Tuesday, November 4, 2008

CL Open Thread


Where will Kun Aguero end up in January?


Election Day in the USA is more important, as u75 brought up. But it's still my civic duty to provide a libel-free clearinghouse for CL-related observations!


On Tap Today:
GROUP A
--
CFR Cluj v Bordeaux
Roma v Chelsea

GROUP B
--
Anorthosis Famagusta v Inter Milan
Werder Bremen v Panathinaikos

GROUP C
--
Barcelona v Basle
Sporting v Shakhtar Donetsk

GROUP D
--
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid
Marseille v PSV Eindhoven

If LFC beat Atletico and PSV fail to beat Marseille, LFC secure passage into the next round.

For Chelsea, they'd need a lot to lock it up today. I'll let Fletch from the BBC explain:"However - if they beat Roma and CFR Cluj draw with Bordeaux - the only way the London outfit could slip up would be if they lost both their remaining CL games and Bordeaux and Cluj won both their remaining games, with Bordeaux beating Chelsea by five clear goals (or 4-0, in which case it would come down to goals scored in the whole qualifying campaign)."

So there you have it.

LFC v. Atletico Madrid
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio, Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera, Keane.

Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Benayoun, Babel, Leiva Lucas, Ngog, Degen.

Atletico Madrid: Franco, Lopez, Perea, Heitinga, Pernia, Garcia, Paulo, Simao, Assuncao, Maniche, Maxi, Forlan.

Subs: Coupet, Luis Garcia, Aguero, Sinama Pongolle, Banega, Pablo, Camacho.

Roma v. Chelsea
Roma: Doni, Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Panucci, Perrotta, De Rossi, Brighi, Pizarro, Totti, Vucinic.

Subs: Artur, Taddei, Loria, Riise, Julio Baptista, Tonetto, Menez.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, Bridge, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Anelka, Malouda.

Subs: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Drogba, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti.

40 comments:

EbullientFatalist said...

FIRST!

EbullientFatalist said...

I know Torres has become somewhat 'talismanic' for Liverpool, but isn't Gerrard still the heart of the team?

EbullientFatalist said...

Thanks, Umlaut. Thanks. But I prefer douchebag.

Jim Hendry said...

1239 posts to be exact.


/pedant

EbullientFatalist said...

Any site suggestions for live game commentary that don't involve the words "soccer" or "net"?

EbullientFatalist said...

Keano does well with that half-volley. Liverpool pressuring Athletico early.

Jacob said...

A couple of the guys really like The Guardian.

Precious Roy said...

There is one guy for soccernet who is actually really good with the Gamecasts. The rest are fucking dull. And slow.

It's pretty end-to-end at Anfield right now. That help?

EbullientFatalist said...

Squandered opportunity for ATL. Nice counterattack from a 'Pool possession, the cross finds Forlan inside the six but he tops it over the goal.

Both sides are lucky not to be down early.

EbullientFatalist said...

I'm watching it live - thanks Election Day/sick day! - but I like to keep the volume low and read the action. Because I'm weird.

Precious Roy said...

That'd be a neat trick if they were both down. Wouldn't mind a draw (Atletico was my darkhorse CL team) but I also wouldn't mind seeing Diego Forlan have his knees removed.

Jacob said...

Michelle Lissel does not take well to your Forlan injury talk.

EbullientFatalist said...

Ahh, Roy: Obama 271 - Pool/Atl nil

Yes, they can.

Jacob said...

Torres' woman looks like the landlady from Spaced mixed with Elvira.

Jim Hendry said...

What does Aguero's arm tattoo say? Is it written in tengwar like Fernando's arm tat?

Precious Roy said...

You think you'd go hotter if you're getting a beard.

Jacob said...

PR-
you trying to piss someone off, or are you just trolling for fun?

Jacob said...

Wow. Great finish

EbullientFatalist said...

Maxi Rodriguez gets one past Reina on a nice longball play.

EbullientFatalist said...

On replay, that finish was absolutely elite.

Precious Roy said...

Just for fun.

Nice finish.

Jacob said...

HT Scores:
CFR Cluj 1-2 Bordeaux
Roma 1-0 Chelsea
Anothosis 2-2 Inter
Werder Bremen 0-0 Panathinaikos
Bracelona 0-0 Basel
Sporting CdP 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Liverpool 0-1 Atletico
L'OM 1-0 PSV

That Anorthosis-Inter match went from 1-1 to 2-2 in added time.

Precious Roy said...

This would be the perfect day for Roma to stop totally sucking.

Precious Roy said...

This is why I don't want ESPN anywhere near the EPL. Fucking every time United is playing in the CL, that's the match they broadcast.

It would be all United and all Chelsea all the time (with a few nods to L'pool and Arsenal every now and then) for the league.

Jim Hendry said...

Chelsea down 2-0

Jim Hendry said...

Inter Milan fall behind to Anorthosis Famagusta.

3-2 to the Cypriots

Precious Roy said...

Vucinic with a clinic. 3-0.

The Fan's Attic said...

gamecast makes it sound like liverpool is beating on the hymen of the atletico goal but it's persistent in not breaking.

is this true?

Precious Roy said...

Sort of. Liverpool is getting plenty in the attacking third and creating chances. But Atletico has been dangerous on the counter.

And Gerrard JUST misses.

Precious Roy said...

Total. Bulllshit. Gift.

Jacob said...

I woke up just in time. What a bullshit cal. Foul was on Gerrard, not on the guy in position.

The Fan's Attic said...

wasn't there an obvious handball in the box missed in the first half?

makeup call.

Jacob said...

Yeah, there was a handball missed about 35 minutes earlier. But if you have not seen this call, I'll not spoil it.

Jim Hendry said...

ha ha ha

well he missed 2 reasonable penalty shouts for LFC earlier in the game. Call this one a makeup call.

Jacob said...

I can't even begin to say what the ref saw. That's horrible and harsh on Atletico.

Jim Hendry said...

ha, the 90th minute magic strikes again!

Let's all be honest though, this round of matches means sweet fuck-all to either English side tonight. They're both practically through already.

Precious Roy said...

Two? Maybe the one hand ball in the first. But this was beyond bad, even for a "make up." Any contact was initiated by Stevie G. Just really poor from the ref.

The Fan's Attic said...

lalallalalal i can't hear you lalalalalalla

Precious Roy said...

I'm with the umlaut... See the highlights. Atletico was robbed.

Jim Hendry said...

The ref was poor all game. By the 90th minute, he was just living up to the stereotype.


Still, begrudgingly, I'll take the point. It's tough being a Liverpool fan right now, lemme tell you.