French test for United as Celtic face Juve baptism of fire
The huge coffers of the European Champions League may give the impression of being a bottomless pit but two of this year's favourites are finding out the hard way that however much money flows in it is still no guarantee of success.
The huge coffers of the European Champions League may give the impression of being a bottomless pit but two of this year's favourites are finding out the hard way that however much money flows in it is still no guarantee of success.
England's Manchester United face a French test in Lille, one of the more unknown quantities in a French league which has made only a modest impact to date on Europe's premier club competition, but will not be underestimating their guests as the English Premiership champions regroup following Saturday's loss at Newcastle.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side, crowned European champions in 1999, smashed open the piggy bank over the summer to land the likes of Juan Sebastian Veron for 40 million dollars from Lazio and 27 million dollars to sign Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV Eindhoven.
But although individually they have bedded down well at Old Trafford United have still only managed two league wins in five attempts this season.
That is a story fellow Champions League travellers Real Madrid, tournament winners in 1998 and 2000 and continental champions on six other occasions, know all too well.
The money no object Spaniards ploughed 65.9 million dollars into signing Zinedine Zidane from Juventus having already last year splashed 56 million on Portuguese midfielder Figo.
Put the two together and what do Real have? One draw and two defeats from their opening three games and a not very impressive 16th place in the Primera Liga for a hugely disappointing return, at least domestically, on the
investment.
Add to that the fact that Zidane is suspended until the closing stages of the first group phase and Real are in the doldrums ahead of Wednesday's visit of Lokomotiv Moscow - although they appear well on the way to qualifying
having won at AS Roma last week.
Fortunately for both United and Real their keenness to dominate the continent will sharpen their focus this week as the footballing world moves grimly on from the terror in New York and Washington which gripped everyone a week ago and forced UEFA to take the unprecedented step of postponing the entire Wednesday and Thursday programme of European competition.
Those games, which had been to include United's match at Olympiakos of Greece, will now take place on October 10.
United rank as the clearest of favourites against Lille, depsite the four goals they shipped at Newcastle which meant that a defence which included World Cup winners Fabien Barthez in goal and Laurent Blanc at centre half currently rates the third leakiest in the Premiership.
Canny to a fault, Ferguson, who wants to retire with the trophy in his arms in Glasgow next May, will not take the French lightly as Saturday's win at Troyes moved the unbeaten Les Dogues (The Hounds) to within four points of leading pair Lens and Auxerre.
They also knocked out Parma in the preliminaries and Ferguson says he is forewarned.
"Their performance against Parma gets rid of all that nonsense about it being an easy game," said Ferguson, long since aware that there is no such thing these days.
The pair's Group G rivals, Spaniards Deportivo La Coruna and Olympiakos, face off in Spain.
Scottish champions Celtic, who had been due to make their debut at home to Norway's Rosenborg, face a rather stiffer opener - away to a Juventus side sitting pretty at the top of Serie A.
The Celts were the first British side to lift the trophy in 1967 - a year before United broke the English duck - and as well as fighting the likes of Juve are also having to contend with persistent reports linking coach Martin O'Neill to the soon to become vacant Old Trafford hotseat.
Celtic chairman Brian Quinn dismissed the reports as 'newspaper talk' which was "greatly exaggerated and without foundation."
O'Neill has a full strength squad to choose from following Saturday's 4-0 hammering of Dundee.
In the other Group E encounter Rosenborg host Porto. Group H should logically provide reigning champions Bayern Munich with a fairly clear run through to the next stage as they kick off at home to Sparta Prague, while Spartak Moscow welcome Dutch outfit Feyenoord.
Bayern's main concern is a growing injury crisis as defender Thomas Linke is out for some six weeks with a shoulder problem suffered in Saturday's narrow win over Freiburg.
Linke joins skipper Stefan Effenberg, Jens Jeremies and Mehmet Scholl on the treatment table.
Group F looks open for the taking as 1992 Barcelona travel to Turkey to face Fenerbahce while French side Lyon, who came close to making the quarters last season and who are looking increasingly assured in the French league, host Germany's Bayer Leverkusen.
The pick of Wednesday's matches see Real host Lokomotiv Moscow in Group A while rivals Anderlecht take on Roma, now desperate for points after their home loss to the Spaniards.
Liverpool travel to Dortmund, where they won the UEFA Cup in May. The pair met in the 1966 Cup Winners Cup final, Dortmund winning 2-1 - coincidentally in Glasgow, where both sides will be looking to feature in this season's Champions League final.