~ Champions League~ Quarter-finals First leg Chelsea 1-1 Valencia - 2nd leg 10/04 Silva's wonder goal - Drogba levels (30 ) - Joe Cole returns for Chelsea.. Chelsea v Valencia remains delicately balanced after a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg.. Valencia took the lead after David Silva's amazing goal in the in 30th minute, but Didier Drogba headed the equaliser after the break from Ashley Cole's long punt upfield. Jose Mourinho's men will now need at least one goal in the second leg in Spain next week if they are to advance to meet Liverpool in the semi-finals. On a brighter note, Joe Cole's return was marked with a standing ovation from the Blues fans after delivering a typical Cole dispaly. Next weeks venue, Estadio de Mestalla, Spain, not exactly the easiest place to get a result & Chelsea need one. Valencia will have another gear at home & the confidence taken from this game, elevates the CHE as slight favourite over Chelsea to advance. It's not done & dusted but the Blues are behind the 8 ball & have a mountain to climb, expect a battle next week & if the Blues go out, will Jose be there next year ? Advantage Valencia, a dark horse for glory !! AS Roma 2-1 Man. United - 2nd leg 10/04 Schole's sees Red early on - Rooney's strike - Roma celebrate the win ! .. Manchester United v AS Roma Is also delicately poised after a 2-1 win for the Italian Giants at the Stadio Olimpico. An entertaining & drama filled game saw Roma dominate much of the game and also the sending off of Paul Scholes for his second bookable offence after 34 minutes. Roma took advantage of the extra man and captured the lead just before the break when Brazilian Rodrigo Taddei fired home from ten-yards with the help of a Wes Brown deflection, leaving Van Der Saar no chance of making the save. Roma's were so dominant in this one, they out shot Man Utd by 23 - 7. I get the feeling that all those missed chances may well come back to haunt Roma, especially Totti. Roma could have won this one 5-1, will they regret their woeful shooting ?? Despite being down to ten-men United found an equaliser and perhaps more importantly an away-goal - as Wayne Rooney fired home his first European goal since his Red Devils debut two-and-half years ago. Yet again I say catch this one on TV, Rooney showed great poise under pressure, in scoring a world class goal !! A draw would have been a great result for 10 man United - but with just six minutes left in the game, substitute Mirko Vucinic fired home after a poor clearance from Edwin van der Sar to give the Giallorossi the win their overall dominance deserved. Roma will be under fierce pressure in the 2nd leg at Old Trafford, with United only needing a 1-0 scorline to advance. The single away goal scored by United may well be their key to success, away goals are golden !! Rooney & Ronaldo were in great form in this one, at home they'll both have more confidence & will terrorize Roma, especially Ronaldo, Advantage United !! your thoughts ? ultimatesoccer@cfrn.com . PSV Eindhoven 0-3 Liverpool - 2nd leg 11/04 Gerrard - John Arne Riise - Peter Crouch - All on target for the Reds!.... Liverpool outclassed, outworked & outscored a very poor Eindhoven, in a dominant road win in Holland. Strange to think that PSV gave Arsenal so many problems but against Liverpool, they had nothing ! Liverpool's win over PSV Eindhoven all but books their place in the semi finals of the Champions League. Steven Gerrard headed in from Steve Finnan's cross to put the Reds ahead and become Liverpool's leading scorer in European Cup competition. PSV were put to the sword and the Reds showed no mercy as John Arne Riise thundered in a long-range strike. Catch this one on TV, it's another Riise piledriver, quite spectacular !!!! Peter Crouch completed the scoring when he headed in another Finnan cross making it 3-0 to the Reds. Liverpool controlled the game from start to finish & really need now just to wait & see who they'll play in the semi's, I've written PSV OFF, Advantage Liverpool !!!! AC Milan 2-2 Bayern Munich- 2nd leg 11/04. Van Buyten ties it up - kaka makes it 2-1 - Van Buyten ties it up again !.... Daniel van Buyten's goal deep into injury time left Bayern Munich as favourites to progress against AC Milan in the Champions League quarter-final. Andrea Pirlo's 40th-minute header gave Milan a deserved lead at half-time. But Van Buyten turned in from close range to draw Bayern level and score a crucial away goal with 12 minutes left. With the score at 1-1, it seemed as though the Germans would come away from Milan with a great result. But, then cue the referee, Yuri Baskakov (Russia) to do what referee's sometimes unfortunately do, make a mistake ! Bayern's Van Buyten was wrongly adjudged to have fouled Lucio in the penalty area & Mr Baskakov awarded Milan the Pk. Kaka stepped up to fire Milan back into the lead, albeit from a terrible call from Mr Baskakov !! Bayern's Van Buyten not to be outdone by this terrible stroke of luck took matters into his own hands showing great character, firing in the equaliser between Dida ( in goal ) & the post, 2-2. This was a great 2nd half performance by Bayern, especially Owen Hargreaves & Van Buyten. The 2nd leg will be a battle at Munich's Allianz Arena but Bayern are now in control of their own destiny !!! your thoughts ? ultimatesoccer@cfrn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . .... ROUND OF SIXTEEN 1st -2nd Total Celtic v AC Milan 0-0/0-1 0-1 P S V v Arsenal 1-0/1-1 1-2 R Madrid v B Munchen * 3-2/1-2 4-4 Lille v Man United 0-1/0-1 0-2 Barcelona v Liverpool 1-2/1-0 2-2 Inter Milan v Valencia 2-2/0-0 2-2 F C Porto v Chelsea 1-1/1-2 2-3 A S Roma v Oly.Lyon * 0-0/2-0 2-0 . Red shaded teams advance on away the goals rule. Green shaded teams advance on aggregate score from 2 games. *Denotes:undefeated in 2006- 07 Champions League Group Stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ..Champions League Competition .. Send in your Final Four picks - ultimatesoccer@cfrn.com Win a Great Prize on the Final Day GROUPS A - H STANDINGS Group A P W D L F A PTS Chelsea 6 4 1 1 10 4 13 Barcelona 6 3 2 1 12 4 11 Werder Bremen 6 3 1 2 7 5 10 Levski Sofia 6 0 0 6 1 17 0 GROUP LEGEND Grey shaded - Advance to the Round of 16 Green shaded - Enter the Uefa cup Red shaded - Out of Europe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Results: Chelsea 2 - 0 Bremen - Barcelona 5 - 0 Levski Levski 1 - 3 Chelsea - Bremen 1 - 1 Barcelona Bremen 2 - 0 Levski - Chelsea 1 - 0 Barcelona Levski 0 - 3 Bremen - Barcelona 2 - 2 Chelsea Bremen 1 - 0 Chelsea - Levski 0 - 2 Barcelona Chelsea 2 - 0 Levski - Barcelona 2 - 0 Bremen Group B P W D L F A PTS Bayern Munich 6 3 3 0 10 3 12 Inter Milan 6 3 1 2 5 5 10 Sporting Lisbon 6 1 2 3 7 11 5 Spartak Moscow 6 1 2 3 3 6 5 Results: Sporting 1 - 0 Inter Milan - Bayern 4 - 0 Spartak Moskva Spartak Moskva 1 - 1 Sporting - Inter Milan 0 - 2 Bayern Inter Milan2 - 1 Spartak Moskva - Sporting 0 - 1 Bayern Spartak Moskva 0 - 1 Inter Milan - Bayern 0 - 0 Sporting Spartak Moskva 2 - 2 Bayern - Inter Milan 1 - 0 Sporting Sporting 1 - 3 Spartak Moskva - Bayern 1 - 1 Inter Milan Group C P W D L F A PTS Liverpool 6 4 1 1 11 5 13 PSV Eindhoven 6 3 1 2 6 6 10 Bordeaux 6 2 1 3 6 7 7 Galatasaray 6 1 1 4 7 12 4 Results: Galatasaray 0 - 0 Bordeaux - PSV 0 - 0 Liverpool Liverpool 3 - 2 Galatasaray - Bordeaux 0 - 1 PSV Bordeaux 0 - 1 Liverpool - Galatasaray 1 - 2 PSV Liverpool 3 - 0 Bordeaux - PSV 2 - 0 Galatasaray Bordeaux 3 - 1 Galatasaray - Liverpool 2 - 0 PSV Galatasaray 3 - 2 Liverpool - PSV 1 - 3 Bordeaux Group D P W D L F A PTS Valencia 6 4 1 1 12 6 13 Roma 6 3 1 2 8 4 10 Shakhtar Donetsk 6 1 3 2 6 11 6 Olympiacos 6 0 3 3 6 11 3 Results: Olympiacos 2 - 4 Valencia - Roma 4 - 0 Shakhtar Shakhtar 2 - 2 Olympiacos - Valencia 2 - 1 Roma Valencia 2 - 0 Shakhtar - Olympiacos 0 - 1 Roma Shakhtar 2 - 2 Valencia - Roma 1 - 1 Olympiacos Valencia 2 - 0 Olympiacos - Shakhtar 1 - 0 Roma Olympiacos 1 - 1 Shakhtar - Roma 1 - 0 Valencia Group E P W D L F A PTS Olympique Lyon 6 4 2 0 12 3 14 Real Madrid 6 3 2 1 14 8 11 Steaua Bucuresti 6 1 2 3 7 11 5 Dynamo Kiev 6 0 2 4 5 16 2 Results: Dynamo Kyiv 1 - 4 Steaua - Lyon 2 - 0 Real Madrid Real Madrid 5 - 1 Dynamo Kyiv - Steaua 0 - 3 Lyon Steaua 1 - 4 Real Madrid - Dynamo Kyiv 0 - 3 Lyon Real Madrid 1 - 0 Steaua - Lyon 1 - 0 Dynamo Kyiv Steaua 1 - 1 Dynamo Kyiv - Real Madrid 2 - 2 Lyon Dynamo Kiev 2 - 2 Real Madrid - Lyon 1- 1 Steaua Group F P W D L F A PTS Manchester United 6 4 0 2 10 5 12 Celtic 6 3 0 3 8 9 9 Benfica 6 2 1 3 7 8 7 Copenhagen 6 2 1 3 5 8 7 Results: Man. United 3 - 2 Celtic - København 0 - 0 Benfica Benfica 0 - 1 Man. United - Celtic 1 - 0 København Celtic 3 - 0 Benfica - Man. United 3 - 0 København Benfica 3 - 0 Celtic - København 1 - 0 Man. United Celtic 1 - 0 Man. United - Benfica 3 - 1 København Man. United 3 - 1 Benfica - København 3 - 1 Celtic Group G P W D L F A PTS Arsenal 6 3 2 1 7 3 11 FC Porto 6 3 2 1 9 4 11 CSKA Moscow 6 2 2 2 4 5 8 Hamburg 6 1 0 5 7 15 3 Results: Porto 0 - 0 CSKA Moskva - Hamburg 1 - 2 Arsenal CSKA Moskva 1 - 0 Hamburg - Arsenal 2 - 0 Porto CSKA Moskva 1 - 0 Arsenal - Porto 4 - 1 Hamburg Arsenal 0 - 0 CSKA Moskva - Hamburg 1 - 3 Porto CSKA Moskva 0 - 2 Porto - Arsenal 3 - 1 Hamburg Porto 0 - 0 Arsenal - Hamburg 3 - 2 CSKA Moskva Group H P W D L F A PTS AC Milan 6 3 1 2 8 4 10 Lille 6 2 3 1 8 5 9 AEK Athens 6 2 2 2 6 9 8 Anderlecht 6 0 4 2 7 11 4 Results: Anderlecht 1 - 1 Lille - Milan 3 - 0 AEK Athens AEK Athens 1 - 1 Anderlecht - Lille 0 - 0 Milan Lille 3 - 1 AEK Athens - Anderlecht 0 - 1 Milan AEK Athens 1 - 0 Lille - Milan 4 - 1 Anderlecht Lille 2 - 2 Anderlecht - AEK Athens 1 - 0 Milan Anderlecht 2 - 2 AEK Athens - Milan 0 - 2 Lille ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Round of 16 Knock - out phase From the last 16 until the semi-finals, clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis with the same rules as the qualifying rounds applied. In the last 16, group winners play runners-up other than teams from their own pool or nation, while from the quarter-finals on the draw is free. Group winners & Runners - up. Group Winners \ Chelsea Bayern Munich Liverpool Valencia Lyon Manchester United Arsenal AC Milan Group Runners - Up .. Barcelona Inter Milan PSV Eindhoven Roma Real Madrid Celtic FC Porto Lille 20 Feb - 07 Mar 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The UEFA Champions League comprises of three qualifying rounds, a group stage, and four knockout rounds. Qualifying In matches in the three qualifying rounds, clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis, with the club scoring the greater aggregate of goals qualifying for the next round. In the event of both teams scoring the same number of goals, the team which scores more goals away qualifies. Group stage The 16 winners of the third qualifying round ties join a similar number of automatic entrants in the 32-team group stage. The clubs are split into eight groups of four teams, who play home and away against each of their pool opponents between September and December to decide which two teams from each pool advance to the first knockout round. The third-place finishers in each pool enter the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Knockout phase From the last 16 until the semi-finals, clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis with the same rules as the qualifying rounds applied. In the last 16, group winners play runners-up other than teams from their own pool or nation, while from the quarter-finals on the draw is free. Final The final - a single game, this time Athens will play host. Champions 2005-2006 - Barcelona of Spain Who will win it this time around ??? Send your thoughts in to - ultimatesoccer@cfrn.com