UEFA_CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (UCL)

Champions League - Round-up: Fiorentina scrape through

Eurosport - Wed, 26 Aug 23:49:00 2009


Fiorentina squeezed into the Champions League group stages on the away goals rule after a 1-1 draw against Sporting in Florence.
FOOTBALL 2009-2010 Champions League Fiorentina-Sporting Lisbona Stevan Jovetic - 0



The first leg in the Portuguese capital last week ended in a 2-2 draw meaning La Viola have qualified for the group stages for the second year in a row.

Sporting had to either win the match or force a high-scoring draw and they came out of the traps fired up.

Yannick Djalo should have given the visitors the lead early on but with only goalkeeper Sebastien Frey to beat he scuffed his shot from 12 yards horribly wide.

Sporting were dominant though and Frey had to make smart saves from both Matias Fernandez and Brazilian-born new Portugal recruit Leidson.

They got the goal their dominance deserved on 35 minutes direct from a free-kick scored by former Everton target Joao Moutinho.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli made a switch at the break replacing Massimo Gobbi with attacking Montenegro midfielder Stevan Jovetic.

The momentum then shifted completely and following some early pressure Jovetic restored parity, jinking inside one defender before firing low inside the near post.

Alberto Gilardino could have sealed the tie for the Italians but couldn't direct his close range effort from Juan Vargas's left wing cross on target.

Sporting piled on some late pressure but Fiorentina held firm.

Apoel Nicosia 3 - 1 FC Kobenhavn (Nicosia win 3-2 on aggreagte)

Cypriot international Chrysis Michael played a captain's role in bagging a brace to ensure Cyprus minnows APOEL Nicosia reached the Champions League groups following a 3-1 win over Copenhagen.

The Cypriot outfit overturned a 1-0 away defeat in Denmark to win the tie 3-2 on aggregate and put Cyprus back on the European map.

APOEL got off to a flying start with Polish midfielder Kamil Kosowski catching the defence square and volleying home from six yards after chesting down a lofted through ball from Cypriot international Costas Charalambides.

The Danish visitors were shell-shocked by the early goal with nervy defenders unsure of themselves and making unnecessary errors.

And it was a reckless challenge by Zdenek Pospech inside the area that enabled APOEL to go two up on 18 minutes when Michael calmly converted from the penalty spot.

Just when Copenhagen seemed to be sinking without trace Dame N'Doye pegged back the score with a vital away goal four minutes later, scoring with a downward header as APOEL failed to deal with a low cross into the box.

But the scoring didn't finish there, during an entertaining first half, when Michael scored his second with a diving header after an inch perfect Charalambides cross.

Copenhagen almost mustered an instant reply but a Zanka Jorgensen effort was cleared off the line as the interval beckoned.

The Danes pushed for another away goal after the break but William Kvist had a shot smartly tipped over by reliable Greek keeper Dionisis Chiotis. Striker Ailton Almeida and sub Jasper Gronkjaer posed a constant threat as Copenhagen piled on the pressure but the Nicosians held firm to register a famous victory.

Olympiacos CFP 1 - 0 Sheriff Tiraspol (Olympiacos win 3-0 on aggregate)

Olympiacos kept Moldovan side Sheriff at bay as they nursed a comfortable first leg lead throughout the match before Kostas Mitorglou's 82nd mintue goal put the tie beyond doubt.

Stuttgart 0 - 0 FCU Politehnica Timisoara (Stuttgart win 2-0 on aggregate)

Stuttgart were held 0-0 at home by Timisoara of Romania but progressed courtesy of their 2-0 away win last week. The Romanians never looked like breaking through as the hosts qualified at a canter.
Reuters / AFP

Results

* Olympiacos CFP 1 - 0 Sheriff Tiraspol

Olympiacos CFP
Mitroglou 82’

Sheriff Tiraspol

* APOEL Nicosia 3 - 1 FC København

APOEL Nicosia
Kosowski 2’
Michael 19’ (pen.), 41’

FC København
N'Doye 22’

* Arsenal 3 - 1 Celtic

Arsenal
Eduardo 28’ (pen.)
Eboue 53’
Arshavin 74’

Celtic
Donati 90’

* Stuttgart 0 - 0 FCU Politehnica Timisoara

Stuttgart

FCU Politehnica Timisoara

* Fiorentina 1 - 1 Sporting

Fiorentina
Jovetic 54’

Sporting
Moutinho 35’

Champions League - Power Rankings: United on top

Eurosport - Tue, 25 Aug 11:43:00 2009

We assess Europe's top teams ahead of the Champions League group stage draw and find last year's runners-up on top.
2009-2010 Manchester United Dimitar Berbatov - 0
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We have looked at the domestic performance of the 42 who have either secured a Champions League group stage place or are in play-off action, and ranked them ahead of Thursday's group stage draw for the 32 survivors.

Manchester United's strong Premier League season sees them top the table ahead of the side who outclassed them in last season's Champions League final, Barcelona.

Liverpool come in third despite a dreadful start to the current campaign, ahead of Serie A champions Inter and another English side, Chelsea.

Then come two unfancied national champions; Olympiacos of Greece and AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.

Big spending Real madrid are down in 11th after a disappointing 2008/09, but the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and company will be looking to make an immediate improvement.

Normal Power Rankings service will resume once the group stage line-up has been decided.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RANKINGS

1 Manchester United 11.84

2 Barcelona 11.45

3 Liverpool 11.32

4 Internazionale 11.05

5 Chelsea 10.92

6 Olympiacos 10.65

7 Alkmaar 10.59

8 Dynamo Kiev 10.53

9 Bordeaux 10.53

10 Porto 10.50

11 Real Madrid 10.26

12 Rangers 10.18

13 Wolfsburg 10.15

14 Sporting Lisbon 9.90

15 Bayern 9.85

16 Juventus 9.74

17 Milan 9.74

18 Celtic 9.71

19 Arsenal 9.47

20 Rubin Kazan 9.47

How it works:

For this special edition only, the coefficient will be worked out by points per game in the 2008-09 domestic season, multiplied by that league's coefficient.

League Coefficients:

England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France - 5

Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Turkey - 4.5

Austria, Belgium, Israel, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine - 4

Bulgaria, Hungary, Denmark - 3.5

Cyprus, Moldova, Latvia - 3
Eurosport

J.Milan22 wrote:AC_real...
Inter_Barca..
Bayern_JUve...

game peringakat kump yg tak mungkin kwn lepaskan...
fakat menarik...khas tuk apen..
deto dengn bangganye semalam mengaku mengatakan die skunk..
fan real esp ronaldo....ekekeke


liverpoll die xnokk doh..huhuhu..
sian nuc..jagn sedih er adek nuc..wakakaka

nuc84 wrote:

J.Milan22 wrote:AC_real...
Inter_Barca..
Bayern_JUve...

game peringakat kump yg tak mungkin kwn lepaskan...
fakat menarik...khas tuk apen..
deto dengn bangganye semalam mengaku mengatakan die skunk..
fan real esp ronaldo....ekekeke


liverpoll die xnokk doh..huhuhu..
sian nuc..jagn sedih er adek nuc..wakakaka

tu r pasal...en.deto sudah beralih arah...
xpe kwn tetap memperjuangkn the reds hehehehe

aiseh...jangan kasi orang tau

Deto_8 wrote:

nuc84 wrote:

J.Milan22 wrote:AC_real...
Inter_Barca..
Bayern_JUve...

game peringakat kump yg tak mungkin kwn lepaskan...
fakat menarik...khas tuk apen..
deto dengn bangganye semalam mengaku mengatakan die skunk..
fan real esp ronaldo....ekekeke


liverpoll die xnokk doh..huhuhu..
sian nuc..jagn sedih er adek nuc..wakakaka

tu r pasal...en.deto sudah beralih arah...
xpe kwn tetap memperjuangkn the reds hehehehe

aiseh...jangan kasi orang tau