The campaign in The Champions League offers us a lot of pleasant surprises. There are a few teams, which showed us a lot of potential, even though their budgets are multiple times lower than those the biggest clubs have.
For example, Ludogorets managed to take a point from their visit to Paris Saint-Germain. The Bulgarian champions showed a brave performance, keeping a wonderful tactical discipline! The Parisians were shocked, as Ludogorets took the lead twice in the match! However, Angel di Maria managed to equalize in the added time, but that wasn’t enough for Paris Saint-Germain to win their group.
To continue with, the Bulgarian team was founded in 1945, but the club made it to the Bulgarian first division in 2011. They have won the title in Bulgaria on 5 consecutive occasions and have shown some incredible performances in the European club competitions. For instance, Ludogorets have eliminated Lazio 4-3 on aggregate in the Round of 32 in The Europa League in 2014. In addition, the Bulgarians have recorded a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in Sofia. They have also achieved a victory against Basel (1-0) in the group stage of The Champions League in 2014. So, we have to say that this team is one of the pleasant surprises – a team, which has developed a lot in the recent years!
The other team I would like to talk about is Rostov. The first time the Russian club found a place in the top flight of the Russian football was in 1992. Their biggest success is becoming the runners-up in the previous season, which gave them the chance to take part in the third qualifying round of The Champions League. After eliminating Anderlecht and smashing Ajax (in the playoffs), Rostov had an incredibly difficult task, being drawn into one of the toughest groups, alongside with Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and PSV Eindhoven.
However, the Russians recorded a sensational 3-2 victory against Bayern Munich! Moreover, they also recorded 2 draws against the Dutch team – PSV, which won them the third place in the group, sending Rostov in The Europa League!
The only thing I want to see tonight is Legia Warsaw win against Sporting Lisbon. This will mean that money can’t dominion over football! Ludogorets and Rostov, both playing successfully against teams with multiple time budgets, are the proof for that!
