The final two places in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals will be determined today as Real Madrid take on Lyon (Fox Soccer Plus, 3:45pm) and Chelsea faces FC Copenhagen (Fox Soccer Channel, 3;45pm).
Real Madrid comes into the day's marquee match-up having tied the first leg, 1-1 in Lyon. Madrid has the away goal advantage, and is at home today, so Jose Mourinho's men will be favored to advance against the same dangerous Lyon side that knocked Madrid out of last year's Champions League.
In London, Chelsea will be looking to finish off an FC Copenhagen side it handled, 2-0, in the first leg. With a two-goal cushion, and two away goals, Chelsea will be heavily favored to become the third English club to reach the quarterfinals.
If you will be watching today's matches, please feel free to share your thoughts below, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. If you'd like some updates and observations on the match, you can follow along on SBI's Twitter Feed (@SoccerByIves).
Enjoy the action.
madrid!
You saw Madrid defender pepe that dirty *uck. Almost blew that guy head off. If I was the Lyon player I would have stranggle him in front of everyone. And people complain of Rooney this rooney that. pathetic people they don’t say nothing about this pepe guy.
torres in for chelsea
also if i were RM i would take out ronaldo, you dont need him to get re injured.
So sorry to be off topic here in the CL thread, but Benzema runs on to a long pass and puts RM up 2-0.
Name the players on Arsenal who were part of OL’s 05-08 team. I can only think of Squillaci…
Looks like a very promising team overall with a good mixture of new and old. I hope that all the playing time and running Jozy has been having to do in Turkey makes his USMNT performances at least a little bit better.
Oh sh*t. Big whoop. My bad
They are only there to sell tickets to Red Bulls fans.
Oh no…Chandler…that’s all we are going to hear about now…
I’m not surprised that Ream and Agudelo got called up. My guess is they’re only there for the Argentina game.
I’m very intrigued to see Chandler, DeMerit and Whitbread
Hey Brian try reading through the comments before posting.
Reality check: a second string Brazilian defender has exponentially better attacking skills than any American offensive player. BOOM….. sigh
GOALKEEPERS (3): Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Zak Whitbread (Norwich City)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)
THE ROSTER IS OUT!!!!!
The 24 are:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Zak Whitbread (Norwich City)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)
There are 33 French players who have played in at least one EPL game this season.
Even only looking at a team large enough to complete the game-day roster…
20 teams in the EPL x 18 = 360 players
…and all of the teams in the EPL have more than 18 in their first team.
How, exactly, does EPL = French players when French players make up less than 10 percent of the total number of players in the league?
Brilliant goal from Marcelo for RM. He played a 1-2 with Ronaldo then sidestepped a defender and knocked it in past Lloris.
The RM/Lyon game has been nonstop, end to end action so far.
so mad the real madrid game isnt live on tv!
I’m getting antsy…when is the USMNT suppose to be announced today!
I agree with KingTJ I’d love to have more coverage of Champs League
What was the point of Fox buying champions league coverage.. On ESPN, games were broadcast live on a standard cable package. Fox Sports, the standard cable channel, is playing a garbage LA Kings replay.. Are you kidding me? Fox needs to give up the rights, it’s not like it’s making them any money, and they’ve shown they don’t know how to get this amazing, US soccer culture changing, tournament to the people. Go Real.
They had plenty of chances last night and didn’t convert. Look at the overall play of the game, not just the score. Marseille aren’t Copenhagen, so don’t treat them as such.
I bet you that Man U try to buy Remy and Ayew at the season’s end. British league = French players.
p.s. it’s not like Man U was tearing it up at the Venodrome…
Marseille couldn’t score once in two games v Man U. nuff said.
Allez OL!!! Battre les cornards espangnol!! Seriously, I don’t think that OL has ever been a favorite in any Champions League game. The fact is that they have been one of the top ten teams in Europe over the past decade and every pundit treats them like they shouldn’t be the Champions League.
Prediction: Hugo Lloris will have the game of his life and OL win 2-1. They’re not going to park the bus, the are going to drive it through Real Madrid’s goal posts. French teams are good at making teams that play very closed, possession oriented football open up. Marseille did that last night against Man U and it could have very easily been a 2-2 draw.
Look, Ligue 1 is not the best overall league, but it does produce the best players. Arsenal is basically OL’s 2005-2008 team. But OL is a top team and I think that they should get credit for how consistently they have performed in Champions League..
Yes, because Copenhagen is such an unstoppable monster on the pitch. 😉
Love to see RM and Chelsea CRASH OUT of the CL!