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The Lowdown on PFC Ludogorets Razgrad

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The greatest club competition is finally returning to Anfield tonight

The greatest club competition is finally returning to Anfield tonight

Tuesday night sees the return of the Champions League for Liverpool after a five year absence. There is nothing better than a European night at Anfield. The fans in full voice, flags swaying, it certainly is an atmosphere that is something special that every fan wants to be a part of. Hopefully Brendan’s current crop of stars can write their own bit of history that will live long in the memory of all Reds fans.

Matchday one sees Liverpool take on Bulgarian minnows PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, as we have never played them before I thought I would give you the lowdown on the current Bulgarian Champions.

The club was only formed in 2001 and their name Ludogorets literally translates as “The Wild Forest”. They are nicknamed The Eagles. Their stadium Ludogorets Arena only holds 8,000 fans, so the club will be playing their home games in the national stadium Vassil Levski in the capital Sofia.

Their mascot is an Eagle named Fortuna – named after the Roman goddess of Luck, the clubs owner came up with the idea after playing Italain side Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.

In 2011, Ludogorets were promoted to the Bulgarian First Division and have since made history by winning three successive titles. The team owes its progress to businessman Kiril Domuschiev, who started investing in the club mainly because his pharmaceutical company was based in Razgrad. He provides the annual club budget of €5 million, which is reportedly the second smallest in the Champions League this year after that of Belarusian outfit BATE Borisov (€4.5m).

The team gained vital European experience last season by reaching the last 16 of the Europa League, Ludogorets started that European campaign in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, and ended up playing 16 matches across the two competitions – a record for a Bulgarian team for one season.

They were unbeaten in the group stage finishing first in the group with five wins in six games, including both home and away victories over the prominent PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb. Their only dropped points were a 1–1 home draw with Chornomorets Odesa. In the knockout phase, Ludogorets beat the Italian cup holders, Lazio, 1–0 away and drew 3–3 at home, for a 4–3 aggregate win, but lost 0–3 at home, 0–4 on aggregate to Valencia in the round of 16.

This season they have faced F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg and Partizan Belgrade in the qualifying rounds of the competition. Their reward for beating Partizan Belgrade was a playoff tie with Romanian side Steaua Bucharest.

For a club with a 13-year history it’s difficult to have a player with legendary status, but if there is an idol among the fans in Razgrad it should be Cosmin Moti. The Romanian defender was the hero of the second play-off game with Steaua Bucharest, when Ludogorets won on penalties and reached the Champions’ League group stage.

Two minutes before the end of the extra-time, goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off and, because Ludogorets had already made all three substitutions, Moti was forced to stand in between the sticks. Not only did he save two penalties, but also scored one himself. (Not bad for player who apparently smokes three packs of cigarettes a day).

Current manager Georgi Dermendzhiev prefers to use the formation 4-2-3-1, which could be reshaped to 4-4-2 if they fall behind in a match. The attack is led by the Slovenian forward Roman Bezjak, who finished as the third-highest goalscorer in last season’s Europa League, netting six times. Given their successful visits to Partizan Belgrade (1-0), PSV Eindhoven (2-0), Dinamo Zagreb (2-1) and Lazio (1-0), it’s fair to say the Bulgarian champions are more suited to playing away from home.

Sitting compactly in their own half and waiting to hit their opponents on the counter-attack suits their players perfectly, especially their Dutch right winger Virgil Misidjan, who is particularly rapid. However one of the team’s weaknesses is that they have a tendency to concede goals in the dying minutes of matches due to lapses of concentration in the defense.

Their star man so to speak is Brazilian playmaker Marcelo Nascimento da Costa, more commonly known as Marcelinho. He was signed in 2011, for €120,000 he likes to dictate the play, takes all the important free kicks but also can play as a central striker – he has scored vital goals in that position for the team.

The Champions League newcomers have been written off by pundits and fans alike, however given the fact that Ludogorets’ desire for over-coming the odds; Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool cannot afford to take them lightly.

Liverpool are back where we belong alongside Europe’s elite – Enjoy the ride Liverpool fans it’s going to be great.

Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG

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I am a lifelong Liverpool supporter from Huyton Liverpool just like Stevie G and go all over the world supporting my team I go the games in my wheelchair as I suffer from Cerebral Palsy however that does not stop me having a ball cheering on the World’s Best Team.
I write a weekly column talking about various topics whether that is tactical analysis of matches, opinion pieces, looking through the archives of previous matches, former players and current articles on Brendan and the first team.
It is great being part of the first class writing team at Live4liverpool.com and bucking the trend in being the first woman to write for the site.
Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG to keep up to date with my articles. Y.N.W.A