They must fall. And so four games in, the Champions League contenders and pretenders have been separated fallen into place for the group stage which, a few spots aside, could've been drawn up in August by a blind chimp and his serf, a man who tans. Breaking down the likelies, unlikelies, and those who are already [. Click to continue reading...

I have to say maybe I was slightly harsh on the boys after the Atletico game the other night as we are sitting pretty at the top of our group with two games to play.
Let's face it there are a number of big european sides that are all but comfortable at the moment and will be giving their all to make sure of qualification for the last 16. Click to continue reading...

(video gol highlights di Apoel-Porto)
Anche il Porto può festeggiare. La qualificazione arriva a sei minuti dalla fine, quando il colombiano Falcao mette a segno quel gol tanto agognato, che manda ko i ciprioti dell'Apoel e regala gli ottavi di finale della Champions League ai lusitani. Click to continue reading...

Uefa Champions League APOEL Nicosia FC vs FC Porto: Live Stream here APOEL Nicosia FC� - FC Porto : Highlights here Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today Click to continue reading...

While Wednesday's UEFA Champions League matches didn't have the same kind of upsets, save for one that was fairly huge. AC Milan, who had been off to a slow, struggling start to the 2009 campaign, came back from a 1-0 deficit to win 3-2 on the road against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

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Partiamo dal Gruppo A, dove la Juventus supera, a fatica, il Maccabi Haifa con un gol (il primo in Champions) del difensore centrale Chiellini. Ma il merito del successo va diviso con Gigi Buffon, autore di parate fantastiche. Il Bordeaux, invece, piega il Bayern Monaco per due a uno. Click to continue reading...

Remember that fabulous Parma team that lifted the UEFA Cup in 1999?

Led then by manager Alberto Malesani the team was made up of superb talent from the back to the front. A young Gainluigi Buffon kept goal, protected by a back three of Lillian Thuram, Fabio Cannavaro and Nestor Sensini.

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FC Porto striker Hulk scored two goals one in the 33rd minute and the other on a Penalty Kick early in the second half to bring Porto back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat APOEL in Champions League action. Porto's victory moves them five points clear of the third place squad in the Group. FC Porto can now clinch a spot in the Round of 16 with a win on the road against APOEL, accompanied with a Click to continue reading...

(video gol highlights di Porto-Apoel Nicosia)

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I predict: FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1 v 1 FC Bayern München Juventus 2 v 0 Maccabi Haifa FC PFC CSKA Moskva 1 v 2 Manchester United FC VfL Wolfsburg 2 v 3 Beşiktaş JK Real Madrid CF 3 v 1 AC Milan FC Zürich 2 v 2 Olympique de Marseille FC Porto 1 v 1 APOEL ... Click to continue reading...

Ever heard of the Crossbar Challenge? Well,� Footy Factor brings you the new and improved Corner Challenge. Shot at the GSP Stadium during Chelsea's recent trip to Cyprus to face APOEL in the Champions League, see John Terry and� Frank Lampard try their luck at scoring directly from a corner under the watchful eye of Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti.

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In what will be remembered as one of the most surprising Champions League group stage upsets in recent memory, FC Zurich shocked AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro. Hannu Tihenen's goal in the 10th minute proved to be enough. Zurich had shown some fight in the previous matchday, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to make Real Madrid sweat a little.

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In what will be remembered as one of the most surprising Champions League group stage upsets in recent memory, FC Zurich shocked AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro. Hannu Tihenen's goal in the 10th minute proved to be enough. Zurich had shown some fight in the previous matchday, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to make Real Madrid sweat a little.

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Si è conclusa ieri sera la seconda giornata di Champions League e, come al solito, le sorprese, i gol e ele emozioni non sono mancate. Partiamo dal Girone A, dove il fortino bianconero regge l'assalto dei bavaresi di Van Gaal e porta a casa un prezioso punticino (il secondo dopo il pari rimediato con il Bordeaux). Click to continue reading...

Chelsea may have won 1-0 at APOEL today, but it was from an acceptable performance. In fact, during the second half, it was quite� unacceptable.� Furthermore, I think you'd be hard pressed to deny the Cypriots a point following their inspiring display� after the break.

Ancelotti seemed to agree with my assessment:

"I'm not satisfied," CA said afterward.

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Uefa Champions League APOEL Nicosia FC vs Chelsea : Live Stream here APOEL Nicosia FC� - Chelsea : Highlights here Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today� Click to continue reading...

It's time to get back to work. And back to winning.

Carlo Ancelotti's first real test as Chelsea manager arrives today when the Blues resume Group D play in the Champions League against Cyprus' APOEL Nicosia.

This will be Chelsea's more importantly CA's first match since the 3-1 defeat away to Wigan on Saturday, the Blues' first loss of the 2009-10 season.

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Wednesday night sees last years runners up Manchester United take centre stage, as they face Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg at Old Trafford. Both teams got off to a winning start in week one but with home advantage, it's United that will be under the most pressure to perform in week two.

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Ancelotti admits confusion at Wigan performance.

Portsmouth vs Chelsea Tickets Still Available!

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti demanded a response from his team after their first defeat of the season at Wigan.

The Blues face a Champions League match on Wednesday with Cypriots Apoel Nicosia, then play Liverpool on Sunday.

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STARTERS
Just 3 days ago I was singing a beautiful song about how great the satellite company DirectTV was, carrying all 16 Champions League games this week LIVE. Well I set my DVR and headed off to work yesterday excited to get back home and watch Inter Milan face Barcelona. Click to continue reading...

Another season of Champions League football has started with a bang even though we failed to see any major surprises. Barcelona showed they would again be the team to beat after outclassing Inter, whereas the debutants did fairly well even though Wolfsburg and APOEL were the only newcomers to win some points in the opening round and the Cypriots' goalless draw at Vicente Calderon is probably the biggest shock of the round.

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eto'o vs ibra
Originally uploaded by mariani alberto - rupertalbegraphic.com Todos esperaban este emocionante duelo entre las estrellas goleadoras Samuel Eto y el sueco Zlatan Ibrahimovic y esta hermosa ilustracion italiana los enfrentaba antes de su encuentro, al final ninguno anoto gol. Click to continue reading...

Una vez agotada la jornada de champions, voy a tratar de sintetizar mis percepciones sobre los equipos españoles y su participación en la jornada de ayer. Lamento haber colgado este post a unas horas tan intempestivas, pero la jornada futbolística y los medios de comunicación me han tenido ocupado, por ese problema de mi incapacidad de ser ubicuo. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Happy Birthday to my amazing brother Bill!
dN
Major League Soccer has announced that they will not play games next summer during the group stage of the World Cup. It's not perfect, but it's better than what we currently have going on. The league will also not play on the day of the Semifinals or Final! Click to continue reading...

Calendario Champions League 09-10
Martes 15 de Septiembre de 2009
1 Juventus Bordeaux 20:45
1 Maccabi Haifa Bayern 20:45
1 Wolfsburg CSKA Moskva 20:45
1 Besiktas Man.United 20:45
1 Zurich Real Madrid 20:45
1 Marseille Milan 20:45
1 Chelsea Porto 20:45
1 Atlético APOEL 20:45
Miércoles 16 de Septiembre de 2009
1 Liverpool Debrecen 20:45
1 Lyon Fiorentina 20:45
1 Internazionale Barcelona 20:45
1 Dynamo. Click to continue reading...

Ladies and gentleman of the soccer world, here are the groups of the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League. Tune into the next episode of Mad About Futbol as we will be discussing and analyzing the groups and all the implications surrounding the teams involved. There is certainly a lot of excitement with the drawing of the groups and the upcoming Mad About Futbol show will have all the information you need to know about this season's Champions League. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool will reach a European century in this season's Champions League.
Friday's draw in Monaco gave them the unusual prospect of three clubs they have never faced before in European competition.
The Reds will face Lyon of France, Fiorentina of Italy and the Hungarians Debreceni in Group E – a welcome distraction after recent seasons which have seen the Reds regularly face the same clubs. Click to continue reading...

Full Champions League Groups: Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa Group B: MANCHESTER UNITED, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich Group D: CHELSEA, FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL Group E: LIVERPOOL, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen Group F: FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev, FC Rubin Kazan Group G: Sevilla, RANGERS, Stuttgart, Unirea Group H: ARSENAL, [. Click to continue reading...

Group A

Bayern Munchen
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B

Manchester United
CSKA Moskow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL

Group E

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen

Group F

Barcelona
Internazionale
Dynamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan

Group G

Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Reaction

Manchester United along with Arsenal have fairly straightforward groups and both should be looking to come out on top.

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Yes, trust UEFA to take an hour to do a job that could be completed in the time it takes to make a cup of tea.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, what did you all think of the lady co-hosting the event, very nice indeed.

Anyway, back to business. Some groups of death as they say, especially F and A.

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In fall...

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: MANCHESTER UNITED, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: CHELSEA, FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: LIVERPOOL, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev, FC Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, RANGERS, Stuttgart, Unirea
Group H: ARSENAL, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard

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I've been accused of being too Euro-centric in the past ...
But Europe's where the money goes and where the best players in the world play. So cut me some slack, eh?
Here, the full draw for the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League ... looks like a good one ...

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux , Maccabi Haifa

Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg

Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Apoel FC

Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debreceni

Group F: Barcelona, Internazionale, Dynamo Kiev, FC Rubin Kazan

Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, VfB Stuttgart, Unirea Uriziceni

Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege

Who gets out? Click to continue reading...

With yesterday's games in the books, the draw for the Champions League Group Stage will take place today. Coverage of the event begins at 16:30 BST (with the actual draw to take place closer to 17:00 BST). Looking at the pots, I must admit that I am only seeing the negative scenarios, which gives me considerable pause for concern.

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The Champions League draw was bit of anti-climax, wasn't it really? No Ronaldo Old Trafford reunion, no Jose Mourinho return and not even a tasty tie with Juventus or Rangers for our English clubs. Instead the so called ‘big four' can be relatively happy with their respective groups and as much as Michel Plantini wont like it, should find themselves safely through to the knockout stage.

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The lineup for the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage has been completed with the final five qualifiers earning their places on Wednesday night.

This week's ten play-off winners join the 22 automatic entrants in Thursday's group-stage draw. VfL Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liège, Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni, APOEL and FC Zürich will all be making their debuts in a competition which sees 18 nations represented in the group stage this year.

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