Football : UEFA Champion's League Draw
Arsenal vs AC Milan was the game of the first knock-out round. We has to now move on to the quarter finals and the semi finals. Just today, the draws for these matches was shown live on TV. I have been waiting for this for the whole week. I was a bit disheartened as Arsenal drew Liverpool at home. The first team to be picked out of the bowl was Arsenal. Chelsea and Barcelona got the easiest ties of them all. Barcelona got Schalke 04 and Chelsea got Fenerbahce. Both these matches, on paper are a sure win but its football and anything can happen.
If Arsenal can keep another clean sheet at home against Liverpool as they did against AC Milan, they have a good chance of going through to the semi-finals (I say this because of the away goals rules, if Arsenal can score at Anfield, they can just draw the game and win the tie).
Here are the draws that came out today:
Champions League quarter-final draw:
Arsenal v Liverpool (First leg 2 Apr/Second leg 8 Apr)
AS Roma v Man Utd (First leg 1 Apr/Second leg 9 Apr)
Schalke 04 v FC Barcelona (First leg 1 Apr/Second leg 9 Apr)
Fenerbahce v Chelsea (First leg 2 Apr/Second leg 8 Apr)
Champions League semi-final draw:
Arsenal/Liverpool v Fenerbahce/Chelsea
Schalke/Barcelona v AS Roma/Man Utd
Arsenal have a tough tasks if they want to reach the final. Even if Arsenal beat Liverpool, they will most probably face Chelsea in the semi-finals. Well, I just hope and pray that all the Arsenal players are fit and in great form from the quarter final stage to the final match as I want to see Arsenal win their first ever UEFA Champion's League trophy.
Football: Champion's league last round matches
The UEFA Champion's league last group stage matches will be played today and tomorrow. There are still some top teams who haven't qualified for the knock out round yet so still there places for the small teams to kill off some giants.Lyon and Liverpool are some of those teams. Manchester Untied and AS Roma are through to the Knock out round, manchester united getting in as a winner of their group.
Below are the group tables of Group A and Group H. Liverpool have to win their last match for them to have their destiny in their own hands. Lyon are third in their table and have to play Rangers P W D L F A GD PTS 1 FC Porto 5 2 2 1 6 7 -1 8 2 Marseille 5 2 1 2 6 5 1 7 3 Liverpool 5 2 1 2 14 5 9 7 4 Besiktas 5 2 0 3 4 13 -9 6 P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Sevilla 5 4 0 1 11 7 4 12 2 Arsenal 5 3 1 1 12 3 9 10 3 Slavia Prague 5 1 2 2 5 13 -8 5 4 Steaua Bucharest 5 0 1 4 3 8 -5 1
You can view all the other tables as of now before the end of the last group stage first day match here. you can also view live match updates which is in text version or visit UEFA.com for a bit more visual live match updates.
Football: UEFA Champion's league wednusday's match
Liverpool has to win all their remaining games qualify to the UEFA champion's league knock our round. Liverpool got one step closer to qualify for the UEFA Champion's league knock out round after beating FC Porto. Still Liverpool aren't out of the jam yet, they still could be thrown out the competition in the league stage. If Liverpool want their destiny in their own hands, they need to win the last match of the UEFA Champion's League group stage.
Liverpool won 4-1 against FC Porto. Liverpool's star striker, Fernando Torres was the most influential player in the pitch and he started the the scoring for liverpool. He could have got a hat-trick but still two goals in a Champion's League match is no joke.
Looking at other Champion's League matches, Chelsea won against Rosenborg by 4 goals to nil. The Scottish team Celtic played against Shakhtar Donetsk. The result at the final whistle of the match was Celtic 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk.All the top teams have secured their place in the knock out round accept Liverpool and Lyon.
Football: UEFA Champion's league Tuesday's match
The UEFA Champion's league group stage match is almost over and some teams have already qualified to go to the knockout round. Arsenal have already qualified for the UEFA champion's league knock out round before they played Sevilla yesterday. Lyon had to play Barcelona and they needed some points from that match as they haven't yet qualified. Lyon might still slip up in their last match. Manchester United played Sporting Lisbon and they looked like they would loose the match if you had looked at the half time scoreline.
Sporting Lisbon were leading with one goal against Manchester United but the lead didn't last long as the very influential Carlos Tevez scored the equalising goal by deflecting in Christiano Ronaldo's long ranged shot. Then in the last minutes of the match, Christiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal for Manchester United. Manchester United are through to the UEFA champion's league knock out round. 
Arsenal were already guaranteed a place in the knock out round before Arsenal played Sevilla. Arsenal had already beat Sevilla by three goals to nil when Arsenal played them at the emirates Stadium. Arsene Wenger made some changes to his team and played some young players. Arsenal took the lead with the help of Eduardo Silva, the new arsene wenger signing who scored a good goal in the twelfth minute. But they failed to win it as Sevilla scored three more goals to win it 2-1 at the end.
Other full time results are as follows:
Group E
Lyon 2-2 Barcelona
VfB Stuttgart 3-2 Rangers
Group F
Dynamo Kiev 1-4 Roma
Man Utd 2-1 Sporting
Group G
CSKA Moscow 0-1 PSV
Inter Milan 2-0 Fenerbahce
Group H
Sevilla 3-1 Arsenal
Steaua Bucharest 1-1 Slavia Prague
UEFA Champion's League match day 3-4
After a one week gap, UEFA Champion's League group stage match took place this mid week. It was a phenomenal week. There were lots and lots of upsets in the group stage. One of them were AC Milan's defeat against Celtic. Dida, the Brazilian goal keeper of AC Milan made a horrendous just at the ninety minute mark which gave the home side (Celtic) the lead. The match was over as it was a late goal. Just after the goal, a celtic fan invaded the pitch and slapped Dida in the cheek. He was stretchered off the field. That didn't influence the match at all. It was a huge loss for AC Milan.
AC Milan 1-2 Celtic. Another upset came in the match against Lyon and Rangers. Lyon were looking good and were thought to have been back in form after a some wins in the domestic league. Lyon were on top of the french domestic league after some wins but in the UEFA Champion's League against Rangers, they looked very ordinary. Lyon were beaten by the Scottish side, Rangers by three goals. read Lyon 0-3 Rangers review on BBC.com here.
Another big upset was at Anfield. Liverpool played Marseille at home. It should have been a straight forward win for Liverpool as they were playing at home and the French side, Marseille who were horrendous in their domestic league. Liverpool had quality players in their side but still Liverpool lost. Read Liverpool 0-1 Marseille review on bbc.com.
UEFA Champion's League: First round of group stage matches concludes
A great start to the UEFA champion's league group stage first round. Not all the clubs got the desired result. Chelsea were the big losers as they lost a game where they should have secured all three points. Rosenborg are not a great site compared to chelsea. Liverpool also had a poor result but they were down to ten men after Jermaine Pennant was shown his second yellow card. Well if you consider that, Liverpool would be happy to get one point away from home with just ten men.
The team I support, Arsenal got a great start to their UEFA Champion's League campaign beating Sevilla 3-0 comfortably. Arsenal are the form team right now and the spirit that Arsenal are showing this season is just great. I hope this form continues to the end of the season. Well maybe thats just too much positive thinking. All teams have a bad patch at one point or another in the whole season.
Barcelona vs Lyon was another match to watch and it didn't disappoint at all. A very positive display by Barcelona. Lyon didn't show much and the whole game was dominated by Barcelona. Barcelona score three goals with no reply by Lyon. First goal Lyon conceded was an own goal but other two were not. The third and final goal of the match was scored by Thierry Henry. Manchester United played against Sporting Lisbon and won 1-0. So a good result for all the top teams on the second day of the champion's league group stage match.
2007-08 Champion's League campaign kicks off
After a four-five months, UEFA champion's league is back again. The UEFA champion's league group stage kicked off yesterday night. I am an Arsenal suporter and I hope they can manage a great Champion's League campaign this year. Arsenal have lost their talisman, Thierry Henry and I suppose that move has united the young Arsenal team. As you can see if you have followed Arsenal this year, they look very solid and they never give up. Great team spirit. Arsenal will be playing their first champion's league group stage match against Sevilla, whose playing style is very similar to Arsenal's.
Chelsea played FC Rosenberg at Stamford bridge and Rosenberg quickly took the lead. Chelsea were very disappointing and just managed to get a draw at home against a lesser team. Its football. You can read Chelsea 1-1 Rosenborg review on BBC here. Liverpool also played Porto yesterday away from home and they also just managed to get a draw against porto but it was an away match. You can read Liverpool 1-1 Porto match review on bbc here. Last years UEFA champion's league winner, AC Milan also played yesterday against Benfica and managed to get a comfortable victory. Real Madrid, last years La Liga title holder played against Werder Bremen and they also managed to put a great performance and won comfortably. Real Madrid look very solid. 
Today, Arsenal will play against Sevilla at the Emirates Stadium. Barcelona play against Lyon. This match should be great match to watch. Manchester United will be playing Sporting Lisbon, which should be an easy match for Manchester United, the current English Premier League champions. You can read UEFA champion's league match day two live text updates on bbc here or visit UEFA.com for live updates.
