Hosting Slavia

By: patcook | September 16th, 2009

Genoa sit on top of the table thanks to goal difference and goals scored and Genoa play the best football on the peninsula, but Hernan Crespo has told his side to expect something completely different when they host Slavia Prague.

The first match-day of the Champions League didn’t produce much to cheer about. Fiorentina lost thanks to a red card, Juve threw away a lead at home (which leads me to question whether they are actually Italian), Inter were about as entertaining as an American sitcom in their draw against Barca and Milan’s semi-retired players beat Marseilles in the mud to be the only Italian team to have won in Europe so far.

So Genoa need to restore some pride to the peninsula as well as prove their European credentials are as good as their domestic ones with a win over Slavia Prague in the revamped UEFA Cup, now called the Europa League.

Crespo suggested that “We must forget the victory over Napoli, the fact we’re leading the Serie A table, forget all of it, because Europe is completely different. The atmosphere is very special. You have a different structure of qualification, there are long journeys, time spent before games in new places with other customs. These are all experiences that help a player to grow.”

Slavia missed out on Champions League qualification, losing on away goals to the mighty, 9 times consecutive Moldovian Champions and counting, Sheriff Tiraspol, who were knocked out by Olympiakos in the next round. A few years back Slavia had financial troubles and had to rebuild their squad around youth and a lot of their key players are still very young. Hopefully the more experienced players like my favourite, Hernan Crespo, can control the game for Genoa.

Slavia currently sit 5th in the Czech league with 12 points from 7 rounds (3-3-1) and are coming off a draw against mid table Slovan Liberec. Slavia have 10 goals for and 6 against, so they aren’t extremely prolific.

I’m going to say Genoa will win by 2 goals, fingers crossed…