THE SUNDAY´S DERBYS (This article is available in English and Español)

This Sunday we continue with more classic European football game, because at the same time, 18.00 cet, we will have 2 very interesting games in Istanbul and Athens.

On the one hand, the Fenerbahçe SK will receive in its Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium the powerful Galatasaray SK, being the last test for the coach Luis Aragones, who still has not found the solution for his team to be a competitive team- although the draw against Arsenal on Wednesday is a first good sign- because in every game we see the same thing: players without concentration, terrible defensive mistakes, a very slow play and of course if a team play with these “features”, it is impossible to win a game, although it play against modest teams like Hacettepe SK or Eskisehirspor. Obviously if this Sunday the Fenerbahçe play as it has done so far, it can suffer a hard setback, because the Galatasary SK has a great team, for me is the best Turkish squad, and it is a candidate not only to win the Turkish Super Lig, but also to do something great in the UEFA Cup. If we look at the squad of the team, we see that the German coach Michael Skibbe has a very good goalkeeper, the Italian Morgan de Sanctis (player of the Italian National Team) who is assisted by a hard defensive line with player like the hard Servet Cetin-he played very well during the last Euro - or the elegant Portuguese Fernando Meira. We also find quality and experienced midfielders, because we can see players like Mehmet Topal, Sabri Sarioglu, the talented Arda Turan- these 3 players played very well during the last Euro too-or classic as Hasan Şaş or Harry Kewell and top players as the Brazilian Lincoln Cassio-he is pure talent-, who is the responsible to assist to the good strikers of the team: Milan Baros-he is recovering his best level and he has scored 5 goals in 8 league´s matches-, Shabani Nonda, or the hard worker Ümit Karan -this is his 8th season with the Istanbul´s team and it has fulfilled perfectly all his work (he has scored more than 70 goals in the league during these years) -. In the end, it is a very good team, specially when it plays at the Ali Sami Yen´s stadium, since when it plays away, it shows less level-although it has also gotten good results as when it played at Lisboa against Benfica-, and of course Luis Aragones will try to take advantage on this factor of the fans´s support to try to win this difficult game-I think that it can be easy if for example we see Roberto Carlos on the bench, because he is not in his best moment, committing many mistakes and with scarce offensive play-.

In addition we will be attentive to the Athens´s game, the thrilling derby at the Olimpiako Stadium (at 18-00 c.e.t) between Olympiakos Piraeus (top position of the standing) and Panathinaikos (ranked 5th in the standing)-teams with very good players, since for example Olympiakos has in the squad, players like the great Argentine midfielder Fernando Belluschi or the centre midfielder Dudu Cearense (21 games with the Brazilian National team), the young Diogo-followed by teams such as Chelsea FC and Inter Milan- or classic like Luciano Galleti, Predrag Djordevic or Darko Kovacevic- the Serbian is playing very well in Greece, since last year scored 17 goals in the league and this year he has scored 4 in 8 games. Besides the Panathinaikos of Henk Ten Cate has also important names in the squad like: Gilberto Silva, Georgios Karagounis- European champion in 2004 - the smart Andreas Ivanschitz, the carioca striker Rodrigo Souza-he has played 2 times with the Brazilian National team- or the striker Dimitrios Salpingidis. So, there are good ingredients to see an excellent Athenian game.

Obviously we also remark the complicated Inter´s game at San Siro (15:00 cet) -José Mourinho is not in his best moment, since the Inter´s exhibition at the Olimpico in Rome, it has only gotten 3 draws and pyrrhic victories against Anorthosis Famagusta (1-0) and Reggina Calcio (2-3)-.This Sunday Mourinho will have a difficult rival, since the Udinese Calcio of Pasquale Marino has a very good defensive level-9 goals received, being the leaders of the defensive line, the young Andrea Coda (player of the Italian under 21 team) and the experienced Maurizio Domizzi- and besides it has an excellent attack-it is the top scorer team of the Italian Scudetto with 19 goals scored, which it is not surprising, because this team has some very interesting players like the smart Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella-we said in other article from a year ago that he was a very good player-, Simone Pepe and the Alexis “the Chilean" Sanchez-this former River Plate´s offensive midfielder has a lot of potential, since he has quality and excellent vision of the game and only 19 year´s old! -. Therefore, it presents a very attractive and difficult game for Inter.

Finally, moreover this Sunday might be a good day for the surprising leader of the Bundesliga, the 1899 TSG Hoffenheim, because if this modest team can beat Herta BSC Berlin, it will extend its advantage over Bayer Leverkusen- this Saturday its game against Karlsruhe SC finished 3-3-and over Bayern Munich or/and FC Schalke 04, since both teams play together in another attractive match at 1700 c.e.t

Enjoy!

Cheers,

J&F