The UEFA Champions League Play-Off finishes with the second legs taking place on Tuesday August 24 and Wednesday August 25. There will be several matches broadcasted on TV in the United States and here's a full listing.

Fox Soccer Channel

iday, Aug 21 Sporting Clube (POR) v Fiorentina (ITA) 8:00 PM

Tuesday, Aug 25 Maccabi Haifa (ISR) v Salzburg (AUT) 2:30 PM

Tuesday, Aug 25 Anderlecht (BEL) v Olympique Lyonnais (F.

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.

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.

Wondering who Andriy Shevchenko won't play against in this season's Champions League? Or, are you intrigued by who Chelsea might be drawn against in tomorrow's CL group stage draw? Never fear.

Check out the seedings below, then make your prediction. I'll banking on an Inter, Fiorentina, Standard threesome to join us.

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?

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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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!

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.

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.

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.

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, [.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 [.

Chelsea beat Porto last night 1-0 with a goal from Nicolas Anelka to top the Champions League group stages last night. The result mean't that the group was done and dusted with a game to go against APOEL at the Bridge and a chance for us to rest some players.
The 1-0 win last night turned out to be enough on the night to see us through but I have to say I wasn't impressed at all with our performance.

Group A
1. Bordeaux, 2. Bayern Munich, 3. Juventus, 4. Maccabi Haifa
The French side skated to a group win with a workmanlike 1-0 win over the Israelis, who set a dubious UCL record with six shutout losses. Bayern got a PK goal from its goalie (Jorg Butt) and dominated the Italians 4-1 to grab the final berth into the knockout stage.

First Mikel pulls a Carlton Cole. Now this.

From chelseafc.com: "Michael Essien today (Wednesday) underwent an examination on the injury he suffered in last night's Champions League game. Results of scans show a tear in his right hamstring. Essien is expected to be out for three to four weeks.

The UEFA Champions League Play-Off round finished up on Wednesday August 26, 2009 with the second legs of five matches. Some of these included Arsenal v Celtic, Olympiacos v Copenhagen, Fiorentina v Sporting, and Stuttgart v Timisoara.

Arsenal beats Celtic 3-1 (5-1 on aggregate) Video Highlights

Arsenal advanced past Celtic on a 3-1 win at the Emirates and 5-1 on aggregate.

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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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 ...

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

(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.

(video gol, 0-1. Anelka)
Classifica: Chelsea 13; Porto 9; Atletico Madrid 3; Apoel 2.
Ultimo turno: Chelsea-Apoel e Atletico Madrid-Porto.

Apologies for the lateness of this post, and the lack of anything else on the blog over the past couple of days. I've yet to get over this weekend's debacle, to be fair.

Anyway, we must move on to a seemingly meaningless fixture to close out a solid display in the Champions League group stages.

Ronaldo's two goals meant Real Madrid qualified for the last 32 stage in their match against Marseille. They stay group winners as AC Milan followed them close behind. Real won 1-3 as Ronaldo scored in the fifth minute through a free kick. Lucho Gonzalez scored six minutes later from close range after which Raul [.

Juventus figured to have some momentum heading into its do-or-die Champions League clash with Bayern Munich on Tuesday. Having just beaten Inter Milan, Juve needed only a draw at home against Bayern to reach the Round of 16, but instead of a draw, the Italian club was handed a 4-1 beating and a place in the Europa League.

What is the official name of this new round anyway? Fourth round? "Playoff bracket"? How about "the mere formality", because that's what it turned out to be yesterday. While all were hoping for a big upset and a Champions League Cinderella, the big clubs went quietly about taking care of business, disposing of the riff [.

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.

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