Canada’s Hutchinson, Besiktas get tough draw
Atiba Hutchinson says he gets goosebumps when he walks out to hear the Champions League anthem.
And the blood will likely be pumping double-time in February when the veteran Canadian midfielder and his Turkish side Besiktas walk out for the first leg of their round-of-16 soccer series with five-time European champion Bayern Munich.
While Monday’s draw was not kind to Hutchinson or Besiktas, it will be another memorable step on his European soccer adventure.
“’I don’t know really what to think of it, man, because obviously Bayern Munich is a very strong team,” Hutchinson said of the draw.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a very difficult game for us,” added the 34-year-old from Brampton, Ont.
As a group winner, Besiktas knew it would next face one of the other group runners-up: Basel, Bayern, Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, Sevilla or Shakhtar.
The good news was it didn’t get defending champion Real Madrid.
And as a group winner, it will have the advantage of playing the second leg at home.
The round-of-16 tie kicks off Feb. 20 at the 75,00-capacity Allianz Arena in Munich before switching to Vodafone Arena in Istanbul on March 14.
“That’s one way to look at it,” Hutchinson said of the home-field advantage.
“But, at the end of the day we’re playing Bayern Munich and they’ve won a few Champions League titles in the past so it’s going to be tough one,” the veteran added.
“But it’s also nice to play in games like that where you get one of the better teams in the tournament. It’s going to be a great experience to go and play in the Allianz Arena against some world-class players. It will be something very special.”
Bayern won the European club competition in 1974, ’75, ’76, 2001 and ’13
Besiktas made waves by winning its group with a 4-0-2 record, finishing ahead of Portugal’s Porto, Germany’s Leipzig and AS Monaco.
The only other teams to emerge unbeaten from the group stage were Barcelona, Liverpool and Tottenham.
The first Turkish team to top a group and qualify undefeated, Besiktas also set a record for most points (14), goals (11) and wins (4) by a Turkish team in group play.
Hutchinson, known as the Octopus for his long legs and ability to shield the ball, led all Besiktas players in covering more than 50 kilometres over the five group games.
He also had a 94 per cent pass completion rate.
Besiktas has already had success against German opposition, defeating 2016-17 Bundesliga runner-up RB Leipzig 2-1 and 2-0 in group play.
And history is on Hutchinson team’s side.
Group winners, who play the second leg at home, have advanced in 72.3 per cent of round-of-16 ties since the current competition format was introduced.
The Black Eagles currently stand fourth in the Turkish Super League with at a 7-2-6 record, five points behind leader Galatasaray (10-3-2). Hutchinson says the team has played better in the Champions League than in domestic competition.
Besiktas made the quarterfinals of the Europa League last season, losing to Lyon in a penalty shootout after the series finished tied at 3-3.
Hutchinson has other things on his mind as well with his wife expecting their third child any day now.
He joined Besiktas in 2013 after three seasons with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands. In ’15, he signed a two-year contract extension.
He started his career in Scandinavia with Osters and Helsingborg in Sweden and FC Copenhagen in Denmark.
His trophy cases includes four Danish titles (2006, ’07, ’09 and ’10), one Danish Cup (’09), one Dutch Cup (’12) and two Turkish league titles (’16 and ’17).
A five-time Canadian player of the year (2010, ’12, ‘14, ‘15 and ‘16), Hutchinson has won 78 caps for Canada, making his debut at 19. He has captained his country six times including a 2-0 win over Jamaica in September.
Hutchinson joins former Canadian internationals Tomaz Radzinski (Anderlecht, 2000-01) and Paul Stalteri (SV Werder Bremen, ’04-05) in reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League.
Should he made the quarterfinals, the Canadian Soccer Association says he would be the first Canadian international to do so — although Canadian-born Owen Hargreaves, who played internationally for England, won the tournament in 2000-01 with Bayern Munich.
In the other round-of-16 matches, it’s Juventus (Italy) versus Tottenham Hotspur (England), Basel (Switzerland) versus Manchester City (England), Porto (Portugal) versus Liverpool (England), defending champion Real Madrid (Spain) versus Paris SaintGermain (France), Chelsea (England) versus Barcelona (Spain): Sevilla (Spain) versus Manchester United (England) and Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) versus Roma (Italy).
The draw featured two pots: group winners and runners-up. Teams could not play a club from their group or their own country.
The final is May 26 at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine.