04/26/24 10:59:00
Printable Page
04/26 06:34 CDT Five surprise teams aim to finish stunning seasons by securing
Champions League spot
Five surprise teams aim to finish stunning seasons by securing Champions League
spot
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
GENEVA (AP) --- There could be a surprising team from each of Europe's "big
five" leagues when the new-look Champions League debuts next season.
Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest, Girona and Stuttgart are all, remarkably, on
course to qualify for Europe's elite competition going into the final few
rounds of their national league.
Bologna, Stuttgart and Girona have perhaps the best chance of earning a place
in the 36-team Champions League lineup when the lucrative tournament switches
to a new format next season.
For Spain's Girona and French club Brest, it would be a particularly remarkable
achievement --- neither has ever played in any European competition.
But this kind of challenge was not expected from any of the provincial teams,
which have had little or no recent success --- even if Aston Villa was the
European Cup champion in 1982 --- and mostly have coaches who are in their
first full season.
Three years ago, all five were far from the conversation when some of Europe's
biggest clubs tried to launch the failed Super League project that aimed to
leave traditional domestic rivals stranded in the past.
Villa was the only one of them to qualify for a UEFA competition this season
after finishing seventh in the Premier League. Coach Unai Emery's team plays
Olympiakos next month in the Europa Conference League semifinals.
Stuttgart's turnaround is stunning. It was nearly relegated last season before
winning a playoff last June to stay in the Bundesliga.
All would bring a fresh look to the Champions League. Stuttgart is the only one
of the five to have played in the competition since the European Cup was
rebranded 32 years ago, although its last appearance was in 2010.
Though Villa has a previous European Cup title, Bologna's only appearance ended
in a quick exit in the preliminary round of the 1964-65 season. Girona and
Brest never came close to qualifying.
The feelgood factor of their rapid rise highlights why fans and critics
objected to the Super League, which would have made it much harder for smaller
teams to break into Europe's elite.
UNAI UNITES VILLA
Aston Villa was in trouble when Unai Emery was hired. Steven Gerrard was fired
in October 2022 with his team above the relegation zone only on goal
difference, heading back toward the second tier it left in 2019. A
transformation under Emery has Villa now fourth ahead of Tottenham. Even with
wealthy American owners, Villa had to fight off the financial power of
Manchester United and Saudi Arabia-owned Newcastle. Key offseason signings were
Spanish defender Pau Torres, who worked with Emery at Villarreal, and France
midfielder Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen. Ollie Watkins is arguably the
Premier League's most efficient center forward. His 19 goals is just one behind
Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer, and he has a league-leading 12 assists.
MOTTA INSPIRES BOLOGNA
Bologna coach Thiago Motta is no stranger to the Champions League, winning it
as a player with Barcelona and then Inter Milan. Motta brings the same
intensity to coaching and Bologna has gone far beyond expectations in his
second season. Bologna was one of the few teams to take points off runaway
Serie A winner Inter Milan and a 3-1 victory Monday at fifth-placed Roma lifted
Bologna four points clear of its rival, and eight above sixth-placed Atalanta.
The top five qualify for the Champions League. Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee has
been the catalyst with 11 league goals. Attacking midfielder Lewis Ferguson
also has been key, though the Scot's knee injury could sideline him from
starting the European campaign in September.
BREST'S BEST
Brest coach Eric Roy, like Villa's Emery and Stuttgart's Sebastian Hoeness,
took over last season in the middle of a relegation battle. Four wins in May
lifted the team to 14th in the 18-team Ligue 1. There was little reason to
expect more from a club which never finished higher than eighth in the league.
Brest was bankrupt and demoted in 1991 --- with David Ginola in the team ---
and took 13 years just to get back to the second tier, when Franck Ribry
starred. Its last promotion back to Ligue 1 was in 2019, and it hasn't finished
better than 11th since. But this season Roy tightened the Brest defense, which
concedes fewer than a goal a game, and got a career year from journeyman
midfielder Pierre Lees-Melo, who turns 31 next month. Despite recent
back-to-back losses, Brest is in third place --- which would guarantee a
Champions League berth that could double its annual budget of about 50 million
euros ($54 million). Roy's team has a Breton regional derby Sunday at Rennes.
GIRONA'S GOALS
For a large part of the season, Girona looked like it might actually challenge
Real Madrid for the league title. A Champions League spot would still be a
major win for the club, which is part-owned by Manchester City's Abu Dhabi
backers and has never played in Europe. The team is in third place, seven
points ahead of Atletico Madrid, with a top-four finish good enough for making
the Champions League. Getting there would create a test for UEFA's rules on
clubs in shared ownership entering the same competition. Girona was promoted
back to La Liga in 2022 and finished 10th last season. But coach Mchel Snchez
has made his group click. Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk has a league-leading 18
goals. Svio and Yan Couto each has eight assists. Midfielder Aleix Garca has
completed the second-most passes. Veteran Daley Blind and Barcelona loanee ric
Garca anchor the defense. Only La Liga leader Real Madrid has scored more
goals this season, 70 to Girona's 67.
STUTTGART HIGH ON HOENESS
Stuttgart's rise is arguably as surprising as Bayer Leverkusen winning its
first Bundesliga title. The team was last in the Bundesliga when coach
Sebastian Hoeness took over a year ago and is now third. Guinea striker Serhou
Guirassy has excelled with 25 goals in 24 Bundesliga games. Deniz Undav, on
loan from Brighton, has 17. Hoeness is the nephew of Uli Hoeness, honorary
president of Bayern Munich, which Stuttgart could yet overtake for second. The
coach called on his team Thursday to show "we are ready to go to the extreme"
on Saturday against unbeaten Leverkusen.
___
AP Sports Writers James Robson in Manchester, England; Daniella Matar in MIlan;
Joseph Wilson in Barcelona; James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf, Germany
contributed to this report
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer
|
