Champions League Update for Today: 2/25/2014.

Some exciting matches today with Zenit St. Petersburg set to host Borussia Dortmund while Olympiacos welcome Manchester United to Greece. While the chances of a sweep of victories for visiting sides as happened in the first round of games of the Round of 16 seems unlikely, the idea is not too outlandish. Let's take a look at the games with Zenit coming off of an extended period of down-time. While many of their players will be fresh, the likes of Danny, Shirokov, and Ansaldi are out through injuries of one kind or another.  Respectively, that puts out of commission a quality forward, midfielder, and defender - not the kind of losses a team like Zenit want going into a match with fierce German opposition. If Hulk and Alexander Kerzhakov are in form though, the Russians may well make it through the round. As for Dortmund, they have been lacking Gundogan, Subotic, Blaszczykowski, and Sven Bender for such a long time that hopefully Klopp has reshuffled the team in a manner that allows them to remain competitive away from home. If Hummels and Reus can come back into the team, their chances look much better. Either way, it is almost always difficult to travel to Eastern Europe and Dortmund's loss over the weekend to Hamburger SV will not have helped matters.
Turning our attention to the match-up between Olympiacos and United now, the Greeks simply have to perform well at home. Roberto has been good enough in goal for them, however without the goalscoring talent of Javier Saviola I would be surprised if Olympiacos could muster the necessary firepower to get them past the English. Nevertheless, it Kostas Mitroglou has a great game - and if Alejandro Dominguez can increase his goal tally - the Greeks might just have enough to knock United out. At least, they should put on a good show at home. Speaking of Manchester United, the Red Devils cannot be said to be in the best of form. Their case is not improved by the absence of defenders such as Rafael, Phil Jones, and Jonny Evans. While De Gea has performed admirably for Manchester, he needs some help. Nani and Danny Welbeck are both out still, meaning the Greeks will largely concern themselves with shutting down the likes of Wayne Rooney and Antonio Valencia (and if Robin Van Persie plays, don't be surprised if he fails to make an impact). Hope you enjoy the games!

Champions League 11/5/2013

Some delightful matches taking place today as Plzen host Bayern Munich; Juventus v.s. Real Madrid; Kobenhavn take on Galatasaray; Paris St. Germain against Anderlecht; Shakhtar Donetsk face-off against Bayer Leverkusen; Olympiacos greet Benfica; Real Sociedad invite Manchester United to Spain; and Manchester City welcome CSKA Moskva to Northern England. I predict that Bayern will seize victory in the Czech Republic while Juve may meet their match in Real Madrid - it'll be a close game but the Spaniards might just have too much fire-power. Kobenhavn - Galatasaray will likely be a tight affair though the Turkish side should claim victory despite the home field advantage of the Danish hosts. PSG v.s. Anderlecht should be a straightforward match with the French side outgunning and outmaneuvering their guests. Shakhtar Donetsk's game with Bayer Leverkusen will be close, I could see the two sides ending level though there should be at least one goal. As Olympiacos face Portuguese side Benfica, they will likely miss the presence of Michael Olaitan up top though their defensive stalwarts remain in place to squeak out a tense draw with the visiting Portuguese club. The fact that Olympiacos is the make-or-break point on Benfica's title hopes was not lost on their players - the two sides are level on 4 points with PSG well clear in the group. The game-changer will arguably be Kostas Mitroglou: if he can add to his goal tally, the Greeks may very well pull clear. On the other hand, if the Portuguese can shut him down and get their strikers in order, it may be a feeding frenzy. Manchester United should secure an additional three points in their game at Real Sociedad despite the long list of injuries for the Red Devils. Last but certainly not least, Manchester City's game against CSKA Moskva should be another instance in which a Manchester side delivers the three points. The number of injuries on both sides suggest that the team with the greater depth will move forward. At the same time, I would love to see Rasmus Elm turn-on for the Russian side. Enjoy the games!

Champions League highlights.

Well we are up and running again with international club football as there were some huge surprises in the opening round of fixtures! Playing at home to Chelsea in England, one would be forgiven for assuming that the Blues would crush the Swiss competition put on by FC Basel. You'd be wrong of course as the minnows - though Europa League semi-finalists last year - stunned the home side with a 2-1 margin. The almost unknown talents of Mohamed Salah and Marco Streller put the Swiss side on the right road despite the fact that the London side had scored the only goal of the 1st half through Emboaba Oscar with a clean right-footed strike. Elsewhere, Swedish-born Johan Wiland arguably had the best game of his career as Danish side Kobenhavn managed to salvage a point from their match-up against Italian giants Juventus. Thanks to Nicolai Jorgensen's 14th minute goal the Danes got off to a fantastic start though they eventually succumbed to Fabio Quagliarella's deadly foot in the 54th minute. Over in Greece Olympiacos were thrashed badly by their French opponents PSG though they did not go quietly. While the phenomenal Edison Cavani got the scoring started in the 19th minute, Vladimir Weiss' equalizer for the Greeks in the 25th minute was a thing of pure beauty. Bypassing two defending players on his way to goal, his eventual strike was just about as sweet as the build-up to it. Nevertheless, PSG had shaken off their shock by the 2nd half as Thiago Motta struck twice - in the 68th and 73rd minutes - before Marquinhos tacked on a 4th in the 86th minute of play. While not a 4-1 victory, Manchester United's 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen was also entertaining besides the fact that it was the game where Wayne Rooney struck his 200th goal. It took 22 minutes for the goal tab to be broken but finally it was with Rooney volleying through off of a nice cross from Patrice Evra. Capitalizing on United's failure only moments before, Leverkusen managed to equalize in the 54th minute through Simon Rolfes after a sweet layoff from Son Heung-Min. 5 minutes later the red devils were again on a high though as Robin Van Persie sliced home from a golden opportunity courtesy of Antonio Valencia. By the 70th minute things were looking even rosier for United as Rooney struck once more following a long goal kick from De Gea and an interesting header from Emir Spahic. Only to rub salt in the wounds, Valencia proceeded to make it 4 for the good in the 79th minute after an amazing breakthrough with pace. For Leverkusen's pride, defender Omer Toprak did get them a 2nd in the 88th minute following lousy defending on United's part.