A future superstar was born in Europe last night. His name is Stevan Jovetic and he plays for Fiorentina. Dubbed the Montenegrin Messi, Jovetic is still only 19 and is being watched very carefully by the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United. It won’t be long before he’s playing for a much bigger club. No disrespect to Fiorentina, but they won’t be able to hold onto this boy wonder for much longer.
Jovetic tore Liverpool to shreds and made them look like an average team who got lucky to qualify for the Champions League. His touch and finishing was a technical master class. This might seem like high praise for a player who is still so young, but if you watched the same game I did, I’m thinking you’re thinking what I’m thinking. Are you?
As for Liverpool, they were woeful. And as for football, it’s a crazy game. Liverpool bang in six against Hull at the weekend and they can barely muster a kick of the ball against Fiorentina. Benitez needs to pick his men up. I’m sure they will recover, but they will have to put in a better performance than that. Shocking stuff from the scouse house. What happened to Liverpool? Do you think they were outclassed by Fiorentina?
Elsewhere across Europe it looked scary for Barcelona for about five seconds but they pulled through. Ibrahimovic is starting to shine and this was undoubtedly his best game so far for the Spanish side. After much debate following his record transfer from Inter Milan, Ibrahimovic could end up being a surprise star for Barcelona this season. How can you not become a better player when you are surrounded by Messi, Iniesta and Xavi? Right?
Arsenal took almost 80 minutes to finish off Olympiacos. The Greek goalkeeper Nikopolidis was sensational. He made one amazing save after the other and frustrated the Gunners at the Emirates. It was a good overall performance by the North London lads. Do you think Arsenal are looking good so far in the competition? Do you think Mannone can keep Almunia out of the team?
How about Rubin Kazan people? They should have won that game against Inter Milan. The Russians had plenty of chances to finish the game off but they just couldn’t find that final touch. And right at the end their captain had a golden chance to be the hero but he struck the post. They were a delight to watch. Inter Milan on the other hand did not have a good night. Jose Mourinho must have caused an avalanche of spit in that dressing room. It wasn’t a good result for the Italians. This just proves that every game is a tough game and nothing can be taken for granted in the Champions League.
Goals of the night…1. Stevan Jovetic’s 1st for Fiorentina. Classy. Clinical. Future superstar 2. Pedro for Barcelona. What a touch with both feet in the box to score a beauty. 3. Alejandro Dominguez for Rubin Kazan. A dart of a shot to shock the Italians to their core. Delicious! Honorable mention goes to Arshavin for Arsenal. Even though it was a touch offside, you can’t help but admire the brilliant build-up and then the cheeky finish for the Gunners second goal. What goals stood out for you? Who buried the best?
Talking Italian in A Conversation with Janusz Michallik from ESPN. AC Milan are going through a huge change in personnel having lost some legends together with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. How will the Rossoneri cope? Is Allegri the manager under the most pressure in Europe before the season starts?