UEFA Champions League 2011/2012

[F.Inzaghi]

Friday 2nd September 2011

Hargreaves aiming to face Bayern

After signing for Manchester City, Owen Hargreaves is hoping to play against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.

The 30-year-old is making a fight to regain match fitness after enduring an injury-plagued four years at Manchester United, and recently made a shock transfer to Eastlands during the end of the summer transfer window.

According to reports in the Sun, the midfielder is now raring to face Bayern Munich, as the two clubs have been drawn in the same group in the Champions League.

He said: "Bayern is a wonderful club - I had a great time there and won the Champions League.

"I like to measure myself against the best and I've always taken on challenges.

"They are going to be tough opposition and it will be an exciting game."

Hargreaves is aware that he faces an battle to get into the City squad.

He said: "It's important that you get back into a rhythm of playing football and I haven't done that for a while."

The two clubs will face off on 27 September in Munich for their Group A clash.

 

[Confidence]

Saturday 3rd September 2011

Lukaku left out of Chelsea's UCL list

Chelsea's new signing Romelu Lukaku has been omitted from their 22-man Champions League squad.

With only 17 non-homegrown players allowed by UEFA regulations, the 18-year-old striker, who cost a reported £20million from Anderlecht, will not be able to feature in the group stages.

Given only four of the eight homegrown players can be "association trained", England under-21 international left-back Ryan Bertrand is another not included.

However, promising young midfielder Josh McEachran will be available as the 18-year-old is set to be part of Chelsea's 'B' list.

Chelsea's other summer signings Oriol Romeu, Juan Mata and Raul Meireles are all in the 22-man group.

Regulations for the domestic Barclays Premier League are different, and would see Lukaku counted as one of Chelsea's under-21 players, so not part of the 25-man quota.

 

[Confidence]

Saturday 3rd September 2011

Hargreaves left out of Euro squad

Manchester City have left new signing Owen Hargreaves out of their squad for the Champions League group stages.

The 30-year-old former England midfielder joined City this week in the hope of reviving his career after being released by Manchester United. But after making just four appearances for United during an injury-plagued past three seasons, City have decided not to include him among the 17 unrestricted places they had available in their Champions League squad.

The other eight places in a group of up to 25 must be reserved for homegrown or locally-trained players. Hargreaves' absence means he will miss two Group A games against another of his former clubs, Bayern Munich, as City enter the competition for the first time. Manager Roberto Mancini, however, will have the chance to review his squad in January should City progress to the knockout stages.

Hargreaves himself has accepted he needs time to build up his fitness, telling City TV on Thursday: "It's important that you get back into a rhythm of playing football, and I haven't done that for a while. "There's tons of games to come this season in various competitions."

City, who also play Napoli and Villarreal during the group stages, have named just 23 players in their squad having opted not to use two of the spots earmarked for their own Academy players.

Kolo Toure is included after completing his six-month ban for failing a drugs test as is Carlos Tevez, whose sought-after summer move failed to materialise. Former England defender Wayne Bridge is not named but Mancini has already made clear the left-back does not feature in his plans.

 

[Shinji Kagawa]

CAS reject final Fenerbahce appeal
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected Fenerbahce's final appeal to be reinstated in the Champions League.

AVB wants Champions League revamp
Andre Villas-Boas has not yet managed in the Champions League but that has not stopped the Chelsea boss calling for a revamp ahead of his opening match in the competition.

Ballack not assured Chelsea start
Bayer Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt claims Michael Ballack will not be guaranteed a place in his starting line-up against Chelsea on Tuesday.

Mertesacker sounds Dortmund warning
Per Mertesacker has warned Arsenal that they face a tough examination of their European hopes when they travel to Borussia Dortmund.

 

[Shinji Kagawa]

Group Stage

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[ballsathome]

UEFA Champions League

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[no_faith]

siao eh, this is CL, barca -1.5 to milan?

there are some crazy odds.:*:

 

[BlueCat]

lost a bit on the correct score for Barcelona and Chelsea matches.
will try to recovery from both Manchester's matches.

 

[no_faith]

me lost 2. lol

 

[Gallego99]

Barca has lost their form. They played poorly against Milan. Pato's goal was a beauty.

 

[no_faith]

Barca has lost their form.

maybe big headed and become complacent.

 

[ballsathome]

Both of their last two games also ended in 2 - 2

And Porto's Hulk power shot from a free kick was unstoppable even with both hands from the goal keeper.

 

[Gallego99]

maybe big headed and become complacent.

Barca's tiki-taka football was just falling apart. Methinks REAL has a real chance of winning LaLiga this season.

 

[no_faith]

Barca's tiki-taka football was just falling apart. Methinks REAL has a real chance of winning LaLiga this season.

playing beautiful football but cant put the ball into the net is useless football.
overpass. lol

 

[Confidence]

Ferdinand ruled out of Benfica clash

13 September 2011

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Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will miss the Champions League opener against Benfica on Wednesday.

Ferdinand injured his hamstring in the 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion and went on to miss the clashes against Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

But despite returning for the recent 5-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, the defender has been left out of the squad for the clash in Portugal, with Sir Alex Ferguson possibly having one eye on the match against Chelsea on Sunday.

Nemanja Vidic, Tom Cleverley, Rafael da Silva and Danny Welbeck all miss the encounter with injuries, but Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra will make the trip despite having sustained knocks in the 5-0 win at Bolton.

Manchester United squad: De Gea, Lindegaard; Evans, Evra, Fabio, Jones, Smalling; Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Nani, Park, Valencia, Young; Berbatov, Hernandez, Owen, Rooney.

United lock horns with Benfica in their Group C opener in Lisbon on Wednesday, with the blockbuster tie against Chelsea to take place on Sunday.

 

[Confidence]

Real begin European campaign without Mourinho

14 September 2011

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho will watch his side's opening Champions League group game against Dinamo Zagreb from his hotel room. Mourinho is serving a three-match touchline ban after suggesting referees favoured arch-rivals Barcelona after a red card was given to Pepe in their Champions League semi-final last season. ​

The 48-year-old watched the second-leg encounter against Barca from his hotel room and it seems he will employ the same tactic in the Croatian capital on Wednesday, due to his ban prohibiting him from access to the tunnel or technical area before or during the game.

Mourinho's assistant Aitor Karanka will take charge of meeting the press and Spanish newspaper AS states the former Inter boss will communicate with his coaching staff from his hotel room via phone and iPad. Real face a trip into the unknown as they take on Dinamo Zagreb in what will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs.

The nine-time European champions have never failed to make it out of the group stage, but they will be without Brazilian midfielder Kaka against Dinamo. He joins new signings Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop on the sidelines after failing to recover from a bruised heel.

Despite Kaka's injury, Mourinho takes a strong squad to Zagreb, and he is boosted by the return of dynamic central midfielder Sami Khedira. The German international was out of action for four weeks after picking up a thigh injury in the Spanish Super Cup final against Barcelona.

 

[no_faith]

will manutd throw away this first match and focus on chelsea in the BPL?
maybe having a draw and retain players in good health?

 

[Gallego99]

Yup, I think a draw would be a good result. They dun need to win this one. Save it for Chelsea.

 

[no_faith]

Yup, I think a draw would be a good result. They dun need to win this one. Save it for Chelsea.

spot on.
itz not approaching end season, wkend against chelsea so important meh?

knn, lidat let me lose money leh. yesterday full of surprise.:*:
cb CL, nvr let me win $$$ de.:(

 

[Confidence]

Barca frustrated by Milan barrier

14 September 2011

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Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola lamented AC Milan's defensive approach at Camp Nou after their 2-2 draw in the Champions League. The visitors could not have wished for a better start, breaking the deadlock in the opening minute through Alexandre Pato, before Barca hit the front with goals from Pedro and David Villa.

Thiago Silva silenced the Catalan crowd with an injury-time header that forced a share of the spoils. Guardiola said it was tiring for his players to break down Milan's defensive structure, complaining that the Serie A champions only had 'two-and-a-half' forward thrusts, yet salvaged a point.

"It is never easy to attack when their midfielders convert into centre-backs," he said. "If they have to defend in the penalty box, they do it. Milan have a lot of merit for this result." "They reached our goal two-and-a-half times and they got a point. European teams like this reinforce even more what we have done."

The 40-year-old played down the lost points, stressing that there is a lot left to play in the competition. "We had a good match and if we consider the 90 minutes, we see we had a good match, we closed down Milan, though there are things we have to improve," Guardiola said. "This is the first of six matches and we have five games ahead."

Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri was more satisfied with his side's point from their trip to Spain. "The team did very well at the start, then we got a bit too deep, mainly because of Barcelona’s pressure," Allegri said. "We could’ve done better with some counters and keeping possession, but it wasn’t easy."

"I don’t think we allowed Barca many chances and could’ve gone 2-0 up straight after the opener." Allegri added that he was pleasantly surprised to have breached the Barca defence on two occasions. "I didn’t expect this, as it’s not easy to come here and score twice. We all realised it was difficult and held firm, as Barcelona are capable of scoring three goals in five minutes," he said.