As glamourous as the Champions League may be, it has to be said that the group stages can get a little bit tedious. True, they do throw up the odd classic that gets the juices flowing and the pulse racing. And we do have the occasional surprise that makes you sit up and wonder what just happened.

Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho locking horns is always an experience to savour- James Calvert

But more often than not, we get lumped with an unhealthy number of games between teams we don’t care about taking on others who have nothing left to play for.

This makes the whole process feel dull and drawn out. But we all know these groups exist purely to ensure bigger teams get to play three matches in Europe’s top competition at the very least. (Yes, Manchester City, we’re all looking at you).

However, once the groups are done and dusted and we move on to the knockout phase, then things start to heat up. Every one of the 16 teams left in at that point can start to dream the dream, although they know they have now entered the do-or-die phase.

Now they don’t even have the Europa League to fall back on even though that is like going out on a date with Angelina Jolie only to end up in bed with Susan Boyle. (And now we’re all looking at you, Chelsea).

Having said all that, when last week’s draw for the knockout stages was made, I don’t think anyone really expected it to throw up so many mouth-watering ties, four of which are proper exciting.

Real Madrid vs Manchester United is probably the pick of the lot, at least as far as I am concerned. Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho locking horns is always an experience to savour, while it will be fun watching Cristiano Ronaldo smirk his way around the Old Trafford pitch just like the good old days.

England’s only other remaining representatives, Arsenal, face the rather scary task of taking on a rampant Bayern Munich. The London club’s chances of progressing could depend whether the good, bad or ugly version of their team turns up on the day.

Celtic, meanwhile, are just happy to have reached the knockout stage and they will be treating their two legs with Juventus as a bonus. The Italians are obviously favourites, but the Scottish side’s relaxed attitude could give them a no-pressure edge.

And then we have AC Milan vs Barcelona. It’s always good to see giants of the game in action, and European clubs don’t come much bigger than those two.

All in all, there are some pretty mouth-watering ties on the way. Just a shame we have to wait nearly two months to watch them…

From Russia without love

I’ve heard fans say some ludicrous things over the years but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite as offensive as the statement by supporters of Zenit St Petersburg last week.

The Russian club’s largest fan group – Landscrona – said in an open letter that they don’t want any non-white or gay players in their team. Black players, they said, are “forced down our throat” and gay players are “unworthy of our great city”.

As public displays of racism and homophobia go, this must rank up there as one of the most shocking and appalling in the history of football.

And we aren’t talking about some little fan group here. No. Landscrona is an organisation that represents thousands of fans of a team who are, no less, the current Russian champions.

Up until this summer, Zenit were the only Russian club without any black players. Then they signed Brazilian striker Hulk and Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel, and the racists came crawling out from under their rocks.

The club has, as you would expect, moved quickly to distance itself from the comments and insisted it hires players on ability alone and not on any other criteria.

But that doesn’t change the fact that their supporters have some serious issues.

If this was just an isolated incident then you could probably dismiss it as the warped views of a mad minority. But the truth is that this sort of racism, while possibly not as obvious elsewhere, is a problem bubbling just below the surface of Russian football. And that must be giving Fifa one hell of a headache because, let’s not forget, their executive committee decided to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia.

In just six years’ time, footballers and fans from all over the globe, of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds, will be descending on the giant Eastern European state for what is supposed to be a festival of football fun.

How happy will these people feel about attended a tournament in a country where racism is not just an underlying problem but where the fans are actually prepared to issues statements about it? And let’s not forget, some of the games will actually be played in St Petersburg.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not having a go at Russia as a country here. I am actually quite looking forward to it hosting the World Cup as it will make an interesting change from the norm.

But it does have a serious problem with football racism that needs to be tackled sooner rather than later if 2018 is to go ahead without unsavoury incidents.

Arsenal’s ups ’n’ downs

Arsenal fans must feel like they are stuck on an emotional roller coaster these days as their club only seems capable of highs or lows, with little in between.

Only the previous week, everybody, myself included, thought they had hit rock bottom with their League Cup defeat to Bradford.

But then, just a few days after their quarter-final calamity, they stick five past Reading with their high-tempo passing game firing on all cylinders.

True, it was against a team that are bottom of the league and probably destined to stay there. But you can only beat the opposition that is put in front of you, something the Gunners have often failed to do this season.

I am not naïve enough to suggest one win over a team that already looks relegated is enough to say Arsenal are back. (By the time you read this they could easily have lost yesterday’s game against Wigan, such is the way their season is going).

But the signs were good, and if they can replicate that sort of performance, they will be winning far more games than they will be losing over the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, the Arsenal roller coaster hit another high when it was announced that five of the club’s British youngsters have signed new, long-term contracts. Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Keiran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all put pen to paper on deals that will see them stay at the Emirates until at least 2016.

Last week I suggested the club may need to rethink its overall strategy if it is to start winning silverware again, and that, right there, is evidence of a major change of direction: building a team around young British players.

Actually, it’s not so much a change of direction as turning full circle – when Arsene Wenger first took over at the club he made sure the team always had a decent British spine to build on. In recent years he preferred to go down the route of recruiting promising young foreigners who, unfortunately, have a tendency to run away at the first sound of jingling euros.

Wenger admitted earlier in the week that his attempts to build a team around foreigners had failed, which is why he was going back to British. (I’m surprised the media didn’t make more of the comments seeing as how Wenger admitting a mistake is as rare as rocking horse poop).

Focusing on a core of young and extremely talented ‘local’ players is a shrewd move that should pay dividends in the long-term, and possibly even the short-term, with a bit of luck. All Wenger and Arsenal need now is for Theo Walcott to sign on the dotted line and a situation that looked so grim just a couple of weeks ago will suddenly seem a whole lot more exciting.

Unless, of course, they actually did lose to Wigan yesterday, in which case it might be time to get off the roller coaster all together…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade