Tiros Libres: A “Million” Reasons to Watch
By: Christian | September 17th, 2007
The best competition in world football begins this week, and if you think I’m talking about the Copa Sudamericana, this is NOT the post for you. The UEFA Champions League kicks off on Tuesday, and as you can see below, several former players who have passed through the Monumental are set to appear. I’ve highlighted the matches below in which former millonarios are on the squad; for the full fixture list, make sure to check out the CL blog on The Offside.
Tuesday
Porto: Luis “Lucho” González, Ernesto “Tecla” Farías
Liverpool: Javier Mascherano
The Future Stars of Chelsea host the Former Stars of Spain. There are 3 gallinas between both teams here, and with Tecla coming in as a second half sub in Porto’s 1-0 victory over Maritimo this past weekend, it’s possible that all 3 could be on the pitch at the same time.
Real Madrid: Javier Saviola, Gonzalo “Pipita” Higuaín
Werder Bremen
Easily the game of the week. Unless recent history repeats itself, Madrid are clear favorites to win this year; at worst they have to be considered semifinalists. Even better for them, both Saviola and Higuaín scored in Madrid’s 3-1 win over Almeria on Saturday (Pipita’s was a beauty, you can watch both here). To make things worse for Bremen, Madrid also have rising star Wesley Sneijder. And Ruud. And Robinho. And Robben…
Olympiacos: Cristian Ledesma
Lazio
I honestly don’t follow either team, but I do know Ledesma could use a change a pace after blemishing his resume with his time at San Lorenzo de Amargo. Olympiacos, by the way, have also been linked with current River defender Cristian Nasuti.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Celtic
As you can see there is no River connection so far as I can tell, but we should all be rooting for Celtic. From what I understand, some Celtic fans formed a friendship with us after we played Rangers in a friendly a few years back in the States. And, who wouldn’t want to root against a team that has Nery Castillo on it?
Wednesday
Again, no River connection, but I’m all for Lyon here. Sure, they may have beaten us in the Peace Cup, but Barcelona treated Saviola worse than a wet rag, so let’s hope they get stuffed.
Fenerbahçe
Inter Milan: Julio Cruz, Hernán Crespo, Esteban Cambiasso, Santiago Solari, Nelson “Tyson” Rivas
Enough said. Although with all due respect to Inter, it wasn’t like they had the most difficult time qualifying last year.
Who do I think will win the Cup? It’s too early to tell which G14 team will go all the way, but if I had to choose one, I would say Real Madrid, with Liverpool, unfortunately, right behind them.
Category: Players Abroad
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