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UEFA Champions League: Matchday One Preview

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The UEFA Champions League group stage is about to kick off on Tuesday with some intriguing match-ups and some clubs some of you may have not heard of before.

Liverpool will travel to France to take on Marseille just three days after knocking of Manchester United in EPL action. The Reds won’t have an easy time against a Marseille side that has gotten off to a good start in Ligue 1 play.

Other marquee match-ups on Tuesday include Atletico Madrid-PSV Eindhoven as well as FC Barcelona vs. Sporting Lisbon.

For those of you who intend on taking in some of the action on TV, here is the TV schedule for Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League action:

UEFA Champions League on TV

TUESDAY

  • 2:30pm- ESPN2/ESPN360.com- Bordeaux at Chelsea (LIVE)
  • 2:30pm- ESPN Deportes- Sporting Lisbon at FC Barcelona (LIVE)
  • 2:30pm- Setanta USA- Marseille at Liverpool (LIVE)
  • 5pm- ESPN Classic- Sporting Lisbon at FC Barcelona
  • 5pm- ESPN Deportes- PSV Eindhoven vs. Atletico Madrid
  • 5:35pm- Setanta USA- Panathanaikos at Inter Milan
  • 7:15pm- Setanta USA- PSV Eindhoven vs. Atletico Madrid
  • 7:30pm- ESPN Deportes- Panathanaikos at Inter Milan

Here is a complete rundown of Tuesday’s games by group:

GROUP A

  • Bordeaux at Chelsea
  • CFR Cluj-Napoca at Roma

Outlook– So who is CFR Cluj? None other than the Romanian League champions and first team outside of Bucharest to win the Romanian title in 17 years.

GROUP B

  • Inter Milan at Panathanaikos
  • Anorthosis Famagusta at Werder Bremen

Outlook– Have no idea who Anorthosis Famagusta is, do you? Well, that would be the Cyprus champions who are led by Euro 2004 star and Greek midfielder Traianos Dellas.

GROUP C

  • Sporting Lisbon at FC Barcelona
  • Shakhtar Donetsk at FC Basel

Outlook– Barcelona is the heavy favorite in Group C and can set the tone with a win against second-choice Sporting, which is much stronger than casual fans realize. Donetsk isn’t as strong as last year’s squad, but still boast Fernandinho in midfield.

GROUP D

  • Liverpool at Marseille
  • Atletico Madrid at PSV Eindhoven

Outlook– There are no easy points in this Group of Death candidate. Atletico is the pick to follow Liverpool to the next round but getting at least a point in Eindhoven won’t be easy.

What do you think of Tuesday’s match-ups? Do you see any upsets? What match are you most looking forward to watching? Share your thoughts below

Comments

  1. I don’t like ESPN’s prioritizing the English team over the Spanish one. As a person who detest the English influence/”worship” in US soccer, it always gets to me. Barca should have been shown live, but I guess that’s what DVRs and VCRs are around for.

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  2. Atletico is a team to look out for. They won’t win the whole thing but for sure they can beat any team on any given day when they play their best football. I think this is Chelsea’s year to be honest. They deserve it.

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  3. Sporting Clube De Portugal is a solid squad and will have a coming out party against Barca tomorrow. This is an improved side as compared to last year and last year they made Roma sweat. Remember the name Yannick Djalo. He will be the next Portuguese star that all of the Premiership will want to get their hands on. Looking forward to it.

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  4. it’s too bad that the ESPN classic games aren’t HD. Horrible quality feeds, for some of the best match-ups ESPN has to offer.

    Posted by: NateinSF | September 15, 2008 at 03:07 PM

    ===================================

    Horrible?

    Wow! you are a spoiled baby.

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  5. Hey at least Barca has 1 point! Milan has 0 points after 2 games and only 1 goal and the best part…they kick off their Uefa Cup campaign on Thursday! Oh what a great time to be an Inter fan!!! Forza Inter!

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  6. Not sure what’s wrong with the Blaugrana. It’s very frustrating. Right now, I’m putting it as new players just learning to play with each other right now and the play will pick up soon.

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  7. Barca may be the heavy favorites but they surely don’t look very good at this point of the season. Two games, 1 goal scored and 1 point…not good. They will need to be careful to avoid dropping points early in this fairly weak group.

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  8. Group D is very interesting. I actually think the two teams to beat in it are Atletico and Marseille. However, Liverpool has more than proven that they should never be counted out. Glad my team isn’t in this group, the stress from thinking about it would drive me nuts. Any other group and PSV is considered one of the favorites. This group could easily end with a three or four way tie decided by GD, to see who can get to the next round.

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  9. Not surprised but selfishly disappointed that we will inevitably get only the Chelsea and ManU matches on ESPN2, the only above channel I receive. I’d love to see some of the other sides, especially some of the “minnows”

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