Good afternoon all. Today is the first of two crucial Round of 16 Matchdays in the UEFA Champions League as Chelsea and Liverpool look to hold onto their leads against high-profile opponents.
Here are today's matches:
3:30pm– ESPN/ESPN360- Real Madrid at Liverpool (Liverpool won first leg, 1-0)
3:30pm– Setanta USA/ESPN360- Chelsea at Juventus (Chelsea won first leg, 1-0)
3:45pm– ESPN360- Sporting Lisbon at Bayern Munich (Bayern won first leg, 5-0)
3:45pm– ESPN360- Villarreal at Panathanaikos (first leg finished tied, 1-1)
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 (I will try to do a running commentary for the second half).
Enjoy the action.
Although Real was terrible, Casillas did play well. Without him, the score would have been at least 6-0.
Hopefully Liverpool bring their top form to making a surge into the league. They may not be able to take the league from Man U but they will finish 2nd.
That sequence was amazing, especially from Torres. He friggin fell down and still made the defender look foolish. Gerrard’s sliding volley was impressive too, and so was Casillas’s save.
Real got hosed on the non-hand ball PK. That said, big freakin’ whoop… if you watched the game, you know that Liverpool would’ve still found a 4th goal somewhere else.
For my money, one of Liverpool’s best sequences was around minute 22, when they were still up just 1-0, and they put on a quick-pass display that made Real look like a bunch of orange cones; a steal on the near sideline results in a 1-touch pass threaded between Realis to a streaking Babel down the sideline. Torres ends up with the ball in the corner of the box by the end line, falls down between 2 Real defenders, gets up, back heels the ball to himself on the end line, makes a 215 degree pivot and one-times it across the box to Gerrard, whose diving scissor-kick provokes a fantastic save from Casillas.
If that shot goes in, after the sequence that led up to it, it’s on the SportsCenter highlights for a week. Just beautiful, beautiful football.
Frank, I am a huge real fan, and that first goal was a goal. NO foul at all. the second “hand” ball, yes that was a bad call.
GOAL BREK SHEA USA U-20. takes a 1-0 lead
not a madrid fan at all, but it’s hard to do much when the ref gives 2 easy goals to start. 1st was a foul by torres and the 2nd was not a hand ball at all. still madrid stunk it up.
Though he is not my favorite, Drogba is a top-tier striker. All you are paulie is a top-notch bigot.
Damn. I expected Liverpool to go through, but sure didn’t see that performance by Real coming! Just embarrassing. At least now they can focus on chasing Barca (yeah, good luck with that!).
Torres, Ibrahimovic, Villa, Eto’o. Those are the best strikers on the planet.
No prob JPeace, I didn’t take it as you having a run at me. It was my fault for running the bad info on that change so I was just accepting the blame for that one.
Why is Bayern not available on ESPN360 again??
does this end the talk that serie A now rivals the premier league? will it still take a manchester win tomorrow to put this idea to bed?
last team to get embarrassed like lisbon today in the champions league was as roma, to man u, 7-0.
Ives, that wasn’t a bash on you. The Yahoo TV listings showed it that way as well, so I wasn’t just having a run at you. I’m on the road for work and without my DVR, so I was at the mercy of ESPN, and that’s why I’m frustrated about it.
Oh well, I’ll have to settle for a fantastic display from the Reds that I was able to catch the highlights of. I can handle that!
JPeace, the Real Madrid-Liverpool game was never changed. That was bad info I received. The game that has changed twice is Manchester United-Inter Milan, which is now on ESPN2 on Wednesday.
Damn. Was hoping Juventus would bring down Chelsea. Hopefully both Roma and InterMilan cane take out Arsenal and Man U.
“Why on Earth couldn’t Klinsmann put Landon in for these games? You know he would have netted at least one goal.”
I’m pretty sure Donovan’s on the plane back to LA today. His loan ended on March 9. Unless I’m mistaken.
“VERY frustrated that ESPN pulled the switcharoo on their broadcast schedule today.”
I really don’t think they did. I think Ives got some bad information from someone. Liverpool vs. Real Madrid on ESPN has been the game listed for a week on the Comcast TV Listings.
VERY frustrated that ESPN pulled the switcharoo on their broadcast schedule today. Not very interested in Chelsea/Juve, but was really looking forward to watching Liverpool/Real on ESPN Classic this evening. Ugh.
Finally Torres has a goal for Liverpool in the CL. I’m praying that he’s fit for the game against Man U.
Anyone know when the game might be available to download on piratebay.org?
Can someone answer me who the hell pissed off Bayern Munich this morning?!!!
LOL Lisbon. Unbelievable.
Why on Earth couldn’t Klinsmann put Landon in for these games? You know he would have netted at least one goal.
83rd minute- GOAL CHELSEA. Drogba puts the dagger in and Chelsea ties 2-2 and holds a 3-2 hammerlock on the series. THis one is over.
77th- Juventus up 2-1, pressing for the series-winning goal.
Any entity that grabs up sporting events and offers them exclusively on the internets, such as ESPN360.com, can suck my balls! I can’t get it since I will not switch broadband providers :>(
Goooo Reds 😀 Torres is a GOD
Bye bye Real.
watching Real play like they isn’t making this game at all enjoyable… and geez at Bayern, GEEZ!!
Atrocious defense by Real…they are just slop right now. Poor Sporting…they are down 9-1 aggregate after halftime.
Bayern-Sporting has to be one of the worst blow outs in this stage of the Champions League ever.
as a madrid fan, this game is making me sick. but liverpool deserves to up significantly…madrid is playing sloppy and liverpool is just taking it to the madrid defense.
I cannot believe what Bayern Munich is doing to Sporting.
Heinze got hosed, and it looked like Torres pulled Pepe down for their first goal.. the ref called a foul on a pull down 1 minute after that goal.
Guys – check your DVRs. If you’ve got a TiVo, or certain cable company DVRs, you might be able to change the programming online. I can schedule any of my TiVo boxes at home online on the fly when I need to.
Oh, and the Slingbox is the greatest $300 anyone ever spent on me (it was an Xmas present last year). I can watch the game on my computer, or my phone, plus, b/c I have a TiVo box plugged into it, I can control my TiVo on the go with it, too. Yes, I watched last year’s UCL final in a cab in Washington DC, and extended my DVR record time when it went to PKs, too, all from my phone. Technology rocks 😀
Poldi scored in the 7th minute….but he still is a punk.
That was a crap call on Heinze on the handball… Is it just me, or does the linesman look like John Terry?
Lousy call on that one. Now, Liverpool have been pounding Madrid like they were a 6-year-old with a hammer and Real were a bent nail, so it might not be undeserved in the grand scheme, but Heinze got hosed on that call.
Forgot about Daylight Saving Time and went to catch the game an hour early, now having to read the txt on BBC… terrible. Isn’t the game tomm. being pre-empted by WBC?
I’m screwed too. I couldn’t record from 3 overlapping channels (possible extra-time and PKs), so if ESPN doesn’t re-show ‘Pool-Real on Classic, I’ll have no footage of it at all…
Torres just made a brilliant turn to get past Cannavaro, alone on goal, but Casillas goes down and gets a foot on it!
Moments later Mascherano hits a volley from near the penalty area, and Casillas knocks it over the bar and out for a corner.
Liverpool have dominated the opening 5 minutes of the match.
I love your site and your work Ives. But your sources at ESPN are going to cause me to miss the Liverpool/Real Madrid game now, since it won’t be airing on ESPN Classic @ 6pm as was reported last night. My DVR is going to be recording a less appetizing Juve/Chelski match.
Really PO’d to be stuck at work missing this one. Anybody else?
This isn’t CL but Eddie Johnson is getting the start again for Cardiff.
The only match I care about is Juve v Chelsea. Because I hate Chelsea.