Daily Mail - 30.08.2019

90

(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
90 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW
CAN CITY
FINALLY
LAND THE
BIG ONE?
THE ROAD TO
M
anchester
city’s latest
attempt to win
their first
champions
League title was given an
early boost when they
landed a dream group
here yesterday.
and last season’s winners
Liverpool will also be confident
of progress — despite having to
once again face feared Italians
napoli.
however, it was a north-south
divide for the english clubs on a
balmy night, with London pair
chelsea and tottenham given
tough assignments.
city, the favourites, should
have no trouble seeing off
Italians atalanta, croatians
Dinamo Zagreb and Ukrainians
shakhtar Donetsk, who they
will face for a third successive
season in a group they must
expect to top by some way.
Getting out of the group will
not be the problem for city, it
will be taking those steps deep
into the competition which —
amazingly under Pep Guardiola
— they have failed to do. they
have not made the last four in
the three years the spaniard
has been at the helm.
In fact, Guardiola’s relation-
ship with ‘old big ears’ has
cooled dramatically since he
lifted the trophy in 2011 with
Barcelona. he also failed to
guide Bayern to a final in his
three seasons at the allianz.
But city director of football
txiki Begiristain believes
Guardiola’s side, who suffered a
heartbreaking, Var-triggered
exit to spurs in last season’s
quarter-final, can end their long
wait for europe’s biggest prize.
‘We know we can get close to
this trophy,’ said the spaniard.
‘One day it is going to come. We
have to keep fighting. We have
to keep going in our way, our
style. I think we have shown we
can win trophies. We have to be
ourselves.’
Liverpool drawing napoli, who
they defeated and lost to in last
season’s competition, was met
with groans in the red half of
Merseyside. Jurgen Klopp’s side
will need to finish above austri-
ans salzburg and Belgian side
Genk to progress.
Virgil van Dijk, who was
crowned Uefa Men’s Player of
the Year last night, said: ‘every-
one wants to beat us. We have
to fight every game. napoli have
a fantastic squad, we know how
good they are.’
Klopp sounded a similar note.
‘It’s not an easy group and not a
group where we can hide behind
anybody,’ he said.
spurs, who lost in the final to
Liverpool last time, take on
German giants Bayern Munich,
Greeks Olympiacos and ser-
bians red star Belgrade.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men
have had a patchy start to
the season and will clearly need
to be at their best. frank
Lampard’s chelsea, banned
from signing players this sea-
son, clash with last season’s
shock semi-finalists ajax,
spaniards Valencia and french
side Lille.
technical performance advi-
sor Petr cech, who bizarrely
was involved in the draw despite
his club affiliation, looked on
the bright side.
‘It’s not an easy group because
it’s very even, all the teams have
a lot of quality,’ he said.
‘It’s one of those where every-
one can beat everybody and
this makes it very interesting.
We can be satisfied because we
avoided long travel, which is
one of the positives.’
elsewhere, a brutal Group f
features Barcelona, Borussia
Dortmund, Inter Milan and
slavia Prague.
cristiano ronaldo, who missed
out to Van Dijk for the player
award, joked later about his
relationship with Lionel Messi.
‘It’s good,’ he said. ‘We have not
had dinner yet! We have had a
battle for 15 years — he pushed
me and I pushed him.’
Later, england’s Lucy Bronze
was named the Uefa Women’s
Player of the Year.
Istanbul’s ataturk Olympic
stadium will host the final on
May 30. servet Yardimci, the
turkish football federation vice-
president, has promised the city
will not experience the organi-
sational problems which dogged
the 2005 final between Liverpool
and ac Milan staged there.
‘In 2005 it was really too early
for us,’ he admitted. ‘now it’s
different. We are more than
prepared to be able to cope.’
GROUP A
PSG
REAL MADRID

THE BIG NIGHTS

Sep 18: Bruges v Galatasaray; PSG v R Madrid

Nov 26: R Madrid v PSG, Galatasaray v Bruges

CLUB BRUGES

GALATASARAY

GROUP B

BAYERN MUNICH

TOTTENHAM

TOTTENHAM’S FIXTURES

Sep 18: v Olympiacos (a); Oct 1: v B Munich (h)

Oct 22: v Red Star (h); Nov 6: v Red Star (a)

Nov 26: v Olympiacos (h); Dec 11: v B Munich (a)

OLYMPIACOS

RED STAR BELGRADE

GROUP C

MAN CITY

SHAKHTAR DONETSK

MAN CITY’S FIXTURES

Sep 18: v Shakhtar (a); Oct 1: v D Zagreb (h)

Oct 22: v Atalanta (h); Nov 6: v Atalanta (a)

Nov 26: v Shakhtar (h); Dec 11: v D Zagreb (a)

DINAMO ZAGREB

ATALANTA

GROUP D

JUVENTUS

ATLETICO MADRID

THE BIG NIGHTS

Sep 18: A Madrid v Juve, Leverkusen v L Moscow

Nov 26: Juve v A Madrid, L Moscow v Leverkusen

B LEVERKUSEN

LOK MOSCOW

GROUP E

LIVERPOOL

NAPOLI

LIVERPOOL’S FIXTURES

Sep 17: v Napoli (a); Oct 2: v Salzburg (h)

Oct 23: v Genk (a); Nov 5: v Genk (h)

Nov 27: v Napoli (h); Dec 10: v Salzburg (a)

SALZBURG

GENK

GROUP F

BARCELONA

B DORTMUND

THE BIG NIGHTS

Sep 17: Inter v Slavia; Dortmund v Barcelona

Nov 27: Barcelona v Dortmund; Slavia v Inter

INTER MILAN

SLAVIA PRAGUE

GROUP G

ZENIT

BENFICA

THE BIG NIGHTS

Oct 2: Zenit v Benfica; Leipzig v Lyon

Dec 10: Lyon v Leipzig; Benfica v Zenit

LY O N

LEIPZIG

GROUP H

CHELSEA

AJAX

CHELSEA’S FIXTURES

Sep 17: v Valencia (h); Oct 2: v Lille (a)

Oct 23: v Ajax (a); Nov 5: v Ajax (h)

Nov 27: v Valencia (a); Dec 10: v Lille (h)

VALENCIA

LILLE

ALL GAMES TO BE SHOWN LIVE ON

MIKE

KEEGAN

reports from

Monaco

Cantona wins award...and quotes King Lear!

ERIC CANTONA gained a

reputation for eccentricity

during his time as a

Manchester United player —

and yesterday he lived up to

that billing two decades on.

The Frenchman, who

retired in 1997, was

introduced before the

Champions League draw in

Monaco and presented with

the 2019 President’s Award,

in recognition of his playing

career and commitment to

charitable causes after it.

In a room full of suits, the

53-year-old wore a red

open-necked shirt, flat cap

and slacks and gave a

typically philosophical

speech, beginning with a

quote from Shakespeare’s

King Lear. ‘As flies to

wanton boys, we are for the

Gods. They kill us for the

sport,’ he said. ‘Soon the

science will not only be able

to throw down the ageing

of the cells; soon the

science will fix the cells to

the state, and so we’ll

become eternal.

‘Only accidents, crimes,

wars will still kill us. But

unfortunately, crimes and

wars will multiply. I love

football. Thank you.’

After a pause, an apparently

bemused audience — which

included a puzzled-looking

Cristiano Ronaldo sitting

next to great rival Lionel

Messi and apparently not a

scholar of the Bard — burst

into applause.

Cantona gave an infamous

press conference after his

kung-fu kick on a Crystal

Palace fan in January 1995,

observing that ‘when the

seagulls follow the trawler,

it’s because they think

sardines will be thrown into

the sea.’

By MIKE KEEGAN

Eccentric: Cantona with his award REUTERS

Well, they’ve got easy draw for starters