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Champions League
Topic Started: Aug 13 2007, 02:00 PM (4,096 Views)
siralfred
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Forza Zlatan!
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Yes, I'm only aware - and not completely so - of the rules for the UK, but all countries have immigration law of some sort that applies to non-EU footballers. I'm not sure of the details, but I believe the former colonial powers, England, Spain, Portugal, France and the Netherlands, all have more lenient rules for their former colonies.
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Manzanares
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Time for Round 2 of the Champions League,

Tuesday
CSKA MOSCÚ - FENERBAHCE
SEVILLA - SLAVIA PRAGA
STEAUA B. - ARSENAL
INTER - PSV
DINAMO KIEV - SPORTING L.
MANCHESTER UNITED- ROMA
STUTTGART - BARCELONA
O. LYON - G. RANGERS

Wednesday
BENFICA - SHAKHTAR DONETSK
CELTIC G. - MILAN
WERDER BREMEN- OLYMPIACOS
LAZIO - REAL MADRID
ROSENBORG - SCHALKE 04
VALENCIA - CHELSEA
BESIKTAS - OPORTO
LIVERPOOL - O. MARSELLA

Some of these games look like a rewind from last spring's knockout rounds: Celtic-Milan, Manchester United-Roma, Valencia-Chelsea. With those results still in mind then these matches should be some of the better games of the day. Then teams who lost last round like Inter, Stuttgart, Lyon, Sevilla, Benfica and Bremen are facing games where they need some points. This may only be round 2 but those teams are in a hole now and can't fall too far behind.
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Yogi
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Inter really are in need of a win against PSV. They are never an easy opponent and are well coached by Koeman but on paper I think they don't look as strong as they were last season (mainly because of Alex's departure to Chelsea). Again Inter will have because of suspensions and injuries to form a makeshift defense.

Roma aren't coming into their game at Manchester United in good form after losing and drawing their last two league matches. While ther emay be some sort of revenge on Roma's mind from last season's mauling I still don't think they are strong enough defensively to stop Manchester United. Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs and Tevez can run wild against them.

On Wednesday Lazio are in weak league form and will be misisng Rocchi, one of their best players, for Real Madrid's visit. A draw would be a good result I think for Lazio. MIlan meanwhile travel to Scotland to play Celtic and I expect this to be a tight defensive struggle. The kind of game made for Inzaghi. But Celtic are a good home team and they really do need a win.
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Simon
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I'm really looking forward to tonight's game at Old Trafford. On the face of it, United have won their last 5 games while Roma have just lost 4-1 at home so you may think a hammering like last season's 7-1 could be on the cards, but I don't see it. For one thing, Roma will fight like their lives depend on it, to restore their professional pride after such a ridiculous scoreline last time. Secondly, Roma are a good side and will take measures to avoid a repeat of last year. Everything went like a dream for United last year, I think it was one of the all-time great European performances. You can't just produce nights like that to order! Finally, it must be said that although United are winning we just aren't scoring goals. Saha has only been playing a bit part and the attack sometimes looks a bit lost without a focal point. We scored 7 goals in one unforgettable night in April, so far this season we've only scored 7 goals in 8 league games. I'm expecting a Roma backlash, especially as Van Der Sar is out and Brown and Vidic are doubtful, but it should be a great game to see.

Plenty of interesting games tonight. Sevilla take a four game losing streak into their match with Slavia Prague, who won their first game. Quite a big game for them but I'm sure they'll be alright. That group has Arsenal and Sevilla written all over it. Inter should bounce back at home to PSV, but the games between Stuttgart and Barcelona and between Lyon and Rangers are harder to predict. If pressed, I would say Barcelona will be too good and too experienced for Stuttgart. I also still think that Rangers look a bit short at this level, even if they won last time and Lyon are not the force that they were.
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Simon
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Further to my earlier post I thought I'd also add this, as it would have gone generally unnoticed and I think it's a nice and timely gesture that deserves recognition:

The Guardian

"Francesco Totti has sought to defuse the tensions between the supporters of Manchester United and Roma by making a personal apology to a female victim of the violence that overshadowed last season's game in the Stadio Olimpico.

In a deliberate peace initiative ahead of tomorrow's Champions League tie at Old Trafford, Totti has sent 23-year-old Carly Lyes a video message expressing regret for her treatment at the hands of the Rome carabinieri. She was among dozens of United supporters who were baton-charged inside the stadium, with television pictures showing her repeatedly being struck to the head.

She had been trying to film what was happening but her camera was snatched from her and she was beaten to the ground. "We would like to apologise for the treatment you received in Rome last season and we hope it has not damaged the opinion you and your fellow supporters have of our city," Totti tells her in the message. "We would also like to invite you to the Olympic Stadium for the game later this year and treat you as our special guest."

Lyes is one of four United fans pursuing a legal case against the Italian police. "I was presented with a replacement camera at Old Trafford last week and it contained a video message," she said. "It's a nice touch and let's hope it signals a more peaceful atmosphere when we play Roma twice in the next few months. Sadly, however, I have still not had an apology from the Italian police."
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Martin
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Hopefully those peace offerings help prevent any problems involving the Roma and Manchester United fans. Simon is right last year's 7-1 mauling was like a perfect storm where everything went right for United. Hard to see that happening again but winning at Old Trafford is never any easy task especially for a team like Roma who are going through a rough patch these past few weeks. That looks like the game of the day today but Lyon-Rangers and Inter-PSV also are some interesting games too. Stuttgart really needs a win today but playing Barcelona isn't usually the way to go about that. Yet the questions surrounding Ronaldinho's return adds some extra interest to this one.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Winslow
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Tuesday's scores...
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Group E: Lyon 0, Rangers 3; Stuttgart 0, Barcelona 2.
Group F: Dynamo Kyiv 1, Sporting Lisbon 2; Man United 1, Roma 0.
Group G: Inter Milan 2, PSV Eindhoven 0; CSKA Moscow 2, Fenerbahce 2.
Group H: Sevilla 4, Slavia Prague 2; Steaua Bucharest 0, Arsenal 1.

Quite a result from the Stade Gerland, as the Ibrox lads put a hurting on the French champions. Beasley scored the third goal on a breakaway just before the hour mark. Inter got the win Yogi was looking for, thanks to a pair from Ibrahimovic in the first half; it played a man short (Chivu's second booking) for the last 25 minutes, and then lost David Suazo for awhile when he was red-carded for elbowing PSV's Salcido at the final whistle.

Barca, Arsenal, and Sporting also won away, while the Turks still lead their group after a useful road draw. The bits I saw from Old Trafford were a lot more drab than the 7-1 match last spring; Rooney decided it with 20 minutes to go.
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rosarino
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I watched Barcelona's 2-0 win over Stuttgart. Barcelona played pretty well and Messi, Deco, Iniesta and Henry were constantly causing problems for Stuttgart. Mario Gomez was a danger the other way for the Germans but Valdes made several good saves off of him and on one of those Farnerud should have scored on the rebound but put the ball right into Valdes' hands. Puyol reacted quickest to a rebound off a corner and then Messi who passed to Henry got the wonderful return pass and finished it for the 2-0 final margin.

Ronaldinho returned, started and made a nice pass to Henry for a chance well saved by Stuttgart's goalie but for the most part he was not much of an influence on the game. The bad news for Barcelona is Marquez left early with an injury and will be out a month at least and Puyol, who replaced Marquez, also left due to an injury.

Rangers away win over Lyon definitely is the surprise of the day. What was looking like a close group is now all Barcelona and Rangers with 6 points each while their opponents are without any points after two rounds of play.
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Pique
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I think rosarino's description of Stuutgart-Barcelona is pretty accurate. Barca were the better team but Stuttgart didn't play poorly and had some chances late in the first half. Once Barcelona went on top though they controlled the game the rest of the match. I thought Pavel Pardo did pretty well in midfield against Xavi, Iniesta and Deco but Osorio had his hands full with Henry and Ronaldinho. But the Brazilian did look below his best. Tough break for marquez with his injury.

Manchester United always looked like the better team against Roma. It wasn't a pretty game but they were efficient and shut down Totti and company. Although was that a penalty committed by Carrick? Could have been called but wasn't.
Esas son las leyendas de futbol mexicano,
En todo Mexico hay un Chiva hermano!
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Manzanares
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I'm not sure I agree with you Pique that Manchester United were the better team than Roma. To me it looked like a pretty even game which could have gone either way, the difference being Man U of course scored. But Roma gave a good account of it on the road however with two wins Manchester United look in good shape in the group.

barcelona-Stuttgart was an exciting game, with alot of end toe nd action. Victor valdes is growing into a pretty good goalie and amde a couple of very nice saves to stop Stuttgart and their top striker Mario Gomez. Barca had chances too but couldn't put them away until Puyol reacted quickest to a loose ball and scored. Then Messi and henry combined beautifully for the 2nd goal. Ronaldinho had some good moments but Barca doesn't need him. He's a luxury now not a necessity.

Kanoute scored once and had a hand in Sevilla's other 3 goals as they won easily 4-2 over Slavia. That was the type of confidence builder they needed. How much longer can Lyon's manager last after their latest slip up? They must be the most disappoointing team in Europe in the new season.
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enganche
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Don't look now but Ibrahimovic is starting to carry Inter. Two goals today in their 2-0 win over PSV and he's been scoring freely in Serie A. Luis Figo is another Inter player on form as is the ever consistent Javier Zanetti. Inter have had injury and suspension problems early on but watch out as this is a team who later in the competition may be extremely difficult to defeat.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
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Simon
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Good result for United last night, although again we didn't hit the attacking heights of last season. It was frustrating, especially in the first half, as I felt that Roma were there for the taking and yet we played at a very pedestrian pace and seemed reluctant to really drive into them, put them under real pressure and shoot at goal. We were livelier in the 2nd half and I thought a goal seemed to be coming, as Nani's cross hit the bar, Rooney's effort was tipped round the post by Curci and Ronaldo's backheel into the net was ruled offside. Eventually we got the goal I thought we merited - a really well judged finish from Rooney after a clever ball from Nani. It seems that after all our recent 1-0 wins the players almost thought the job was done when we went 1-0 up. We lost a bit of concentration and Roma missed two very good chances through Perotta and Esposito. It was unpleasant that Ronaldo had to go off for stitches after an elbow from Vucinic that I thought was deliberate and malicious, but in general the game was played in a very good spirit.

I saw extended highlights of the other two games involving British teams. I'd said yesterday that I couldn't really choose between Lyon and Rangers but that if anything, Rangers look slightly limited at this level. Result? Lyon 0 Rangers 3! Rangers were good value for their win as well, they were sharp in their passing and worked tirelessly to close Lyon down. Rangers took the lead with a McCulloch header from the corner and then scored twice in quick succession on the break. I thought Vercoutre could have stopped Beasley's goal had he come out more decisively. Lyon never really threatened except from Juninho free-kicks, two of which hit the woodwork. Right at the end, an Anderson header from a corner came back off the bar. I'd said I thought Stuttgart and Lyon might beat Rangers and was wrong both times, so I'll do the 'Gers a big favour by saying I still think Barcelona will beat them. Meanwhile Arsenal were a class above Steaua, as expected, but had to be patient before eventually getting the Van Persie goal that they deserved. That is now Arsenal's 9th consecutive win, they must be the form team of Europe right now.
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kevin
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A bunch of interesting results yesterday, starting, of course, with Manchester United's win over Roma.

I was stuck at work and wasn't going to get home until 11 pm because I teach Tuesday nights, so I ponied up the $ 7.95 to watch on UEFA.com. That's worked very well in the past, but yesterday gave me some problems, as it started and stopped the whole time. Much like United, therefore, I wasn't really able to get into the flow of the game. Still, I agree with Simon that the home team were slightly the better side in the first half. Nani put in his best performance yet and should have seen one of his efforts finished off. On that note, though he really didn't play much, we did see the flashes of brilliance that the fans are expecting from Anderson. I've always figured him to be more of a force in Champion's League than the EPL, so I'm surprised he didn't get more of a run last night. I'd expect that he does play more in the two games against Kiev, especially if the team takes full points in the first one.

There was that bit of worry at the end and, while a draw would have been fair, no one can say United really stole the points. Still, we were lucky that a couple of late chances were simply missed by Roma -- I guess it's more fair to say that Roma didn't earn their point...

That was also a shocking result in France. Bummer about Lyon this season -- they were one of my favorite teams to watch in the CL each season because they had skill, flair and a devil-may-care attitude. Their matches with Real in last season's group stage were just fantastic.

Oh -- and Happy Birthday to Ibrahimovich, whose 2 goals were the perfect gift, huh?
'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
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Merengue
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Lyon's fall from grace has been dramatic. Even though I didn't like them beating up Real Madrid the last few years, like Kevin I did enjoy watching them play. They lost Essien a few years ago to Chelsea but were able to replace him, last year they lost Diarra to Madrid and filled his shoes too but this offseason they lost Abidal, Wiltord and Cacapa plus have been plagued by injuries. And Juninho, the player upon who so much revolved around is starting to show his age. Add in a coach who doesn't seem on par with his predecessors Le Guen and Houllier and suddenly Lyon are not the team who've been European contenders the past 4 years.

Having said that Rangers are looking good and US fans will be happy to know Beasley set up the first goal yesterday with a corner and then scored the late 3rd goal on a breakaway. I can't remember the name of Rangers' right back but he's an impressive player who gets up and down his flank well and is a good crosser of the ball. And Carlos Cuellar, who I always liked when he was with Osasuna, is playing well in central defense.

Barcelona suddenly has some injury problems but even then the defense is holding out well and one of the big reasons is Abidal, a player who left Lyon this past summer. And like Manzanares said Valdes is growing as a goalkeeper and is much more consistent than he was before. Meanwhile Messi and Henry are really developing a good understanding together and their combinations and diagonal runs are extremely hard to defend.

I'm looking forward to both Lazio-Real Madrid and Valencia-Chelsea today. They look like the marquee matchups of the day.
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Martin
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Merengue,Oct 3 2007
07:24 AM
Lyon's fall from grace has been dramatic. Even though I didn't like them beating up Real Madrid the last few years, like Kevin I did enjoy watching them play. They lost Essien a few years ago to Chelsea but were able to replace him, last year they lost Diarra to Madrid and filled his shoes too but this offseason they lost Abidal, Wiltord and Cacapa plus have been plagued by injuries. And Juninho, the player upon who so much revolved around is starting to show his age. Add in a coach who doesn't seem on par with his predecessors Le Guen and Houllier and suddenly Lyon are not the team who've been European contenders the past 4 years.


In France they call their coach Alain Perrin, PPH, short for passera pas l'hiver which means "won't last through the winter!" With the way Lyon are playing they may have to change that to passera pas l'Octobre, won't last through October!

I think Merengue is right, Lyon haven't been able to adequately replace their losses this past year and his point about Juninho is well taken as he was the one player who took over games. I also think the disastrous sale of John Carew last season before the knockout stage sof the Champions Legaue has come back to haunt them as he was a center forward which Lyon have lacked for years.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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