By JOHN BOSCHINI
A season removed from a surprising run to the 2010 Champions League Final, Bayern Munich are
looking like the team to beat this time around.
Mario Gomez netted a hat trick as Bayern Munich rolled to an impressive 3-2 victory over Napoli.
The German striker opened the scoring by finishing off a pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger in the
17th minute.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Lionel Messi took another step towards becoming the most prolific goal-scorer in Barcelona's
history as the 24-year-old striker scored his 200th, 201st and 202nd goal for the club.
Messi's clinical penalty kick was the opening goal in Barcelona's straight-forward 4-0 victory
over Viktoria Plezen as the defending champions officially booked a place in the knockout rounds
and take pole position in Group H.
The Rapids were shutout in Mexico on Wednesday night, now waiting for Thursday's CONCACAF Champions
League results to see if they advance in the competition. Aaron Galindo opened the scoring in the
55th minute and it was 2-0 Santos when Jesus Escoboza scored in the 67th. The Rapids are in the
unenviable situation of needing a draw from the Metapan - Real Espana game to move on as Group B
runners-up.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Sergio Aguero rescued Manchester City with a goal with the last kick of the game as the UEFA
Champions League newcomers retained hope of advancing to the knockout rounds with a 2-1 win over
Villarreal.
Pablo Zabaleta fired a low cross in front of goal in the third minute of stoppage time and David
Silva failed to make contact at the near post but the ball found its way to Aguero, who made no
mistake from close range.
Inter Milan is in rebuilding mode under a new manager after a brutal start to the season, and
today will offer new manager Claudio Ranieri and his side a tough test to see just how far along
the blue side of Milan has come.
Napoli will provide the challenge, as Edinson Cavani and the crew from Naples look to boost
their own Serie A title hopes.
Yeah, that strange, high pitched keening noise you can hear, Mikey, is the sound of several
thousand Kickette soldier boys and girls politely requesting that you remove your base layers.
Crack on. Image: PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images.
It's part two of our Champions League results round-up.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Lionel Messi's case as the best Barcelona player of all time got a little bit stronger with a
brace in a 5-0 thrashing of BATE Borisov in Belarus in a UEFA Champions League group match.
The Argentinian captain moved into a tie for second place with Ladislau Kubala on Barcelona's
all-time goalscorer list with 194 goals scored for the club.
Wow, an outbreak of nudity. We thought there was some sort of European embargo on this kind of
thing, it happens so infrequently. Not that we're bitter. Image: AP Photo/Claude Paris.
Have we split the Midweek Champions League Results over two days because a) we want to give you
the opportunity to comment on each night's action as soon as possible, or b) Because it's a
relatively easy way to fill up space when we're short staffed and we're thinking of sloping off
early today anyway?
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Ashley Young spared Manchester United an embarrassing result with a goal in injury time as the
defending Premier League champions squandered a two-goal lead over FC Basel and were forced to
settle for a 3-3 draw in UEFA Champions League play at Old Trafford.
When we started this blog, we had no idea that we would be here, doing this for so long but it's
now been almost four years and this is our five hundredth entry. Now, as far as we can tell, we are
the longest-running and most successful weekly football ranking site on the web. Thanks for your
support!
Manchester United and Chelsea have battled for the English Premier League title for years, and
both should be there when the title is decided this season. We will find out just which team has
the stronger championship bid when the rivals meet on Sunday in this weekend's marquee
match-up.
Some Quick Thoughts on Last Night's Champions League Results:
. Borussia Dortmund 1 - Arsenal 1 It's hard to recall the glory days of Thierry Henry and
Patrick Viera's Arsenal: wonderful to watch but with a strong, rock-solid core. Today's Arsenal
strike me as little wimpy boys.
HJK Helsinki 10-0 Bangor City Champions League 11-12 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow
Soccer Blogger on Twitter
HJK Helsinki 10-0 Bangor City Champions League 11-12 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer
Blogger on Twitter HJK vs Bangor City- UEFA Champions League Champions League 11/12 Qualifying-
19th July, 2011 Final score:- HJK 10-0 Bangor City ( Ring, Sadik, Zeneli*2, Rafinha, Pukki*2,
Kastrati*2, Parikka) HJK win 13-0 on aggregate.
The midweek Champions League results have brought us closer to a scenario dreaded by the
Madridistas and relished by the
Barcelonistas: unless one of the two squads lay a
XXXL-sized egg in their respective second leg matches, the two biggest clubs in the country will
play four derbies in just 18 days.
Aww, baby. Image: AP Photo/Daylife
It's part two of our marvelous Champions League Results round up, people. Strap yourself in,
grab your hip flask and join us for the ride.
(Psst: there's semi-nekkid Pique and everything!)
Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United
Really, Nando?
How does one expect to be featured on Kickette if he insists on remaining fully clothed!?
Ok, so the good news is that the tardy staffers referred to yesterday have remained awake for
long enough to produce the Champions League Results post. The bad news? We had to use cattle prods
to do it.
Gennaro mistakes Joe Jordan for one of the Dirty Sanchez boys. It can only get worse from here.
Image: Reuters/Daylife.
There aren't many things that inspire our staffers to submit work that hasn't been demanded of
them. We usually rely on outright bribery (the most effective combination of items that gets them
off the office sofa and churn out some copy includes vodka and Crunchie ice creams, just soes you
noes) to bring you your daily dose of irreverent football gossip and snarking.
