<font size="2"><strong class="gross">What's In Store For Werder In Champions League Group C?[/b]</font></p> Could Real Madrid really be worried? Why have Lazio Rome had so many big names on their books down the years but so little silverware in their trophy room? What is behind the fantastic run by Olypiakos Piraus? Werder’s Champions League Group C opponents in brief: Real Madrid: Weak at the knees when Germany calls? Thirty national championships, seventeen cup wins, six European Cups, three Champions League wins and two UEFA Cups – the legend that is ‘Real Madrid Club de Fútbol’. So successful has been the history of Real Madrid, FIFA named them ‘The Best Club Of The Twentieth Century’. There last title was won just a few months ago. On the last match day of the season, Madrid beat Real Mallorca to snatch the Spanish title away from their arch rivals FC Barcelona – the first league win since 2003. In the meantime Madrid had once finished in fourth place and twice in second – too little for a club of this scale and the reason behind the vast number of new trainers in such a short space of time. The clubs successes in the Champions League have also missed the mark in recent years and remained well behind expectations although they have been part of the elite group ten times in a row now and never having failed to get through to at least the last sixteen. All too often though, the second round was the end of the road, as in the last three years at the hands of Juventus Turin, Arsenal London and Bayern Munich. Maybe that lack of success was the reason that coach Fabio Capello had to bow out despite taking the league title last season. An old favourite had long since been top of the wanted list in Madrid. Between 1988 and 1990, Bernd Schuster played in the pristine white of Real and in recent years had become the talk of the nation as he constantly surpassed expectations as the coach of lesser known clubs, such as most recently Getafe. His task at Real now is not only to provide silverware but provide the kind of spectacular football, both magical and dominant, that was once the clubs trademark. And that at any cost!! In the close season, the club invested a hefty €120 million in new players including Dutch international Wesley Sneijder (Ajax), Arjen Robben (Chelsea) and Pepe (Porto). There were also a number of free transfers with Javier Saviola (Barcelona), Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool) and Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund) joining the club. Following a less than inspiring start and a Super Cup defeat to FC Seville (3:5, 0:1), Schuster’s men have been more emphatic in the league – and that without names such as Beckham (LA Galaxy), Emerson (Milan) and Roberto Carlos (Istanbul) who have all departed the club. “El Madrid”, as they are known in Spain, have a positive record against German clubs (19 wins, nine draws and sixteen defeats) but on German turf, Real have only won two of the 23 matches they have played. On 18.09, Werder will travel to ‘Estadio Santiago Bernabéu’ with the hope of proving successful in what was once one of the most feared locations by all of Europe’s top clubs and improve the record held by German clubs in Madrid. Lazio Rome: The two faces of the sky blues Known as ‘Biancocelesti’ due to their sky-blue and white jerseys, S.S. Lazio, Società Sportiva Lazio, is a name associated with the very cream of Italian football and a massive cauldron of a stadium – the Olympia Stadium, where Germany hoisted the World Cup in 1990. Players such as Alessandro Nesta, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Beppe Signiori, Hernan Crespo, Diego Simeone, Juan Veron. Pavel Nedved played there, as did Paul Gascoigne and Karlheinz Riedle left Bremen for Lazio some years ago. Plenty of big names have passed through the club but brought little success as they didn’t stay long enough to make a real difference. The club have won two league championships in their history (1974 and 2000), four Italian cups and in 1999 they managed to win the very last European Cup Winner’s Cup – their greatest international success. In the Serie A, Lazio have never been able to reach the dizzy heights of the likes of Juventus, Milan, Inter or Roma although they finished in the top six often throughout the 90’s. In the 1999/2000 Champions League, Lazio lost just two of their 14 games but FC Valencia proved too high a hurdle at the quarter final stage. In 2001 they reached the second round and in both 2002 and 2004, the Rome club failed to progress from their group. Last season, Lazio didn’t qualify for European participation thanks to a 16 point deduction passed down upon them for their part in the Italian manipulation scandal that cost Juventus their place in the top flight for a season. A poor start to the season was soon forgotten and by midway through, Lazio went on a stunning 15 match unbeaten run. Trainer Delio Rossi’s side never looked like challenging for the title but easily obtained a Champions League qualifying spot and overcame the task of Dinamo Bucharest (1:1, 3:1) to claim their place in the group stage. They will be in the spotlight in the Champions League with particular view to their fanatical supporters who have in recent years landed some bad press due to racist chanting and poor behaviour. Olympiakos Piräus: Local heroes but often European zeroes An amazing statistic. Olympiakos Piräus have won ten of the last eleven Greek championships and also taken three cups. Piräus are spoiled by success, but only in the Super League in Greece. A regular guest in the Champions League, the Greek giants have only ever once managed to escape the group stage of the tournament, back in 1998/1999 when they left Dinamo Zagreb, Ajax Amsterdam and FC Porto trailing in their wake but stumbled gracefully at Juventus in the quarter final. In ten years of Champions League football though, Piräus have never won a single away tie and last season there wasn’t a win at all in the group with Valencia, Rome and Donezk. Ironically, the greatest success of the Athens club in the Champions League was against German opposition. Bayer Leverkusen, who’d reached the final the previous year, travelled to the bubbling Karaiskakis Stadium and were sent back home after suffering a 6:2 thrashing. Their other German ties against Bayer, HSV and Bayern Munich all finished in defeat. Piräus did achieve one other win against a German side – Werder Bremen lost 4:0 to the Greeks in preparing for the 2006/2007 season. Around the turn of the century, Olympiakos had their best period with a number of Greek internationals in the squad as well as such stars as Brazil’s Rivaldo, Christian Karambeu and Yaya Touré wearing the red and white. The current coach Takis Lemonis doesn’t have such prominence available to him but does have Raul Bravo (who came from Real Madrid), Antonios Nikopolidis (Greek national keeper), Darko Kovacevic (from San Sebastian) and Christian Ledesma (one time Argentine international and HSV player). On an international level, Olympiakos Piräus have had more success in basketball, volleyball and water-polo. The plan in Athens is to make an impact on the world of football this time around and progress from Champions League Group C. </p>
