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UEFA Champions League Wednesday: A Look Ahead

RobertLewandowskiBorussiaDortmund3-ArsenalUCL (AFP)

By DAN KARELL

Life on the pitch is going quite swimmingly for Arsenal following their 2-0 victory against Liverpool last Saturday.

Now in the middle of their most difficult stretch of the season thus far, the high-flying Gunners travel to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund, a team that defeated them two weeks ago, 2-1. It was a scoreline that flattered Arsenal, as the German club dominated large portions of the game and showed how far Arsenal still has to go. The English club will be without Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, but the real question of the match will be to see if they’re thinking about Sunday’s massive encounter with Manchester United.

A slumping AC Milan side is facing a crisis period as it travels to face Spanish giants Barcelona. Lionel Messi hasn’t scored in four La Liga matches but his last goal did come against the Italian side, which lost at home last Sunday to Fiorentina, dropping the club to 11th in the table. Mario Balotelli is also looking to exit a goal-scoring slump of his own.

Also on Wednesday’s UCL slate, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea host Jermaine Jones and FC Schalke, Atletico Madrid and striker Diego Costa host Austria Wien, and Celtic travels to play Dutch champions Ajax.

Here is a rundown of today’s UEFA Champions League action:

12pm  Zenit vs. Porto – Fox Soccer Plus/Fox Deportes

2:45pm  Barcelona vs. AC Milan – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes

2:45pm  Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal –  Fox Sports 2

2:45pm – Chelsea vs. Schalke 04 – Fox Soccer Plus

2:45pm – Ajax vs. Celtic – Fox Sports Net/MSG Plus

2:45pm – Atletico Madrid vs. Austria Wien – Fox Soccer 2Go

2:45pm – Napoli vs. Marseille – Fox Soccer 2Go

2:45pm – Basel vs. Steaua Bucharest – Fox Soccer 2Go

Comments

  1. The scoreline did not “flatter” Arsenal, and to say so is just lazy writing. Arsenal had 55 percent of possession, more shots, more shots on targets, but still the game was pretty even over the 90. It could have gone either way, and the winner would have been justified.

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    • If you surmised where Arsenal was in European and Domestic leagues based on what was said about them, you would think they were a mid to bottom table team struggling to score goals with a porous defense.

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      • Sometimes when I’m watching a soccer game, I feel like I’m watching an entirely different games from the announcers. Compared to, for instance, the NBA, which I watch the most besides soccer, I feel that the quality of announcing in soccer is terrible. The last Champions League match between Dortmund and Arsenal was called as if Dortmund had totally dominated and won 5-0, but it didn’t seem to correspond to what was happening on the field. Dortmund did start the game better, which seemed to inform the commentators for the rest of the game, as if nothing change, as if things weren’t changing minutes by minute. Dortmund had the advantage in the first half and Arsenal in the second; and the ultimate difference was Cazorla hitting the post while Dortmund executed a very nice counter attack.

      • After Arsenal jumped out ahead of everyone as the clear favorites in the EPL.. and beating Tottenham. There were still people ragging on Wenger and telling him he needed to sign new players and they wouldn’t be good enough.

        Chelsea gets off to their worst start in the history of this ownership and people are STILL saying they’re the best team in the league and that it’ll all be fine.

        It’s all friggin nonsense. I watch half my games on mute.

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