Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:58 PM PDT

Of the eight quartets decided at the Champions League Group Stage draw today in Monaco, there is one that clearly stands out: Group D. The group has already been dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ and consists of the champions of England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Real Madrid and Manchester City will be favored to qualify, but Ajax and Borussia Dortmund are two of the toughest clubs from Pots 3 and 4. City will travel to Madrid in the first match of the group stage on September 18, and the return trip will be November 21.

Ronaldo Champions League Draw Highlights: City to face Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid are seeking their tenth Champions League title, but were drawn against Manchester City in the group stage. The two sides have never played each other in a competitive match. Harry Engels / Getty Images.

Defending champions Chelsea will have to travel to the Ukraine to face a dangerous Shakhtar Donetsk side, and were unlucky to draw Italian champions Juventus from Pot 3. Danish champions Nordsjaelland complete the group, and will compete in the Champions League Group Stage for the first time in club history. Malaga and Montpellier will also be making their group stage debuts.

Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain were drawn alongside Porto and Dynamo Kyiv in Group A. Last year’s runner-up, Bayern Munich will face Valencia CF and Lille OSC.

Barcelona will face Celtic in its opening group stage match, and will also play Benfica, a quarterfinalist in last year’s competition.

Arsenal and Manchester United both received favorable draws, with FC Schalke and Braga being drawn as their Pot 2 opponents, respectively.

Here is the complete list of groupings, with each team listed from Pot 1 to 4 as determined by UEFA coefficients:

GROUP A: Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Paris Saint-Germain, Dinamo Zagreb

GROUP B: Arsenal, FC Schalke, Olympiacos, Montpellier

GROUP C: Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga

GROUP D: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund

GROUP E: Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Nordsjaelland

GROUP F: Bayern Munich, Valencia CF, Lille OSC, BATE Borisov

GROUP G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic

GROUP H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj

Liverpool-Hearts: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Posted: 30 Aug 2012 03:21 PM PDT

Two men that have achieved a lot in football once said:

They seemed unstoppable. Even experienced players can have a bad start because of the excitement of playing in such a stadium. –Fabio Capello

I felt the power, it was magnificent. –Jose Mourinho

These men may have accomplished a lot but there was one thing that they could not achieve. Personally, I have seen it with my own two eyes. And I doubt there is anything on this earth that can compare to it. It’s a place where for the best part of five years some of the the greatest teams on the continent arrived and were dispatched without mercy. Times may have changed but one thing remains: Anfield comes alive on a European night.

If Liverpool Football Club is accused of being held back by its past glory, then Europe is where the shackles come off. It's where the roar of present and past generations comes together. That’s not to say that Anfield will be at its most raucous, after all, the occasions for which this special stadium comes to life tend to be the grandest of them all and we are still in the qualifying stages in August. That being said, if John McGlynn’s men do emerge victorious, it will be a victory that stays with them and the Hearts faithful for the rest of their lives.

Brendan Rodgers' men will be holding a slender advantage going into the second leg. They will be looking to both insure progress into the group stages of the Europa League, as well as, to carry on the feeling of optimism that courses through the veins of Liverpool supporters, following their encouraging draw with Premier League Champions- Manchester City at the weekend. With Arsenal being the visitors on Merseyside this Sunday, there is another fine balancing act for the former Swansea manager to perform. He will want to have the game wrapped up as quickly as possible, but may very well opt to utilize his squad in the same way he did for the first leg at Tynecastle last week.

Sebastian Coates was nearly faultless in the draw with Man City at the weekend. He will probably partner with Jamie Carragher in the center of defense; given that Daniel Agger’s suspension has now been served and that Skrtel-Agger will almost certainly be the preferred combination for the league match on Sunday. Jose Enrique may play some part of the game for fitness reasons, but it’s far more likely that Jack Robinson will once again have an opportunity to impress -there’s even a chance the Downing at left back experiment will continue.

Jordan Henderson – having played no part against City – will likely link the midfield alongside Jay Spearing and Charlie Adam, two of which could very well be playing his last game for the club. Up front the options are a little more straightforward with Adam Morgan hopeful he will play more than a cameo role and Andy Carroll having recovered from the knock that prevented him from playing in the first leg.

Raheem Sterling may be disappointed to find himself on the bench – or even not in the squad altogether – but that will be a big sign of how far he has come in Brendan Rodgers’ plans since taking over.

Liverpool will go into the game not being able to field Lucas Leiva through injury, as well as signings Nuri Sahin and Oussama Assaidi because of eligibility. Hearts will go into the game only having minor concerns. Hearts captain Marius Zaliukas is desperate to recover from a thigh injury, and even though he has not been training, he will possibly play some part. Following their goalless draw away to Aberdeen at the weekend, John McGlynn knows that should they be able to withstand the inevitable early pressure then it’s possible they could make things difficult for Liverpool as things get tense.

Having played no part in Europe last year, supporters had to watch on forlornly as other teams took the center stage while they were stuck at home. Even if there is a long held disdain for the competition, they have still (along with Internazionale and Juventus) won this trophy more times than anyone. The opportunity to be the outright front runner is one that cannot be passed up. Amsterdam waits in the distance, but for now it’s nice to have European football back at Anfield…where it belongs.

Dimitar Berbatov – fabulous, frustrated and Fulham bound

Posted: 30 Aug 2012 12:43 PM PDT

When trying to assess Dimitar Berbatov’s time as a Manchester United player, quite a few F’s come to mind (and no, not that one).

Signed from Tottenham on transfer deadline day in 2008, despite a late bid from Manchester City – whose takeover by billionaires from Abu Dhabi had been confirmed just hours earlier – Berbatov has always divided opinion.

To some, the F in question is one of fantasy. A player of wonderful skill in the mold of Cantona and Sheringham. Tall and short of pace, but blessed with the intelligence and vision that enabled him to play as if in a serene bubble; almost oblivious to the lesser players rushing around him, yet able to wave a magic wand to win a game.

But for others, the F is for frustration. He went missing in big matches and was a lazy, luxury player who would slow down the pace of attacks and never quite fit into the team.

F is for fickle too, as many fans flitted from one view to the other. However, they were not alone. The most important F of all – Fergie – consistently backed his man until the very end of 2010-11. The season in which the Bulgarian was joint top scorer in the Premier League with 20 goals, including his best F of all – five – against Blackburn, and a hat-trick against Liverpool.

Without Berbatov’s goals, United would not have won a record 19^th Premiership crown that year. Yet for others he was still F for flop, and this faction would point to the crucial late-season game in 2009-10 at home to Chelsea, as costing the team the title.

On that occasion, with his team 2-1 down in the dying moments, he was teed up by Gary Neville to volley goalwards from the edge of the penalty area. It was F for fluffed lines as he mis-kicked, allowing Petr Cech to make a comfortable save.

The writing seemed truly on the wall when another F came along: F for final, as the denoument of the 2011 Champions League saw the season’s top scorer not even sitting on the bench at Wembley. It was baffling to some after all that had happened over the previous nine months, but left none in any doubt about the player’s impending defenestration. What followed last season was an inevitable and painful list of F’s: Berbatov was forlorn, frustrated and (as a United player) finished.

At the end of it all, it came down to a choice between two other Fs: Fiorentina and Fulham, with the fee being the most ridiculous F of all – four million. Even his harshest critics would consider him worth more than that. But lacking a vital F at Old Trafford, a future, this was a buyer’s market. The player was initially set to jump on a plane for Florence, but La Viola have been left F for fuming as he changed his mind.

So it is that Dimitar Berbatov’s career takes an ironic twist as he ends up back in London, wearing a white once shirt again. The final F will be farewell – only F for fond in some people’s eyes, of course – but was his time at Old Trafford really an F for failure? As ever with this enigmatic footballer, no two fans will agree over that.

Soccer sports euro and Eurosport News

Friday, August 31, 2012

Champions League Draw Highlights: City to face Madrid

Champions League Draw Highlights: City to face Madrid

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