By DAN KARELL
It was a little less than one year ago when Borussia Dortmund broke Real Madrid’s hearts by knocking them out of the UEFA Champions League. Now, Los Blancos are ready for some revenge.
The two clubs meet on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since their epic two-legged dual in last year’s semifinals, with Real Madrid looking the stronger side from a year ago. The additions of Gareth Bale, Isco, and Asier Illarmendi have paid dividends this season while Dortmund have struggled to overcome serious injuries and the loss of Mario Götze to Bayern.
Still, Dortmund will be hoping to for another positive performance at the Bernabeu.
Meanwhile in France, Paris Saint-Germain look to prove their Champions League credentials when they face Jose Mourinho and English Premier League leading Chelsea. Mourinho knows all too well the threat of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who played for Mourinho at Inter Milan.
Elsewhere in action on Wednesday, AS Roma take on Parma in an early Serie A match, the Copa Libertadores continues with Atletico Nacional hosting Gremio, and the night finishes with the U.S. Men’s National Team taking on Mexico in Phoenix in a friendly match.
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 schedule is after the jump):
12pm – Roma vs. Parma – beIN Sports USA
2:45pm – Paris Saint-Germain vs. Chelsea – Fox Sports 1
2:45pm – Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund – Fox Sports 2/Fox Deportes/Fox Soccer Plus
7:15pm – River Plate vs. Newell’s Old Boys – GolTV USA
9pm – Atletico Nacional (Colombia vs. Gremio – Fox Deportes
11:15pm – USA vs. Mexico – ESPN/UniMas
Goal of the year? That was ridiculous.
Importance+timing+general excellence.
Wow. amazing dribbling there. Pretty weak effort by Cech though.
Simply astounding moment of incredible individual brilliance!
Once in a life time goal from Pastore. Goal of the year candidate without question.
I was convinced it was behind the net. Amazing run.
Right there with you.
My brain didn’t even register that the ball could possibly be in the net.
A shoving match broke out immediately in front of Mourinho and he didn’t shank someone. He gets a medal.
He seems strangely calm about this 3-1 score too.
He does seem strangely calm. Eery actually.
No way PSG doesn’t regret Cavani blowing everything that comes to him.
is it me or does Ronaldo score in every match for Madrid these days?
Cavani has been pretty poor
He’s blown it.
Has a pretty good goal to game ratio but considering his form the past 3 seasons in Italy, he’s been pretty poor indeed. Playing on the wing is not for him.
His touch is off, passing off… I don’t think he has taken a shot….. Not a good game.
Agudelo came on with 72 minutes left. Utrecht win 1-0.
Ibra with a pulled hamstring possibly
Good work from Luiz there, gives away a silly free kick and then scores an OG off that freekick, ha
Not sure how Ramires just avoided a red card there.
He could have earned one. If nothing else then for persistent infringement. Give him time he is trying!
Oscar took a dive.
And this English homer announcer is annoying as hell.
Yeah bring back the 2 American guys from last night
Dortmund generally look like boys going up against men. Only guys looking good are Weidenfeller and Hummels. Mikhitarian is awful form, maybe nerves on the big stage. Bale looks like he has finally bounced back to the level he was at Tottenham. But that elbow in the belly/chest he gave to the kid, I think Durm, was pretty dirty.
Madrid vs Bayern in the semis would be awesome to behold.
I didn’t want to watch it. Dortmund are just too beat up and It would be depressing. Mikhitarian isn’t very impressive as something just doesn’t work with him.
Madrid are doing bad things to Dortmund.
Fox should hook Neville from the booth before the second half kick off. He actually just called that a dive? And then said it shouldn’t be a penalty because although Cahill pushed Cavani down and hit him it was only because Cahill was slipping.
Neville is the most pathetically biased and xenophobic announcer I’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to.
This is making the game unwatchable.
what are we going to do about JOZY?
he needs to score goals in Brazil or he won’t be getting any good club offers this season?
come on guys. He’s only 24 and will be our no 1 striker for at least the next 5 years
What do you want us to do about it?
have a town hall meeting of course
Form a focus group, then a think tank, then…
Seriously, Gary Neville is getting outright offensive. Calling that a dive?
He’s beyond biased, he’s outright delusional.
I know. He acts like Cahill’s leg wasn’t somehow between Cavani’s legs. I don’t think it was a pen. But a dive?
Yeah. I’m at a loss for how this is being allowed.
Lucky for Chelsea. It wasn’t a dive but it wasn’t really a foul by Cahill. They both kind tried to occupy the same space.
Don’t go anywhere near Oscar, Hazard or Ramires. They’ll be on the ground in a second.
Gary Neville should not be allowed to commentate on games involving English teams.
He is a massive homer. He likes to be horribly biased then give backhanded compliments to the non-English team as a method of being even handed.
Now, he is whining about netting. Which is there to keep things from being thrown and you can barely see anyway but whatever.
Chelsea look the better team
Than…?
Ramires is a thug.
Go Alexi! Go Zlatan!
“I can’t tell if he just dislikes everything, if he thinks his role is to stir the pot, or if he’s just flat out clueless.”
yeah, i think it’s a little bit of all 3, although i might not agree wholly with any one of those. he’s definitely carved a niche for himself where he’s the hyper-critical super-fan analyst; i actually think he’s pretty media-savvy.
sorry, meant to be a reply to Bac above.
Yea I’ve always thought so ( like many have commented)… but he was like Lalas on Bill Walton steroids yesterday.. irked me more than usual
Go Bruins!
my favorite bill Walton snippet of commentary was back when he used to do the nationally televised NBA games on NBC, speaking of the league he referred to it as:
“a truly egalitarian meritocracy”
hmmm, not yet but I will on the drive home. Lalas says stuff just to be negative or contrary.
Off Topic:
Did anyone listen to the espn podcast yesterday with Twellman, Lalas, Ley, & Darke?
The closer we get to the Cup, the more Lalas sounds like a bitter jealous Klinsmann hater. In all seriousness I can’t tell if he just dislikes everything, if he thinks his role is to stir the pot, or if he’s just flat out clueless.
BTW… Ian Darke awesome
Didn’t listen to the podcast, but if ya ask me he’s always sounded like a bitter Klinsmann hater. But no question about it he certainly gets off on stirring the pot a bit.
Lalas thinks every US team should play the same style and have the same core attitude.
Wow, and the decline of the Chicago Fire continues. It’s like they want to be the worst.
Trading Chris Rolfe to DC United for allocation dollars. What a slap in the face for a guy that’s a fan favorite and club legend. And they still have that DP forward, no? Anonongogognongon?
Yallops is turning the Chicago Fire into San Jose 2.0. Long ball and have large strong forwards run onto the ball.
Would love to see Dortmund escape Madrid today with a draw or maybe a one-goal loss, but am fearing a massacre. Dortmund has been running hot and cold all season, dropping points against several lower tier Bundesliga teams. If today is one of their bad days, could get ugly.
UCL is about all Madrid has left to play for. Think they come out like a bat out of hell.
still have the Copa del Rey final against Barca and the league is not over yet!
You are one true optimist, sir.
barca-atleti still have to play each other, at the camp nou. if real madrid win out (yeah, i know), all they have to hope is that the other two drop a couple more points along the way. pique’s out, valdes is out, and costa (for now) is out. real madrid’s still got a fighting chance.
Lewandowski, GUndogan, Schmelzer, Bender, Blaszczykowski, Subotic all out. Poor Dortmund. It’s just brutal how many they have out. I didn’t know Lewandowski was injured though… but hes not there.
suspended for this match
Not this crap again. Real Madrid cannot get for anything on Fox Sports 1. Comcast doesn’t even have Fox Sports 2.
thank god AT&T U-verse has it otherwise i would have flipped out awhile ago. they even have it in HD. Fox Sports Go allows me to stream both as well.
My Comcast has FS 2 now on channel 740
where do you live?
Does anybody know if Julian Greem made the trip to the US after the Bayern game yesterday?
I’m not sure if that was sarcasm or an attempt at a joke — always tough to tell on the internet.
If it wasn’t, he is in Arizona. He wasn’t in the matchday squad, and likely won’t be for the rest of the season.
He’s a troll, don’t feed.
for real?
Leave the troIlin’ to me, rook?
I think he did. Long flight. I’m still shocked Bayern had the nerve to bench him for declaring allegiance to the United States.
What are you wearing “Jake” from “State Farm”?
Your soccer analysis is hideous
So much good soccer today.
How will I ever finish this project? Interns. 🙂