The German Bundesliga this Saturday saw the table open up amongst the top four after Borussia Mochengladbach thrashed Schalke 3-0 at Borussia-Park Saturday to keep them in the running for the title while giving a huge dent to Schalke's title hopes.

Leaders Dortmund were 1-0 winners over Leverkusen to maintain their 2 point lead over Bayern Munich who were also winners after they beat Kaiserslauten 2-0 at the Allianz Arena.

The draw ( match ups ) of the last 16 Clubs in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE has been celebrated with the following results. The away games will be celebrated the 14- 15th & 21/22nd of February, with the return matches the 6/7th & 13/14th of March 2012. FC BARECLONA will first play away in Germany against Bayern Leverkusen, while REAL MADRID will play its first game in Russia against CSKA Moscow.

It really is make or break for Chelsea tonight and I cannot emphasise enough just how important the right result is for our season. We have come up against adversity in recent weeks and took a massive step in the right direction at Newcastle on Saturday.
I have to stress that it's important that we do not get carried away as there is plenty still to do.

AVB held his pre match press conference yesterday and was keen to point out that Chelsea will not be sitting back to try and keep a clean sheet to progress to the knockout stages tonight but will be going all out to win the game which is good to hear.
He said:

People have seen us play enough now to be sure we always take the initiative in games, We know that Valencia want to get something because a goal for them makes the game even more difficult for us, but we won't change our strategy just because it is an important game
We will take the initiative and we don't play counter attack or use the long balls.

OK, so we won an important three points on Saturday against Wolves with a much better performance after the defeats at Leverkusen and against Liverpool a week ago.
Against Wolves we saw the introduction of Oriol Romeu who for me, has to start every game now ahead of the likes of Mikel and Meireles in the holding role, whether or not he will start tomorrow is another thing but alongside Ramires and Lampard, Chelsea had energy in midfield.

Well that was better wasn't it. The game was over at half time and it was much more like the Chelsea performance we should be seeing week in, week out. Whether or not other sides would be as generous as Wolves were is another thing, but for once Chelsea took full advantage.
AVB had said prior to the game that there would be no dramatic changes to the side from Leverkusen and he made just two changes.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Fernando Torres has only played eight minutes of first team football in the last two games. You could understand Didier Drogba starting the game against Liverpool if he was playing well, on form and scoring goals. This was his first game back!.
I guess AVB wanted to use the a different physical approach with using Drogba there to rough up the Liverpool defenders but it never happened.

I think we are all agreed on that fact that this is a must win game for Chelsea. Not only so that we can take a step into the next round but for the confidence of the team. AVB has stated that the players need to keep believing and working hard to get back to winning ways and if we can get the right result tonight, it will give us confidence heading into the three big games in the Premier League.

So we are now three months into the season and on yet another International break, so with all things Chelsea quieter than normal I am taking the time today to ask each and every single one of you that reads this post, to give me your verdict on AVB's first three months as our manager.
Now I understand some of you read something like this and do not have the time to comment, but I would love to hear from as many blues fans as possible all over the world on this to get a general feeling from you all.

Bate VS Milan | Valencia vs Leverkusen
Arsenal vs Marseille | Plzen vs Barca

Admittedly, there was a time Michael Ballack was a name highly relevant to football. Now, he has been banished to the 'Has Beens' gallery, led by Rivaldo in a cape and feather duster.

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On this week's predictions languagecaster focuses on games from Italy and England, including two London derbies.We also take a look at the Asian Champions League and the European version, too.

Bayern signing Jupp Heynckes was the best thing to happen to Toni Kroos. The prototypical wunderkind to come out of Germany's reformed youth system, needed Heynckes to pop up at Leverkusen, to finally play his long awaited breakthrough season in the Bundesliga. Now that the two are reunited at Bayern, he could well establish himself at the top of German football, both at Bayern and the German national team.

Chelsea romped to a 5-0 thrashing of Belgium side Genk in a Champions League match that saw them move top of Group E on 7 points 1 more than Leverkusen who were 2-1 winners at home to Valencia.

However, the story making headlines is Spanish striker Fernando Toress brace. In what looks to be the Spaniard's slow climb back to his once phenomenal form, a lot of questions are being asked as to whether this could be the year the Blues break the jinx and win their maiden European title.

La Champions League de este 2011 segunda edición nos esta dando muy buenos goles y sorpresas de vez en vez.

Martes 18 de Octubre 2011

CSKA Moskva 3-0 Trabzonspor

Napoli 1-1 Bayern Munich

Lille 0-1 Internazionale

Basel 0-2 Benfica

Real Madrid 4-0 Lyon

Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Ajax

Oţelul Galaţi 0-2 Manchester United

Manchester City 2-1 Villarreal

Miércoles 19 de Octubre 2011

Chelsea 5-0 Genk
Porto 1-1 APOEL
Leverkusen 2-1 Valencia
Marseille 0-1 Arsenal
Milan 2-0 BATE
Barcelona 2-0 Plzeň
Olympiacos 3-1 Dortmund
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Zenit

There is no doubting a home win is a must tonight for Chelsea. After just a point in Valenica after dominating the game, things aren't exactly as they should be and with Spanish side taking on Leverkusen in the next two games, now is the time for Chelsea to get back on track.
Some people will think this is the easier game, but they are wrong.

Posiciones Bundesliga 2011/2012 Fecha 9
Enlace
Ps. Equipo JJ G E P GA GP DF Pts. 1 Bayern M. 9 7 1 1 25 1 24 22 2 Borussia M. 9 5 2 2 11 6 5 17 3 B. Dortmund 9 5 1 3 15 7 8 16 4 Stuttgart 9 5 1 3 14 6 8 16 5 Werder Bremen 9 5 1 3 16 12 4 16 6 Schalke 04 9 5 0 4 18 15 3 15 7 Hannover 96 9 4 3 2 11 12 -1 15 8 B.

Ich glaube, ich war kurz weg. Ich kann mich gar nicht mehr daran erinnern. Aber da ich ihn gehalten habe, juckt es mich auch nicht, ob ich irgendwie benebelt war oder jetzt nach dem Spiel noch einen brummenden Kopf habe.

Bernd Leno, Torwart von Bayern 04 Leverkusen, nachdem er im Spiel gegen Borussia Mönchengladbach einen Ball mit dem Kopf abgewehrt hat.

Ich glaube, ich war kurz weg. Ich kann mich gar nicht mehr daran erinnern. Aber da ich ihn gehalten habe, juckt es mich auch nicht, ob ich irgendwie benebelt war oder jetzt nach dem Spiel noch einen brummenden Kopf habe.

Bernd Leno, Torwart von Bayern 04 Leverkusen, nachdem er im Spiel gegen Borussia Mönchengladbach einen Ball mit dem Kopf abgewehrt hat.

Probably the prettiest goal of the weekend took place in Bundesliga on Saturday when Eren Derdiyok scored the game winner for Leverkusen over Wolfsburg with the beautiful bicycle kick depicted in the video below. The 23 year old Swiss national's goal proved to be the game winner, giving Leverkusen a 2-1 lead in the middle of the second half.

Probably the prettiest goal of the weekend took place in Bundesliga on Saturday when Eren Derdiyok scored the game winner for Leverkusen over Wolfsburg with the beautiful bicycle kick depicted in the video below. The 23 year old Swiss national's goal proved to be the game winner, giving Leverkusen a 2-1 lead in the middle of the second half.

Champions League action resumes tonight with some very interesting match ups on card. However, the match that has many people talking is the Bayern Munich v Manchester City fixture.

Both clubs are having a fantastic start to the season in their respective leagues and tonight's match could stamp the arrival of the blues on the European front.

Relatively slim picking this weekend for must-see matches. Here are a few quick picks for Saturday:

Saturday, Sept 24

Spain, Sevilla-Valencia 12pmET (GolTV): Valencia is atop La Liga, undefeated after drawing Barcelona at home mid-week, in an exciting game they very well could have won (or lost, actually).

• Schalke fans gave Manuel Neuer a warm and cozy welcome. (Dirty Tackle)
• Tommy George spent a weekend of football in Berlin... (In Bed With Maradona)
• ...where Patrick Ebert learned to control his madness. (Deutsche Welle)
• Dortmund woke up in a harsh post-Championship reality.

Alot of headlines this morning are not about the performance of our side yesterday but once again Fernando Torres and that miss. For me, he will feel gutted about the miss but like people say it could happen to anyone. The most important thing is his goal yesterday.
Only yesterday morning I read a report in a newspaper stating that Chelsea were looking to offload Fernando Torres on loan in January if he doesn't start scoring which is total rubbish in my view.

The Bundesliga was on its' worst behavior ever. According to the referees, who dished out a league record 5 straight red cards. Tim Wiese kicked off proceedings with a foul outside the box, following one of his kamikaze excursions. He equalled Oliver Kahn's 3 career total red cards in the Bundesliga and is only two away from Jens Lehmann's five red cards.

Borussia Dortmund mark return to the Champions League with a bang. And a missed opportunity. Dortmund's game against Arsenal was eerily similar to their Europa League matches against Sevilla and Paris last season. Dortmund dominated proceedings and failed to convert their dominance into goals.

Borussia Dortmund mark return to the Champions League with a bang. And a missed opportunity. Dortmund's game against Arsenal was eerily similar to their Europa League matches against Sevilla and Paris last season. Dortmund dominated proceedings and failed to convert their dominance into goals.

Juan Mata was formerly introduced to the media yesterday at the training ground and guess what, one of his comments was immediately pulled by The Sun and made into a dig a Fernando Torres with a headline of "I'm not just here to help Torres" which isn't the way the comment was meant. It's part and parcel of this media witch hunt that surrounds Torres and Chelsea ahead of our games.

Complete listing of soccer games on TV this weekend after the jump: Fri Sept 16 2:30pmFreiburg vs StuttgartESPN Deportes, ESPN3.

Natürlich nicht, ich bin ja auch gegangen.

Michael Ballack, Ex-Spieler von FC Chelsea,auf die Frage, ob sich der FC Chelsea seit seinem Wechsel von London nach Leverkusen verbessert hat.

The Danish Superliga, wonderfully noncompetitive though it may be, is not quite the Champions League final. That said, Soren Berg's goal itself is no less spectacular than Zizou's swinging peg against Leverkusen some years back.

Though it doesn't have quite the same grace. That Zizou was something else.

• Kop That: King Kenny will get Carroll singing Shearer http://t.co/AEAGvFU 22:49:46, 2011-09-13
• Kop That: Tweet my Goal! The funniest comments from Chelsea 2-0 Leverkusen and Dortmund 1-1 Arsenal http://t.co/xRpjpUA 22:49:42, 2011-09-13
• Kop That: Why Warnock's a big loser even when he wins http://t.

AVB has spoken of his decision to select Fernando Torres as a substitute for last Saturday's game at Sunderland and is happy to see players being unhappy if they aren't playing.
He said:

"Any player that is not part of the squad, or not part of the selected players is not happy.

Arsenal visit Dortmund, the self-professed football capital of the world, to open a Champions League group phase that promises to be the toughest one in recent years. BVB are by far the best team from the fourth pot and could quite possible provide a sterner challenge than the other two teams in the group.

Fernando Torres is not included in this poll. Not even for a laugh.

Probably our best performance so far this season, obviously greatly helped by the performances of Juan Mata and Raul Meireles. I started shouting at the TV when Mata was subbed off keep the man on!

Sir Alex Ferguson knows his football and although it pains us to say it, he is and will go down in history as one of the greatest managers in the modern game. He has been asked about this season and the teams he believes will challenge United to take their title away from them and has once again spoken of Chelsea.

GRUPO A
Bayern Munich, VILLARREAL, Manchester City y Nápoles
GRUPO B
Inter de Milán, CSKA Moscú, Lille y Trabzonspor
GRUPO C
Manchester, Benfica, Basilea y Otelul Galati
GRUPO D
REAL MADRID, Olympique Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo de Zagreb
GRUPO E
Chelsea, VALENCIA, B.

It's still too early in the season for the rankings to be but so meaningful. Hell, they haven't even started playing in Spain, Greece or Italy and I don't know if they'll ever start playing in Turkey. Still, if we don't rank everybody, there's no reason to come back so we continue to do so.

Despite what Cesar Luis Menotti may want you to believe, football is a game of offense and defense. So as a follow up to my recent post on last season's offensive performance in the big leagues, I thought it was only fair to defenders and goalkeepers to take a look at who has been doing a great job keeping the opposition at bay.

Lennart Thy, U17 European Champion and up and coming Werder Bremen striker, seems to be following in the footsteps of another famous Werder Bremen striker.

Thy had everything stacked up against him in the first half of his team's away game against Leverkusen on Sunday. The ball was destined to land in the back of the net, following a missed offside call by the referee and a perfectly timed pass by Papastathopoulos.