The UEFA Champions League is back in full swing today, with 16 teams taking the field across Europe in the third round of goup matches.
The spotlight will be in Italy, where Real Madrid will take on Juventus in what should be an intense match. Former Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro will make his first appearance in Turin since leaving Juve for Real Madrid following Juventus’ relegation for match fixing.
That isn’t the only reunion today. Luca Toni will face his former club, Fiorentina, as Bayern Munich looks to take control of Group F.
Here is a rundown of today’s Champions League matches on TV:
- 12:15pm– Setanta USA- BATE Borisov at Zenit St. Petersburg (LIVE)
- 2:30pm– ESPN2- Celtic at Manchester United (LIVE)
- 2:30pm– ESPN Deportes- Real Madrid at Juventus (LIVE)
- 2:30pm– ESPN360.com- Arsenal at Fenerbahce (LIVE)
- 2:30pm– Setanta USA- Arsenal at Fenerbahce (LIVE)
- 4:30pm– ESPN Deportes- Arsenal at Fenerbahce
- 5pm– ESPN Classic- Real Madrid at Juventus
- 6pm– Setanta USA- Dynamo Kiev at FC Porto
- 7:30pm– ESPN Deportes- Celtic at Manchester United
- 9:30pm– ESPN Deportes- Real Madrid at Juventus
If you will be watching today’s matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (A breakdown of all of today’s matches is after the jump):
GROUP H
- BATE Borisov at Zenit St. Petersburg
- Real Madrid at Juventus
Outlook– Real Madrid can put a stranglehold on the group with a road win at Juve while Zenit badly needs a win to give itself hope of advancing out of the group.
GROUP E
- AaB at Villarreal
- Celtic at Manchester United
Outlook– The group leaders are at home and should have little trouble knocking off the underdogs. Man Utd is on fire and should put on a show against a short-handed Celtic.
GROUP F
- Fiorentina at Bayern Munich
- Steaua Bucharest at Lyon
Outlook– Bayern has a chance to take control of the group with a home win, but Fiorentina is starting to play better. Lyon needs all three points to push past either one or both Bayern and Fiorentina.
GROUP G
- Arsenal at Fenerbahce
- Dynamo Kiev at FC Porto
Outlook– Arsenal can bury Fenerbahce at the bottom of the group while also moving closer to qualification with a win in Turkey, but visiting teams generally don’t do well at Fenerbahce. Dynamo has posted a pair of draws, but will face a stiff test traveling to Portugal to take on a Porto team that has the weapons to cruise.
a squirrel is trying to break into my house.
51st- Berbatov strikes again. Celtic now have Everest to climb. Tommy Smith raises the offsides question… I’m not sure yet. Either way, the task is the same.
50th- Celtic and United trade corners, nothing going from either.
and young target man milevski is on for Kyiv
46th- Kickoff.
Hulk is now on the field for Porto. No seriously his name is Hulk.
I agree Scott. Looking on our bench, I can’t find anyone who’s going to threaten the backline. I think a goal is going to have to come via Nakamura’s signature free kicks. McGeady could nick one, too, with a nice move.
But Celtic still has to be concerned about giving up a goal. At least today we’re going to go out in the second half hungry for a goal, but I wouldn’t be so sure that one’s coming…
damn right mikeK. all those goal updates from FootieFox r slowing down my browser.
MikeK. Unfortunately with Samaras and JVoH out Celtic doesn’t have much to work with as far as height goes.
anyone looking for live streams can check out these sites
justintv
ustream
freedocast
if u r looking for a specific stream that u cant find i might be able to help.
Looking around the CL, there’s certainly no lack of goals today…
45th- Man U pour on the pressure, but Celtic doesn’t bend. Going into halftime, Strachan will have to get someone on the field with some height, or someone who can open the game up with some possession.
halftime shot of whiskey, cheers.
steau v. lyon, 3-2
42nd- rodriguez, cutting back inside from the right wing, misses wide left with a shot just outside the box.
43rd-rodriguez misses wide left again this time from the left side of the box.
Wow on the Villarreal game!
Madrid has 60% of possession, but Del Piero is winning the battle of aging forwards. Meanwhile, Ranieri scratches his head and throws up his hands.
40th- Cracker by Rooney saved by Boruc. Celtic can’t hold the ball and carry it forward. This game’s not pretty at the moment.
Thanks for the Kyiv update, moose.
Berbatov was offsides on his goal – free Carlos Tevez!
Juv have to make an injury change, Marchisio is down and it looks bad, some of the Madrid plays look distressed. Salihamidžić comes on.
Villarreal now 2-2…
ok ill stick with updates for villarreal-aalborg and porto-kyiv.
porto putting pressure on kyiv.
aalborg ties villarreal, 2-2
35th- The game’s settled considerably after the goal. Celtic’s trying to hold on till the half by the looks of it. United’s not pressing the issue, either.
villarreal up now 2-1.
After a replay, it wasn’t Rooney offsides like I thought, it was Berbatov, and he certainly was offside, and he certainly touched it… Disaster of a goal to concede for Celtic.
Steau Bucharest 2, Lyon 2. A real banger right now.
yea berba looked offside by an uncut toenail. 🙂
lyon and steau tied 2-2.
It seems Berbatov’s goal was offsides. However, the linesman said nothing.
Berbatov gets a cheap flick goal off a botched clearance of a corner- lousy Celtic defending but he was clearly offside
30th- Disaster… Berbatov will get it. Not a nice goal. Rooney was offsides, but I guess it was passive… Flag was up for me, but what do I know. Celtic really have a mountain to climb now.
villarreal just tied it up with aalborg. porto almost scored on a counter attack. berbatov poached a goal. bayern up 2-0 against fiorentina.
28th- Ronaldo puts a decent effort wide. Celtic can’t let him get that open in the box.
spoiler alert!!!
kyiv leading porto 1-0, free kick goal
btw, eric kyiv is first in ukraine, 13pts ahead of shaktar.
http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/countries/association=57166/index.html
Aalborg leading Villarreal 1-0. Im watching Porto v. Kyiv.
22nd- Ronaldo gets free kick in a dangerous position, but hits hit too low. Brown guilty of the foul.
It’s great to see Ranieri in charge of an important team. He always looks like he just won a raffle whenever something good happens to his team. Few managers have ever appeared more in over their heads than his final days at Chelsea.
22nd – van der Vaart with a nice turn, but puts it just wide. Nedved is looking rough too, none of his attacks down the flank have ended well.
20th- Comic relief as the referee blocks a united cross. Call it the luck of the Irish.
18th- Rooney with a monsterous bicycle, but it’s blocked. Caldwell gets on the end of a cross and blasts it, forcing Van Der Sar to tip over. Celtic looking more positive here in the last few.
15th- Celtic have a string of possession broken by a stray Naka pass, and Rooney and United march down and get a decent chance. The corner is for naught.
Correction: Juve were not relegated due to “match fixing”
I will never cheer against Juve…but Ranieri needs to go!
13th- Aidan McGeady forces Van Der Sar into a save as the away fans sing “You’ll never walk alone.” Resulting corner finds the side netting from Naka. Poor.
13th – Madrid starting to launch a few attacks and maintain possession. Decent match developing.
10th- Celtic has it’s first few forays into the united end, nothing major. They don’t look well composed on the ball, Celtic that is.
7th- Neville passes up a shot, feeds Ronaldo who skies it. More Gaelic football fun from the commentator. Man U looks well put together. Celtic have yet to threaten.
Man U starting both Nani and Anderson. See, when you give your bright young players playing time, you can play them in big games. Whoops! Not a USMNT thread.
Whoa – Del Piero unleashes a 6th minute screamer to put Juv up early. Madrid haven’t gotten anything together in the early going.
2nd minute- Home team call for Berbatov… Celtic can’t fight for the ball now. Free kick is cleared.
Mike’s running commentary on ManU- Celtic-
1st minute- Kickoff. Man U doesn’t rest Ronaldo or Rooney. The fangs are certainly there for United. The same can’t be said for Celtic, out in a 4-5-1
By the way, Celtic – Man U, Arsenal – Fenerbahce, and Juventus – Real Madrid are all available on ESPN360.com, for those of you who are stuck in work, or like me, in the library trying to multitask.
Why bother listing Reading vs. Doncaster, Beckster? Reading’s at home, so Doyler will be good for at least two.
Yeah, Celtic’s a bit short, but so is Man U. Evra is out, and I’m hearing C. Ronaldo might get a rest from multiple sites. Who knows, I suppose.
Cmon bhoys!
Come on, Zenit, pull it together and leave Juv behind. Lots of underperforming teams on tap, unfortunately…
Does anyone know how Dynamo Kiev is doing? Soccernet doesn’t even track the Ukrainian league.
Thanks Ives for the (live) additions
aw man! could you post this the day before so I remember to set my DVR??
Gee Ives…no mention of DC United and their “Champions League” match or Reading vs Doncaster?
Kind of selective aren’t we? :>)
All in good fun.