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

Crunch time in Champions League

This week’s Champions League games will go a long way in deciding the final spots in the knockout stage.  Liverpool need a miracle, namely they need to beat Debrecen and they need some Lyon (who’s already in) to beat Fiorentina.  If Fiorentina wins or draws either of their final two games, Liverpool is out.  The Reds will be without Fernando Torres, who’s still battling a groin injury.  Fellow striker Ryan Babel also picked up an injury in the draw with Manchester City this weekend. Defending champion Barcelona finds themselves in a similar boat.  They need to beat Inter Milan at home to keep their chances at advancing alive.  Barca will likely be without Lionel Messi due to injury.  Several players are also ill with the H1N1 virus.

Tuesday’s games
Rubin vs. Dynamo
Arsenal vs. Standard – 9 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
AZ vs. Olympiacos
Barcelona vs. Inter – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Debrecen vs. Liverpool – 2:40 p.m. ET/Setanta (Live); 5 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Fiorentina vs. Lyon – 2:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Rangers vs. Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni vs. Sevilla

Liverpool need a miracle

The Reds need a miracle to:

• finish in the top four of the Premier League.  Despite Chelsea’s chippy 1-0 win over Manchester United, both teams look poised to stay in the top four (likely top two).  Arsenal has also surprised people this season; the Gunners are playing really good football.  At this rate, it’s going to be some sort of miracle if the Reds even finish in the top seven – yay Europa League!
• keep Torres and Gerrard healthy the rest of the season.  Torres leads the league in goals, but the Gernando partnership hasn’t had much chance to flourish as both players have struggled with injury, much like last season.  This year however, the team is even more reliant on them to carry the load.  The two stars aren’t the only ones having injury issues though; Glen Johnson missed a couple games as well.  Albert Riera hasn’t been 100% either.
• advance to the knockout stage in Champions League play.  Liverpool won its opening group game against Debrecen, but have only taken one point out of the next three.  They are no longer in control of their own fate, which is a very scary and undesirable place to be.  Group leader Lyon has already booked a spot in the next round, while Fiorentina only needs to win once to advance.
• beat Birmingham City.  I can’t believe I just had to write that.