Liverpool captain nets 98th goal for his club in style

Liverpool kicked off their Champions league campaign proper with a deserved win in Marseille last night, and no one rose to the occasion as much as Captain Gerrard. Quality strike, are lad.

[Video via 101GreatGoals]

Champions League, 7.45pm, ITV1, Free £10 bet

Marseille coach Eric Gerets has been getting himself all worked up with worry about the prospect of English clubs dominating the Champions League yet again. The chaps at chickendinner believe he should untwist his knickers, however, as tonight his side should take points off English opposition this season.

Here’s why:

1. Liverpool have failed to win their opening European away game - excluding qualifiers - in six of the last seven seasons.

2. They have already struggled away in Europe this season, drawing 0-0 with Standard Liege.

3. The Reds have scored just one goal in their three away games so far this season.

4. Rafael Benitez’s

UEFA have been playing with the crazy pots again

The good officials of the Champions League gathered around the trough in Monaco this afternoon, pausing briefly to pompously remove some plastic footballs from mixing bowls in one of their favourite little rituals.

As per, various pundits and sundry authorities were on hand to discuss the mouth-watering nature of the dance card, while those associated with the managerial side of things vowed not to underestimate anybody, as decreed by UEFA’s guidelines on how to talk to the press at times such as this.

Of the English teams, Liverpool probably feel the men in blazers could have looked harder to find them a couple of soft sides, but at least

Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies…

The transfer market today may be quieter than the Joey Barton fan mail hot line, but that hasn’t stopped some of the UK’s finest print journalists doing their thang. Let’s kick off today’s speculation with news of everybody’s favourite badly-coiffed Frenchman…

Djibril Cisse to Manchester City or West Ham
Without even factoring wages into the equation, Liverpool made an £8 million loss on Cisse, for which they splashed out over £600,000 for every league goal he scored. Marseille have given the clubs ten days to bid for the player, time which would be better spent running as far away as possible.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Cisse has made no secret of the fact he would like to return

The Frank Lampard saga latest
Remember how we all applauded Chelsea for applying logic and refusing to cave in to Lampard’s demands for a five-year contract? Well it appears that whoever is making the decisions at Stamford Bridge has changed their mind and a five-year deal is now on the table.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Seems like he will stay now. Ronaldo and Barry could learn from Lampard’s handling of the issue

Andy Johnson to Fulham
The Everton striker and occasional England

Sorry Marseille, looks like Le Drog is off to Spain

According to Spanish rag Sport, Didier Drogba and his brand new Mercedes roadster will be heading off to Barcelona next season.

The Ivory Coast star, pictured enjoying a hooded luncheon with a chum in Chelsea yesterday, has not joined Chelsea on a pre-season tour of China and Malaysia due to an ankle injury, and is said to want a ‘change’ from Stamford Bridge.

His representative Thierno Seydi told the newspaper ‘Star Afrique’ that Drogba agreed terms with the Catalonians on July 17th, and a deal will be cemented within ten days of that date.

No transfer fees or wages are discussed in the Sport speculative article, but a likely deal involves swapping Drogba for Samuel Eto’o, provided they can turn his attention away from Uzbekistan…

Today’s rumours, gossip and damned lies

Fans of the French club who sold Drogba to Chelsea in the first place are so desperate to bring him back that they are trying to raise £22 million to buy him. The church-hall style fundraising thermometer has been put on the wall, but so far made just 5,000 euros (about £4,000) has been collected. Only another £21,996,000 to go, mon frères…

The Frank Lampard saga latest
The ultra-reliable Daily Star claim Lampard has once again refused to sign the four-year deal being offered by Chelsea, while Jose Mourinho has cheekily called Lamps the best professional he has worked with.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Jose is intent on charming Lampard to Milan

Andrei Arshavin latest
The Russian forward has been spotted

The best sports programming on the telecube this evening

Don’t worry if you didn’t manage to get a fake bib for the Liverpool game tonight, it’s also being broadcast on television. And if you don’t fancy seeing Rafa’s final hours at all, then check out the

Probably best not to ask the stewards for any help

With the latest barcode and registration technologies, the days of ticket forgery and touting are slowly drawing to a close. But this hasn’t stopped Liverpool fans trying to get into tonight’s game in Marseille through illicit means, as The Guardian is reporting that over a thousand replica stewards’ bibs have gone into circulation.

The news has put the French authorities’ collective knickers in a twist, as the game is already considered ‘high risk’. There will be 720 ‘real’ stewards patrolling the 2,800 ticket-holding scousers - that’s one steward for every four of them. Imagine the chaos when a further thousand men in fluorescent jackets surround the pitch at kick off…