Giant-killing in the Champions League, troubles for two London clubs and one from the south coast of  England all get a look in on this week’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Good

Always good when a minnow brings down a giant, and that is exactly what happened last night as FC Zurich stunned AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro. A fantastic night for the Swiss team, who it should be remembered are their nation’s champions unlike AC Milan, saw Hannu Tihinen, the scorer, Milan Gajic, and Alain Rochat take on household names like Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Inzaghi and Pato. Realistically, this could be the Zurich side’s 90 minutes of fame as it’s unlikely they’ll last the course. But well done FC Zurich.

For my good I am going to stay with the Champions League and focus on some of the overseas players plying their trade in Spain’s la Liga. Portuguese star Ronaldo netted a brace in Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Marseille (see goals here). His second goal must have been particularly sweet for Real president Florentino Perez as it was made by £35 million Benzema and £60 million Kaka before being finished by £80 million Ronaldo. A multi-million pound goal if ever there was one. Not to be outdone, Argentinian star Leo Messi continued with his impressive early-season form by scoring in Barcelona’s 3-1 victory against CSKA Moscow. The holder’s manager Pep Guardiola is playing down his team’s chances of retaining the Champions League title but on this performance they may well become the first to do so in 20 years. Brazilian star Luis Fabiano scored twice in Sevilla’s 4-1 win in Scotland against Rangers on Tuesday. Fabiano also made another for strike partner Kanoute, as dark horses Sevilla continued their impressive start to the season.

Bad

The two London sides West Ham and Millwall face seven charges by the FA including failing to control their fans, and accusations that both sets of fans racially abused players. The charges stem from the clubs Carling Cup tie last month which saw a pitch invasion and trouble outside the ground, including a stabbing. The FA has the power to force the clubs to play games behind closed doors and impose large fines. Neither team is in the Carling Cup which could be seen as one silver lining from this bad story.

It’s been a bad start to the season for European powerhouses AC Milan and Atletico Madrid but at least they have managed to get some points in their domestic leagues unlike Premier League side Portsmouth who remain bottom of the English top tier. The south coast club have lost all seven of their league matches so far – a new club record – and barring a miracle will be spending next season in the Championship.

Ugly

Ugly for Portsmouth, who have had an ugly start to the season – no wins, they’re sitting bottom of the Premier League, and they’ve got financial problems. But it gets really ugly when you can’t pay your players, and it has been revealed that that is what has happened this month. That is not a good sign, and things are looking ugly for the south-coast team.

Vocabulary

minnow – a small fish, here it is used to mean a team that isn’t famous, is much smaller than it’s opponent

to stun – shock, surprise, win when people do not expect it

household names – famous people, well known, known by most people

plying their trade: working or playing

netted a brace: scored two goals

is playing down: Not being overly confident

dark horses: A team that has an outside chance of winning, not one of the hot favourites

to face (charges/fines) – confront, have to deal with, have to answer

behind closed doors – in an empty stadium, play with no fans watching

silver lining – a good thing, a positive

powerhouses – strong, famous teams

top tier: The top league (The Premier League in England)

barring a miracle: Except for a miracle, really small chance