Wenger has nowhere to hide

If ever a man needed a break, it was Arsene Wenger. Yet football doesn’t do compassion. Instead, it does Champions League draws that reek of danger and seem almost to mock a manager who is on edge at the best of times.

Fri, 30 Aug, 2013 - 01:00

Julian Bennetts, Monaco

Wenger would have wanted Arsenal to draw Schalke, Basle and FC Copenhagen.

Instead, he got Marseille (not too bad), Borussia Dortmund (last season’s beaten finalists) and Napoli (a coming force under the charge of his old rival Rafael Benitez).

There were sub-plots everywhere. Napoli, after all, boast Gonzalo Higuain up front, a man Wenger declined to sign from Real Madrid this summer. It is a decision that could quickly come back to haunt him.

Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, is everything that Wenger was in his youth; brilliant, intelligent, slightly bonkers but capable of producing teams of the highest calibre. Klopp is 46, the age Wenger was when he took the Arsenal job, and Wenger will not appreciate the comparisons between them.

Arsenal have not exited the Champions League at the group stage since 2000, but at a time when they needed an easy ride — and it is important to note that they are away from home after five of their group stage games, including trips to Manchester United and City — they will have to spread their resources ever thinner.

Yet Wenger is far from the only one with a right to feel aggrieved. David Moyes has already railed against the Premier League fixture computer, and a draw against Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Socieded will not have been warmly received.

The Ukrainian side possess exactly the type of attacking midfielders that Manchester United seem to require, and both the German and Spanish teams are packed full of young, exciting talent.

If you haven’t heard of Antoine Griezmann, Sociedad’s young French winger, you will have done by the end of the campaign. He is without doubt one of the finest young talents in Europe.

Then we come to Manchester City, who received a relatively kind draw despite being paired with reigning champions Bayern Munich.

CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen will provide their own challenges, but after a summer outlay of £80m and the arrival of Manuel Pellegrini as manager, City will have few excuses for failing to reach the knockout stages for the first time, as their sporting director, Txiki Begiristain, admitted.

“I am happy with that [expectations on his team],” said the Spaniard. “It means we are doing well and having a good team.

“We have done changes with the team and manager but we are confident we can do something important.

“Are we happy with the draw? It is difficult to be happy, with the current champions in our group, and we are also going to some countries that we don’t know much about but the teams are very strong. But we have to face up to the group.”

Indeed, a strong performance here would drastically alter City’s co-efficient — the complicated system by which it is decided which teams are seeded — and improve their chances of a favourable draw in the future. A place in the last 16 is a minimum requirement.

And what of Chelsea? Well, they were barely mentioned after the draw — a sign of the fact that they have received as close to a bye as it is possible to get at this stage.

With Schalke, Basle and Steaua Bucharest in their group, it is not hard to see Chelsea securing maximum points.

Celtic, meanwhile, could spring a surprise in Group H. It is the only Group containing four European champions, and while Celtic will be hoping for a repeat of last season’s stunning victory against Barcelona, they can be more confident of success against AC Milan and Ajax.

The Italian giants are restructuring their side, and Ajax have a young team that would be significantly weaker without Christian Eriksen if, as expected, he joins Tottenham.

Celtic may have lost Victor Wanywama and Gary Hooper, but there is still a chance for them to raise the roof in Glasgow and surprise Milan by reaching the last 16.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid, Juventus and Galatasaray form an interesting trio in Group B, but it was hard to get beyond the idea that Arsenal and United had suffered the most. Two managers at very different stages of development, but with the same problems — lack of squad depth and a tough summer in the market — have been exacerbated now amongst the multi-millionaires of Monte Carlo.

Navigate a way through these perilous groups and their teams will be confident, but such serene progress is far from guaranteed.

Champions League draw

Group A

Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad.

Group B

Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen.

Group C

Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht.

Group D

Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen.

Group E

Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest.