By SBI SOCCER
Barcelona may be missing its biggest star in Lionel Messi, but a talented attacking duo will be ready to go against its next UEFA Champions League opponent.
Headlining today’s UCL action, Neymar and Luis Suarez lead Barcelona against German side Bayer Leverkusen at Camp Nou.
Mexican international Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez will hope to tally his second goal of the competition, but all eyes will be on Leverkusen’s defense, as it attempts to remain on top of Group E by slowing down the quick and lethal attack of the Spanish giant.
Tuesday’s other Champions League action will be highlighted by Chelsea’s clash with Porto, while Bayern Munich takes on Dynamo Zagreb and Arsenal faces off with Olympiacos.
In the evening, Toluca, which currently sits third with 19 points on the Liga MX Apertura table, will try to maintain pace with the leaders against a Tijuana side that has struggled to produce a win as of late. The pair’s last meeting came on Sept. 17 in Copa MX play, and Toluca pummeled its foe, 3-0.
If you will be watching today’s action, please free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s Soccer TV schedule is listed after the jump):
SOCCER TUESDAY
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
2:45 p.m. — ESPN2 — Bayern Munich vs. Dinamo Zagreb
2:45 p.m. — FOX Networks — FC Porto vs. Chelsea
2:45 p.m. — FOX Sports 1 — Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen
2:45 p.m. — FOX Sports 2 — Arsenal vs. Olympiakos
2:45 p.m. — ESPN3 — Zenit vs. KAA Gent
2:45 p.m. — ESPN3 — BATE Borisov vs. Roma
2:45 p.m. — ESPN3 — Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs. Dynamo Kiev
LIGA MX (MEXICO)
9 p.m. — NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra — Leon vs. Club America
9 p.m. — Univision Deportes — Toluca vs. Tijuana
9 p.m. — UniMas — Chivas Guadalajara vs. Monterrey
NCAA
7 p.m. — ESPNU — Princeton vs. American (Men’s Soccer)
Sure looks like it
Lewandowski
EPL going to drop a spot soon?
Lewandoski is on a whole different level right now. I think he’s going for 5 again
Lewandowski hat trick
Somebody is gonna get fired at Roma
On Brad Guzan and AV? Reports are that Tim Sherwood still wants to replace him as no.1
During the summer he tried. Not sure what he has against Brad
Probably because Guzan is not very god at being a keeper.
I don’t think Brad is a top-5 Premier League keeper, but he has clearly shown he has the quality to be a Premier League starter.
Given ALL the issues that Aston Villa has, replacing a more than serviceable keeper seems an odd thing to worry about.
Probably because Guzan is not very god at being a keeper.
Wasn’t he villa fan’s choice for MVP the last two seasons
Probably because Guzan is not very god at being a keeper.
He’s still my number 1 even if he sits on the bench. Timmeh needs to show me that he wants to play for my team after taking all that time off.
1) move to a bigger Norwegian club
2) Move in the off season or next summer to a club in a bigger league
3) stay with Stabaek as they qualify for Europa League next season
4) spend a few years establishing a dynasty at stabaek
Last time Staebek raised up to the Europa league they sold their stars, loss their play-in games and faded to the 2nd division.
Get out now
What should Bob Bradley do?
Get out of Norway.
today’s soccer schedule
then
soccer sunday
derp 🙂
Lewandoski or Suarez???????
Hard to decide honestly
You can’t go wrong with either one, but I would take Suarez.
Aubameyang
Only in FIFA
And reality. He’s scored in every game this season.
The best benchmark for MLS is the Mexican league. Even with recent improvements, MSL is still behind in both average salaries and the quality of play (Mexican teams repeatedly beat MLS teams in the regional competitions). I was hopeful that MLS would catch up with the Mexican league by now, but its anti-competitive single entity structure with no promotion/relegation presents a bigger deadweight than I originally thought.
I would agree that Liga MX provides a good comparison, but I would say the biggest problem facing a lot of MLS teams is the salary cap hindering depth. The league not having promotion/relegation doesn’t affect this at all.
I think some of the top teams in MLS can and do compete with the best Liga MX teams, especially if both teams have their full complement of starters (first 11). The problem comes that in the long grind of a league and continental competition, you need more quality players, and the salary cap hurts the ability of MLS teams to really stock higher quality players on roster spots 12-23.
I agree with you that salary cap is also a problem. However, the salary cap is not everything. Dortmund, for example, have a relatively small budget, but they outperformed many clubs with much bigger budgets. Atletico Bilbao humiliated ManUtd in the in the Champions league several years ago. Both the single entity structure, lack of promotion/relegation and salary cap stifle the competition and make the product on the field inferior. The norm is no salary cap, independent clubs, and promotion/relegation. MLS should let the independent clubs compete and let the best clubs win. The membership in the top division must be earned on the field, rather than purchased by paying franchise fee.
Lack of Pro/rel might be an excuse for underperformance from the bottom 4 teams or so but in no way does that hurt the top teams.
Imagine how more diluted the talent pool would be if 2nd and third division teams were buying players that should be starting in mls.
If you think Seattle would magically become a better team because Colorado and Philly were ducking it out in a relegation battle then I’m done listening to you. Pro/rel is awesome but it doesn’t make for better soccer at the top. It just means cheaper owners can get to the big table, collect their payments and fade back to where they came from.
Swansea was sold for £1 following their relegation to the third division in 2001. Within 10 years, they were back to the top division and beat Arsenal, Liverpool and ManCity in their first season after being promoted. They finished 8th last year. Sending poorly managed teams down and promoting well managed teams improves the overall league level. I can appreciate your point that powerhouses will be good no matter what happens at the bottom of the league, but even the teams at the top of the table benefit from having better competition from the midtable and bottom teams.
£1?…
Yeah talk about false advertising. The cost was £1 plus assuming all of Swansea’s debt when it emerged from Britain’s version of Chapter 11. It’s the same deal the new owners of Rangers got.
Its just a completely different situation here, as there isn’t the same history of the sport in this country. Everything has to be grown over time letting roots take in first.
The Mexican league can spend more because it takes in alot more money. Liga MX has huge TV contracts that MLS just doesn’t. It’s just a larger part of there culture.
MLS has to target certain media markets to hopefully grow larger TV revenues. Also many lower division sides in this country just don’t have great stadium situations. Pro/ Rel could destabilize some of these situations. I understand perhaps it’s not growing as fast as some would like but it’s come a long way in pretty short period really.
This season MLS teams have probably added more top quality players than in any previous 5 year period. Many of them, however, came over during the summer transfer window and are just now getting integrated into their teams. Imagine, for example, if Drogba had been available when Montreal were playing in the CCL final. The Galaxy have added Gerrard, dos Santos, and Lletget and they are still learning to play together. So, it’s still too early to conclude that top League MX teams are clearly superior to top MLS teams. Next year’s CCL playoffs will be a good barometer.
I agree with WhiteHart. Promotion/relegation really isn’t the issue with MLS. $$$ is the main problem. The fact that MLS teams remain competitive with some players being paid $60,00 – $100,000 is actually quite impressive. Personally, relegation is cool and all, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
O/T but how foes MLs compare to the european leagues or latin american leagues? HOW does our league compare in performances and salary?
MLS is clearly superior in all facets of the game. Look at the number of top players dying to come over here. Every day in the media you read about Ronaldo, Rooney, etc. hoping for a shot in MLS, like Pirlo, Gerrard and Kaka before them.
Can’t say I blame them. After all, how many MLS Cups have Barcelona won?