UEFA Champions League: Your Running Commentary

The UEFA Champions League action continues today across Europe, just a day after some shocking results turned the tournamant on its ear.

Roma's stunning loss to CFR Cluj and Werder Bremen's tie vs. Anorthosis Famagusta have all the remaining match favorites focusing a little more closely today. Will BATE Borisov match those results by registering a point or three against Real Madrid? Can former FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja and Steaua Bucharest knock off Bayern Munich today?

While upsets are a possibility, there is no doubting the marquee match of the day: Villarreal at Manchester United. Jozy Altidore won't be in uniform, but it's still a can't-miss match as Cristiano Ronaldo is set to make his season debut after off-season ankle surgery.

For those of you planning on taking in some of today's action, here is today's TV schedule:

UEFA Champions League TV Schedule

• 2:30pm- ESPN2- Villarreal at Manchester United (LIVE)
• 2:30pm- ESPN Deportes- BATE Borisov at Real Madrid (LIVE)
• 2:30pm- Setanta USA- Arsenal at Dynamo Kiev (LIVE)
• 2:30pm- ESPN360.com- Arsenal at Dynamo Kiev (LIVE)
• 5pm- ESPN Classic- BATE Borisov at Real Madrid
• 5pm- ESPN Deportes- Villarreal at Manchester United
• 5:35pm- Setanta USA- Fenerbahce at Porto
• 7:30pm- Setanta USA- Zenit St. Petersburg at Juventus

Make this the place for you to discuss today's matches. If you are watching, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match (for a rundown of all of today's UEFA Champions League matches you can go to the jump):

Wednesday's UEFA Champions League Schedule

Group E

• AaB at Celtic
• Villarreal at Manchester United

Can Man Utd shake off its weak effort against Liverpool? It had better because Marco Senna, Santi Cazorla and Co. will burn the Red Devils if they come out flat.

Group F

• Fiorentina at Lyon
• Bayern Munich at Steaua Bucharest

You need to see Lyon striker Karim Benzema in action, and Fiorentina should provide him with a tough test, led by central defender Alessandro Gamberini. Also check for former FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja, who faces Bayern Munich today.

Group G

• Arsenal at Dynamo Kiev
• Fenerbahce at FC Porto

Can Fenerbahce put together another dream run like last season? It starts here against a Porto side that features Colombian midfield ace Freddy Gaurin and Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez, as well as recent Inter Milan castoff Pele.

Group H

• Zenit St. Petersburg at Juventus
• BATE Borisov at Real Madrid

Andrei Arshavin begins his quest for a big winter transfer by facing a Juventus team eager to make an impact after two years away from the Champions League.

What matches and match-ups will you be looking forward to today? Share your thoughts on today's action below.

Comments

[brett]

juve really playing at 7:30?? ET?? assuming that its a replay of earlier that day...

[Ben Bernanke]

For $85 billion, my face better be on the front of the Manchester kits for the rest of the season.

[daniel]

if jozy is not on the roster for the manchester united game, does that mean he will not be allowed to play in any of the champion's league games this year?

[JRhode]

Sure this has been covered already, but can Jozy be placed on the Villareal Champ. League roster for the next stage (assuming Villareal advance)?

[Chris]

Gamberini is out for Fiorentina (he had a really bad shoulder dislocation in the first minute of Italy's 1st WC qualifier that will keep him out for a few weeks at least). Fiorentina have a lot of potential, but haven't really come together as a team yet. Interesting group though with Lyon, Bayern and Steaua and Fio.

Also, daniel, I believe the list only is for the group phase and that it can be changed or re-submited once it gets to the knock out rounds. There at least has to be a time when you can change it around the winter transfer window so teams can include new players who haven't been cup tied and/or replace players they may have sold in the window. Still, I think Jozy has a lot of work to do before he gets put on the list for the CL (though its not impossible).

Too bad ESPN is so focused on presenting teams from the EPL and La Liga. I'd be curious to see the Juventus - Zenit match myself.

[Fly the Coop]

That is one doozy of a match - Villareal vs. Man Utd. I wish I weren't at work because I'd love to watch it.

Here's hoping Jozy gets some burn...5 minutes, that's all I ask.

[CO'D]

How can ESPN classic show Real-Bate and not Juve-Zenit...criminal I tell ya.

[Ives]

Good call on Gamberini. I forgot about the shoulder injury.

And Brett, um, you see the first four games listed have (LIVE) next to them? That means those are live. The ones that don't have that are not live. :-)

[RK]

I'm quite sure that Jozy can be added to the next round's roster...

Villarreal are set to come out 4-2-3-1 with Franco up top. I'd expect them to play conservatively, especially with only one forward on the bench.

[Chad]

C Ronaldo fit today? I predict Villareal 1 - Man U 0.

[brett]

geeez ives, always with the hating... treating me like im redheaded step child... i wont have any of this... NONE!!!1!!1!!

[Ryan]

Ronaldo on the bench.
No Berbatov or Manucho.
Staters:
VDS
Ferdinand
Evra
Evans
Neville
Hargreaves
Fletcher
Park
Nani
Rooney
Tevez

Senna is on the bench for the Yellow Submarine.

[Isaac]

Tommy smith says i should respect Sir Alex Ferguson for not taking the real madrid bid.....yeah right.

[ManicMessiah]

Tommy Smyth is nuts about that being a foul. Park got clipped without the ball while moving in the opposite direction from the goal.

[ManicMessiah]

18th minute- evra gets a free kick for united on the left edge of the box, which was debatable, but nothing came of it.

[eric]

I've got a good Madrid feed - too bad it's just about the least interesting on the schedule.

Real is up 1-0 in the 24th, not sure what happened, some pesky client called me.

[ManicMessiah]

I was looking forward to this game to see Berbatov, so naturally he doesn't feature.

23rd minute- Fletcher laysout on the ground to send the ball to Park on his right, whose shot it put out for a corner.

[ManicMessiah]

25th minute- Pires cleared the ball near the right corner flag by playing a ball diagonally through his own penalty area. It worked, but it was an odd decision.

United with more posession so far, but have not done much with it.

[Victor]

Anyone know if the Juventus match will be streamed online later?

[ManicMessiah]

27th minute- a 1-2 played with Rooney gives Hargreaves a shot from the top of the area which he played well over the goal and into the stands.

[ManicMessiah]

29th minute- Villareal get their 1st shot, though Pires took it from a bad angle from the right and it hit the side netting.

[ManicMessiah]

32nd minute- Rooney won a long ball played behind on the right flank. Actually, he and the defender ran past it, only for it to settle on the endline. From there, he played in a good cross that was headed but blocked by a defender.

[ManicMessiah]

35th minute- Franco with a yellow card for Villareal for a challenge on evra, which was well earned. It is also the most involvement he has had in the match so far.

36th minute- Rooney grazed a cross off of his head, which Ferdinand could not get onto.

[Joe D.]

Juve - Zenit is being streamed on the following website

http://www.ppnba.com/sina/3.htm

The quality is pretty good, just don't maximize it to full screen

[ManicMessiah]

38th minute- Nani was running down the middle of the pitch with Rooney on his left and Park on his right. He chose lay it off to Nani, which would have been my 3rd option, who goes down under a challenge that United playerd wanted a penalty on but were denied.

Moments later Rooney let loose a long shot which was saved easily.

[ManicMessiah]

41st minute- Tevez took a terrible shot after being fed the ball on the right side from Rooney.

United don't look like they are going to score, and Villareal don't look all that interested in doing so, so this game seems like it's heading for 0-0 at this point.

[Isaac]

Park has been a real danger on the left side and I've enjoyed watching him so far. Tevez's only good move was a shot that looked bound to go in but was saved.

[Isaac]

Im sorry i meant the right side for park.

[ManicMessiah]

Half time 0-0. Not much to say about the match other than I hope Ronaldo can liven it up a bit.

[mpatt75]

Just noticed that Juan Carlos Toja is in the lineup for STEAUA BUCURESTI.

[Drew D (From FL)]

I have Juve-Zenit going on sopcast. 0-0 at the half

[ManicMessiah]

Villareal made a sub at half, as Cazorla came on for Cani.

[ManicMessiah]

64th minute- Ronaldo's reception will no doubt be helped by this mediocre performance by his teammates without him.

[ManicMessiah]

*54th minute for the last one, and Derrick Rae made that exact same point as I was sending it, so I feel a bit smarter now.

[ManicMessiah]

59th minute- Park got onto a ball but shot it wide right.

Ronaldo's appearance now looks imminent.

[ManicMessiah]

61st minute- Villareal send a ball of the inside of the goal post! The 1st real good possesion from them end up with a crossed ball from Angel on the right, Franco beat van der Saar, but the goal post kept it out!

[ManicMessiah]

62nd minute- Double sub for United: Anderson for Hargreaves and Ronaldo for Park. Ronaldo with a loud ovation, for anyone wondering.

[ManicMessiah]

63rd minute- Anderson already sends in a ball that was put out by Angel for a corner, which was headed wide by Ronaldo. The subs with early impact offensively.

[ManicMessiah]

66th minute- United with a counterattack, which ended up with Ronaldo getting a shot that he mishit but still required Lopez to make a save.

United come back moments later with another scoring opporunity which the keeper pushed up the middle, but luckily for him Anderson sent a subsequent shot wide.

[ManicMessiah]

68th minute- Ibagza comes on for Pires.

[ManicMessiah]

71st minute- Lopez forced to make a diving stop, and the ball is put out for a corner. United are pressing forward now.

[Isaac]

cleared off the line by Gonzalo Martinez of the shot from Tevez.

[ManicMessiah]

72nd minute- Rodriguez clears a Tevez shot off the line!

Ronaldo sent a great ball on a break to Rooney, who passed it across the face of goal for Tevez. It was a bit too far ahead of him, but Tevez got a shot past the rushing keeper, only for the defender to clear it. So close for United.

[tedhill]

Juventus finally get the breakthrough with a free kick goal from Del Piero. 1-0 lead over Zenit.

[Drew D (From FL)]

News from Camp Juve-Zenit:

75th- WOW! perfect free kick goal by alessandro del piero makes it 1-0 juventus. Del Piero sends a ball 25 yards into the net and beats the keeper on the far post.

[ManicMessiah]

77th minute- Llorientes in for Franco

[ManicMessiah]

81st minute- Ronaldo sent a header wide right. After, Giggs comes on for Tevez, who has missed several good chances tonight, as well as having a shot cleared off of the line.

[Chad]

Where is Jozy?...jk LOLOLOL!!!!!!!11!!!11!!!

Arsenal down 1 :(

[ManicMessiah]

83rd minute- edwards, who I had no idea was in the match, sent a diving header off of the left goalpost!! Neville sent in the cross from the right, and edwards dove, hitting the ball on a bounce.

[George]

ARSENAL !!!

We got one back !!

[ManicMessiah]

3 minutes added time

[tedhill]

It is still an embarrassing result for the Gunners, didn't Dynamo Kiev earn 0 points in the group stage last year?

[ManicMessiah]

90+2- Lopez given a yellow card for time wasting.

[ManicMessiah]

Full Time is called as the game ends 0-0.

[mig]

Geez, the matches were a bit of a snooze today. ManU-Villareal-Celtic-Allborg....zippy goals.

I realize that goals are not the sole deciding criteria for interesting footie but they do help.

Tuesday - 22 goals
Wednesday - 14 goals

14 in 8 games is kinda sorry. Kinda like 8 replays of a Bolton-Blackburn kickfest.

(no offense to the fans of either of those fine clubs)

[ManUSuperFan4Life]

Second half was good when Cristiano came on. Too bad Jozy did not play, Cano was totally ineffectivee

http://blog.futfanatico.com/