group stage schedule

Los Blancos' debut in the Champions League will be the 17 September clash against BATE Borisov, and their next game will take place on 30 September against Zenit. Their last match of the first leg will pit them with Juventus in Turin on 21 October. The second leg will begin against the Italians on 5 November in Madrid. The team’s last trip is set to take place on 25 November in Borisov. The round will finally come to an end at the Bernabéu against the Russians on 10 December. One thing atleat that makes me glad at this point in time is the fact that we won't have to face the hostile Russian winter and the climate in St. Petersburg in September has an Average high of 14.5°C and an Average low of 7.9°C.

What the heck?

What were Chelsea thinking? They have made a dumb mistake by advertising replica Robinho shirts for sale before the official transfer. This is an outrageous act by the blues. They cannot claim ownership to something that they don't have. Nobody can as a matter of fact and of all people Chelsea should have known this. The blues gotta remember that Robinho is still a blanco and has not put pen to paper. Really stupid.

Tough Draw

Here is the Champions League group stage draw:

Group A

Chelsea

Roma

Bordeaux

CFR Cluj

Group B

Internazionale

Werder Bremen

Panathinaikos

Anorthosis Famagusta

Group C

Barcelona

Sporting Lisbon

Basle

Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D

Liverpool

PSV Eindhoven

Marseille

Atletico Madrid

Group E

Manchester United

Villarreal

Celtic

AaB

Group F

Lyon

Bayern Munich

Steaua Bucharest

Fiorentina

Group G

Arsenal

Porto

Fenerbahce

Dynamo Kiev

Group H

Real Madrid

Juventus

Zenit St Petersburg

BATE Borisov

Check out group H. We are there. This Group looks to be the toughest of this season's Champions League and the damn draw has got ourselves in the same group as Juve and Zenit. Beating Both of them at their homes especially will be very tough. Let's see how we fare.

The Phoenix

When the going gets tough, Real get going. Trailing Valencia by a goal in the second leg at the Bernabéu and also in aggregate, it looked like game over as Van der Vaart got a straight red and was sent off before the break. A valiant Real came back strongly in the second half and Ruud equalized from the spot, with Real still trailing 3-4 in aggregate. Disaster struck again when Ruud received the second yellow of the night and got the marching orders. But nothing was going to stop the never say die attitude of the Madridistas as they scored 3 goals in the space of 15 minutes. It was a terrific performance from a team that proved it's class one more time by rising from the dead. When you think we are dead and buried, we will rise from the ashes!