Champions League Last 16 Draw

Inter Milan v Chelsea

Porto v Arsenal

Stuttgart v Barcelona

AC Milan v Man Utd

Olympiakos v Bordeaux

Bayern Munich v Fiorentina

Lyon v Real Madrid

CSKA Moscow v Sevilla

Time for Benitez to go?

As former Champions League champions Liverpool further compound their misery by losing yet another group game at home, while languishing down in seventh in the league at the same time, 12 points off the pace (and it's not even Christmas), is it not time to seriously consider that Rafa's time is up?

I don't mean sack him right now and go fetch the biggest name the yank owners can find, but surely the time has come to look for new blood? Where are Liverpool going? What is Rafa doing to boost their chances?

All he has done this year is swap Alonso for the untested (and injured) Aquilani and brought in a decent right-back, that was never enough to take the league (for those that remember I asked if it was worth a punt on them winning the title a while ago, that was about profitable odds, I didn't think they would, although I didn't expect it would be this bad) - there comes a point where you have to admit that very little is going on at Liverpool, this is now potentially the fourth year without a trophy and with no sign of improvement on the horizon surely the head honchos have to think that Rafa is a spent force, even after last year's decent performance

Both Martin O'Neill and 'Arry are proving better at building a side capable of cracking the top four, imagine what they could do with Liverpool's funds, not to mention Gerrard and Torres, while Rafa relies on mediocrities like Lucas, Babel and N'gog they have built solid sides, with more English players to boot

I think the gratitude for the Champions League victory should be wearing a bit thin now, and while I don't think Rafa should be given a hasty, ungracious booting I think it's time for Liverpool to realise that their ship is currently rudderless and the manager is out of ideas

2009/10 Champions League Draw

As drawn today in Monaco.

Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D
Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
Apoel Nicosa

Group E
Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debreceni

Group F
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dynamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan

Group G
Seville
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Champions League Seedings 2009/10

Pot one:
1 Barcelona
2 Chelsea
3 Liverpool
4 Manchester United
5 AC Milan
6 Arsenal
7 Sevilla
8 Bayern Munich

Pot two:
9 Lyon
10 Inter Milan
11 Real Madrid
12 CSKA Moscow
13 Porto
14 AZ Alkmaar
15 Juventus
16 Rangers

Pot three:
17 Olympiakos
18 Marseille
19 Dynamo Kiev
20 Stuttgart
21 Fiorentina
22 Atletico Madrid
23 Bordeaux
24 Besiktas

Pot four:
25 Wolfsburg
26 Standard Liege
27 Maccabi Haifa
28 FC Zurich
29 Rubin Kazan
30 Unirea Urziceni
31 Apoel Nicosia
32 Debrecen

Dates:
Match Day One (15/ 16 Sept) 2 v 3 and 4 v 1 Match Day Two (29/ 30 Sept) 1 v 2 and 3 v 4 Match Day Three (20/ 21 Oct) 3 v 1 and 2 v 4 Match day Four (3/ 4 Nov) 1 v 3 and 4 v 2 Match Day Five (24/ 25 Nov) 3 v 2 and 1 v 4 Match day Six (8/9 Dec) 2 v 1 and 4 v 3

* This is also subject to change to ensure that clubs from the same country play on separate days.

This year the final will move to a Saturday and will be played on 22 May 2010.

Barca 2 United 0

I am personally gutted, but the better team on the night won and Barcelona are again European Champions.

It has been a weird season as a United fan, as Manchester United have at time seem to sweep aside challengers as a canter, and struggled in the really big games; It is weird arriving at the end of a season winning the league and not really being sure of a strongest 11.  Tonight continuing that trend a big game, and a squad performance... spirited, but alas not good enough.  Barcelona deserve the credit, Champions League finals are not the occasions for bitterness, one team takes the trophy, one does not; that is how it needs to be to keep it special.  United will need to be better next season.

Final Score - Barcelona 2 - 0 Man Utd

Darren Fletcher Will Miss UEFA Champions League Final

Congratulations to Man Utd who in fairness were worthy winners over the two legs.

The purpose of this post is to highlight the apparent injustice that still exists in our football appeals process.

In real life, away from football and at law in the UK and in many countries in the world, the absence of an appeals process against judicial and executive rulings is sometimes held up as an example of how backwards or oppressive a regime is.

There may be an argument that the referee's opinion should be final, but put yourself in Darren Fletcher's boots tonight and ask yourself if you think it is fair that he is now banned from a potentially career and life defining cup final for a tackle that was fairly executed and legal under the rule of football.

It sounded from the post match interview that Man Utd are resigned to accepting that in line with the existing UEFA appeals process that Fletcher will miss the final. I think that is a shame and it is not unreasonable in the circumstances that UEFA review. If it was a World Cup Semi-Final and a more high profile player, I suspect FIFA would intervene.

Champions League Quarter-Final Results 15/4/09

Porto 0 - 1 Man Utd
Man Utd progress 3-2 on aggregate.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Villarreal
Arsenal Progress 4 - 1 on aggregate.

Champions League Quarter-Final Results - 14/4/09

Chelsea 4 - 4 Liverpool
Chelsea progress 7 - 5 on aggregate.

Bayern Munich 1 - 1 Barcelona
Barcelona progress 5 - 1 on aggregate

Champions League Quarter-Final Results

Tuesday 7th April 2009

Man Utd 2 - 2 Porto

Villarreal 1 - 1 Arsenal


Wednesday 8th April 2009

Barcelona 4 - 0 Bayern Munich

Liverpool 1 - 3 Chelsea

Champions League Draw

Quarter Final

Villarreal v Arsenal

Manchester United v FC Porto

Liverpool v Chelsea

Barcelona v Bayern Munich

Semi Final

Villarreal or Arsenal v Manchester United or FC Porto

Liverpool or Chelsea v Barcelona or Bayern Munich

Champions League Results 11/3/09

Roma 1 - 0 Arsenal
Finishes 1 - 1 on agg, Arsenal progress after 7-6 penalty shootout.

Man Utd 2 - 0 Inter Milan
Man Utd progress 2 - 0 on agg.

Barcelona 5 - 2 Lyon
Barcelona progress 6 - 3 on agg.

FC Porto 0 - 0 Athletico Madrid
Porto Progess 2 - 2 on away goals rule

Champions League Results 10/3/09

Bayern Munich 7 - 1 Sporting
Bayern progress 12-1 on agg.

Juventus 2 -2 Chelsea
Chelsea progress 3-2 on agg.

Liverpool 4 - 0 Real Madrid
Liverpool progress 5-0 on agg.

Panathinaikos 1 - 2 Villareal
Villareal progress 3-2 on agg.

Champions League Round Up - 25-Feb-09

Chelsea 1 - 0 Juventus

Real Madrid 0 - 1 Liverpool

Sporting 0 - 5 Bayern Munich

Villareal 1 - 1 Panathinaikos

Champions League Round Up - 24-Feb-09

Arsenal 1 - 0 Roma

Inter Milan 0 - 0 Man Utd

Lyon - 1 - 1 Barcelona

Athletico Madrid 2 - 2 FC Porto

Gareth Barry To Stay At Villa, But Only If They Are In Champions League

The NOTW has the story that Gareth Barry is set to commit his future to Aston Villa, but only after they have secured a Top Four League finish, and Champions League football.

The midfielder was subject to a protracted saga last summer with Liverpool courting his services, but they were unwilling to match Villa's valuation of £18m. Liverpool are thought to be ready to continue their pursuit of Barry if they fail to qualify for the Champions League next season.

Barry is quoted as saying “There’s nowhere else I would want to be playing at the highest level. It’s easy for me to want Aston Villa to play Champions League football. It is also easy for me to give 100 per cent when I am playing for Villa — and to want them to finish as high as possible "

Aston Villa's official website does not carry the story.

I wonder what the club and fans will make of this? On the one hand it is a positive statement that the club captain wishes to remain. However, the statement confirms a desire to leave if the club fails to match his ambitions next season.

Should A Quota System Be Introduced In The Premier League?

Rick Parry has revealed that the Premier League has held discussions on the possibility of introducing a quota system in an effort to limit the number of foreign players appearing in the Premier League and boost the standard of English Players available to the national team.

The Top Clubs who are regularly qualifying for The Champions League already have to abide to a quota system for European games, and would not have much difficulty in adopting a similar system for League matches. The Premier League did produce an analysis that concluded a lot of the clubs would not have too much difficulty in complying.

The Premier League would be the body imposing the quota, and there is no word on how the quote would work. It might be that by "home-grown" the definition will extend beyond England, to UK, and possibly Irish players.

Are you in favour of a quota system being introduced to the Premier League, and do you think your favourite Premier League Team will be able to adapt if the quota was introduced soon? Do you think the quality of the Premier League will be affected?

Vidic Handed One Match Ban

Nemanja Vidic has been handed a one-game Champions League Ban following his red card in Decembers Club World Cup Final. The suspension is accompanied by a 5,000 CHF fine.

Vidic will miss the away leg against Inter Milan on 24th February, however he will return for the home game on 11th March.

United will be happy that the ban was not lengthier as the red card was after an elbow to the face of LDU Striker Claudio Bieler just minutes into the second half.

Wembley Stadium To Host 2011 Champions League Final

UEFA have selected Wembley to host the 2011 Champions League Final ahead of Allianz Arena in Munich and The Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Lord Triesman of the FA said "We are delighted that UEFA have chosen Wembley Stadium to stage the Champions League Final in 2011," he said. "This is fantastic news for London and the UK and is acknowledgement of Wembley's ranking alongside the very best football stadiums in the world.

"Wembley is a stadium for the big games and has a unique history that is sure to inspire Europe's finest players."

The news means that Arsenals Emirates Stadium can no longer stage the 2011 UEFA Cup Final, that will now be held at Dublin's Lansdowne Road. The competitions conclusion will be renamed the Europa League Final.