From the category archives:

Champions League

It was another interesting round of Champions League soccer as once again French teams failed to shine on Europe’s biggest stage. Olympique Lyonnais collected the only point achieved by a Ligue 1 outfit on Matchday 2 and that point means that French teams have grabbed only two points from six games this season.

By comparison Spanish teams have gained 22 points from a possible 24 while English teams have grabbed 18.


{ 0 comments }

The Champions League returns to day with some teams already facing must wins games. Here is a preview of this weeks games.

Group A

Outlook: When the draw was made, Chelsea and Roma were favorites to qualify from this group. Chelsea were impressive in sweeping aside Bordeaux in Match Day 1, but Roma were upset by Cluj at home. That makes this weeks game away to Bordeaux so critical for Roma. Roma need a win as they face Chelsea away in Match Day 3 and they cannot hope to qualify for the group stages if they have no points after three games. Problem is I don’t think they can win in France.


{ 0 comments }

It was an interesting beginning to the 2008-2009 Champions League campaign with Romanian upstarts CFR Cluj grabbing the headlines as they stunned Italian giants Roma with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma now face a must win game in Match Day 2 away to Bordeaux who were thrashed 4-0 by Chelsea.

Another shock took place in Glasgow where unheralded Danish side Aalborg held Celtic to a scoreless draw. This was a terrible result for Celtic who do not travel well in the Champions League as they must go to  Spain and get at least a point from the game against Villarreal if they are to have any hope of progressing. In the other game in this group holders Manchester United and Villarreal played to a scoreless draw at Old Trafford  ending United’s 12-game winning streak at Old Trafford in the competition.


{ 0 comments }

Yesterday we looked at the Tuesday Match Day One Champions League matches. Today we will look at the Wednesday games.

Manchester United v Villarreal - Buy Manchester United - Villarreal Tickets
The reigning Champions League champions open up defense of their crown at home to Villarreal. United are hoping to avoid a repeat when they last met Manuel Pellegrini’s men in the UEFA Champions League.

Back in 2005/2006 United and Villarreal faced off for the first time in the group stage, where Villarreal held United to two goalless draws en route to securing first place in the section.


{ 0 comments }

One of the most anticipated Champions League seasons in recent memory gets underway next week, with a full slate of games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today we are previewing the Tuesday games.

Chelsea v Bordeaux - Buy Chelsea - Bordeaux Tickets
They were only a missed John Terry penalty kick away from being crowned champions of Europe last season but Chelsea must forget their Moscow misery as a new UEFA Champions League campaign opens with a home game against a Bordeaux side who finished runners-up in the French league under coach Laurent Blanc.


{ 0 comments }

Champions League Tickets

by David Wilson

We have tickets to all the big Champions League group stages games across Europe this year. Buy Champions League Tickets


{ 0 comments }

Anyone who has ever seen Ben Affleck and J-Lo’s classically pitiful cinematic plutonium bomb, Gigli, knows that its one of the worst movies ever painfully recorded on film. It’s so bad, it makes Affleck’s horrible holiday follow up, Surviving Christmas, look like It’s a Wonderful Life.

Gigli is the punch line for many, many jokes. It’s universally regarded as perhaps the most abhorrent waste of money the film industry has ever seen. It’s Hindenberg bad. It’s Costner bad. It’s possibly worse than some tropical diseases bad. Just ask Affleck. Even he’ll tell you.

I have a joke for you about Gigli though…


{ 0 comments }

Champions League Schedule

by David Wilson

We covered the Champions League draw earlier and UEFA just released the schedule of games. Here are the matchups for match day one on September 16th and 17th (home team listed first): Buy Champions League Tickets

Matchday 1 - 16 September 2008
Chelsea 20:45 Bordeaux - Buy Chelsea - Bordeaux Tickets
Roma 20:45 CFR
Panathinaikos 20:45 Inter Milan - Buy Panathinaikos - Inter Milan Tickets
Bremen 20:45 Anorthosis - Buy Werder Bremen - Anorthosis Famagusta Tickets
Basel 20:45 Shakhtar - Buy FC Basel - Shakhtar Donetsk Tickets
Barcelona 20:45 Sporting - Buy FC Barcelona - Sporting Portugal Tickets
PSV 20:45 Atlético
Marseille 20:45 Liverpool - Buy Olympique Marseille - Liverpool Tickets


{ 0 comments }

The odds were pretty good that Celtic would get drawn against an English team in the Champions League group stages and they ended up with Manchester United. They last met in the group stages in 2006/07, with Celtic winning 1-0 at home but Manchester United edging the return fixture 3-2 at Old Trafford.

“It was a great event the last time we played,” said Manchester United chief executive David Gill. “Both clubs have passionate fans and we’re looking forward to it. “Last time they won (at Celtic) to qualify and we went down to the last game to ensure we went through.


{ 0 comments }

The Champions League draw takes place at noon today EST. The English clubs are all in pot one, featuring the competition’s top seeds, and cannot play each other in this round. The posts are:

POT ONE
Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid

POT TWO
Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven, Villarreal, 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

Champions League Match Days:


{ 0 comments }