+1

I'd love for us to play Madrid in the group stages because they're beatable atm.

The Gobbi have a good record against Real over the last 18 months.

(from uefa.com)Referees for this week's round of CL qualifiers have been named. Of note:

Howard Webb will referee Fiorentina-Sporting
Mejuto Gonzales will referee Arsenal-Celtic
Roberto Rosetti will referee Timisoara-Stuttgart
Nicola Rizzoli will referee Lyon-Anderlecht

actually it would be good if we get madrid now cuz that would mean we wouldn't get them again until the final or something

Webb nearly got elbowed in the face by Rodellega of Wigan this weekend when he went on some sort of crazed attack on Vidic. Unlike most refs he got in between them and seperated them and calmed it all down. Seems a good appointment for the Fiorentina-Sporting game given what happened in the first leg.

Great hat-trick for López last night.

By the way I had not noticed Cissokho signed for Lyon in the end. Apparently his teeth condition has improved!

Not seeing pictures yet (will catch games tonight) but according to both Gazzetta and Eurosport, the pitch at the Franchi is a complete disaster.

Arsenal 1-0 Celtic, Eduardo with a penalty.

sporting 1-0

2-0, Eboue.

GOAL Jovetic!!! 1-1

Fishdoll fins up to Jovetic. Great shot.

That yellow was not deserved for Jovetic he was pushed away from the ball

Arshavin 3-0 (5-0).

3-1 (5-1). Former Milan man Donati with a great volley from a tight angle, in off the post.

Fiorentina through

Eduardo's dive



You'd think for somebody who's lucky to be playing the game, he wouldn't be such a cheating prick.

He should be banned for 1-2 games. I remember Adriano was banned a few years back (that was Serie A tho, not CL).

I dream of the day when manager's will be able to challenge these calls through video review and players will get an instant red card and two game suspension for diving!

So, the CL Group Stage draw is this afternoon (5pm BST):

Top seeds
Barcelona
Chelsea
Liverpool
Man Utd
Milan
Arsenal
Sevilla
Bayern Munich

Second seeds
Lyon
Inter
Real Madrid
CSKA Moscow
Porto
AZ Alkmaar
Juventus
Rangers

Third seeds
Olympiakos
Marseille
Dinamo Kiev
Stuttgart
Fiorentina
Atletico Madrid
Bordeaux
Besiktas

Fourth seeds
Wolfsburg
Standard Liege
Maccabi Haifa
FC Zurich
Rubin Kazan
Unirea Urziceni
APOEL Nicosia
Debrecen

Anyone we want to avoid? Some very good teams this year, even in the lower seeded brackets.

Hmm, didn't know that Madrid and Inter would be in the second seed pot...

I think it will be

Milan
AZ
Atletico
Rubin Kazan

At least I hope it will be. I don't think we'll be ready to face Lyon, Real etc so early in the tournament

I think the "worst case scenario" would be:

Milan
Madrid
Bordeaux
Wolfsburg

That'd be a horrible group to play.

Easiest would be (I guess):

Milan
Alkmaar
Olympiakos
APOEL Nicosia

That'd be a walk in the park.

Toughest - agreed. However, for the 'dream draw', I'd have to swap Alkmaar for Rangers.

Just draw Madrid - that's all I want!

In the group stages? Id' love to play Madrid too, but during a knockout round! What a massive tie that would be.

Programming note for those in North America: Fox Soccer Channel (and probably FSWC) will be showing the draw live.

Rai Due will also be showing it for those who get it and if I understood correctly as it was written in Italian milannews will stream it, not so sure about that though?

And Zed, I don't think its wise right now to face Real, I don't think they're that strong especially at the back but we're still getting on our feet I would prefer an easier group stage this time around...

what about the middle east ???

No idea, AX. Sorry! But Uefa streams the draw on their website.

You guys are as to watch FSC as we Europeans?

You can get FSC on TVU player. That's where I'm going to watch it as British Eurosport are not broadcasting it like they usually do...

Is there a reason Sevilla are a higher seed than Madrid?

is it a free stream? i know they charge for all their match streams

i'm at work...so i've gotta figure out whether or not i want to step out for a little bit.

i may just check justin.tv to see if there are any streams on there.

pretty sure it's free, i used it 2 years ago with my maptop while i ate lunch

From Wenger's post-match interview:

On the referee's decision to award Eduardo a penalty...

“From outside I must say it looked a penalty but having seen it again on television, it doesn’t look to be a penalty. But I must still say that we were always likely to score the first goal because Eduardo had a great chance before the penalty and we always looked in control of the game tonight.

“I believe that it was not a penalty but having seen it again, I'm not sure that the ‘keeper didn't touch him with his right knee. I am a bit cautious because with what happened to Eduardo, you know. He might have jumped out of the way, so you have to speak to him. I don’t think he would have complained if the penalty was not given but did he want to get out of the way of the ‘keeper? I have to ask him. I haven’t spoken to him yet.

“We looked capable of scoring but that doesn’t mean that the penalty is important if it is not a penalty. That doesn’t mean I do not want a penalty that is not a penalty, but I do not go as far to say Edaurdo dived. He went down, for what reason I do not know. But I do not think he would have complained if the penalty was not given.”



On diving…

“Is it acceptable? I have never asked in my life any guy to dive to win a penalty, but sometimes players go down because there is no other way to escape the goalkeeper’s tackle, sometimes they dive. We got a penalty against us two years ago in the Quarter-Final of the Champions League that made the difference when Babel dived. Nobody ever apologised to us, it was a blatant dive and nobody spoke about it.”

http://video.uefa.com/video/Competitions/U...videoFlash.html

http://www.atdhe.net/8847/watch-champions-league-draw

also

awesome, thanks

no prb

you know...even if we don't do well in the CL this year (all though i think we will surprise some people)...it's awesome to be back in the CL. just didn't feel right with Milan not being apart of the CL.

yeah but we're back !!

i hope we get Real Madrid or Inter !!

Gosh, this is almost as exciting as watching the Oscars!

that's the spirit

haha

i was'nt joking either

MALDINI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

impossible

How ?

good to see maldini get honored!