UEFA Champions League roundup

Real Madrid crushed FC Copenhagen of Denmark on Wednesday night. Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria scored a brace each as the Spanish giants won by 4-0 on away soil.

Ronaldo opened the scoring spree with a header earlier in the first half. The Portuguese international doubled the lead with superb free kicks before Angel Di Maria scored his own brace.

In Turin,Juventus were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Galatasaray of Turkey. Didier Drogba gave the visitors the lead before the 'Old ladies' turned around the match later in the second half with two goals. The Turkish side grabbed a late equaliser to share the spoils as Roberto Mancini made his Champions League debut with his new club.

In Glasgow,FC Barcelona needed a late strike by Cesc Fabregas to win by a 1-0 score line.

Mario Balotelli's dubious penalty enabled AC Milan to play a 1-1 draw against Ajax Amsterdam. The former Man City player pulled down an Ajax defender,but the referee thought otherwise and awarded a penalty to the Italians.

CSKA Moscow defeated Vitoria Plzen by 3-2 in Russia while Manchester City were beaten at home by Bayern Munich. The match ended 3-1 in favour of Pep Guardiola's men.

Manchester United could only manage a 1-1 draw against Shakhter Donetsk of Ukraine. Danny Welbeck's 18th minute goal was cancelled by a screamer in the 73rd minute.

PSG crushed Benfica by 3-0 with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede scored twice for the French champions.

Bayern crush Manchester City in England

Bayern Munich defeated Manchester City by 3-1 at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday night. The defending UEFA Champions League winners' led 1-0 at half time due to a well taken goal by Frank Ribery.

The Frenchman beat his defender and fired a shot into the bottom corner of Joe Hart's goal.

The German champions dominated the game from the beginning to the end.

After the restart,Pep Guardiola's men continued to torment Manchester City and Thmas Muller was left unmarked by Gael Clichy. Muller received a cross from the midfield before dribbling Joe Hart to make it 2-0.

In the 59th minute,it was the turn of Arjen Robben to disgrace the home side. The Dutchman collected the ball from Fernandinho and dribbled Nastasic and other City defenders before beating Joe Hart with a right-footed effort that went into the net.

Alvaro Negredo replaced Edin Dzeko on the hour mark and the Spaniard made an almost immediate impact.

The Spaniard made a fantastic turn before beating Manuel Neuer with a well-curled shot to make it 3-1. That effort came as a consolation,depite the substitution of Ribery and Robben.

Jerome Boateng got a late red card for bringing down Yaya Toure in the 82nd minute. David Silva's free kick came off the crossbar.

Bayern are now on top of the group with 6 points from two games.

UEFA Europa League round up

Liverpool's poor form continued in the Europa League on Thursday. The Reds were beaten 2-0 by Zenit Saint Petersburg in the round of 32 first leg tie.

Luis Suarez missed several scoring chances in the first half. The Russians scored twice after the break.

In Czech, Sparta Prague went down 1-0 to Chelsea while Gareth Bale led Tottenham to a 2-1 win over Olympic Lyon in London.

Newcastle United were held to a goalless draw by Metalist Khirkiv.

Defending champions,Atletico Madrid were amazingly beaten at home by Rubin Kazan. The Spanish side went down 2-0.

Blatter backs Spanish players for FIFA World player of the year.

FIFA president, Joseph Blatter has thrown his weight behind the naming of a Spaniard as the World player of the year 2012. The Swiss executive backed up his claims with the excellent performance of the reigning World and European champions at Euro 2012.


Andreas Iniesta was named as the UEFA player of the season. The Barcelona midfielder was instrumental to the success of Vincente Del Bosque's men in June.

UEFA Champions League draws

The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) has released the draws for this season's Champions League that will start in mid September. The draws were made in Nyon, Switzerland. We have the full group draws for you.

Chelsea have been drawn with Juventus in group E. The defending champions will also have to contend with a tricky Ukrainian side like Shaktar Donetsk that defeated Barcelona some few years ago. Newcomers, Nordsjaelland should be a sure bet for the London side to get six points.

Group D has been tagged the group of death. Real Madrid(9 titles), Ajax(4 titles), Borussia Dortmund(1997 winners) and Manchester City will fight for the two round of 16 tickets. Roberto Mancini will face Jose Mourinho on two occasions. They were former managers of Inter Milan. While Mancini won the Serie A From 2006 to 2011, Mourinho won a treble in 2010, including the Champions League.
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2012/2013 UCL Groups
Group A- FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev,PSG,Dinamo Zagreb

Group B-Arsenal,Schalke 04,Olympiakos,Montpellier

Group C-AC Milan,Zenit St. Petersburg,Anderlecht,Malaga

Group D-Real Madrid,Man City,Ajax,Borussia Dortmund

Group E-Chelsea,Shaktar Donetsk,Juventus,Nordsjaelland

Group F-Bayern,Valencia,Lille,BATE Borisov

Group G-Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic

Group H-Man Utd,Galatasaray,Sporting Braga,CFR Cluj

Preview: Real v Bayern

Real Madrid will take on Bayern Munich in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League that will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night. Latinos, Gonzalo Higuain and Ricardo Kaka will be expected to return to the starting line up in tonight's big game. The first leg ended in a 2-1 win for the German side at the Allianz Arena. Mario Gomez is just a goal behind Lionel Messi. Breno and Buyten will be missing in action for the Bavarians that have only won one of their last four away matches in the competition.
Robben and Ribery are expectd to play on the wings, while Mario Gomez will lead the attack. Jose Mourinho is likely going to parade Karim Benzema as the hit man for the Spanish outfit,while Ronaldo and Di Maria will play on the wings. Lahm,Alaba,Kroos and Muller are among players that will miss the final if they are booked before beating Real Madrid.
A 1-0 win will be enough for the current la liga leaders to get to the first final in 10 years.

Our prediction: Real Madrid 4-2 Bayern

Chelsea knocks Barcelona out of Champions League

FC Barcelona of Spain have been KNOCKED OUT of this season's UEFA Champions League by Chelsea of England. Sergio Busquets put the Blaugrana ahead on the 35th minute mark after the London side had defended ferociously for the opening 30 minutes. A cross from the left hand side of the Spanish attack led to a goal mouth scramble that was swept in by Busquets. Chelsea captain John Terry was given a red card for racing his knee against the back of Alexis Sanchez. Gary Cahill had been substituted earlier on for picking up an injury. After another 11 minutes of clear dominance by the home team,  Andres Iniesta scored a second goal for the Catalans to make it 2-1 on aggregate. Another nice footwork by the Spanish outfit ended with a cool finish by the 2010 World Cup winner. The English club never gave up despite been one man down. Ramires lobbed the ball over on rushing Victor Valdes in the injury time of the first half to make it 2-2 on aggregate with an away goal advantage to the favour of his club.
After the restart, Lionel Messi missed a penalty after Didier Drogba brought down Cesc Fabregas in the penalty box. The Argentine struck his spot kick against the woodwork.
Barcelona kept on passing the ball around the penalty box, but they couldn't get clear cut chances until Messi struc the foot of the post after Cech was flat footed. Roberto di Matteo made a good substitution by introducing Fernando Torres to replace Didier Drogba. The Spaniard scored the equaliser for Chelsea in the injury time. The Londoners intercepted one of the Barca passes and Fernando Torres was presented with a beautiful opportunity of nailing the coffin for the defending champions. The former Liverpool striker rounded his compatriot(Victor Valdes) before slotting the ball into the back of the net. That goal put a seal on the qualification of Chelsea to the final of this year's prestigious European club football.

John Terry

 John Obi Mikel, Franc Lampard, Ramires and Raul Meireles were all booked by the centre referee for various offences. As a result of those bookings, Terry, Meireles and Ramires are all out of the final at the Allianz Arena due to suspension.

Barcelona bows to Drogba!

Didier Drogba scored a late first half goal to give his team a slim 1-0 lead in the first leg of  their UEFA Champions League semi final match on Wednesday night. The Stamford Bridge outfit were dominated throughout the encounter but the main opportunity that came their way was well utilized by the Ivorian International. Xavi passed the ball to Alexis Sanchez, but the Chilean could only lob the ball on the crossbar after Petr Cech had been beaten. Cesc Fabregas missed another chance after 15 minutes of action. The former Arsenal man failed to score inside the penalty box. His 26th minute shot was well saved by the Chelsea keeper to further increase the frustration of the Barcelona side. Fabregas' ball was cleared off the line by Ashley Cole.
In the injury time of the first half, Lampard supplied a pass to Ramires and the Brazilian released Drogba on the far side to smash in the only goal of the day.

The Catalans regrouped in the second half and continued to dominate and create chances that were not utilized  Adriano was left off the hook by Chelsea defenders and the Brazilian's shot was palmed away by Petr Cech. Sanchez missed another goal scoring opportunity after a lovely setup by Fabregas.
In the final minute of the game, Pedro Rodriguez's shot came off the post and Chelsea managed to clear the ball.
The two sides will clash again at the Nou Camp on Tuesday to decide the final outcome of the tie.

Gomez's late strike hunts Real Madrid

Mario Gomez's injury time winner was enough to give Bayern a slim 2-1 win over Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night. The Bavarians pummelled their Spanish opponents for the entire 90 minutes. Karim Benzema missed a glorious opportunity after seven minutes of action. German midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger lost the ball in the centre circle and Angel Di Maria pounced on the ball to tee up Karim Benzema who couldn't beat Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern. Frank Ribery put the Germans ahead with a 17th minute shot that skipped past Iker Casillas. A corner kick from Kroos was poorly dealt with by Sergio Ramos and the Frenchman fired the ball into the back of the net.
Real Madrid couldn't equalise before the end of the first half regardless of their superior ball possession. Karim Benzema missed the opportunity to make it 1-1 before half time when he failed to beat Manuel Neuer.

Mesut Ozil made it 1-1 in the 53rd minute, a pass across the goal line by Benzema was cut back by Ronaldo before Ozil tapped home from close range. With 19 minutes to go, Gomez fired the ball over the bar when he should have poked home the ball to give his side the lead.
Howard Webb was lenient with Madrid players by not sending the likes of Sergio Ramos and Marcelo that were involved in rough tackles on Ribery and Thomas Muller. Several penalty appeals by Bayern were also shunned by the referee.
However, with less than 2 minute to the end of the game, Phillip Lahm dribbled Coentrao on the right wing before laying an accurate pass for Mario Gomez to guide in his 13th goal of the UEFA Champions League season.
Bayern must not lose by 1-0 or more than a goal margin in the second leg that will be played next week. A 1-0 win will be enough for Jose Mourinho's men.

Bayern - Real Madrid preview

Bayern Munich will welcome free-scoring Real Madrid in Tuesday's UEFA Champions League clash at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The German club has never lost at home to Real Madrid in the history of this competition. The trio of Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and Mario Gomez will lead the three man attack of the home side after being on the reserve bench in their goalless draw against Mainz last weekend. Toni Kroos and Gustavo are expected to play behind Thomas Muller. Bastian Schweinsteinger is a doubt for the starting line up, but he should be good enough to be introduced into the game later on. Mario Gomez has scored 11 goals this term in his only three goals behind Lionel Messi in the race for the golden boot award..
Jose Mourinho is expected to use a 4-2-3-1 formation. Karim Benzema will be backed by Angel di Maria, Mesut Ozil and C.Ronaldo. Gonzalo Higuain and Ricardo Kaka will likely feature later in the match. Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira will try and win the midfield battle against Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos. Real Madrid have played in the semi final of this competition 22 times and they have won 12 of those two-legged matches. The Galacticos will aim to get their second win in the land of the Bavarians. The last time they defeated a German team away from home was in 2001 against Bayer Leverkusen.

Our prediction: Bayern 2-4 Real Madrid

AC Milan VS FC Barcelona preview

Thiago Silva's absence is a major blow for the Rosoneri who are looking forward to getting their second win at home to the Spanish giants at the San Siro stadium. The two teams met at this same venue during the group stage and Barcelona won by three goals to two. Ibrahimovic will not be the only man that Barcelona defenders will have to contend with following the availability of Kevin Prince Boateng and Robinho. The Spaniards are without Eric Abidal (kidney transplant op) and Ibrahim Afellay (injury). Cesc Fabregas, Pedro and Alexis Sanchez are available to play today's game. The Catalans are seeking for their tenth straight win in all competitions and are likely going to break AC Milan's unbeaten home record in the quarter final of the Champions League. The Italians are unbeaten in their last 10 quarter final games at the San Siro. Chelsea broke Benfica's unbeaten home run in the competition last night. Lionel Messi will b expected to lead his team to victory later tonight.

Merciless Messi

Our prediction: AC Milan 1-3 FC Barcelona

Chelsea breaks Benfica's home record as Madrid marches on.

Chelsea ended Benfica's unbeaten run at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon,Portugal. Salomon Kalou's first half strike was enough to give Roberto di Matteo's side an unlikely 1-0 win against their hosts. The first half of the game was characterized by half chances and excellent defending from both sides. Raul Meireles fired a shot that was saved by the Benfica keeper. Salomon Kalou did a good job down the right flank before feeding the Portuguese International.
In the second half, David Luiz cleared the ball on the goal line to deny his former club the chance to take the lead. Terry's arm caused some controversy in the camp of the home side as he handled Maxi Perira's shot in the penalty box some few moments after Ashley Cole blocked a goal bound shot from Jardel.
Chelsea took the lead in the 75th minute when Fernando Torres provided a cross that Kalou turned it into the net after battling two defenders.

In Cyprus,Apoel Nicosia lost at home to Real Madrid by three goals to nil. The Cypriot were able to force the Spanish club to a goalless draw in the first half, although Karim Benzema missed a seater. The Frenchman made amends by scoring a brace in the second half. The first was a diving header while the last goal was a neatly taken shot. Mourinho introduced Kaka and Marcelo after the first goal and the two players exchanged passes before Kaka scored a beautiful goal.

Mourinho

Real Madrid will have very little work to do at the Santiago Bernabeu when the two sides meet again. 

Apoel VS Real Madrid preview

Apoel Nicosia created an upset by defeating Olympique Lyonnais in the round of 16. Apoel is the first Cypriot team to reach the quarter final stage of the UEFA Champions League. The two aggregate score line was 1-1. Apoel qualified on penalties. Real Madrid will hope to continue from where they stopped over the weekend. The Merenges defeated Real Sociedad 5-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu to maintain their six points lead over Barcelona. CSKA Moscow was sent packing on a 5-2 aggregate loss. Karim Benzema and Christiano Ronaldo are both expected to be in the attacking setup of the nine time European Champions while Gonzalo Higuain could be introduced later in the game. Solari and Ailton are expected to feature for the Cypriot side. Jose Mourinho has never lost out at the quarter final stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Chat Soccer's prediction: Apoel 1-2 Real Madrid
Date: 27th March,2012
Venue: Neo GSP,Strovolos
Time: 18:45 GMT

Will England overcome their current problems?

The Three Lions of England are expected to take on the Orange men from Netherlands. The new Wembley stadium in London that  hosted the Carling Cup final on Sunday between Liverpool and Cardiff City is the venue of tomorrow's encounter. England don't have a substantive manager at the moment. This is due to the resignation of the former Italian gaffer, Fabio Capello that resigned as a result of the John Terry racism saga earlier in February 2012. The team is also without a permanent captain after the Chelsea skipper was stripped of his captaincy pending the outcome of a judicial enquiry that will commence in July.
James Milner of Manchester City and Steven Gerrard are one of the candidates to be England's skipper in tomorrow's International friendly against Netherlands. The Dutch side are expected to parade the likes of Robin Van Persie,Dirk Kuyt,Nigel De Jong,Klaas Huntelaar and a host of other high profile players. The 1990 World Cup semi finalists are also facing injury worries. Aston Villa striker,Darren Bent has joined Bobby Zamora on the injury list.

UEFA Euro 2012 is fast approaching and the English team need to be fully prepared for that tournament if they intend to make headway in Ukraine and Poland. The English team have always been involved in one controversy or the other over the past 12 months. Wayne Rooney's suspension from the first few games of the tournament is also a huge concern for the Three Lions of England.

Can money buy trophies?

Roman Abrahamovic bought Chelsea in the year 2003. His aim was to make Chelsea a top team both in England and Europe. As at that time, Manchester United,Arsenal,Newcastle United and Liverpool were the teams that used to represent England in the UEFA Champions League. Italian coach, Cladio Ranieri was the man at the helm of affairs at Stamford Bridge as the time the Russian billionaire became the sole owner of The Blues. At the end of the 2003/2004 season, Jose Mourinho was hired as the new Chelsea manager. The Portuguese technocrat had just won the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto just a year after winning the UEFA Cup with same team.

Jose Mourinho

The Portuguese went ahead to lead Chelsea to their first Premiership title for the first time in 50 years in 2005. He also won the League Cup sponsored by Carling in the same year. Although Liverpool knocked out his team in the UEFA Champions League.
Meanwhile, Chelsea defended the Premiership crown the following season and lost to FC Barcelona in the quarter final stage of the 2005/2006 season. The Portuguese manager won the Carling Cup in 2007and he left the Stamford Bridge job in September,2008. Avram Grant took over and led the team to the final of the Champions League in the 2008/2009 season. Felipe Scholari that led Brazil to the 2002 FIFA World Cup title glory was hired and fired due to poor results. Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti were other managers that had some brief spells at the club. While the latter won a double in 2010, the former stabilised the team at the end of the 2008/2009 season.
 It's almost a decade since the Russian billionaire bought Chelsea, but he's yet to win the UEFA Champions League.

Manchester City
The Citizens  are fondly called "Noisy Neighbours" by their city rivals Manchester United. In September 2008, an Arab group bought the club and hired Mark Hughes as the manager of the club that was playing the Nationwide league as at 2000. A lot of players joined the club. Sheik Mansur from the Abu Dhabi capital group bought the club in the summer of 2009. The club won the 2010/2011 FA Cup under Roberto Mancini and also got a UEFA Champions League ticket in the same season. The Citizens were placed in the same group with Bayern Munich,Napoli and Villareal. After 6 round of matches in the group phase, Man City were knocked out by Napoli of Italy. Liverpool also knocked them out of the League Cup,while Manchester United sent them packing from the FA Cup in the third round. Manchester City are still two points clear of their city rivals at the top of the table, while they accounted for the ouster of FC Porto from the Europa League.

Roberto Mancini

PSG

Paris St. German (PSG) is another big spending club that was acquired by Arab millionaires in 2011. Carlo Ancelotti was named as the new manager of the capital club at the end of 2011. PSG is currently second on the French League table. PSG were on top of the league standings for several weeks. Argentine International, Javier Pastore is one of the big players that were bought last summer. The club spent over £100 million which is a record-spree in France. The quest for success has led to the influx of players from other clubs. Will PSG win the French Ligue 1 this season? Will PSG grab a Champions League ticket? Only time will tell whether these will happen or not.

Carlo Ancelotti

Dwindling fortunes of Chelsea,Arsenal and Internazionale.

Chelsea FC won a double under Carlo Ancelotti in the 2009/2010 league season. Amazingly, the Italian tactician was fired by Roman Abrahamovic in the summer of 2011 following a trophy-less campaign in the 2010/2011 season. Andeas Villa Boaz won the UEFA Europa League with FC Porto the same season. The young Portugese manager has not been able to find his feet at the West London side since his summer move away from the Iberian Peninsula. Chelsea have been knocked out of the League Cup and are also out of contention for a Premier League title. There European campaign is also in jeopardy after a 3-1 loss to Napoli in Naples,Italy. Juan Mata put the West London side ahead before the Italians fired three goals into Chelsea's net.
 The Blues will need to beat Birmingham at the Saint Andrews stadium if they intend to qualify for the quarter final of the FA Cup. AVB is definitely under pressure.

Arsenal FC
The Gunners have been knocked out of the FA Cup,Carling Cup and are almost out of the Champions League after a 4-0 mauling in the hands of Italian giants-AC Milan. The Gunners are only looking forward to a fourth place finish in the Barclays Premier League in order to return to the Champions League next season.
This is the first time in over two decades that the league's highest goal scorer(Robin Van Persie) will come from a club that is 17 points behind the league leaders. Arsenal started the season on a bad note by losing at home to Liverpool at the Emirates. The North Londoners were also beaten by Blackburn Rovers and equally lost scandalously to Manchester United by 8-2. RVP scored series of goals for Arsenal and the team went on a 7 match winning streak before they started stuttering again. Jack Wilshere is one of several Arsenal players that sustained injuries in the course of the season. Only time will tell whether Arsene Wenger will still be in charge next season.

Internazionale
Inter Milan are in a serious mess. They've lost 6 of their past 7 matches including a 3-0 loss to Novara in the Serie A. Only last Wednesday, the Italians went down 1-0 to Marseille in the Champions League. The 2010 Champions League winners seems to have lost the "invincible" form they had under Jose Mourinho. Claudio Ranieri is simply not having the best of time at the Calcio outfit.
 The fans expressed their displeasure towards the poor form of their team when they echoed the name of the former Portugese manager.
The Nerazzuris are currentlyplaced seventh in the Serie A standings.