All the qualifying has been decide and all the teams were in the hat as the draw for this seasons Champions League Group Stages was made yesterday in Monaco. Among the teams eagerly awaiting to see who they would meet were 6 British clubs, four from England and the two big Glasgow giants from Scotland.

Old Big Ears. The ultimate club prize they all seek.

There were certainly some interesting draws but I would imagine there is one particular clash that Uefa wish they could have avoided. In a cruel twist of fate Manchester Utd were again drawn against AS Roma only a few months after the two teams met in last season’s quarter final which was marred by serious violence, particularly in the Italian capital. You can bet Uefa have already been on the phone to the respective Police Forces!

The Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson said, “I am not concerned at all. What we need to do is do homework and work closely with Uefa and Roma. I am sure lessons have been learnt by Uefa and Roma from last year’s incidents.

Utd , 2 times winners, are in Group F and as well as Roma will also meet Sporting Lisbon and then face the long trip to play Dynamo Kiev.

The 7 times finalists, 5 times winners, Liverpool are in Group A and are paired with the 2004 champions Porto. The other two teams are Marseilles and Besiktas of Istanbul, happy memories for the Liverpool fans there! The Marseilles tie will pit Liverpool against the French striker Djibril Cissé who has recently been sold by Benítez having spent most of last season on loan at the French club. He will want to prove something! Another Liverpool player is now also there, Bolo Zenden who had a very good game in last season’s semi-final against Chelsea, particularly in the second leg at Anfield.

The Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez said, “it’s clear when you look at some of the other groups that ours could have been a little easier. Porto have good experience in the Champions League and have enjoyed a good record over recent seasons. Marseilles are a good side in the French league and they will a lot about us which could make it more difficult. And you always know when you go to Turkey that it will be hard because of the traveling involved and the wonderful support they give their over there.”

Chelsea are in Group B and will again face Valencia. The two teams met last season in the Quarter Final with Chelsea coming out on top. The other teams in Group B are Schalke 04 of Germany and Rosenborg.

Group D sees last year’s Champions AC Milan in another re-match from last years competition. They will again face Celtic who, I thought, were a little unlucky last season to have been beaten by Milan. Strachan’s young team did themselves proud. Making up the group are Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk.

The fourth of England’s representatives in this year’s competition is again Arsenal, the beaten 2006 finalists, and they will be, I suspect, relatively happy with the draw they have been given. There is in fact still one team to be decided falling the postponement of the Sevilla and AEK Athens 2nd leg game due to the tragic death of the young Sevilla player Puerta earlier in the week. However, I would suspect that when the game is played Sevilla will make it through, which will be Arsenal’s toughest game in the group by far. The other two teams are Steaua Bucharest and Slavia Prague.

The second of the big Glasgow clubs, Rangers have a tough assignment in Group E where they will meet the 2006 Champions Barcelona, as well as the French Champions Lyon and German Champions Stuttgart. Hmm! Rangers’ head of Football Administration said, “It’s not particularly easy but it’s wonderful to be there. I don’t think it could be any tougher but it was always going to be hard.”

How all the groups line up:

GROUP A:
Liverpool (England) Porto (Portugal) Olympique Marseille (France) Besiktas (Turkey)

GROUP B:
Chelsea (England) Valencia (Spain) Schalke 04 (Germany) Rosenborg (Norway)

GROUP C:
Real Madrid (Spain) Werder Bremen (Germany) Lazio (Italy) Olympiakos (Greece)

GROUP D:
AC Milan (Italy) Benfica (Portugal) Celtic (Scotland) Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

GROUP E:
Barcelona (Spain) Olympique Lyon (France) VfB Stuttgart (Germany) Rangers (Scotland)

GROUP F:
Manchester United (England) AS Roma (Italy) Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

GROUP G:
Inter Milan (Italy) PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) CSKA Moscow (Russia) Fenerbahce (Turkey)

GROUP H:
Arsenal (England) Sevilla (Spain) or AEK Athens (Greece) Steaua Bucharest (Romania) Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

I’m sure it will be the “usual suspects” who make it through their respective groups and make it to the all important knock-out stages where the competition really starts to heat up. Can either of Milan and Liverpool make it to Final yet again? I wonder what the odds would be for a third encounter in 4 seasons? Who’s your money on?

The Soccer Blogger

The five times European Champions took a stroll in the park last night. They were far too powerful for Toulouse and ran out easy winners on the night 4-0 (5-0 on agg). Last season’s finalists now make their way into the group stages of the competition, it was never in doubt and quite frankly the score could have been in double figures if Liverpool’s heading had been a little better.

Before the game however, there were more serious things to attend to. In a remarkable gesture of goodwill and heartfelt remembrance, Liverpool uniquely agreed to play the Everton anthem (The old Z Cars theme tune, Johnny Todd) before last night’s game. Both teams and the crowd then stood to applaud the life of young Rhys Jones, only 11 years old, who was cowardly shot and murdered last week in Liverpool.

Rhys idolised the city’s blue team, Everton, and his parents and brother were at Anfield last night, father and brother proudly wearing their Everton shirts. They received an emotional reception from the Anfield faithful. This murder of a young innocent life has effected the whole of Merseyside, irrespective of football loyalties, and the people of Liverpool come together as one in such tragic circumstances. They have had their fair share over the years. This was a fitting tribute to young Rhys.

The Jones family receive an emotional and heartfelt reception from the Anfield crowd.

Once the game had kicked off, however Liverpool took full control and I can hardly remember the Liverpool goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, having to make a save all night. If there was a game that was never in doubt, this was surely it.

The Reds took a 1 - 0 lead into the game from the away leg last week. A goal by Andriy Voronin, who wasn’t even on the bench last night such is the depth of the Liverpool squad now. Also missing were the captain, Steven Gerrard who injured his foot in Toulouse and also Jamie Carragher who broke a couple of ribs and suffered a collapsed lung in a collision with Reina at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland last Saturday.

The 1 - 0 lead was nearly added to after only 3 minutes when a free-kick shot from John Arne Riise was drilled low forcing the keeper to make a smart save.

Then Crouch, who was starting his first game for Liverpool this season put the Reds ahead after 19 minutes. The tall England striker cleverly flicked a cross from Kuyt in at the far post. After the game Crouch said, “It was important to get through to the next round but it was nice for me to get my first goal of the season.” To be fair, Crouch should have been celebrating his first hat-trick of the season, not just his first goal. The striker had an all round excellent game but did miss some easy headers. He continued by saying, “It was important we started the season well. If we progress the way we’ve started, we are looking good.” And I for one won’t argue with that. Liverpool knocked the ball around effortlessly at times.

Peter Crouch celebrates his first goal of the season.

In the absence of both Gerrard and Carragher, it was Hyypia who wore the armband for the evening. He marked the occasion on the 49th minute when he was left totally unmarked about six yards out from a corner. With that much free space the outcome was never in doubt and he powered the header past a stranded keeper.

Liverpool never let up and continued to press and create chances. However it wasn’t until 3 minutes from the end that they got their just reward for all their hard work. There was some lovely interplay without the box which saw Kuyt receive the ball on the right side and he fired the ball home off the inside of the far post. Then, with only seconds remaining, yet more neat passing saw Kuyt one on one with the keeper. The Dutch striker lifted the ball and despite a slight touch by the keeper it had more than enough power on it to nestle in the back of the net. Liverpool finally securing a 4 - 0 win on the night that their overall play deserved.

After the game the Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez said, “I am very happy with my team. We showed the strength and quality of our squad.

“We scored four good goals and could have scored a lot more. We now have two players for each position and you can see our squad is stronger than it was.

“I have players everywhere who want to play and have the ability to play.”

There were other games in the Qualifying rounds last night that saw Lazio beat Dinamo Bucharest 3-1 to round off a 4 - 2 aggregate win. Also Glasgow Rangers beat their fierce rivals Celtic into the group stages (they play Wednesday) by drawing a hard fought game 0 - 0 against Red Star Belgrade. Rangers had won the home leg 1 - 0.

Sevilla, who have won the last two UEFA Cups were due to play AEK Athens but the match was called off and postponed until Monday because of the tragic death of their midfield player Antonio Puerta. Puerta died on Tuesday three days after collapsing on the field during Sevilla’s La Liga game against Getafe.

Doctors have said the 22 year old suffered a heart attack in the locker room and then at least one more in the emergency room at the hospital. Sevilla lead the tie 2 - 0 ahead of the rescheduled match.

Half of the 32 group stages places are now settled. Another 11 places will be filled this evening [Wednesday] when more 3rd Round Qualifying matches are concluded.

Four times Champions Ajax are the high profile club most likely at risk of early elimination as they trail 1 - 0 to Sparta Prague after the first leg. Two times runners-up Valencia hold a 3 - 0 lead going into their home match against Elfsberg, so no chance of an upset there! Also in action are former winners Celtic and Benfica.

Enjoy!

The Soccer Blogger

It was a very scrappy and unconvincing first win of the season for Manchester United yesterday at Old Trafford. It was a goal by new signing Nani that saw off a resilient Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs can also count themselves a little unlucky. One week Chelsea were awarded a penalty that never should have been, whilst Spurs have just cause to argue they could, maybe should, have been awarded one too.

However, the deadlock was broken half way through the second half when the summer signing from Sporting Lisbon proved to be the match-winner. It was a 30-yard shot that brushed off fellow new signing Carlos Tevez en route to the goal.

Carlos Tevez battles with Steed Malbranque

But, as I said, Spurs will definitely feel aggrieved at the manner of their latest defeat, having come closest to scoring on numerous occasions during the game. Robbie Keane , the Irish international forward even clipped the Utd bar in the first 30 seconds of the game. It could have been oh so different for Utd. However, it was the nearest either side came to breaking the deadlock during an opening period. The main highlight of the first period were the for the frequent chants of backing for Martin Jol from the traveling fans. What else stood out in the first half was the the number of times United got to within 40 yards of the visitors’ goal and created absolutely no threat whatsoever. You have to say they were very lucky not to end the day still second from bottom of the league! Ferguson may have got his first 3 points of the season but he has to be a little worried even at this early stage.

Spurs had even more chances with both Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown clearing off the line in the second half, although both incidents had Spurs demanding a penalty.

The current champions definitely had to hang on for the points, whilst the Spurs manager Martin Jol will hope the performance of his players is enough to keep the wolves from the door. Both he and his players deserved a lot better yesterday.

For Utd it was the home debut of Owen Hargreaves. He had two long-range efforts but was off target with both. Paul Scholes flicked a shot wide and Michael Carrick shaved the post with a 25-yard effort. And that was about it!

In the second half, Spurs had the best chance as Ricardo Rocha climbed above Ferdinand but, from barely six yards, could only head Gareth Bale’s free-kick wide.

After former Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick was taken off, it proved to be the spark for a 10-minute period in which Tottenham came agonisingly close to scoring.

Berbatov must have thought he had opened the scoring when he rose first after a tangle with Vidic, then pocked a shot through Van der Sar’s legs, only for Ferdinand to boot clear from on his own line.

Minutes later, Steed Malbranque threaded through a pass for Berbatov, who flicked the ball over the onrushing Van der Sar.

As he lined up his shot, the ball struck Brown, with one angle showing it to hit his chest, and the other suggesting a hand may have been involved, with Spurs’ protests only drawing a yellow card for Berbatov and not the desired penalty.

With United riding their luck, Nani collected the ball 30 yards from goal and unleashed a fierce shot which nicked Tevez on its way past the fingertips of Robinson.

Spurs pressed for an equaliser in the final 10 minutes, but were unable to create another opportunity as Jol saw his side slip to a third defeat in four games. But as I say, they certainly deserved better and Utd definitely didn’t deserve three points.

Utd’s next game will see the return of one of their favourite sons, as Roy Keane takes his Sunderland side to Old Trafford. What odds on Ferguson’s old talisman handy him yet more problems? If Utd keep playing like this it might be worth a little bet!

The Soccer Blogger

After Saturday’s games in this weekend’s Premiership games Chelsea went to the top of the League with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge. However, Manchester city, the leaders at the beginning of Saturday, fell to Arsenal, also 1-0.

Back at Stamford Bridge it was Frank Lampard’s 31st minute strike that was enough to extend the Blues unbeaten home record in the League to 65 matches and move them into 10 points after 4 games. It was the fourth game in succession in which Lampard has scored including England’s goal in the defeat to Germany at Wembley during the week). His manager, Jose Mourinho, praised Lampard’s performance yesterday staying, “When he plays well he is the best, when he doesn’t play well he is the second best.” At least he’s not biased then. I have to say, in my opinion, Gerrard is a far better all round player. Anyway, Mourinho added, “But I want my team to play better. The weather didn’t help, it was very very hot and it cost us a bit, it was not a great performance but a god result.”

It was Portsmouth first defeat of the season, in what has been a good start for Harry Redknapp’s men.

Meanwhile at the Emirates Stadium the City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was beaten for the first time this season. He did save a 66th minute penalty from Robin van Persie but he had no chance of stopping the shot from Cesc Fabregas 14 minutes later. It was enough to secure the 3 points for the Gunners and end City’s impressive perfect start to the season.

City’s good start to the season comes to an end at The Emirates Stadium

City now have 9 points from 4 games, but Schmeichel, taking a leaf out of his father’s book [Peter] nearly saved a point for City right at the end. Like his father used to sometimes do at United, Schmeichel joined the City attack for a corner and forced the Gunners goalkeeper, Manual Almunia, into a save from his header.

The new City manager, former England boss Sven Goran Erikkson, said after his team conceded their first goal of the season, “Kasper could do nothing about the goal, he had no chance saving it. Now and then we played really well, but it’s time to see the reaction to our first defeat of the season, but I am sure it well be OK and we will go on. I can’t complain about the performance. We stood up to Arsenal and I am rather proud of the way the players played.”

The win meant that Arsenal move onto to 7 points along with Wigan and Liverpool who beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light in the day’s early kick-off.

Liverpool’s first goal was scored by Mohamed Sissoko. It was the midfielder’s first goal for Liverpool after 78 matches for the Reds. It was also Liverpool’s 7,000th goal in their League history. Their 7,001st goal was scored by new boy Andriy Voronin about 3 minutes from the end. Voronin is looking like an astute signing by Benítez and it’s starting to look like Liverpool have remember how to close out away games and claim those all important 3 points. If they want to challenge for the Title this year they are going to have to make that a habit. They can’t afford to drop too many away points this season.

There must have been a huge sigh of relief at the Reebok yesterday as Bolton finally picked up their first three points under Sammy Lee after three straight defeats. Goals came from Gary Speed (one of only six players who are still playing that played on the first day of the Premier League all those years ago. Do you know who the other 5 are?), Nicholas Anelka and the substitute Daniel Braaten. The goals gave them a very welcome 3-0 win over a very hard to break down Reading.

The relieved Bolton boss said, “There were a lot of positives to be taken from the defeats and I did not get too carried away because we were losing. Now I am not going to get carried away because we have won.” Good thinking!

At Villa Park Aston Villa beat Fulham (one of my predictions for the drop this season) for their first win of the season too. They left it late though, when the substitute Shaun Maloney scored in the final minute to secure all three points. Well, if Liverpool can do it…..!

Fulham had actually gone in front early on courtesy of Clint Demspey. But Villa equalised when a shot from Ashley Young deflected of Zat Knight and past the debutant keeper, veteran Kesey Keller after 51 minutes. But Fulhams’s “away day woes” continued when their defender Chris Baird was sent off on 69 minutes after his second bookable offence.

In the day’s battle of two promoted teams, Birmingham got the better of Derby 2-1. Derby are now languishing at the bottom place with only one point from their opening four games. Not suprisingly, Derby were my tip at the beginning of the season to finish bottom. I think my money might be safe then!

Derby are in very good company let’s not forget. As in today’s [Sunday] two games Manchester United take on Tottenham at Old Trafford. United are also on only one point after the first three games and are currently in second from bottom. I haven’t put any money on them finishing the season there though!

In the final game today there is the little matter of a North-East Derby. Who will secure the bragging rights when Middlesbrough host the deadly rivals Newcastle United?

The Soccer Blogger

Poor old Rob Styles.

Bet he’s not smiling now!

The man who obviously couldn’t stop a herd of elephants from 5 yards has been dropped by the Premier League.

Style has also apologised to Liverpool and admitted he was wrong [no! really?] to award a penalty to Chelsea during the 1-1 draw at Anfield yesterday.

He accepted he made a mistake in penalising Liverpool defender Steve Finnan for allowing Florent Malouda, the Chelsea midfielder, to dive. As a result, Styles will not be given a match to referee this weekend. I doubt he’ll be going back to Anfield for a while too!

Styles was quoted as saying yesterday, “All referees enter into matches hoping not to make any mistakes but understanding that they may happen, what none of us want is for any mistake to potentially affect the result of the match. Yesterday, in mistakenly awarding a penalty, I accept that I may have affected the result of the match and for that I apologise.” Hmm, you think?!

What I want to know is, who is going to punish Malouda? He dived, conned the referee and won a penalty that saved his team from defeat, all by deception. I thought this type of behaviour was supposed to be stamped out from the game, and the sooner the better. Styles has had the courage to stand up, admit he was wrong and apologise, where is Malouda in all this? Styles has been punished after the game, why can’t Malouda now be yellow or red carded after the fact. The technology is there. We all saw it. If the authorities do not do something about it, this mentality that cheating is acceptable will continue to ruin our game.

Anyway, the penalty, which enabled Jose Mourinho’s side to equalise, followed an excellent first Anfield goal for Fernando Torres. Torres ran onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Gerrard, rounded the defender on the outside with some ease and coolly slotted the ball into the far corner past Cech.

Unfortunately for Styles, the penalty award was not the only mistake he seemed to make on Sunday. He caused confusion by issuing a yellow card to Michael Essien - who had already been booked - he wasn’t sent off and then later Styles insisted that it was John Terry being booked. Memories of Graham Poll came flooding back! Styles just had one of those days didn’t he?!

Anyway, Keith Hackett, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, said: “Accountability exists and we, [the PGMOL], do expect referees to get big decisions correct. On this occasion it was wrong and therefore Rob will not be officiating next weekend.”

Hackett added: “I spoke to Rob this morning and obviously he is extremely disappointed with the decision and admitted he got it wrong. I have left a message with Rafael Benítez to apologise.

“Having looked at a video and seen a better angle and a better view, clearly he [Styles] now recognises that he got it wrong and he’s deeply apologetic for that. I think, in fact, he too will be making contact with Liverpool in order to offer his apologies.” At least the man has a conscience and the manners to apologies. He should be lauded for that. He’s more of a man than all the cheats that dive. They are trying to deceive, the referee can only go on what he sees and does not try to cheat. He just got it wrong.

Asked about the confusion when Essien appeared to be booked for a second time, Hackett said: “I’m informed by both the fourth official and Rob he retained the card shown to John Terry then held the card to indicate a direct free-kick, and failed to put the card away. So it was a basic, if you like, admin error as against an error in application of law. [Oh right, that's clear then!]

“We’ll look at the video to ensure we don’t get a repeat of that.”

Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, was, I suppose understandably in the heat of the moment, furious with Styles’ decision. “I want to have a lot of respect for referees, but sometimes I cannot understand why they give some decisions.

“I think he will watch the video of the match and admit that his penalty decision was a mistake.” And he did!

Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, went as far as suggesting that Styles had “cracked” and called for the referee to apologise for his penalty decision. “I don’t want to say too much because I will get into trouble, but the referee didn’t play well,” he said.

“Whether it was because the Chelsea players were talking I don’t know, but in the end he’s cracked and made a bad decision. “It wasn’t a penalty and I hope he comes out and says sorry now.”

It was certainly a bad day at the office for Styles, but I am glad he has apologised, that takes courage and shows he at least has some class. I’m sure Liverpool will accept he apology with equal good grace. And let’s be honest, all teams will get good and bad decisions over the course of a season. The important thing now for Liverpool is how they react against Sunderland at the weekend.

The Soccer Blogger