Pick of the UEFA Youth League
Sunday, April 19, 2015
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Champions Chelsea FC, their prolific striker Dominic Solanke, a record crowd, FC Shakhtar Donetsk and penalty shoot-outs feature in UEFA.com's pick of the campaign.
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Team: Chelsea FC
Powerful, polished and prolific – these are just a few of the words you could use to describe Chelsea, the 2014/15 UEFA Youth League champions. With a classy midfield lineup supplying the ammunition for Dominic Solanke, the west Londoners won nine of their ten games, scoring 36 goals and conceding only six.
Their sole defeat, a 2-0 loss to FC Schalke 04, came when they had already booked their place in the knockout stage, where FC Zenit, Club Atlético de Madrid, AS Roma and FC Shakhtar Donetsk were no match for Adi Viveash's team. More success could be forthcoming, with nine of the XI that started against Shakhtar in the Nyon decider likely to be involved against Manchester City FC in Monday's FA Youth Cup final first leg.
Player: Dominic Solanke
Joint-top marksman when England claimed the UEFA European Under-17 Championship title in Malta 11 months ago, Solanke took the scoring honours outright in this season's UEFA Youth League with an impressive 12 goals in nine outings. The 17-year-old, one of UEFA.com's stars of 2014, was on target in all but one of his appearances, finding the net on average every 64 minutes.
Solanke is the archetypal penalty-area predator, coming alive whenever the slightest hint of an opportunity presents itself. This was none more evident than in the Blues' 4-0 thrashing of Roma in the semi-finals, the highlights of which, including Solanke's double, can be viewed by clicking on the video box to the right.
Number: 13,162
RSC Anderlecht's quarter-final against FC Porto attracted a competition-record crowd to the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. The fans were handsomely rewarded, the exciting Belgian side prevailing 5-0 thanks in part to a hat-trick from Aaron Leya Iseka.
Comeback kings: FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Three times Shakhtar fell behind in the knockout phase and three times they came back to win, twice on penalties. The Pitmen's powers of recovery were plain to see when they registered three goals from the 76th minute onwards in rallying to topple Anderlecht in their televised semi-final. Eventually, though, they came up short, Valeriy Kryventsov's hitherto unbeaten team going 1-0 and, decisively, 3-1 down in the final against Chelsea.
Shoot-outs
Five of the 12 round of 16 and quarter-final ties went to spot kicks, with Shakhtar holding their nerve against Olympiacos FC and SL Benfica.
Stepping up
Thirteen players made appearances in both the UEFA Youth League and the UEFA Champions League this term, among them Anderlecht winger Andy Kawaya, Chelsea's Solanke, AS Monaco FC defender Almamy Touré and Schalke prospect Leroy Sané.
The idea of the UEFA Youth League being the ideal preparatory school for teenagers before they potentially going on to figure in Europe's elite club competition was embodied by Sané, who perhaps made the biggest splash of all. Given his UEFA Champions League debut at the Santiago Bernabéu, the forward marked it with a sublime strike against Real Madrid CF in Schalke's impressive, if ultimately futile, 4-3 round of 16 second-leg victory.
Third-time lucky: AS Roma
If at first you don't succeed, then try, try again. That was a proverb that characterised Roma's run to the semis – and their three encounters with Manchester City. Beaten twice by Patrick Vieira's side in the group stage, Alberto De Rossi's charges defied the form book to eliminate their English rivals in the last eight. Giallorossi captain Lorenzo Pellegrini notched only one goal in nine games, but his decisive, dipping strike from distance in that 2-1 triumph was one Francesco Totti would have been proud of.