UEFA Champions League 2012-13: 3 Teams Facing the Most Pressure
The pressure is exhausting for Milan and companyClaudio Villa/Getty Images
The UEFA Champions League is ascending to the top of the soccer world, kicking up dust on the beautiful golden World Cup. So it’s no wonder that, nowadays, it is like a private yacht club: You can earn your way in if you have the grit, or you buy your way in if you come from money.
But everyone wants in, and when you get into this upper echelon of soccer society, there is an overwhelming pressure to fit in with your new-found peers. Of course, everyone knows if you’re truly one of them or if you’re just doing your best to fake it, but the drama of a cool midweek European night is your white jacket and boat shoes: a sign that you made it and a gleaming return on your investment.
This time around, there are three major clubs that could all but implode under this type of extreme pressure if they fall short of the ever-important knockout stages: AC Milan, Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
AC Milan are sitting just above the drop zone in Serie A, but considering their business in the previous offseason, that seems a little above where they belong.
They sold key players Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, leaving gaping holes in defense and less than a clinical presence in attack. They offloaded Antonio Cassano to city rivals Inter and have released several experienced Milan generals: Alessandro Nesta, Clarence Seedorf, Filippo Inzaghi, Gennaro Gattuso, Gianluca Zambrotta and so on.
That is not the type of business that will get you in the Champions League, nor will it keep you there. And following this mass exodus of major talent, their season-ticket sales plummeted to a record-low of about 20,000, almost 10,000 less than the previous low.
For Milan, if they are going to build on what little they still have, they must make the knockout stages.
For clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, they opted with the “buy your way in” method. At least, no one seems to think that they spent €234.3 million and €212.6 million on respective English and French league titles. Ask Chelsea about their €283.6 million investment under Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. It was all spent to win the Champions League. Every penny.
In order to justify that spending, it is most important for City to ride the emotional wave from last season’s sensational final-day dramatics. After clinching their first English title over city rivals Manchester United with two stoppage-time goals, there had never been a more promising indication of a strong return on investment.
But this season has failed to capture the same excitement, and City are now a team filled with stars who want to play Champions League soccer. Nothing less.
If City are going to take a giant step towards sustaining success and becoming a regular name on the list of European elite, they must also reach the knockout stages.
The pressure on Bayern Munich is greater than with any other club in the tournament. A side with many stars in their own right, last season’s defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League final made for a long summer.
Players like Franck Ribery, Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben—who missed the penalty kick in overtime that would have all but handed Bayern the trophy—were thought to have been antsy to get out and make amends, but they have found those nerves to be a little harder to swallow than they might have thought. As a result, it is essential that the club also reach the knockout stages.
The difference with Munich, as opposed to both Milan and City, is that if they do manage to advance, they could very well go on to win the whole thing, backed by the experience and heartbreak of last season.
For all three clubs, if they fail to advance and fail to achieve anything significantly impressive domestically, I would expect to see the sackings of managers Massimiliano Allegri, Roberto Mancini and Jupp Heynckes.
It is a beautiful yacht club from the outside, but it is a harsher reality once you get in.
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