real madrid and chelsea This week, after the winter break, the new coach will take part in the competition for the first time and restart in the Champions League.
Job losses have been a major theme this season, with boardroom patience running thin and 11 of the 36 Champions League clubs changing managers.
9 out of 11 employees were fired, and recently Xabi Alonso A week ago, when Madrid left him out after just seven months in seventh place. champions league standings.
New Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa will be in charge of just the third game of his career when he hosts Monaco on Wednesday. The last time Madrid hired a new manager midway through a season was when Zinedine Zidane took over in January 2016, leading the club to three successive Champions League titles.
Chelsea replace Club World Cup winning manager Enzo Maresca Liam Rosenior, who led our sister club Strasbourg to the top of the third division. Conference league standings — and will host Paphos on Wednesday.
Monaco and Paphos also changed managers. Monaco sack Adi Hütter In October, I will go to another Champions League team, Union Saint Giloiseto seduce Belgian league-winning coach Sebastien Pocognoli.
Paphos’ coach during the first half of the season, Juan Carlos Calcedo, bought out his contract this month and returned to Spartak Moscow. Paphos hired another Spaniard, Alberto Serrades. He was part of Madrid’s Champions League winning team in 2002 and later played for the New York Red Bulls.
Also, the coaches who were fired this season were: ajax, atalanta —Currently in 5th place— Benfica, club bruges, juventus and bayer leverkusenThis gave Erik ten Hag just three games before the start of the Champions League.
Benfica sacked Bruno Large and appointed Jose Mourinho the day after their opening home defeat to Calabag. The two-time European champion was himself Fired at Fenerbahce Because they lost to Benfica in the qualifying play-off.
Few people would be surprised if that were the case. tottenham He will be added to the list before the opening final round of the Champions League next week.
between arsenal
A sense of stability reigns as Arsenal and Inter Milan, the leaders of the Premier League and Serie A, face off in the week’s most-watched game, 1st vs. 6th in the table.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were the only team to win six games in a row and are now back on that stage. Last season’s only loss league phase. At San Siro, Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty proved decisive.
Inter matched Arsenal’s pace until matchday four in Cristian Chivu’s first season, but then suffered back-to-back defeats to Atletico Madrid and Liverpool.
Inter will probably need to avoid a third defeat if they are to aim for a place in the round of 16. Last season they needed 16 points to secure a top-eight finish and avoid the play-off round in February.
chillman city
When UEFA drew up the schedule for matches in steamy Monaco in August, the key question was who would have to visit the Arctic Circle in January.
Manchester City were the answer, playing in Bodø/Glimt on Tuesday.
Still, in star striker Erling Haaland’s home country of Norway, the expected match-time temperature is barely below freezing in the evening.
2023 European champions Man City are already in fourth place with 13 points. drama of the last day Last January, they were 22nd in the standings and needed a win to advance to the final tournament.
Return of Hoilund
Napoli forward Rasmus Højlund will return to his hometown club Copenhagen on Tuesday, having previously sold him to Sturm Graz for less than 2 million euros (about 230 million yen).
About 18 months later, the price had soared to 77 million euros ($89.6 million). Hoylund joins Manchester United Originally from Atalanta. Napoli, where he will spend this season Currently on loanis the 22-year-old’s fourth club since leaving Copenhagen four years ago.
Far East
Karabagh and Kairat Almaty, two teams in Europe’s far east, are both scheduled to play home games this week because their time zones make it impossible to host a home game in the crucial final round.
To ensure fair play, all 18 matches on January 29 must start at the same time, at 1 a.m. in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and 9 p.m. in Central Europe.
Still, Kairat’s kick-off against Club Brugge at 8:30pm local time on Tuesday will be as early as 4:30pm in Central Europe. Qarabag will host Eintracht Frankfurt in Wednesday’s opening match.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
