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UEFA Champions League: Matchday Three (Your Running Commentary)

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The second half of Champions League Matchday Three takes place today, with two very high-profile match-ups and one under the radar thriller.

Liverpool’s trip to Atletico Madrid has grabbed most of the headlines for a variety of reasons, but the absence of Fernando Torres has taken some of the shine off what should be an entertaining display of attacking soccer. Chelsea will also look to keep on rolling against a struggling Roma side desperate for at least a point.

If there’s an underrated match to see (if it were on TV in the United States) is CFR Cluj at Bordeaux. The Romanian champions have been one of the stories of the tournament and could put itself in good position to reach the Round of 16 with a win in France.

Here is today’s schedule of Champions League matches on TV:

  • 2:30pm- ESPN2- Liverpool FC at Atletico Madrid (LIVE)
  • 2:30pm- ESPN Deportes- FC Barcelona at FC Basel (LIVE)
  • 2:30pm- Setanta USA – AS Roma at Chelsea (LIVE)
  • 2:30pm- ESPN360.com- AS Roma at Chelsea (LIVE)
  • 4:30pm- ESPN Deportes- Liverpool FC at Atletico Madrid
  • 5pm- ESPN Classic- AS Roma at Chelsea
  • 5:45pm- Setanta USA- Werder Bremen at Panathanaikos
  • 7:30pm- ESPN Deportes- AS Roma at Chelsea
  • 8pm- Setanta USA- Sporting Lisbon at Shaktar Donetsk
  • 9:30pm- ESPN Deportes- FC Barcelona at FC Basel

If you will be watching the action, or want to know what is going on in today’s games, be sure to follow along here. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

For a rundown of all of today’s matches, check out a brief preview after the jump.

Enjoy the action:

GROUP A

  • CFR Cluj at Bordeaux
  • Roma at Chelsea

Outlook– While Chelsea-Roma will be shown on TV and is getting all the attention, the Cluj-Bordeaux match dould wind up being the better match-up.

GROUP B

  • Anathorsis Famagusta at Inter Milan
  • Werder Bremen at Panathanaikos

Outlook– Anorthosis is a tough little team but Inter Milan is too strong to be troubled. Bremen’s defense has been atrocious in recent weeks, but its offense is good enough to earn at least a point in Greece.

GROUP C

  • Sporting Lisbon at Shakhtar Donetsk
  • Barcelona at FC Basel

Outlook– Barcelona can all but lock up a knockout round berth with a win. Lisbon can put itself in good shape with at least a road point against the Ukraine strugglers.

GROUP D

  • Liverpool at Atletico Madrid
  • Marseille at PSV Eindhoven

Outlook– Liverpool will be without Fernando Torres but it still boasts enough attacking talents to push an Atletico squad that has been slumping through a brutal portion of its La Liga schedule. PSV looks primed to be knocked off the Marseille, which has just a bit too much offense.

Comments

  1. Looking forward to highlights of the Bojan double, and Panathinaikos-Bremen sounded fun too. But today didn’t live up to the craziness of yesterday, which isn’t too surprising.

    Later, y’all

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  2. FT- Atletico cannot find a goal, final whistle ends it at 1 all. Atletico deserved the win, but a tie is acceptable. They remain on top of the group on goal differential.

    Around the CL, there are no surprises today, except perahps the esteemed cluj going down in France.

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  3. Liverpool survive for the draw, 1-1 in a game Atletico totally deserved to win. I still have no idea why they pulled Gerrard, they looked terrible for the majority of the 2nd half.

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  4. 87th- Riena forced into a very good save to keep things level. Atletico have found their second wind. The sense the blood, they do indeed want all 3 points.

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  5. Atletico press for the winner as Aguero (I think) hits an audacious one-timer off a 40 yd pass that Reina palms away.

    Come on clock! 88th

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  6. 84th- Simao takes a nice pass from Forlan and finishes. A spot of justice there, Forlan being on the unfortunate side of a few offsides calls.

    Will Atletico take the point and shut it down, or do they want all 3?

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  7. Derlei? Leidson? Who are we talking about, moose?

    There the equalizer is. It’s deserved. Where was the right back for Liverpool???

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  8. In France, Ives’ beloved CFR Cluj is on the bad the side of a 1-0 scoreline. Could Celtic take their spot on the list? They were robbed, after all… =P

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  9. It was indeed Brave John Terry, if you use his full name, and apparently he hurt himself scoring in his usual brave fashion.

    Atletico nearly scored off a 30 yd rocket, but I had nearly blacked out from boredom so I’m not sure who hit it.

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  10. 77th – Kuyt slips just when he might have a shot, which sums up the last 20 mins or so of this game.

    Lucas comes on for Alonzo. Luckily, Agger took a shot from midfield in the 1st half, so Liverpool still have that covered.

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  11. 73rd- This game has lost it’s flow. Atletico came out flying but seems to have lost it’s steam after getting mugged by the linesman’s flag. Unfortunate, really. An equilizer would’ve made things interesting.

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  12. 69th – if it isn’t clear due to my Liverpool bias, Madrid have had the better of possession and quality chances this half (plus the robbed goal).

    Gerrard wasn’t hurt, just yanked. Where is Tommy Smyth when you need him?

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  13. Personal thought… This match crew today is from Scandinavia, hardly a football hotbed. Yesterday’s referees in the Manchester United game were also from a less-than-football mad nation. I understand the need for impartial referees, but shouldn’t we not be throwing these referees from smaller leagues into the fire like this?

    Not a fault to them. But the stakes, and the pressure, are high in games such as this one.

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  14. Apparently Keane is out with a groin (as Al Michaels would say), which could be trouble for the Chelsea match.

    Now Babel for Gerrard at 60 mins, not sure why yet (the Turkish feed has best picture)

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  15. 57th- Atletico must feel snake bitten. Another poor offsides judgement denies them an equalizer, and they hit the frame a moment later.

    It seems to me that you’re more likely to be judged onsides if you’re in an offsides position. Just ask Berbatov.

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  16. AGAIN! Terrible offsides abound as Atletico get the shaft.

    Then, they smash one against the post but Reina scrambles to the rebound. This is becoming chaos.

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  17. The linesman at the other end blows the call even worse, flagging Forlan for not having at least 3 defenders behind him. Luckily, Reina saved it anyway, but COME ON.

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  18. 52nd- The favor is repayed, as Atletico are very very wrongly judged to be offsides on that one. Poor offsides goals are part of the game, but that one wasn’t even close!

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  19. 49th- In the antithesis of poor offsides calls, Benayoun has his goal disallowed. I thought he was offsides live, but the replay shows he appeared to be onside.

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