Standard, AZ and Olympiakos? Let’s be ‘avin you!
It is understandable why many a Gunner breathed a sigh of relief as our draw was announced in Monaco, for we will not be meeting up with a European powerhouse, instead treating ourselves with trips to Liege, Alkmaar and Athens. Standard Liege, AZ Alkmaar and Olympiakos may be the champions of their respective leagues, but the Belgian, Dutch and Greek leagues are decidedly second-rate. We should thus expect a smooth passage to the knockout stages.
Now for a quick word on the teams.
Standard Liege have won the Belgian league for the last two seasons. Their best player is playmaker and captain Steven Defour, linked with us for the past few seasons and reportedly approached by Real Madrid this summer. They appear to have been hit hard by the departure of American defender Oguchi Onyewu, formerly of Newcastle, on a free transfer to Milan this summer. According to Arsenal.com, we thrashed Standard 7-0 in the glorious 93/94 Cup Winners’ Cup, our biggest away win in Europe.
AZ Alkmaar won the league last season for only the second time in their history, under the guidance of Louis Van Gaal. Van Gaal and several key players have since left, but star player Mounir El Hamdaoui (a childhood friend of Robin Van Persie in the streets of Rotterdam) remains and Ronald Koeman has arrived to take the coaching reigns.
Olympiakos have continued to overshadow Panathanaikos and AEK in recent years. Players of theirs to be aware of are former Villa captain Olof Melberg, Argentine forward Luciano Galletti, ex-Blackburn forward Matt Derbyshire, goalkeeper Nikopolidis and Brazillians Diogo and Dudu.
