A night of mixed fortunes for the English in Europe
Fiorentina 2/ Liverpool 0
“I have never seen us struggle so badly as in the first half - it was a poor performance.” A damning indictment of Liverpool’s performance in Tuscany last night from Rafa, as Stevan Jovetic - dubbed “The Montenegrin Messi” - bagged a brace. Liverpool now have some catching up to do in Group E.
Arsenal 2/ Olympiakos 0
Despite total dominance over the Greeks, the Gunners left it late to claim three points: RVP struck on 78 minutes, while Andrei Arshavin sealed it with a suspiciously offside effort on 86. Olympiakos boss Zico didn’t accuse the officials of being biased, but did note that three of them were French.
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies…
Michael Owen to Olympiakos
The Greek side have reportedly offered the charismatic striker a way of escaping from all the poeple pointing and laughing at him in England with a three-year-deal worth £50k-a-week in Athens
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Before tax, it’s not as much as the £60k-a-week Hull are offering, but the Government’s brilliant new 50 per cent tax laws will make the money go a lot further in Greece.
Samuel Eto’o and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City The Daily Star believe the Citizens will bolster their attacking lineup with a £50m MEGABID for the man who plays for Barca and the man who plays for Kia Joorabchian.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: It is believed the Catalan giants have already accepted
Lamps, Ballack and Kalou put Chelsea in the last eight
We at The Spoiler were just about ready to slip into a coma after watching the first leg of the Olympiakos tie, so thank God Avram decided to inject some life into his side last night. If Liverpool hold off Inter next week, things could be very interesting in the final eight.
Champions League First Round Second Leg, 7.45pm, ITV4, bet here
I once had the good fortune to attend a Versace fashion show. For those of you whose interest in sport doesn’t stretch to Italian design houses, the Versace brand is known for its gaudiness. For added showiness, the clothes were shown in a hall painted pitch black and decorated with pink, yellow and green fluorescent posters in an attempt to evoke a sleazy rock basement, with music played at an ear-splitting volume. This sensory overload had a quite extraordinary effect - many people, myself included, fell fast asleep. Chelsea’s new day-glo away kit seems to be having the same effect on most people this season, to the extent that just the thought of it makes people’s eyes swim and their necks roll. Tomorrow’s game against Olympiakos is at home, and therefore fluoro-free, thus providing a valuable opportunity to test if it is Chelsea’s shirts that are putting us to sleep, or if they really are as boring as they’ve tricked us into thinking.
The statistics
* Chelsea haven’t conceded a Champions League goal in their last five outings - it has been 531 minutes since Valencia’s David Villa scored past them.
In typical over-the-top fashion, The Sun dubbed yesterday’s action as the ‘Euro Night of Destiny’, in a vague attempt to bring some profound meaning to the Round of 16 (officially, I think you’re supposed to say it in an American blockbuster film trailer voice, too). Confusingly, they have also decided to umbrella Chelsea’s game tonight under the ‘Euro Night of Destiny’ title - how many Euro Nights of destiny can there be? Is it a Euro Week of Destiny? Sheesh.
The confusing moniker really is appropriate for tonight’s Olympiakos match though, as The Blues really can’t stand another embarrassing cup exit following their no-show at Wembley a few weeks back. The bookies place them as massive favourites (2/7 to win), so have a punt and watch their destiny unwind in your living room…
Champions League
Chelsea/ Olympiakos (Sky Sports 2, 7.45pm) - chickendinner match preview here
FC Porto/ Schalke (Sky Sports Interactive, 7.45pm)
Real Madrid/ Roma (Sky Sports 3, 7.45pm)
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