Madsear's Guide to the Champions League

Lyon got destroyed at home by a surprisingly solid Scottish squad, Manchester did the minimum by beating Rome but still are not up to par compared to last year, while Barcelona Inter and Sevilla acted like the big guns they are supposed to be. Arsenal had slightly more trouble than one might have expected but won nonetheless. Moscow and Fenerbahce drew while Lisbon did the job in Kiev. Here are the previews to tomorrow's games, a lot of remakes of last year's spring so some revenges will be sought. All the better after a very spectacular half of Match Day 2.

Liverpool - Marseille

Ouch! My childhood team, in some sort of a pickle since the beginning of the season (fired coach last week, only ONE win in nine games, a plethora of players injured or out sick), will be playing the “Bogey Man” of this year’s Champions League, Liverpool. At Anfield. Given our situation, I just hope Marseille won’t be walking alone tomorrow and that our fans will be there to support our team. More realistically, Rafael Benitez will have a very goal-oriented team tomorrow and will try to get their first win in this year’s campaign after their disappointing start and draw at the Dragon Stadium against Porto in Lisbon two weeks ago. I’ll be rooting for us to get some kind of collective reaction even without our prodigy Samir Nasri who is still in the hospital nursing a meningitis-like virus. Maybe we’ll be able to find the means to get a positive result, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The last time both teams faced off, Marseille easily won, but then again, that year we went to the final of the competition. Sammy Hyppia said he wants revenge and he may get it very soon. This game will be shown on ESPN2 at 2.30 PM (EST).

Besiktaş - Porto

The Turkish are known to be virtually undefeatable (that word seems better fitted than invincible) when they play at home. Their supporters are as frenzied as ancient Roman fans witnessing gladiator fights (at least that’s what I got out of the Russell Crowe movie) - the Portuguese truly will have to earn this victory. Truth is, Porto is way more skilled than the Turks no matter where they play this match. If you take into consideration that they have one of the future superstars of the sport already blossoming on the team in Quaresma, Besktas doesn’t stand a chance. Given the number of yellow cards they received in the first match day in Marseille, they’ll have to be careful if they don’t want to come home from Anfield with the same number of goals that Rome took last year when they left Old Trafford. Porto should win this match and confirm their very positive result against the scousers but the variable will be if the public can take over the game if Porto doesn't score early on.

Valencia - Chelsea

The Special One is gone. He’s been replaced by The Bland One. Avram Grant’s lack of charisma is so flagrant I’m pretty sure he bores himself. The good news for Chelsea is the fact that Didier Drogba will be able to report for duty on Wednesday night after having missed most of the club’s slump of late. Franck Lampard will still be missing though and the Blues’ medical staff will be working extra hours to know if emblematic captain John Terry will be able to play without pain killers after undergoing cheek surgery on Saturday (he's been seen sporting a Rip Hamilton-like mask at workouts this Tuesday). Michael Essien also will have to wait until the last minutes to know if his thigh will allow him to play. With all these injuries and the apparent mayhem that is prevailing at Chelski, Valencia could confirm their excellent result against Schalke in the first match and their great start in the Liga (five consecutive wins). The last time these two squads met at the beginning of April, it took all of Michael Essien’s talent and determination for Chelsea to get the win in the last minute of the match. Let’s just say put it gently and say that this memory has been evoked here and there in the Spanish press. Quiquo Sanchis Flores has paid a nice homage to his friend Mourinho but warned never to count out a team like the Blues whose longtime objective of winning the Champions League has not faded because their charismatic coach left the helm. I personally wouldn’t worry too much if I was a Valencia fan, but who knows?

Rosenborg - Schalke

Rosenborg drew with Chelsea. This has to be one of the best results the Norwegian side has ever gotten in this competition. It was also a fluke. On paper, Schalke is a much better team but the Germans floundered against the conquering Spaniards of Valencia a few days back. They do remain undefeated in the Bundesliga this season though and Rosenborg is pointing at the seventh place of their championship with only four games to go. There’s not a lot to bet on other than the variable that is the cold weather. That could cause the Spanish side to be less flamboyant than they have been of late. Nevertheless, I would bet my tax money on Valencia if I could.

Lazio - Real Madrid

The first good news is for Lazio. Metzelder, Pepe and Robinho won’t be playing. The rest is all bad news for the other team in Rome. Madrid doesn’t need those players to win in Italy tomorrow. Bernd Schuster’s players carried on where they left off after winning last year’s Primera Division with five wins out of six games in the Spanish Liga and turnover so important that it allows a team as scrutinized as Real Madrid to surprise opponents and win games with a much higher player rotation than clubs like Milan. The Lazio were supposed to have a better start this season but the black sheep of Italian sport hasn’t given their fans much to lift their right arms for this season. After four draws in six games and a 12^th position in the Serie A, this sure will be a short campaign for the Bianco celesti this season. Madrid should logically win in the Stadio Olympico but stranger things have happened.

Werder Bremen - Olympiacos

Ok, so the last time Werder played (this weekend) they scored eight goals against Bielefeld. Without some of their key players, who were resting for the Champions League. After that goalfest, it is hard to see how Olympiacos could win against the only team in Europe that can compete with Arsenal and Sevilla in terms of playing speed. Diego’s partners are fast and they use that strength. Their opponents often seem to be caught in some kind of wave and are drawn to foul hard on them. The only good news for the Greeks is that Ivoirian striker Boubacar Sanogo is injured and won’t be playing unless there’s some kind of miracle at Wednesday morning’s workout. Given how the Greeks didn’t play much this season (the fires in Greece having delayed the domestic championship’s start), Werder seems a shoo-in to get their victory after their counter performance against Madrid. The Weserstadion saw twelve goals in the last week - I’m pretty positive it’ll witness some more this week.

Celtic – Milan

As they did last year, Milan has made it pretty clear this season that they don’t care about any competition other than the biggest of them all. That showed when they made sure their whole team returned for the new campaign with the exception of Emerson’s arrival and Ronaldo’s ability to play this season. Everything doesn’t seem to be rosy though at Milanello - Ronaldo having left for Brazil (to get checked out by doctors he truts), Kakà apparently not caring for tactical organization (could you blame this year’s sureshot Ballon d’Or for not wanting to play somewhere he doesn’t feel comfortable) and Gilardino still not living up to the hype. The results of their apathy in this summer’s recruiting period translated into them winning one game and only earning 6 points in their six Serie A outings this season. More troubling is their lack of efficiency in front of the cage. Drogba and Kanouté have been called to test the temperature. Berlusconi’s winter mercato should be interesting. On the other side is the only other team in Scotland that counts, the Celtic Glasgow. Shunzuke Nakamura knows Italy. He was once the best player in that country. And guess what? His skills haven’t diminished a bit. He’ll be leading his team (if his knee allows him to) tomorrow in Glasgow to help them get an honorable result. I wouldn’t bet on a draw but given how the Scots will play without Vennegor de Hesselink (eight behind Nakamura and maybe another striker) Gordon Strachan’s team could create an upset. We remember Milan had to wait until the last seconds of extra time last march and Kakà’s genius to win the match against Celtic. If the Scots play half that good against a Milan team that is not yet playing like a contender, something good could happen for them.

Benfica – Shakhtar

Shakhtar Donetsk is to Ukraine what Chelsea was to English football a few years ago, a club with some kind of clout that got too rich and too ambitious too quick. Let’s see if their recruitment of Lucarelli and Brazilian future superstars Fernandinho and Luis Adriano will help them overcome a team that has been a mainstay in European competitions, Benfica. The problem this season for Benfica is that they can’t score goals. They’ve been having a goal-drought domestically that translated into them being already nine points behind their biggest rivals and the other title optimists. If he doesn’t want to worry for his job, Camacho better find a way to get Rui Costa and his teammates to score as fast as they can. Because if Shakhtar continue playing with this much swagger, the Lisboans will have to turn their backs on this competition quickly (even if they could compete for the third place, giving them a spot in the UEFA Cup where they made last year's final) and wreturn to the unfathomable bore that is to play in Portugal. The Ukrainian side has won ten out of eleven games this season and drew once. They’re already guaranteed a spot in next year’s Champions League but they seem to be aiming pretty high after having defeated the Celtic at home. This match could be quite spectacular given the quality of both teams and their coaches’ natural love of attack.