what?

So we drew Zico & the company, or in another words as some call them “Little Brazil”. I don’t want to be pessimistic at all about this draw but I can assure you this will not be a walk in the park. Though, I’m not a fan of Fenerbahce (I’m a fan of their fierest rivals Galatasaray) I have been supporting them lately in the Champions League. For that very reason I wanted Chelsea to avoid Fenerbahce. Now, of course I will back Chelsea against them. I have a chance to see Chelsea players here in Istanbul, so that’s one positive thing for me.

Now, about “Little Brazil”. They don’t have world-stars in their squad except for Roberto Carlos but they have 6 Brazilians and a legendary Zico as their coach. Those brazlians are: Alex de Souza, Deivid de Souza, Aurelio, Roberto Carlos, Wederson and Edu.
Alez de Souza is their attacking midfielder who is very creative and thus dangerous. I will even go further to say that Chelsea doesn’t have a player of such a quality in that position. In other words for me Alex is better than Lampard and Ballack. As I said before Alex tops the list of CL players with 6 assists.
Aurelio is their defensive midfielder who is also Turkish international but he’s Brazilian. Aurelio is very dynamic and sometimes you can see him everywhere on the pitch.
I don’t think there’s any need to introduce Roberto Carlos. As one of Turkish newspapers wrote recently “Roberto Carlos is in the quarter-finals of CL but Real Madrid are out.”
Wederson is the replacement o?f Carlos on the right wing and this Brazilian is fast. Deivid de Souza is another attacking midfielder who scored 4 goals in this campaigne. It’s his two goals which buried Sevilla. You can call him “hidden weapon”.
Edu is Fener’s center-back, who sometimes makes big mistakes (he scored an own goal against Sevilla) but if Zico plays him regularly then he must trust him.
Another center-back is Urugayan international Lugano, whom I rate very high. He’s very good in the air and scored a crucial header against Sevilla in Istanbul.
Despite of all these Brazilians and Uruguayan there are two Turkish players who have been surprise for even Turks. These two Turks are almost 30% of the team in my opinion.
Left-winger Ugur Boral, whom nobody knew last year, has played a vital role in Fener’s European campaigne. Ugur Boral started to shine in the group matches and lately outclassed Sevilla’s Brazilian right-back Dani Alves. This guy is very fast and can dribble.
Another surprise Turk is right-back Gokhan Unal, who is also very fast and can dribble.
Fener’s goalkeeper is Turkish international Volkan Demirel, who after conceding two easy goals at Sevilla became a hero by stopping 3 after-match penalties.
Last but not least, Fener’s striking force is ex-Chelsea man Mateja Kezman, who after the Sevilla triumph said that he would like to meet Chelsea in quarters and take his revenge.
Another striker is Turkish international Semih Gokturk, who scored a crucial third goal against Sevilla in Istanbul.
Zico usually plays with 4-5-1 formation with a lonely striker in Kezman or Semih Gokturk.

Fenerbahce is the team who attacks even when they play away from home. That’s what I noticed watching their games against Anderlecht, Inter, PSV, CSKA Moscow and Sevilla. They really play this game as the Brazilian national team.
Their stadium in Istanbul is Sukru Saracoglou, which is located in Kadikoy region of the city. They call this place “HELL”. All of Anderlecht, Inter, PSV, CSKA Moscow and Sevilla were beaten here.

My opinion on the clash is that in normal circumstances Chelsea with all their stars should not have any problem to knock this “Little Brazil” out of Europe, but I think this is the moment for Chelsea when they have to be as cautious as never before.

This is what Kaka said about Fenerbahce in uefa.com: “I think they could be the great surprise for this Champions League. Zico’s team is doing really well with all their Brazilians. I hope Zico can take Fenerbahce as far as possible.” Kaka obviously supports Fenerbahce.

man utd vs barcelona… wont that be a sight!!