Tuesday team 4: 16/12-22/12/2014

Football, ugh. This week my soul suffered through the following abominations, travesties, and disappointments:

Chennaiyin 3-1 Kerala Blasters (16/12/2014)
Cruz Azul 0-4 Real Madrid (16/12/2014)
ES Setif 2-2 Western Sydney Wanderers (17/12/2014)
Skoda Xanthi 4-2 Panathinaikos (18/12/2014)
Malaga CF 4-1 Deportivo La Coruna (18/12/2014)
Al Wasl 2-4 Al Jazira (19/12/2014)
Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace (20/12/2014)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (20/12/2014)

It's been hard to pick only 11 players to kill from the many good candidates on display.

Dean Bouzanis (Western Sydney Wanderers) gets it in the neck for missing a penalty against ES Setif, though he was pretty solid for much of the rest of the game.

In front of him, there really weren't that many good defensive displays in the games I caught. That's why I've chosen Marco Materazzi (Chennaiyin), even though he played as a playmaker more than a defender. And even though he got sent off. But he didn't deserve to get sent off, and it happened in extra time. Which is more than I can say for one of the centre-backs I went for last week.

Another hard to justify pick is Dani Carvajal (Real Mejadra), as his side of monoliths and dimensions didn't really have to defend against Cruz Azul, and he's not really a centre-back anyway. But, as I've been saying, everyone else was dire this week.

Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City) weren't, though - they eviscerated the bowels of Crystal Palace, and therefore actually deserve their spots. Teammate Yaya Toure in midfield was too good for Palace as well, though he wasted a lot of chances to score.

Malaga pairing Samu Garcia and Jose Camacho were too much for Deportivo in an entertaining 4-1 win that played out last Thursday. Samu's flair and trickery were matched by Germany's Karim Bellarabi (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), and ex-River Plate man Manuel Lanzini (Al Jazira), both of whom could be moving on to some of Europe's richest clubs in the next few months if rumours are to be believed. Finally, up front, it's Abdelmalik Ziaya (ES Setif), who was busy, strong, and not afraid to shoot from ridiculous positions in the Club World Cup. Well done him.

Subs: Bernard Mendy (Chennaiyin), Gullermo Ochoa (Malaga), David Silva (Manchester City), Roberto Rosales (Malaga), Romeo Castelen (Western Sydney Wanderers).

Into the channels: 20/12/2014

This is how the Indian Super League finished

And this is the only mention of the Club World Cup final on the BBC Sport website, already at the foot of its football page
less than a day after taking place, classified as 'Welsh Football' due to Gareth Bale's involvement

Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace

Aleksandar Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta are two very good full-backs, and the pressure they exerted going forward restricted Crystal Palace's play to counter attacks. One of which - a Yannick Bolasie cross, and a James McArthur header - produced a goal, which was wrongly ruled out due to the linesman not spotting a City defender playing McArthur onside. City played without a recognised striker, at some points employing James Milner in a 'false nine' role, but got goals anyway through David Silva and Yaya Toure. It wasn't a completely one-sided game, and Palace were giving it a go (especially in the first half), but McJedley were just no match for the quick thinking of Nasri, Silva and Toure. I've written a lot more about this game than I wanted to. Let me re-emphasise that Zabaleta is a very, very good full-back.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

How do you pronounce Hakan Çalhanoğlu?

That's a question Fatih Terim thought he'd dealt with, when he recalled Gokhan Tore to the Turkish national team in November. Calhanoglu and his club colleague Emre Toprak promptly ruled themselves out of international duty, citing injuries, though the real reason may have had something to do with a 'friend' of Tore's bursting into their hotel room with a gun last year.

But a poor start to Turkey's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign means that a lot of people want Terim to reach out and settle the dispute. And he's probably going to have to start listening to them, and practicing his Çs and ğs. Since transferring from Hamburg to Leverkusen in the summer, Calhanoglu has continued to develop, catching a fair few admiring glances for his brilliant free kicks.

Saturday's opponents Frankfurt, meanwhile, also have a man in fantastic form: Alexander Meier was imperious as they scored 5 against Werder at the beginning of the month.

After a slow start, Meier put Frankfurt 1-0 up with a penalty, and the game started in earnest

'This is the one thing we didn't want to happen': Calhanoglu gets a free kick in a good position (and strikes it straight at the wall)

A yellow card for diving, as Kießling attempts to set Calhanoglu up with another goalscoring chance

Heung Min Son saw his ambitious effort curl just over, as the hosts turned up the heat in the second half

A cross from Son is being blocked with a last ditch sliding challenge in this picture

A cracker from Karim Bellarabi (top) fizzes under Timo Hildebrand to restore parity

Julian Brandt fails to win the game for Leverkusen, heading right at Hildebrand in the final minute

Both teams will be a bit frustrated with the scoreline, but happy enough with a point from their final fixture before the winter break.

Into the channels: 19/12/2014

Al Wasl 2 - 4 Al Jazira

In this Friday afternoon clash between teams from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it was the squad of Al Jazira that caught the eye. Of course it would - they're owned by Sheikh Mansour. Although Al Wasl's Brazilian trio (Ederson Alaves, Caio Correa and Fabio Lima) caught the eye, they were outgunned by a line up containing young Argentinian Manuel Lanzini (signed, surprisingly, from River Plate), not-yet-totally-past-it Montenegro captain Mirko Vucinic (formerly at Roma and Juventus), Brazilian Jucilei, and Burkina Faso international Jonathan Pitroipa. No other side in the Arabian Gulf League this year contains any players as exciting as these, although honourable mentions go out to record championship winners Al Ahli (Grafite and Hugo Viana), Asamoah Gyan-toting Al Ain, and second bottom side Fujairah SC (whose team contains Algerians Hassan Yebda and Madjid Bougherra).

Jucilei (in black and white) heads in an early cross from Sultan Al-Sowaidi

Lanzini seeks to extend the advantage, forcing the Wasl keeper to leap to his left at the last moment

Another free kick from Lanzini, this time from 10m further out, is well claimed by the keeper

Waheed Ismail's second yellow card after 33 minutes suggested a miserable afternoon for the Ultras Junoon (yes, Al Wasl have ultras)

As well as being - according to Wikipedia - the only Emirati team to have ultras, Al Wasl were managed by Diego Maradona between May 2011 and July 2012. A private jet came with the job.

Pitroipa really should have made it 2-0 with this opportunity, but failed to hit the target

Mirko Vucinic scored just before half time - but was in an offside position in the build up, so it didn't count

A Vucinic handball, and a penalty from Ederson, and the game is tied just before half time. Which wasn't a fair reflection of the play: it was only through the Ederson and Fabio Lima, who only had two feet between them, that Wasl had produced anything other than very frustrating, stilted play. But hey, that's what you get for being scared and looking away when the ball is coming towards you.

Dubai's Zabeel Stadium

A poor finish from Caio Correa prevented Wasl from surging into the lead immediately upon play being resumed...

Correa took his second chance, though, seizing upon an awful pass from an Al Jazira player to his goalkeeper, touching it past the unfortunate goalie before lunging in to make it 2-1

Al Jazira would go top with a win today, but if they threw away a lead against 10-man Al Wasl, there would be visa confiscations all round. Or something.

Straight from a goal kick, Jonathan Pitroipa's cross was blocked

 Jazira were wasteful in attack, but even more wasteful in defence.

In a similar fashion to Caio Correa's goal, a great Wasl chance comes from a visiting defender being dispossessed

Mirko Vucinic is standing in a great position to side-foot home a simple, badly defended cross: it's his 16th of the season

The very, very left-footed Fabio Lima should have restored Wasl's advantage, but his toe-poke was too soft to evade the keeper

A lovely pass from Lanzini finds Pitroipa, who tucks it into the back of the net: 2-3

Ali 'Actually from UAE' Mabkhout's goal is even better, cutting inside the Wasl defence, then poking it around the goalkeeper, and running around the other side to collect the ball again and tap it home after 73 minutes

Vucinic hits the bar in the 85th minute

Lanzini skims the bar from the goal-line in the 87th minute

Al Jazira were lucky to win this match despite some very sloppy defensive play. It was nice to see that Manuel Lanzini is making a good go of the Arabian Gulf League - he'll probably be in a big European league before too long. Having him and Jonathan Pitroipa in the squad certainly seems to suit Mirko Vucinic, who at only 31 still has quite a few opportunities ahead of him to take his shorts off in celebration.

Into the channels: 18/12/2014

Skoda Xanthi 4 - 2 Panathinaikos

This Xanthi team have been owned by a Greek Skoda importer since 1991. Their opponents this afternoon sit 3rd in the Greek Super League, boast the second biggest fan base of any team in Greece, and are also one of the most successful. Though having said that, Xanthi's sole European foray - in which they played Middlesborough, who were on their way to a UEFA Cup final - is a bit easier to recall. Because Middlesborough were playing a team named after Skoda. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos are one of two fan-owned clubs in Greece, and their fans won respect around the world earlier this year when they decided to start a war with the notorious fascist party Golden Dawn.

To business. Another addition to the list of players I don't rate: all Greek defenders. Including Croatian ones that play in Greece, like Gordon Schildenfeld, currently playing alongside fellow Croats Danijel Pranjic and Mladen Petric for Athens' greenest team, Panathinaikos. He was just one of the culprits - there were plenty on both sides - of a host of rash clearances and stupid passes.

It was some crappy green Pan-Athenian defending that allowed Soltani to score a simple header for the home side in the 3rd minute.

The Panathinaikos fans travelled in force

But they were disillusioned early on, as an unmarked Dimitris Goutas headed home from a badly defended corner

Xanthi's second came from Theodoros Vasilakakis, who looped over former Barnsley keeper Luke Steele after the home side had had 3 shots blocked

A minute later, Nikolaos Karelis turns past his man, and flicks a shot low and to the keeper's left, reducing the deficit to just one goal

Soltani (in the middle) hits the pass from former Panathinaikos man Cleyton wide, in one of those it-would-have-been-easier-to-score moments

Karim Soltani, on the left, flicks the ball onto the floor, and it bounces over Luke Steele, and into the net for 3-1

Soltani throws himself to the ground in an awkward-looking celebration

Petric: should have kicked the ball, rather than the goalkeeper

A defence-splitting pass finds Pantelis Kapetanos, who makes it 4-1

Kapetanos celebrates with the 'XanthiFans', who look just as shocked as I am at how easy it was for Soltani's ball to get through the slow Panathinaikos defence

Four-two (from) the floor: Karelis' second (and it also opened up for him far, far too easily)

One of the worst passes I have ever seen: this Panathinaikos player passed a free kick on the left flank directly to an opponent

Kapetanos nearly made it 5, hitting the post with 10 minutes to go

Xanthi saw the game out, which is more than I can say for myself

Málaga CF 4 - 1 Deportivo de La Coruña

This is the third match between these sides in 3 days. Which is a lot of travel. The first leg of this Copa del Rey tie ended in a 1-1 draw in La Coruna, whereas the league fixture was a 0-1 win for Malaga. Both these sides have flirted with Europe in recent seasons.

Tonight, Malaga start with Helder Postiga up front, whilst Deportivo have the slightly-less-underwhelming-in-England Roque Santa Cruz leading their line. Both sides picked a fair few 'fringe' players for this game, such as Depor's long-serving 38 year old midfielder Manuel Pablo. The visitors set up with 3/5 at the back, and defended very deep, in a drab first half that Malaga controlled.

Samu Garcia, Malaga's right winger, was the one bright spark in the first period

Santa Cruz's back post header is saved by German Lux, whose career in Europe hasn't quite reached the heights it promised to whilst he was at River

I was sent out at half time to get bread and milk for the house. I came back in, and this was the scene:

Malaga's Recio had just made it 2-1 on the night, meaning the tie would be decided within 90 minutes (thanks to the away goals rule)

A Santa Cruz header - his second of the night - from a Nordin Amrabat cross meant that Depor needed 3 goals to win the game

It was a great cross from the Moroccan Galatasary loanee, and an equally precise header

Right at the end, Malaga made it 4-1 on the night - and 5-2 on aggregate - thanks to a cross from Roberto Rosales, who was excellent pushing forwards from right-back (playing behind Samu), which found Amrabat; though Lux pushed his shot onto the bar, Jose Camacho was on hand to tap home

Although I didn't see much from Malaga's younger players tonight, they were easily the stronger side throughout, and so this could be a good season for the side currently sitting 7th in La Liga. They will play Levante in the next round, whilst Depor will hopefully be doing some attacking training.