The Euro Preview: Relegation battles heat up across Europe
While Crystal Palace are in last place in England, there are several teams in Europe’s other major leagues, amid a flurry of manager firings, competing for the title of worst club.
La Liga
While all eyes are on Barcelona and a surging Valencia at the top of the Liga standings, a look at the bottom of the table is a highlight in futility and ineffectual play. Let’s start from the bottom up. Malaga are currently in last place with just a point, amassing a 0-1-8 record over nine matches. They play Sunday against 10th-place Celta Vigo. With a little under one-third of the season complete, another defeat for Malaga could very well plunge this picturesque port town into the Segunda Division next season.
The Andalusians, who reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League as recently as 2012-13, suffered another setback during the week, when Copa Del Rey action saw them lose 2-1 to second-division club Numancia, who scored two goals in stoppage time to snatch the win. The relegation-threatened club, coached by former Real Madrid star Michel, appear doomed. It’s only a matter of time before Michel is sacked and the club relegated for the first time since 2008.
Also in the relegation fight to avoid the last three spots are Alaves (who host second-place Valencia on Saturday) with three points, Las Palmas at six and Eibar with seven. Deportivo La Coruna, another team with recent European success, is fifth from the bottom with eight points. Las Palmas host Deportivo La Coruna on Monday in a must-win match for both sides. The game is bigger for Deportivo, who may find themselves further under water should they suffer another defeat.
The club dumped their manager, Pepe Mel, this past Tuesday and replaced him with B team coach Cristobal Parralo. Mel, who was appointed in February, is the fifth coach to be fired by team president Tino Fernandez since he took over in 2014.
Bundesliga
While the race for the German league title features Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich tied for first with 20 points, the battle to avoid 2.Bundesliga is a five-team fight and extends to as many as eight teams if you include Hertha Berlin, Mainz and VfB Stuttgart, who are all tied at 10 points.
Last-place FC Koln have only two points after recording a 0-2-7 record in nine games. The whole season can be condensed into a single play. It was Sehrou Guirassy’s glaring miss against Werder Bremen this past Sunday in a game that ended 0-0. Koln’s showing has been a shock after they finished fifth last season. This season, they’ve managed to score just three goals. The fallout has already begun, as the club parted ways with sporting director Jorg Schmadtke by mutual consent.
Werder Bremen are just second from the bottom with five points. Like Koln, they remains winless. Werder are also a club with lots of traditional and past successes. The team narrowly missed out on a Europa League spot last season. This year is a different story. Werder play Augsburg, currently overachieving in 10th place, on Sunday in a must-win match.
There is some good news. Werder striker Max Kruse recently returned to training after breaking his collarbone over five weeks ago. The 29-year-old injured himself last month after awkwardly landing following a challenge against Schalke defender Thilo Kehrer. Werder’s 1-0 win against Hoffenheim on Wednesday in the second round of the German Cup also bodes well as the team seeks to regroup.
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Serie A
Benevento have the dubious distinction of being the only team among Europe’s top five leagues not to have a single point. The newly-promoted club (this is their first ever season in Italy’s top flight) have found life to be rather difficult among the big boys. If there’s any team doomed to be relegated first, its the Campania-based club. All this after team captain Fabio Lucioni failed a drug test last month for a banned substance, which could result in a ban of up to four years.
Benevento’s fate is also ironic given that the city is located just 34 miles away from league leaders Napoli. Their coach, former Napoli defender Marco Baroni, was fired this past Monday ahead of the team’s clash two days later against Cagliari. One of two managers already canned in Serie A this season (the other was Cagliari’s Massimo Rastelli who was replaced with Diego Lopez), Baroni guided the team to promotion last season. Under his replacement, Marco De Zerbi, a former Napoli midfielder, the team appeared on their way to their first point of the season. A penalty kick converted by Pietro Iemmello four minutes into stoppage time sent the players into ecstasy, but a Leonardo Pavoletti header a minute later gave Cagliari the three points.
Spal, also promoted last season, are in 19th place with five points. The team suffered a 4-1 thrashing against Juventus Wednesday and will host Genoa this Sunday. Genoa, on six points, are tied with Crotone and Verona, creating a glut of teams at the bottom of the table. Crotone play Fiorentina this Sunday, while Verona will have a tougher go of it against second-place Inter Milan the following day. Sassuolo, who play Napoli on Sunday, have eight points and could get sucked into the relegation fight should they lose.
“We must forget the negative and hold on to the positive,” De Zerbi told Italian broadcaster Radio RAI after the game. “Cagliari had just two shots on goal, if you include the penalty kick, and they scored in the 95th minute … Now let’s focus on recovering our injured players and some enthusiasm.”