Champions League Preview: Sporting v. Bayern

The first leg of the Champions League knockout round continues today at 2:45 (EST), with the remaining 8 clubs facing off. Sporting Lisbon finished second in their group, behind Barcelona and ahead of FC Basel and Shaktar Donetsk.

Bayern Munich finished first in their group, ahead of Lyon, Steaua Bucuresti, and Fiorentina.

Sporting coach Paulo Bento sees his side come into the knockout stage after having played second-fiddle both domestically and in European competition for the past few months.

The club was always projected for second in their group behind Barcelona in the Champions League and they are making their first ever appearance in the knockout stage, while at home in Portugal they trail perennial favorite Porto by 4 points for the title.

Bayern, in contrast, sit 4th in the Bundesliga amidst an up-and-down season, but have been consistent Champions League contenders in their history (aside from last year) winning 4 titles in the competition with the last coming in 2001.

Unfortunately for Sporting, they have failed to beat a Bundesliga side in their 14 previous attempts during UEFA competitions, and many feel that today's match represents another uphill battle despite being played at Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon. Bento himself has downplayed expectations:

"For a number of reasons, Bayern are clear favourites. They are a very well-organised team and well-balanced, so we have to be organised and, above all, enjoy the game."

Coming into this match, Sporting will have to deal with the loss of striker Postiga to injury, while Bayern will most likely may able to start Luca Toni as he returns from injury. The renewed pairing of Toni with Klose, who is tied for the CL leading scorer position with 5 goals, should give Bayern a reasonable edge in this match.

Expected Line-ups:
Sporting Lisbon: Tiago, Silva, Tonel, Polga, Grimi, Rochemback, Izmailov, Vukcevic, Moutinho, Liedson, Derlei

Bayern Munich: Rensing, Oddo, Lucio, van Buyten, Lahm, Altintop, van Bommel, Ze Roberto, Ribery, Klose, Toni

Prediction:
2-1 Bayern, with goals from Lahm, Klose, and Liedson.

1-0 Bayern in the 2nd leg, with a Ribery goal.

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How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Chad Johnson

File under: Perez Hitlon's guide to blogging. Hey, don't think we don't take notes around here. We are quickly becoming schooled in the art of taking an otherwise meaningless picture and turning it into a blog post.

That is Chad Johnson (in the shades). He plays wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. And God help you if you are a fan in of sports in the Queen City. Not only is Dusty Baker the manager of your baseball team, but your throwball team has been to the NFL playoffs exactly once since 1991, when they promptly lost to the Steelers in a Wild Card game.

For the uninitiated, Johnson is the Bengals diva receiver. He's good, but everything he does is designed for him to let you know how good he is (or how good he thinks he is).

The only reason there were cameras to document something so mundane as Johnson's arrival to training camp was because he demanded a trade in the off-season. This apparently means he is making nice and wants to stay a loser Bengal.

Anyway, he showed up in a Sporting Lisbon jersey. What does that mean?

If you guessed "Spent his summer in Portugal" you are probably wrong. Americans don't generally carry passports. And Johnson probably pays someone to buy his clothes. So the origination of the jersey probably went something like:

Chad: Hey, I saw Steve Nash hanging out with soccer players. Don't soccer players get really hot ass? How does Ocho Cinco get in with those guys?

Person Chad Pays to Buy His Clothes: Dunno. Maybe buy a jersey?

Chad: Yeah. Yeah. I like that idea... Buy me a jersey.

Person Chad Pays to Buy His Clothes: Which team?

Chad: Don't know. I don't know. I don't know shit about soccer.

Person Chad Pays to Buy His Clothes: How about Manchester United?

Chad: They play soccer?

Person Chad Pays to Buy His Clothes: I think so.

Chad: Oh... don't they got that little fairy boy Ronaldo playing for them. Ocho Cinco don't want nothing to do with that wuss.

Person Chad Pays to Buy His Clothes: So anything but United?

Chad:: Yeah. Get me another team. Hell get one from another country besides the one Manchester is in, whichever that is.

And that's the story of how Chad Johnson ended up in a Sporting Lisbon jersey, a club and a country that has nothing to do with C. Ronaldo. Nope. Not a thing.

It's not a very entertaining story, then again I don't imagine Chad Johnson having an enlightened conversation about much of anything.

If you're wondering, none of the SportsCenter anchors mentioned the shirt when they showed the footage, likely meaning none recognized it. But seeing how this is a collection of sports experts with an education of such depth in their career of choice that they can't pronounce "Peter Crouch" properly this is 0% surprising.

Right? I mean Johnson pretty much teed this one up for someone to try to show their cool by saying "Ocho Cinco shows up to camp rocking the Sporting Lisbon threads" or some stupid shit like that.

Anyway, yes, a guy wore a shirt. And we blogged about it.

Awesome.

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