The UEFA Champions League group stage kicks off on Tuesday with a trio of high-profile matches, and some favorites to get out of the group stage could find themselves in an early hole as a result.
Barcelona-AC Milan headlines the day's schedule, as Lionel Messi & Co. take on the defending Italian champions in a match that will not feature a link between the two clubs, as former Barcelona and current Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out injured.
The clashes between Bundesliga and Premier League clubs in the Borussia Dortmund-Arsenal and Chelsea-Bayer Leverkusen matches also command attention, though, as the two London-based teams face strong German opposition to kick off their UCL campaigns.
If you will be watching any of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League matches, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action (TV schedule is after the jump).
TUESDAY'S UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON TV
2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – APOEL vs. Zenit-St. Petersburg
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Barcelona vs. AC Milan
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Chelsea vs. Bayer Leverkusen
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/Fox Sports Networks – Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Porto vs. Shakhtar Donetsk
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Olympiakos vs. Marseille
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Viktoria Plzen vs. BATE Borisov
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Genk vs. Valencia
a t d h e . m e
2-2 @ Camp Neu, definitely ugly
FYI:
ESPN, Inc. gives ESPN3.com away to .edu and .mil internet addresses.
Students living in college dorms have 100% free access to ESPN3.com
College students living in dorms have been complaining about FOX having the UEFA CL in the U.S. We’ll continue to hear those complaints through 2015.
First minute and the last minute goals for Milan. Wow.
There is no such thing as free access to anything. ESPN3 is a major licensing agreement with ISPs.
Illegal streaming websites >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> than anything cable has when they work. Haha
Oh my God, what a strike that was!!
What a goal for Dortmund!! Totally deserved. They have dominated.
Barca: the only team I’ve ever seen to park the bus in their opponent’s half.
You are another college dorm freeloader (with free access to ESPN3.com) who won’t pay for cable or satellite TV.
FOX has the U.S. rights to the Champions League through May 2015. ESPN, Inc. is out of the picture. Deal with it.
a t d he . f m
First half Arsenal is aimless and uninspired and really hard to watch. Ars lucky to take advantage of a poor Dortmund pass – but Van Persie can finish.
For those following this, Barca scored to even things up. Messi beat his defender and a few others and centered a ball to a wide open Pedro. I have to disagree with Citronomics. Milan get three passes and then it goes out or one of Barca’s back line steps up and dispossesses them.
Iniesta went out with I’m not sure, but Fabregas replaced him. Not a bad substitute to have.
Milan now completing a good percentage of their passes, that of course are coming from the backline, to Barca. Only Milan player who seems capable of holding up play (so far) is Seedorf. Sucks that Ibra is not available.
I miss atdhe
Nevermind. Van Persie=beast
ESPN3 >>> anything fox has. Plus Fox soccer and fox soccer plus is only in HD in a couple of places, not everywhere unless you have extra cash to throw around to buy the exclusive extra packages. All you need for ESPN3 is a large cable/dsl internet provider, plus espn is always in HD except maybe classic in some areas.
Arsenal is lagging and playing as badly as every stream i’ve been on so far…
Yeah 3 channels that are not available on basic cable. Everyone gets ESPN and ESPN 2 making the games more available to more people and thus enabling more exposure to soccer in this country.
I thought you were capable of getting my implicit assumption that I was referring to United States tv rights because this is a website based in the U.S., written by Americans, and read almost elusively by those with some interest in soccer in the United States. But that apparently is asking too much.
You must be a Barcelona fan to be in such a bad mood.
As a college student, I’m wondering where students are getting free cable in their dorm rooms. Maybe I should consider transferring.
“Some people aren’t over flowing with money…”
like college students.
In fact, I’d find it kinda strange/pathetic if a college student had the full-blown “i’m rich bitch” package for $200+/month.
Haha you make a good point, but there is such disdain behind calling him a freeloader. If he’s in a college dorm room getting fox soccer net, how does that make him a free loader? Because he doesn’t want to pay for more cable on top of the cable he already has for free? Some people aren’t over flowing with money…
Any streams for the Barca game?
What are you talking about?
FOX is going 3-wide:
Barcelona-AC Milan on FOX Soccer
Dortmund-Arsenal on FOX Sports Net
Chelsea-Leverkusen on FOX Soccer Plus
You must be one of the freeloaders who are watching in a college dorm with access to only FOX Sports Net.
FOX has the U.S. TV rights to the Champions League through May 2015.
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ESPN, Inc. does have the rights to the Champions League this season, but only in the South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, etc.)
unless NASCAR or Little League baseball is on
Fox getting all the champions league rights is a loss for fans. Espn could televise two matches at a time and Fox can only show one.
It’s Mascherano and Busquets in central defense but that doesn’t completely explain it.
~25 seconds
LOL who could have seen that coming.
whoa
Wow, Pato scores in the 1st minute, probably less than 30 seconds and Milan are up 1-0! Pato just ran right past Barca’s high line and beat the keeper with a cool finish.
I really wanted Ibra to play against Barca. That is going to be an amazing matchup.
Here’s hoping Arsene Wenger pulls a Bobby Valentine and dons the bushy mustache, baseball cap, and t-shirt “disguise” and nonchalantly hangs out on the Arsenal bench.
David Yelldell on the bench, fwiw.
It will be interesting to see if Arsenal – Borussia Dortmund is a competitive game or not…. I suspect the Barcelona – AC Milan scoreline will be really ugly.