.

Toulouse vs. Club Brugge KV (Europa League, Thursday, 10/1)

I’m going to be honest and admit I don’t know a lot about Toulouse and I don’t know anything about Club Brugge (Belgium) so take this preview and prediction with a grain of salt. For those people that do know stuff about Toulousse, consider blogging for the team on The Offside (more information here).

Preview: Toulouse will be looking to build on their 3-2 win over FK Partizan on matchday 1 and redeem themselves in their tough loss against Lyon this past weekend. Brugge will hope to make amends for their 4-1 opening game loss against title holders FC Shakhtar Donetsk. Neither team appear to gain a strong advantage from the game being played at Toulousse. Toulouse have only won one of their last six European home matches and Brugge haven’t won away in the last five matches. Neither team have ever qualified past the group stage in European competition.

Verdict: Toulouse will win 1-0. Take it with a grain of salt.

SK Slavia Praha vs. Lille (Europa League, Thursday, 10/1)

Preview: Drawing matchday 1 with Valencia 1-1, Lille will be hoping to make up ground by defeating Slavia at home. Slavia will hope for a historic first win against a French team in order to get their qualification back on track after being defeated 2-0 at Genoa. Four French teams have visited Slavia, registering two draws and two wins. Slavia will hope their home form continues, as their 3-0 win at home in qualifying was the first time in 4 European matches they managed to score at home. Also, make sure to check The Offside-Lille blog to see if they post a preview.

Verdict: Lille will win 1-0.