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Zenit has taken an early lead in Leverkusen.
Forza Viola.
Zenit has taken an early lead in Leverkusen.
Forza Viola.
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UEFA Cup
Tried watching Leverkusen vs Zenit, but was put off by the commentary being slightly ahead of the action (first time you could ever say that about ITV commentators, ahahaha). Plus Bayer vs Gazprom? Not much to choose. -
UEFA Cup
Zenit, the nascent European power, are absolutely shredding them - it's 1-4 with 25 minutes to play. Hope they keep this team together for next year's Champions League.Comment
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UEFA Cup
I would NOT want to be in Zenit's group in next season's Champions League. Assuming that they keep the team together (and the financial imperative to break it up isn't there), their seeding is likely to significantly under-estimate their quality, especially if they get knocked out by someone like Bayern in the semis.Comment
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UEFA Cup
I was perusing the Zenit squad earlier and it doesn't look anything particularly special, certainly not as good as, say, the CSKA Moscow team that won the UEFA Cup. Plus they have the mediocre Advocaat managing them.
Either they're a lot better than they appear on paper or Bayer Leverkusen are very bad these days.
Sporting Lisbon have started well at Mordor. Joao Moutinho looked to be thrashing around on the turf in a lot of pain after a heavy challenge by Ferguson, and was stretchered off, only to return seconds later.
Lee McCulloch has just knocked the goalkeeper over the byline after leading with his elbow and knee. This Huns team is an ugly one in every sense.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Darcheville seems to grow more podgy by the day. He definitely wasn't as big as this at the weekend.
Did I compare him to Barry White recently? Sorry, I actually meant Proposition Joe from The Wire.Comment
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UEFA Cup
McCulloch, Weir and Ferguson took it in turns to kick Sporting in the early stages and Ishmailov seems to have taken it upon himself to do all the retaliation. He'll get himself sent off if he's not careful. He was booked for the worst challenge of the match and has just made another very rash one on Thomson. He's skating on thin ice.
As Hieronymous says, this really is a spectacularly ugly Rangers team, in every possible sense.
They'll win this one 2-0, though. Sporting don't look to be very good at dealing with their overly physical approach, and don't look hugely penetrating up front. Darcheville's caused them a few problems so far.Comment
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UEFA Cup
For those unaware, the three games going on now are available to watch on http://www.uefacup.itv.com/
Registration is free, but required, but the picture quality is worth it. The frame rate looks smoother in Firefox.
It doesn't work on Macs.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Oh and UK only.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Toni puts Bayern ahead against Getafe.
Fiorentina-PSV still 0-0 as they approach the half.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Early on, Bayern looked ready to completely overpower Getafe, with Ribery and Toni particularly impressive ... Podolski and Schweinsteiger appear ready to shoot from anywhere ... then Getafe got back into it a bit and had a header cleared off the line ... Bayern to win 2-0, I'd go for ...Comment
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UEFA Cup
Toni, Ribery and Podolski are all players I really like, which makes it much harder than it ought to be to detest a side with Uli Hoeness as its off-field henchman. But it'll only need Lucio to reveal another Jesus Loves My Cock t-shirt to get me back to normal.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Bollocks.
Mutu gets in the way of a punched clearance from Gomes and scores an inadvertant goal to put the Viola ahead, but PSV equalise only four minutes later (and of course now have an away goal). 20 minutes left.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Zenit looked pretty good to me. That Arseshavin finished the first goal with some real aplomb, and in the second half they just tore Levekusen a second hole.
At this rate we could have two English clubs in a final in Moscow in one competition, and a Russian club playing in Manchester in the final of the other.
Talking of the UEFA Cup, Carlsberg (I don't drink the stuff) are doing a "Willy Wonka" style lucky ticket giveaway with every pint bought in my local, with tickets for the final on offer. I can't think of anything more appropriate for UEFA's war on drunken hooliganism than to allow corporate sponsors to encourage people to get pissed in order to win tickets to one of their most prestigious events.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Getafe equalise five seconds before the end of the 90 and I emit a curt laugh. So all is well and normal with the world.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Well, shows you what I know - Getafe played very well indeed in the second half, and deserved their equaliser, a lovely delicate chip from Contra near the end. All to play for in the Coliseo Alfonso Perez next week.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Vieri's late entrance makes the Viola more dangerous up front, but they can't break through the PSV defence and a master class in time-wasting. 1-1 it ends, and PSV have to be favourites for the semis.
Fabulous result for Getafe in Munchen, and not a bad one at all for Sporting in Glasgow.Comment
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UEFA Cup
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A poor game at Ibrox ... with Sporting just shading it as the less bad, I reckon. The Portuguese commentator said that the Scottish journalists had been telling him that this Rangers team was the weakest one in recent memory. If there has been a worse team, then it must have been very bad indeed.
Liedson, deadly in the domestic game, looks all at sea on the big stage.
The defences of both teams did well.
It was obviously Darcheville who ate all the pies.
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UEFA Cup
Erwin's cunningly quoting Len Shackleton's autobiography.
[Edit: Oh, now he's gone and filled it in. I thought he was being John Cagesque to reflect the numbing emptiness of another Gers' performance in Europe.]Comment
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UEFA Cup
.
(Oh, I see.)
.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Getafe were outstanding tonight. They had a bit of a shaky start and conceded a soft goal, but gained confidence with every touch and thoroughly deserved the draw. I shrieked with delight when the equaliser went in, frightening the neighbours (probably).
Can anyone beat el EuroGeta? The smart money has to be on them to win this thing. They were at ridiculously long odds to do anything tonight (13/2 to win, 3/1 to draw). Madness. What a team.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Michael Laudrup is by far my preferred candidate to replace Rijkaard at Barca.Comment
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UEFA Cup
It's hard to give much credibility to the UEFA cup when you see two teams like Rangers and Sporting battling it out in such a boring a quality devoid quarter final. I think Sporting overrated Rangers and played their mind-numbing play-it-safe formation with one real striker and Romangnoli instead of Pereirinha.
I also thought Liedson was great once Yanick came on and he had someone to work with.
I think I'm with ant on this, Getafe for the cup. De la Red looks a fantastic prospect for Real Madrid if they ever decide to get him back.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Sporting showed flashes of skill but seemed a bit afraid of Rangers. Why, I have no idea, because at the moment watching Rangers is a bit like looking at an old VHS tape of Jack Charlton's Ireland on fast forward.
Kevin Thomson and his war wound were invisible. At half-time, and this is not a cheap gag, I genuinely had to text a third party in order to make sure for certain that he was in Rangers' line-up. You could see a blue number 8 jersey with generously wide sides oozing onto the screen from time to time, but it never seemed to receive the ball at any point.
Clearly the triple-fracture broken leg that Georgios Samaras gave him on Saturday is still counting against him.Comment
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UEFA Cup
Good night for Romanians in Europe - goals for Mutu and Contra.Comment
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