Liverpool fight for relevancy as Real Madrid aim for greater heights
In the UEFA Champions League, Darwin is everywhere. That much appears clear as several once-swaggering European giants, since brought to their knees by the savage economic realities of the game, grapple for survival and relevance as Europe's continental clashes resume on Tuesday.
Take Liverpool. The five-time European champions were in the final of this tournament as recently as 2007 and won it back in 2005. Yet before this year, they hadn't qualified for it in a full four seasons. A few consecutive off-years and some bad transfer windows and they were suddenly no longer elite. Only the strong survive. That's Darwin. And it's just as true that only the consistently strong survive in European soccer. The rest falls off in the endless arms race. This is abundantly obvious when Liverpool travels to Madrid to take on Real for a second consecutive matchday (live, FOX Sports 1, Tuesday, 2 p.m. ET).
The Spaniards, the tournament's record 10-time winners and defending champions, have never fallen off. They have kept on collecting the best players, kept on competing, kept on winning things. At the expense of anything and everything. Liverpool, meanwhile, meandered between managers and philosophies after Rafael Benitez left in 2010. Brendan Rodgers seemed to have sorted this thing out last year as the Reds made a surprise bid for the Barclays Premier League title. This year, whatever it is he has tried hasn't come off.
Liverpool lost Luis Suarez to Barcelona, of course. He was their creator and finisher; their workhorse and their thoroughbred. They couldn't keep him when a stronger team with a stronger pull and a stronger financial capacity came calling. Darwin. Since then, things have been a bit of a mess for them.
They languish in seventh place, below such teams as Swansea City, West Ham United and Southampton -- who should be beneath them in every way. Suarez's emergency replacement Mario Balotelli has behaved well enough -- a triumph unto itself -- but hasn't delivered the goals. Striker Daniel Sturridge's injury isn't helping things. He's close to a return but probably won't just yet.
After three rounds of games, Liverpool have just three points to show for their efforts. They beat Ludogorets Razgrad 2-1 at home on a 93rd minute penalty. Then they were upset by FC Basel away, if you can call it an upset. Real came to Merseyside and gave them a comprehensive lesson in soccer in a 3-0 win. So now they and their Bulgarian and Swiss rivals trail the imperious Spaniards by six points. If the Reds don't start gathering up some points very soon, their long-awaited return to this tournament will end in ignominy.
Real won't make that task easy. Their start to the season was slow. After inexplicably selling Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria in the summer, the men who kept their all-important midfield moving, it took some time to figure out how to properly integrate their replacements -- and purported upgrades -- Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez. They have now. Real have won seven league games on the trot, by a total score of 32-4, and all of their matches in Europe. A week and a half ago, they soundly beat arch-rivals Barcelona 3-1 in the season's first El Clasico.
Another once-strong team, Italian giants Juventus, seven-time finalists in this thing, also face something of a must-win. The Old Lady, so-called, reached the Champions League final three times in a row in the late '90s and once more in 2003 but now only matters in Serie A. Such has been the drop-off of the Italian league -- financially at first, and then, inevitably, in all other ways -- that their domestic dominance no longer translates to the continent as it once did. They are once again in the lead at home -- followed by the last team really capable of challenging them, AS Roma -- but need to beat Olympiakos (live, Tuesday, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET) after losing to them a fortnight ago. If they fail to, the Greeks and Atletico Madrid, who face Malmo FF (live, Tuesday, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET), threaten to lock up the group with two matches to spare.
Arsenal, who have never really been a European power, even though they probably should have been, given their stature in England, face Anderlecht at home (live, Tuesday, FOX Sports 2, 2 p.m. ET). Should they win against the Belgians and Borussia Dortmund does the same against Galatasaray (live, Tuesday, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET) both will have secured their places in the Round of 16 in the new year.
This poses an interesting juxtaposition, as both sides have disappointed in their home leagues. Arsenal was expected to kick on after finally putting together a legitimate title-challenge last year, having added Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck to buttress their thin forward line. Instead, they trail leaders Chelsea by nine points after just 10 rounds. Dortmund, meanwhile, were plagued by injuries last season and expected to reclaim their spot in Europe's rarified atmosphere -- recalling their form in the 2012-13 season, when they finished runners-up. Instead, astonishingly, stupefyingly, they have sagged to 17th place in the Bundesliga, with just seven points from 10 games. If they stay there, they would be relegated to the second-tier automatically.
Dortmund can begin to regain their form and right their season on Tuesday. Just as others can set about the work of clawing back the glory that once came easily to them.
