Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Champions League Round 3 - Day 1

The Champions League continues tonight.

Ajax v FC Thun
Bayern Munich v Juventus
Man Utd v Lille
Panathinaikos v Barcelona
Rapid Vienna v Club Brugge
Sparta Prague v Arsenal
Udinese v Werder Bremen
Villarreal v Benfica

The big match of the night will be Bayern Munich - Juventus. This game will be a good test of the sides to see where they stand. Both will probably advance from Group A, so they don't really have to worry about that, but to the winner goes first place.

It will also be interesting to see what Ajax can do against FC Thun in Group B. Surprisingly Thun is in second place in the group and Ajax has not looked good against Arsenal or Sparta Prague. This match should help decide how big of a factor Thun will be in this group. A side note in the group, Arsenal skipper Arsene Wenger wants his team to focus on the Champions League since they don't seem to be getting it together in the EPL. Since Arsenal normally, well let's be kind, don't do so well in Europe, this is a bit of an about-face.

Look for Man United to stay atop of Group D, as they take on the French side Lille. It seems Man U is having a bit of trouble selling tickets for this outing. I'm guessing the fact that Lille have just one point so far in the group and the troubles Man U has had with their fans of late might be the cause of all this.

Some other points of interest, will normally offensive side Villarreal finally get a goal in the campaign? Also, will Barcelona be able to get another result in Europe while they seem to be suffering back home in the Spanish League? Finally, Udinese could put a nice hold on second place if they walk away with three points against Werder Bremen.

Should be some fun soccer.

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