Champions League 1st knockout round set

One of the most intriguing matchups is Chelsea playing against former manager Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan.  Defending champion Barcelona ended up with Stuttgart. In a change of format, four first leg games will be played Feb. 16 and 17 while the other four first leg contests will be Feb. 23 and 24. Second leg matches are March 9-10 and 16-17, respectively.

AC Milan vs. Manchester United
Lyon vs. Real Madrid
Bayern Munich vs. Fiorentina
Porto vs. Arsenal
Olympiacos vs. Bordeaux
Stuttgart vs. Barcelona
Inter Milan vs. Chelsea
CSKA Moskva vs. Sevilla

And since I’m a Liverpool fan and they are now in the Europa League, here’s the round of 32 draw for that competition. These fixtures are numbered because they are used to establish the draw for the round of 16. For example, if Liverpool wins at No. 9, they will play Lille or Fenerbahçe, the winner of No. 14.

1. FC Rubin Kazan vs. Hapoel Tel-Aviv
2. Athletic Club vs. RSC Anderlecht
3. FC København vs. Marseille
4. Panathinaikos vs. AS Roma
5. Atlético de Madrid vs. Galatasaray
6. Ajax vs. Juventus
7. Club Brugge vs. Valencia
8. Fulham vs. Shakhtar Donetsk
9. Liverpool vs. Unirea Urziceni
10. Hamburger vs. PSV Eindhoven
11. Villarreal vs. VfL Wolfsburg
12. R. Standard de Liège vs. Salzburg
13. FC Twente vs. Werder Bremen
14. LOSC Lille Métropole vs. Fenerbahçe
15. Everton vs. Sporting
16. Hertha BSC Berlin vs. Benfica

Tuesday’s Champions League Results & Wednesday’s Schedule

So, Bayern Munich dominated Juventus, 4-1, to progress to the knockout stage today.  Real Madrid and Milan also secured spots in the round of 16.  CSKA Moskva also advanced with a 2-1 win over Beşiktaş. Wednesday’s clashes will determine the final teams in the knockout stage.  Defending champion Barcelona only needs a draw with Dynamo to advance, while Inter and Rubin battle for that second spot.

Tuesday’s Results
Juventus 1 (Trezeguet 19)
Bayern 4 (Butt 30-pen, Olić 52, Gómez 83, Tymoshchuk 90+2)

Maccabi Haifa 0
Bordeaux 1 (Jussiê 13)

Beşiktaş 1 (Bobô 86)
CSKA Moskva 2 (Krasić 41, Aldonin 90+5)

Wolfsburg 1 (Džeko 56)
Manchester United 3 (Owen 44, 83, 90+1)

Zurich 1 (Gajić 29)
AC Milan 1 (Ronaldinho 64-pen)

Marseille 1 (Lucho 11)
Real Madrid 3 (Cristiano Ronaldo 5, 80, Albiol 60)

Chelsea 2 (Essien 19, Drogba 26)
APOEL 2 (M. Żewłakow 6, Mirosavljević 87)

Atletico Madrid 0
Porto 3 (Bruno Alves 2, Falcao 14, Hulk 76)

Wednesday’s Schedule
Liverpool vs. Fiorentina*
Lyon* vs. Debrecen
Inter vs. Rubin Kazan – 2:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Dynamo Kiev vs. Barcelona – 2:40 p.m. ET/Setanta (Live)
Stuttgart vs. Unirea – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Sevilla* vs. Rangers
Olympiacos vs. Arsenal* – 9 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Standard vs. AZ

Crunch time in Champions League

The big clash today is between Bayern Munich and Juventus.  Bayern needs a win in Turin to advance, while a 0-0 draw is good enough to send Juve through to the next round.  In group C, Madrid and AC Milan hold the top spots, but that’s all up in the air if Marseille can beat Madrid.

Tuesday’s games
Juventus vs. Bayern – 2:15 p.m. ET/Setanta (Live)
Maccabi Haifa vs. Bordeaux*
Beşiktaş vs. CSKA Moskva
Wolfsburg vs. Manchester United* – 2:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Zurich vs. AC Milan – 9 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Marseille vs. Real Madrid – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Chelsea* vs. APOEL
Atletico Madrido vs. Porto*
*indicates has already clinched spot in knockout stage

Champions League Schedule – Matchday 4

The second half of the group stage gets underway today and several big clubs have work to do if they want any chance of advancing to the knockout stage.  In today’s games, Bayern Munich needs a win against Bordeaux, while the winner of the mouth-watering AC Milan/Real Madrid clash will be in the drivers seat in group C.  In Wednesday’s matches, Liverpool is desperate for a win at Lyon after only gaining three points from the first three fixtures.  Spanish powerhouse Barcelona has struggled in group F as three teams have four points going into Wednesday.  Barca was “upset” by Rubin last time out, while Inter has failed to establish the same form that has them atop Serie A.  Check out the complete standings here.

Tuesday, Nov. 3
APOEL vs. Porto
Atletico Madrid vs. Chelsea – 2:30 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Bayern vs. Bordeaux – 1 am ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Beşiktaş vs. Wolfsburg
Maccabi Haifa vs. Juventus – 10 am ET Wed./Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Manchester United vs. CSKA Moskva – 2:30 pm ET/Setanta (Live); 5 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Marseille vs. Zurich
AC Milan vs. Real Madrid – 7 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)

Wednesday, Nov. 4
Rubin vs. Barcelona – 12:30 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Arsenal vs. AZ – 2:30 pm ET/Setanta (Live); 5 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Dynamo vs. Inter – 1 am ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Fiorentina vs. Debrecen
Lyon vs. Liverpool – 2:30 pm ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Sevilla vs. Stuttgart – 11 am ET Thurs./Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Standard vs. Olympiacos
Unirea Urziceni vs. Rangers

Wednesday’s Champions League results

Bayern 0
Juventus 0

Bordeaux 1 (Ciani 83)
Maccabi Haifa 0

CSKA Moskva 2 (Dzagoev 7, Krasić 61)
Beşiktaş 1 (Ekrem Dağ 90+2)

Manchester United 2 (Giggs 59, Carrick 78)
Wolfsburg 1 (Džeko 56)

AC Milan 0
Zurich 1 (Tihinen 10)

Real Madrid 3 (Ronaldo 58, 64, Kaka 61)
Marseille 0

APOEL 0
Chelsea 1 (Anelka 18)

Porto 2 (Falcao 75, Rolando 82)
Atletico Madrid 0