Cyprus's most famous and supported club AC Omonia will look to take home advantage despite being tagged as the underdogs. Omonia finished last season 3rd behind APOEL and Anorthosis Famagusta, the former also participating in the UEFA Cup and the latter having the prestigious honour of being the first Cypriot representative in the Champions League Group Stage.

As European's elite begin preparation for another season of shocks, surprises and the inevitable media-circus around Jose Mourinho's long-awaited return to the Champions League, two of the leading performers have already stolen the show by making history. The heroes and villains of Champions League football usually arise as the latter stages progress, but Anorthosis Famagusta and FC BATE have already acclaimed success by remarkably reaching the Group Stages for the very first time.

Four clubs surprised the pundits by pulling off impressive victories against higher ranked outfits. Based on current rankings:

• Anorthosis Famagusta (ranked 193) defeated Olympiacos (ranked 44)
• FC BATE Borisov (unranked) defeated Levski Sofia (ranked 80)
• Atlético Madrid (ranked 67) defeated Schalke 04 (ranked 22)
• Dynamo Kyiv (ranked 74) defeated Spartak Moscow (ranked 61)

FC BATE from Belarus and Anorthosis from Cyprus are the first clubs from their perspective countries to ever qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

The UEFA Champions League draw was rolled out Thursday, and Uncle Phil should be fairly pleased with the outcome. Chelsea, the No. 1 overall seed in this year's draw (that's right, bitch), was drawn into Group A along with Serie A runner-up AS Roma, Frenchies Bordeaux and CL debutants CFR Cluj (Romania).

Temuri Ketsbaia of the newly recognized (by Russia only) independent nation Abkhazia or, if you believe the rest of the world, from Georgia, has led a minion of European football into the CL. Anorthosis Famagusta are champions of Cyprus, a title they have won twice under Ketsbaia's leadership. Ketsbaia first joined them as a player in [.

Today's press coverage of AEK's release of Dellas here and here. Press coverage of his move to Cypriot champions Anorthosis Famagusta here, here and here.

This article compares AEK to an English Premiership team.  That's almost as funny as this!

The final 32 clubs who will partake in this year's Champions League campaign have qualified and are all set for tomorrow's draw - set somewhere in Europe which is easy for Michele Platini to travel to (oh it's in Monaco, how nice). And though the qualifying stages are a bit Champions League Lite, they still [.

The Dutchman saved Liverpool from penalty shootout drama with a goal in the 118th minute at Anfield to put the Reds through.
Here are the other qualifiers, that include Barcelona and Juve from yesterday:
BATE Borisov, Shakhtar Donetsk, AaB, Marseille, Dynamo Kiev, Anorthosis Famagusta, Fiorentina, Steaua Bucuresti, Arsenal, Fenerbahce, FC Basel, Atlético Madrid.

Alex is off on vacation and I've been busy at work, on my amatuer team AEK Baltimore (three games in three days) and nursing a nasty case of Athletic Pubalgia, so we've let the blog slide a few days. My apologies. The news has really started to pile up. AEK destroyed Turkish-side Ancaragucu on Sunday in Austria.

Because what is more exciting than previewing ping-pong balls. The pots and my thoughts are after the jump. Here are the pots: Pot one MANCHESTER UNITED CHELSEA LIVERPOOL Barcelona ARSENAL Lyon Inter Milan Real Madrid Pot two Bayern Munich PSV Eindhoven Villarreal AS Roma FC Porto Werder Bremen Sporting Lisbon Juventus Pot three Marseille Zenit St Petersburg Steaua Bucharest Panathinaikos Bordeaux CELTIC Basel Fenerbahce Pot four Shakhtar Donetsk Fiorentina Atletico Madrid Dynamo Kiev CFR Cluj Aalborg Anorthosis Famagusta Bate Borisov From a purely Arsenal perspective, I can't believe how [.

Not bad for Italian teams in the Champions League this week: 2 wins, 2 draws. Roma and Juventus have to be ecstatic after their victories, while Fiorentina after their draw with Bayern at home can't say the same. Inter drew away to Anorthosis, but are still top of the group so they can't really complain but they can't be very happy either.

Ventspils 2-1 Brann Bergen (2-2 agg)FBK Kaunas 2-1 Rangers (2-1 agg)Partizan Belgrade 2-0 Inter Baku (3-1 agg)Dynamo Kiev 2-2 Drogheda United (4-3 agg)Artmedia Petralka 4-2 Tampere United (7-3 agg)Sparta Prague 2-0 Sherif Tiraspol (3-0 agg)Modriča 1-2 AaB Aalborg (1-7 agg)Wisła Kraków 5-0 Beitar Jerusalem (6-2 agg)MTK Budapest 0-5 Fenerbahçe (0-7 agg)Basel 4-2 IFK Göteborg (5-3 agg)BATE Borisov 2-2 Anderlecht (4-3 agg)Rapid Wien 3-1 Anorthosis Famagusta (3-4 agg)Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 Domale (6-2 agg)Dinamo Tbilisi 0-0 Panathinaikos (0-3)

"Panathinaikos' win is absolutely deserved. People may say they were lucky but I don't agree. After that performance we don't deserve to go through. We must be angry with ourselves."
Jose Mourinho surprisingly philosophical over Inter Milan's defeat to Panathinaikos, the first in their European campaign this season.

Rio Grande de Sol, Porto, Istanbul, Lisbon, Bolton, Ancona, Rosario, Larnaca, Newcastle – The destinations on show for Mario Jardel's career could have been easily mistaken for the jet-setting antics of an affluent tycoon, but such has been the geographical scope of his profession that it pays perfect testiment to the life and times of the ultimate journeyman.

Anorthosis Famagusta - Olympiakos Vitoria de Guimarães - FC Basel Shaktar Donetsk - Dinamo Zagreb FC Schalke 04 - Atlético Madrid AaB Aalborg - FBK Kaunas Barcelona - Wisła Kraków Levski Sofia - BATE Borisov Standard Liege - Liverpool Partizan Belgrade - Fenerbahçe FC Twente - Arsenal Spartak Moscow - Dynamo Kiev Juventus - Artmedia Petralka Brann Bergen - Marseille Fiorentina - Slavia Prague Galatasaray - Steaua Bucharest Panathinaikos - Sparta Prague Matches are August 12/13 and 26/27.

A: Chelsea, Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj B: Internazionale, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis Famagusta C: Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shaktar Donesk D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atlético Madrid E: Man Utd, Villarreal, Celtic, Aalborg BK F: Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, Fiorentina G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg, FC BATE Borisov

Monday 15 September
20.00 Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa, Premier League, Setanta Sports 1
Spurs' first win of the season isn't too far away. It might not be tonight though. Should be a good contest between two well-matched sides.
Tuesday 16 September
19.45 Chelsea v Bordeaux, UEFA Champions League Group A, ITV4
A first chance for most viewers to see Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux variety which is said to be entertaining and non-uncompromising-centre-half like.

European heavyweights Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Chelsea and Inter Milan opened their Champions League campaigns with victories Tuesday. But the most striking results on the first night of the group stage came from the competition's newcomers on the road, with Romanian team CFR Cluj upsetting AS Roma 2-1 and Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus holding Werder Bremen 0-0.