In the first eight matches of this Champions League matchday, there was plenty of excitement to go around. Some sides like Chelsea have made sure that they’re going through top of the group, while others like Arsenal have complicated their Champions League campaign terribly.

In these eight games, there were 23 goals scored, making for an average of 2.8 goals per game. But what I find very interesting is that in these eight matches, there were four players sent off with red cards! All four sending offs were in the second half of the matches, and three were in the last five minutes. I guess it’s a sign that the tension is rising as teams need to qualify for the next round of the tournament.

The most exciting match which took place today was Roma – Bayern Munich, with the Italian side triumphing at home 3-2. Bayern started the scoring with Gomez taking advantage of shaky Roma defending in the 33rd and 39th minutes, leaving Ranieri’s side in a bit of disarray going into the second half. But Roma came out to win the match in front of their home fans, and Borriello pulled one back four minutes into the second half, then in the 81^st minute De Rossi scored to make it 2-2. And in the 84^th minute, Roma were awarded a penalty, and their legendary captain Francesco Totti stepped up and scored the winner.

A fantastic match which keeps Roma in second place, three points behind Bayern Munich, and three ahead of FC Basel. FC Basel defeated CFR Cluj at home 1-0, with Alerares scoring the only goal in the 15^th minute. Cluj had Piccolo sent off with a direct red card in the 88^th minute, and the player will miss their next Champions League match against Roma. So Group E is relatively tight with Roma needing a win if they want to qualify, while Bayern look pretty solid up in first place with a goal difference of +7.

Chelsea faced Zilina at Stamford Bridge, and while they went a goal down in the first half, Ancelotti’s side scored twice in the second half in order to win 2-1. Zilina scored from a quick give-and-go passing move which Bello poked past Turnbull. It was the youngster Sturridge who equalized, and Chelsea began to press on, with Drogba almost scoring from a free kick, and  youngster van Aanholt smacking an effort against the post. It was Florent Malouda who scored the winner in the 86th minute for Chelsea, helping his side get their fifth in a row in the Champions League, qualifying them mathematically for first place.

Behind Chelsea which has fifteen points, Olympique Marseille are second with nine, with Spartak Moscow following the french side with six points. Marseille defeated the Russian team comfortably 3-0 in Russia, with Valbuena, Remy, and Brandao scoring the goals while Welliton was sent off for Spartak. While it is mathematically possible for Spartak Moscow to steal Marseille’s second place and qualify for the next round, Marseille have a goal difference of +8, while Spartak’s is -4, so it’s very likely that Chelsea and Olympique Marseille will move on to the next round from Group F.

While Chelsea have qualified to the next round, Arsenal have made their qualification a little more difficult after their away loss to Sporting Braga. It was a 2-0 win for the Portuguese side with Matheus Nascimento scoring both very well taken goals. What will bother Arsenal fans the most is probably the fact that their side conceeded the goals in the 83^rd and 90^th minutes, and that they’ll probably have to win next Champions League matchday in order to qualify.

This is because Sporting Braga are tied with Arsenal with nine points, with the English side ahead by goal difference. Ahead of both of the sides is Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk which defeated Partizan 3-0, which puts them first with 12 points. Watching all the action from the very bottom of the table is the Serbian side Partizan, the team has only scored one goal, and has zero points, and their chances of picking up some points next matchday are slim, considering that they’ll be facing Arsenal which will be fighting for qualification.

Jose Mourinho will be glad that his team, Real Madrid, conquered first place in the group with a 4-0 away win over Ajax, but he won’t be too glad about the two players which received red cards in the final minutes of the match. Everything was going perfectly all the way until the last five minutes of the match, the Spanish side were 4-0 up with Benzema and Arbeloa on the scoresheet along with Ronaldo who scored twice, of which one of the goals was a penalty.

But in the 87^th minute Xabi Alonso gets a second yellow card for time wasting (his first was for throwing the ball away during a stoppage of play), and therefore a red card, and just minutes later Sergio Ramos replicates his teammate and gets sent off for wasting time as well! But Jose Mourinho won’t care too much, especially considering that this win mathematically qualifies his side in first place.

AC Milan have also mathematically qualified for the knockout round in second place after their 2-0 win away from home against Auxerre. And it was Ibrahimovic who scored a fantastic goal, a truly unstoppable rocket which shows that the Swede has been playing wonderfully and scoring plenty of goals to help his side, whether it be in the Champions League, or the Serie A. Ronaldinho got the other goal in the 90^th minute, a sly dribbling move finished by a curled left foot shot onto the far post.

What are your thoughts regarding these matches? Will Arsenal qualify? What about Roma? Can they catch Bayern? Share your comments below!

After a truly fantastic matchday of Champions League action, there are so many things to review, especially after so many goals were scored. There were 53 goals scored in all 16 matches of the Champions League this midweek, that’s an average of 3.31 goals per game! Not bad at all.

Real Madrid travelled to Milan to play the rossoneri, and while Jose Mourinho added a little spice to the crowd by waving with three fingers (which indicates the treble he won last season with Inter Milan), the match was full of excitement. The first goal came at the 45 minute mark when Higuain took advantage of a slightly disorganized Milan backline, received a simple pass with his back to goal, and turned around to slot it into the back of the net.

Then in the second half, Allegri put on Inzaghi for Ronaldinho, and the Italian striker was phenomenal for AC Milan. He scored two goals to give the home side the lead, and surpass Gerd Muller’s all time scoring record in the competition by scoring his 70th goal in the tournament.

But Mourinho is a sly and lucky man, and in the 94th minute of the game, substitute Karim Benzema picked out another substitute Pedro Leon with a defence-splitting through pass, and Leon finished through Abbiati’s legs for an epic equalizer. With this point, Real Madrid have qualified for the knockout stages, but AC Milan will have to do will in their upcoming two matches against Auxerre and Ajax to make sure they qualify as well.

There was another story of revenge in this Champions League midweek, with Eduardo’s side Shakhtar Donetsk defeating his former club Arsenal. Things looked a little worrying for Shakhtar when Samir Nasri clipped the outside of the Ukrainian goal in the beginning of the match. After that, just ten minutes into the match Theo Walcott scored a wonderful goal from a deadly counter-attack finished by a sublime low curling shot. Arsenal needed a win to cinch qualification, and things were looking good for the gunners early on.

But Shakhtar fought back right away, and managed to hit the woodwork and then forced Fabianski to an excellent save. Finally Shakhtar scored, and it was the former Barcelona player Chygrynskiy who headed home from a free kick, and Fabianski couldn’t do much since there was a slight deflection as the ball flicked off of Eastmond’s head. Then, the true blow for Arsenal fans arrived, and it was their former player Eduardo who delivered it. A composed first-touch finish by Eduardo from a low pass across Arsenal’s penalty box gave the home side the winner. And while Arsenal fought back, it wasn’t meant to be as Shakhtar held on for an amazing home win.

Tottenham defeated Inter Milan 3-1 at White Hart Lane, with another outstanding performance by Gareth Bale. The Welsh international dominated the left wing and assisted two goals for Harry Redknapp’s side, and it was Samuel Eto’o who scored a lovely goal for Inter Milan.

Chelsea also got a big win, 4-1 over Spartak Moscow, and it was Bratislav Ivanovic who scored a brace! Drogba also made his Champions League season debut this match, and had the captain’s armband on for the English club as he scored as well.

Roma fought for a good 3-2 win away against Basel, a particularly inspired Menez gave the Romans the lead, and then Totti followed up with a penalty. After that Frei pulled one back for the home side, but the youngster Greco scored Roma’s third to make sure that Basel didn’t get their hopes up. Shaqiri scored the final goal of the match to make it 3-2, as Roma pull off an important win in this Champions League campaign.

Bayern Munich travelled away and pummelled CFR Cluj 4-0 with Mario Gomez scoring a hat-trick, but that wasn’t the biggest scoreline of this midweek. Marseille defeated Zilina in Slovakia, with Gignac scoring a hat-trick, and even former Real Madrid defender Heinze getting a goal.

There were plenty of amazing matches, and sadly I can’t cover them all. Please comment below about any of the matches which happened in the Champions League today, or any which will be happening in the Europa League tomorrow!

With the another matchday of the Champions/Europa League group stages coming up, I’ve decided to take  a look at what could be the more interesting matches of the 40 which will be played in the two competitions. The way I’ve chosen these matches is by looking at the teams which are playing, how they’ve been doing recently, and whether it’s make or break time for them.

Tottenham Hotspur – Inter Milan

After the fantastic 4-3 match which the two sides played out last matchday at the San Siro, I couldn’t not not include this return fixture which will take place at Tottenham’s stadium, White Hart Lane. But this match looks to be slightly different from the previous one, especially with Inter Milan probably missing Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, and their main keeper, Julio Cesar. But Tottenham have missing players as well, their main playmaker Rafael van der Vaart limped off holding his thigh on the weekend, so he might not be able to play against Inter. And Tottenham’s first choice keeper Gomes is suspended after the red card he received last game against Inter.

My prediction for this match is a 3-1 win for Inter Milan. I expect Rafa Benitez’s side to create and finish opportunities, especially with Samuel Eto’o up front, and I think that they’ll be a little more wary of Gareth Bale. Do you agree or disagree? Share your prediction below by commenting!

CSKA Moscow – Palermo

This match is a very interesting match, although Palermo have been playing some beautiful football in the Serie A, with their brilliantly talented playmaker Javier Pastore, they haven’t started well in the Europa League. The Italian side are second-last in the group with only three points, meanwhile CSKA Moscow are top of the table with nine points having won all three of their matches so far. But what I think makes this match very interesting is the fact that Palermo need to get a result, and they have the players to do it in style. So could we see a full-out attacking match by the Italian side which will be fighting for whatever it can get away from home? I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a big scoreline from this match.

AC Milan – Real Madrid

This is a strange match, and while at first it may look like a clash of giants, I think that the game will be very one-sided for the Spanish side. The two historic sides faced each other at the Santiago Bernabeu last matchday, and that match was dominated by the home side which comfortably won 2-0. While you think that AC Milan will be able to pull something off at their home stadium in order to regain some pride, they just lost to Juventus 2-1 with the San Siro crowd booing the home side. As for Jose Mourinho’s side, Real Madrid are top of the La Liga table having scored 25 goals in just nine matches.

My prediction is a 2-1 win for Real Madrid. I think that Jose Mourinho is too meticulous and careful to detail to let this disorganized AC Milan side stop his team’s good run. And Cristiano Ronaldo looks sure to score considering that he has been playing wonderfully for Real. Agree or disagree with me? Well, make sure to share your thoughts on how this big match will go by commenting below!

FC Basel – Roma

This is a big match for Group E, with Bayern Munich in first with nine points, and the rest of the sides all tied up below the Germans with three, this could decide who goes through to the next round. Roma have been doing terribly in the Champions League, and having already faced FC Basel at their home stadium, the giallorossi were humiliated losing 3-1 in Rome. But Claudio Ranieri’s side has gained momentum, and after their latest 2-0 victory over Lecce, their were plenty of positive things which could be transferred in their away trip to Switzerland. So can Roma manage to win away against Basel to claim the second place in the group? We’ll have to wait and see until Wednesday before we get an answer.

If you have any thoughts or comments regarding matches in the Europa/Champions League, be sure to share them below by commenting!

There are some pivotal battles to be fought in the upcoming Matchday and while some groups look to have clear patterns emerging, others could go down to the wire. Let’s take a whirlwind tour of the current state of the groups along with my speculations on the ties on Matchday 5.

Group A
A win for Chelsea over Bordeaux will take them through, regardless of the result between second place AS Roma and bottom club CFR 1907 Cluj. Roma and Bordeaux are currently tied on points with Roma holding the edge on goal differential. Chelsea hammered Bordeaux 4-0 on Matchday 1 but I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of that scoreline. I still see Chelsea winning but perhaps only by a single goal. A draw would be a good result for Bordeaux and would keep their hopes alive. Top through bottom is seperated by only three points in this group so Cluj can still make things uneasy for everyone with a win over Roma at home. Roma played well against an uninspired Chelsea side on Matchday 4 and will hope to keep the momentum going. I’m going to go for a draw in this match. I think Cluj will come out with an inspired performance.

Group B
Leaders Internazionale can advance with either a victory or a draw at home to Panathinaikos. Inter could even advance if they lose should there be a draw between Anorthosis Famagusta and Werder Bremen. The suprising Anorthosis side can achieve a knockout round spot if they win and Inter do likewise. Werder Bremen must win in order to keep their hopes alive. I wouldn’t bet on Bremen to get a win in Cyprus considering their up and down form this season.

Group C:
The main business is complete: Barcelona and Sporting are both through to the last 16 after taking care of business on Matchday 4 when the Spanish side drew with FC Basel 1893 and the Portuguese team beat FC Shakhtar Donetsk. The two leaders face-off in Portugal while Basel will hope to get a result on the road in the Ukraine.

Group D:
Pacesetters Club Atlético de Madrid and Liverpool FC will extend their Champions League campaigns into the new year by winning at home to PSV Eindhoven and Olympique de Marseille respectively. Atlético can also book up for the knockout stages if they draw and Liverpool avoid defeat. A point would also be enough for Liverpool – who like Atlético have eight points – provided PSV do not prevail in Madrid.

Liverpool will be bolstered by captain Steven Gerrard, who is expected to play in Wednesday’s tie against Marseille after recovering from the groin injury which forced him to miss Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Fulham.

Group E:
With Manchester United FC and Villarreal CF sitting pretty with a six-point cushion over Celtic FC and Aalborg BK, both are likely to qualify for the next round. The two leaders are pitted against one another on Matchday 5 and I picture a draw from their match. The real game of interest in the group is between Aalborg BK and Celtic, which is a battle for the UEFA Cup spot. The Danish champions have won four and drawn four since Allan Kuhn replaced Bruce Rioch, a sequence which has seen them climb to seventh in the Danish Superligaen, progress to the Danish Cup semi-finals and twice come from behind to secure a 2-2 draw at home to Villarreal CF last time out. Also working against Celtic is the fact that they are trying to secure a first away Champions League victory in their 20th attempt. Celtic are still without a number of first-team players due to injury, including Massimo Donati, Marc Crosas and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. They will be hoping to have Georgios Samaras and Aiden McGeady available after their own injury problems. I’d have to go with the home side in this one as the odds are truly stacked against Celtic. It will be a massive win for them if they can beat the Danes at home. If they do make it into the UEFA Cup spot, I could see them enjoying an extended run in that competition.

Group F:
This group looks to be all wrapped up. Olympique Lyonnais enter Matchday 5 knowing exactly what they must do to proceed: avoid defeat at Fiorentina. FC Bayern München may trail Lyon on goals scored, but they find themselves in an even more luxurious position – only the twin occurrence of Bayern losing at home to rock-bottom FC Steaua Bucuresti and Fiorentina beating Lyon will stop the German team celebrating. Fiorentina must win to keep alive their hopes of making the next round.

Group G:
Arsenal FC hold a two-point advantage over FC Porto and will qualify for the knockout stage with a  victory at home to FC Dynamo Kyiv. Arsenal have been struggling lately and have a number of injury concerns. Compounding their poor form were unhelpful comments from captain William Gallas, who questioned the bravery of his team-mates as well as the dressing room spirit. Gallas was not in the lineup against Manchester City this past weekend, a match the Gunners lost 3-0. Manager Arsene Wenger has had little choice but to reinstate Gallas to the team for the clash with Dynamo Kiev as his squad is depleted by injuries. Wenger will have to field a makeshift defence with nine first-teamers out. Wenger has selected 21-year-old Spaniard Cesc Fabregas to permanently replace Gallas as captain.

Porto will advance if they can beat Fenerbahçe SK in Turkey, unless Dynamo win at Arsenal. Fenerbahçe will welcome back last season’s goal scoring hero, Deivid, and will hope to play the spoilers for Porto while giving themselves a shot at UEFA Cup football.

Group H:
By gaining back-to-back victories against Real Madrid CF, Juventus have assured themselves a place in the knockout stage. Real Madrid will also advance if they can defeat FC BATE Borisov in Belarus and Zenit St. Petersburg fail to beat visiting Juventus. Juventus are going to be fielding plenty of their reserve/bench players so the odds are not in Real Madrid’s favour. I am hoping that the final Matchday showdown between Real and Zenit will have a knockout stage place on the line.

FC Basel 1893

How They Got Here:Basel beat Vitoria de Guimaraes (also known as Vitoria SC) 2-1 on aggregate in the third round of qualifying. Basel won the Swiss League last season.

Star Performer: MF Benjamin Huggel. An experienced member of the Swiss national squad, Huggel is a strong presence in central midfield. In his first stint with Basel he would get forward and pot the odd goal but now into his 30s, Huggel plays a more conservative game and is a steadying influence in the team. That said, he did score
a couple of important goals for Basel during qualification.

Key To Success: Basel will not be counting on any points from the matches against Barcelona so they must make the most of their other group games. If they maintain their 4-1-4-1 system and play positively against Sporting and Shakhtar they could steal valuable points from those clubs. One of the important parts of their campaign will be how new recruits Jurgen Gjasula or Marcos Gelaber will settle in. One of them will need to replace right midfielder David Degen’s contributions from last season. Degen

Players In: DF Behrang Safari (transfer from Malmo FF), DF David Abraham (transfer from Gimnàstic de Tarragona), MF Jürgen Gjasula, MF Marcos Gelabert (transfer from FC St. Gallen)

Players Out: DF Daniel Majstorovic (transfer to AEK Athens), DF Koji Nakata (released), ST Vratislav Lokvenc (loan deal expired), MF David Degen (loan deal expired)

Talking Points:Majstorovic was a massive loss for Basel. Not only was he a solid presence in central defence but he also had a phenomenal scoring record. In 85 appearances for Basel he scored 25 times, mostly scoring with his head from set-pieces as well as taking penalties. A neat little fact I came across while researching this article, Majstorovic reportedly speaks seven languages: Serbo-Croat, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German and English. He is now captain at AEK but unfortunately they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the last qualifying round.

One thing that has been hampering Basel lately is that a lot of their promising players end up leaving for the German Bundesliga. Among those that have left are Philipp Degen, Ivan Rakitic and Hakan Yakin.

Predicted Finish:I don’t envision good things for Basel. This is a tough grouping for them and I feel they will finish last in the group.

Shakhtar Donetsk

How They Got Here:Finished 1st in Ukrainian League; defeated Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 on aggregate in 3rd qualifying round.

Star Performer:DF Tomas Hubschman. After helping Sparta Prague make the Champions League group stages on a couple of occasions, the Czech central defender has helped shore up the Donetsk backline and led them to three league titles and two domestic cup victories since tranferring in 2004.

Key To Success:

Players In: ST Marcelo Moreno (transfer from Cruizero), DF Mykola Ischenko (transfer from FC Karpaty Lviv), GK Rustam Khudzhamov (transfer from FC Kharkiv)

Players Out: GK Jan Lastuvka (loan to West Ham United), MF Zvonimir Vukic (transfer to FC Moscow), ST Oleksiy Byelik (transfer to FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk)

Talking Points:Like many other clubs in ‘smaller’ leagues, Shaktar has lost a number of their top performing players to richer clubs over the last few seasons. Elano, Nery Castillo and Julius Aghahowa are some of the players to leave Shaktar in the past couple of seasons. Seeing what Elano has done for Manchester City it’s hard not to think that Shaktar could have an even stronger stake in this group with him still in their side.

However, the club still does have a number of top players in the side and should challenge for either second or third. Shaktar, though a Ukrainian-based club has an increasing number of foreign, and in particular Brazillian, players. For example, this past weekend Shaktar defeated FC Illychivets Mariupil 3-0 in Ukrainian Cup action with the goals coming from the Brazilian trio of DF Ilsinho, MF Jadson and ST Luiz Adriano. While there are more foreign players in the squad, it’s not all doom and gloom as four Shaktar players were in the recent Ukraine squad for World Cup qualifying: Andriy Pyatov, Oleksandr Kucher, Vyacheslav Shevchuk and Yevhen Seleznyov.

Predicted Finish:As I mentioned, I think Shaktar should finish at least in the UEFA Cup spot and may even challenge Sporting for 2nd.

FC Barcelona

How They Got Here:Finished 3rd in La Liga; defeated Wis?a Kraków 4-1 in the 3rd qualifying round.

Star Performer:Xavi. This is a player I’ve touted and heaped praise on since the inception of this website. Long underrated, Xavi is finally starting to get some of the acclaim from the mainstream media that he deserves. Named Best Player by UEFA at Euro 2008, Xavi’s passing and composure in the center of midfield are critical to the dominant ball possession that Barcelona typically enjoy.

Key To Success:Getting the new players integrated into the squad quickly. Barcelona are in a rebuilding phase and the squad has seen turnover at some key positions. It was a busy summer for the Catalans as they sold about 50m Euros worth of player rights and bought about 88m Euros worth. Barca have started their domestic campaign with a loss and a draw. Another draw or loss in their opening Champions League match may shake the confidence around the team and put pressure on new coach Josep Guardiola very early. A win will settle the squad and let them go on and play with a more relaxed attitude.

Players In: DF Dani Alves (transfer from Sevilla), MF Alexander Hleb (transfer from Arsenal), MF Seydou Keita (transfer from Sevilla), DF Gerard Piqué (transfer from Manchester United), DF Henrique (transfer from Palmeiras)

Players Out: DF Edmílson (transfer to Villarreal), FW Giovani dos Santos (transfer to Tottenham Hotspur), MF Deco (transfer to Chelsea), FW Ronaldinho (transfer to AC Milan), DF Oleguer (transfer to Ajax)

Talking Points:The biggest story, at least to start the year, will be the departure of Ronaldinho and how Barca perform without their talisman. Many will say that Lionel Messi is now the leader up front but thus far he has been injured for large stretches of the past few seasons. If he can remain healthy then I could see him making up for some of Ronaldinho’s offensive output. Bojan Krkic is another young star to keep an eye on. With his pace and dribbling skill he should see even more first team action this season.

Barca have made their worst start to a season in quite some time and their recent form has been poor. After losing the second leg in the qualifier against Wisla Krakow in Poland, Barca then failed to score against Numancia on the opening weekend of La Liga and only managed to score via a penalty kick against Racing Santander this weekend. Barca’s sharpness around the opposition goal will need to improve if they are to better last season’s domestic and Champions League records.

Predicted Finish:First place. Barcelona will have to struggle massively to finish lower in this group.

Sporting Club de Portugal

How They Got Here:Finished 2nd in Portuguese Liga — automatic berth to group stage

Star Performer:MF Joao Moutinho. Judging by the number of rumours and the dollar amounts being quoted for the 22-year-old playmaker, Sporting are lucky to have retained his services for another season. In 36 total appearances last season, Moutinho scored 7 times and created many more goals for his teammates. Moutinho turned down a move to Everton, who had bid in the neighborhood of £12m for his rights, and is thought to be more interested in going to Italy or Spain than England.

Key To Success: Like most of the other clubs in this group, it’s a case of making hay against the other teams in the group and anything gained from the two matches against Barcelona will be a major bonus.

Players In: MF Fabio Rochemback (free transfer from Middlesbrough), ST Helder Postiga (transfer from FC Porto), DF Leandro Grimi (transfer from AC Milan)

Players Out: DF Marian Had (end of loan from Lokomotiv Moscow), ST Milan Purovic (loan to Kayserispor)

Talking Points:This Sporting’s their third successive season in the UEFA Champions League group stage but they have yet to secure a place in the knockout rounds. Sporting exited last season’s competition before Christmas after finishing third in their section, behind Manchester United and AS Roma.

Sporting have one of the best sports academies in the world and in recent years have produced some of the games top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani (now with Manchester United), Simão Sabrosa (now with Atlético de Madrid) and Hugo Viana (now with Valencia) The current squad boasts many academy graduates including Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, Yannick Djaló and several others. It is a source of strength for the club and a nice bonus this season is that they have not suffered any major losses in the senior XI. They’ve retained their core and added a few veteran players such as Helder Postiga.

Predicted Finish:I think this is Sporting’s best chance to advance and if they can defeat Shaktar in both matches, they should finish 2nd.