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Soccer Wednesday: Your Running Commentary

DrogbaGala (Getty)

By RYAN TOLMICH

A pair of UEFA Champions League clashes will take center stage Wednesday afternoon, as Didier Drogba and Galatasaray will take on Drogba’s former club, Chelsea, while Real Madrid will welcome back Cristiano Ronaldo against Schalke 04.

Galatasaray enter Wednesday’s match-up with Chelsea on an 11-match unbeaten streak, having not lost since a November 27 meeting with Real Madrid. Chelsea, on the other hand, will look to distance themselves from their fellow English competitors Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, which all suffered 2-0 first-leg defeats in their Round of 16 match-ups.

Real Madrid will welcome Ronaldo back to the team after a three-game suspension from domestic matches. The Spanish side has kept 13 clean sheets in its past 15 contests, which is a point of worry for Schalke. However, former Real Madrid forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will look to get some revenge against his former club, despite having said Schalke are underdogs.

In non-European action, Copa Libertadores resumes tonight. Ronaldinho’s Atletico Mineiro, which won the competition last year, takes on Colombian side Independiente Santa Fe in Group 4 action. Other match-ups include Union Espanolo taking on Botafogo, Cerro Porteno hosting Lanus and Emelec heading to Rio De Janeiro to take on Flamengo.

If you will be watching today’s action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action. (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):

2:45pm – Galatasaray vs. Chelsea – Fox Sports 1

2:45pm – Schalke 04 vs. Real Madrid – Fox Sports 2/Fox Deportes

7:50pm – Celaya vs. Necaxa – ESPN Deportes

7:55pm – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Dorados – Univision Deportes

8pm – Atletico Minero vs. Independiente Santa Fe – Fox Deportes

8pm – Corinthians vs. Comercial – GolTV USA

9:55pm – Monterrey vs. Pachuca – Galavision

9:55pm – Universidad Guadalajara vs. Estudiantes Tecos – Univision Deportes

9:55pm – Veracruz vs. Chiapas – ESPN Deportes

Comments

  1. is it possible for someone to say spend 100 million dollars and make the top club in ESTONIA into a power in the Champions League?

    do they have a salary cap? I’m really serious. can it be done? we see billionairs taking mid table clubs like Chelsea, PSG, Man City and turning them into champions within a few years. So can it be done with smaller clubs in 3rd/4th tier leagues and make them into powers on the EUROPEAN stage? like what if the biggest club in estonia had a bankroll of 80 million dollars, could it be used to transform into a CL powerhouse? or is that purely insane?

    this is what LA GALAXY OR TORONTO FC OR RED BULL NY could be if they got rid of that stupid salary cap.

    Reply
  2. The end of the EPL dominance in the champions league was back in 2010. it’s over now. Same with the SPANISH. prepare for german dominance and an Italian return.

    Reply
    • Chelsea won in 2012. So not sure about that. Also EPL teams still have a ton of money. Are they over-rated, probably but I don’t think they are about to lose a Champions League spot.

      Barcelona still have Messi and Real Madrid still have Ronaldo. Neither are old. So both teams should be fine.

      By German dominance, if you mean Bayern, then I can see that. Love Dortmund but if there top players keep getting sold, then that model can only last so long.

      A return of Italian teams seems pre-mature, considering they recently lost a Champions league spot, and their best team domestically, Juventus, was knocked out in the group stage this year.

      Reply
    • what I mean about dominance is quarterfinals.

      sure I suspect Chelsea might win the title again in 2016 or 17 but i doubt we will see 3 PL teams in the quarterfinals anytime soon. I suspect we will see German/Italian/Spanish in the quarterfinals for years to come

      with teams like Munich/Barca/PSG/Juventus almost assured of reaching the semi’s every year from now on

      Reply
  3. it’s safe to say we all hate CHELSEA. but we hate John Terry even more. He is a atrocious human being but a solid defender, world class up until a few years ago.

    but horrid, horrid man

    Reply
  4. what do you guys think of Benzema?

    He’s been at MADRID for nearly 5 years. Higuain usually got more goals/assists than Benzema but he was the big money move. And looks like sometimes he really does deserve to play with the 3rd best team in the world, but usually he seems great, but not world class.

    I’m surprised Lewandowski didn’t sign with Madrid or Cavani.

    Reply
    • Benzema is good for Real. He runs a lot and sets up other guys. You need this in a guy who has Ronaldo on one side and Bale on the other.

      He is more like a very very very good role player than World class.

      Reply
  5. I’ve been watching the Real/Schalke game. Schalke know how to play but they are no where near good enough to do it with 2 guys like Bale and Crissy around.

    Reply
  6. Its crazy how boring the second legs of these affairs are going to be. Away goal dominance.

    Barcelona 2-0 over Man City

    PSG 4-0 over Bayer Leverkusen

    Dortmund 4-2 vs Zenit

    Bayern Munich 2-0 over Arsenal

    Real up 2-0 over Shalke right now

    Chelsea up 1-0 over Gala right now

    Even Atletico is up an away goal over Milan for their home match

    The away team leads in 7 of 8 series coming back home (the two games today pending at halftime)

    Reply
    • Only the Super teams(Money) have a shot of winning it. And Dortmund and well Gala has played well too. But really no one can compete with the depth of a Real Madrid or a Bayern.

      I guess what you have to decide is do you care how they got their money?

      Reply
  7. I am at a complete loss as to how John Terry wasn’t laughed right off the field with a straight red after that. Terrible refereeing to ever allow something as ridiculous as that to ever not result in a sending off.

    Was neutral up until that point. Hope Terry blows a knee and Chelsea loses by 10.

    Reply
  8. WOW!

    That was one of the most f****** disgraceful things I’ve ever seen in professional sports. John Terry is a piece of garbage. And it takes away a Galatasaray goal!!

    Should be a red and multi game suspension.

    Reply
    • That ball boy probably knew what he was doing but at the same time What does Terry think he is doing? It’s not a pick up game at the park. You can’t just keep the ball and walk to the center of the field with it.

      Reply
    • not asking for play-by-play or anthing here, but for those of us stuck at work, it helps to tell us what actually happened, not just that john terry’s a piece of garbage. that i already knew. 🙂

      Reply
      • Terry knocked the ball out for a throw off the ad board. It came back on the field and he picked it up. He pretended to throw it out of bounds but than ran toward middle of the field with it in his arms against his body.

        Ball boy gave Galatasary another ball and they took a throw in down the line. They scored off a ridiculous shot.

        When that was happening Terry had turned around and thrown the ball he kept into the middle of the field to force the ref to blow the play dead for two balls on the pitch.

        Galatasary had their goal taken away and Terry was given a yellow.

      • Basically John Terry held onto an extra ball, pretended to toss it away,ran back to his position and then when Galatasaray beat Chelsea down the line on the rethrow he chucked the ball in the middle of the field to force a stoppage.

        As Gerard said, Galatasaray had scored.

      • hm…read another commentary that indicated that the ref and chelsea had already stopped play by the time yilmaz scored, so it didn’t really “take away a goal”.

        by the laws of the game, i don’t see how the ref could’ve given terry a red card, but either way, uefa should ban him. i guess, like gerard said, hope terry gets stretchered off and chelsea lose.

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