Author Archives: Lonnie Smetana

There were plenty of upsets yesterday, could we see more today? On paper Manchester United, who have struggled as of late, could be expected to slip against CSKA after a long trip to Moscow but CSKA has not been performing … Continue reading →

Matchday 3 sees some crucial match-ups but none may be more important at this stage than the Standard Liege – Olympiacos fixture. Arsenal look to be a lock for top spot in Group H but second place is wide open. … Continue reading →

This season’s Champions League and Europa League has its usual cast of superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery but I wanted to feature a few names that I think you’ll be hearing a lot more about as the … Continue reading →

The controversy surrounding Manchester United’s signing of 16-year-old French prospect Paul Pogba has been cleared up. FIFA have ruled that Manchester United did not contravene any FIFA regulations in their recruitment of the young midfielder – specifically Article 19, which … Continue reading →

UEFA has confirmed that it plans to investigate 40 cases of suspected match-fixing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup. Most of the cases were from Eastern Europe and involved games in the early qualifying rounds of the tournaments, according … Continue reading →

Real Madrid has continued their massive summer overhaul and some big names will feature in new colors for the upcoming season. No longer wearing the famous white shirt of Madrid will be Dutch national teammates Arjen Robben and Wesley . … Continue reading →

The draw for the group stage of the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League was held Thursday in Monaco. Last season’s finalists face some tough going but they are not alone in that regard. FC Barcelona will begin their trophy defence in … Continue reading →

After strong showings in the first leg of the playoff round, both Lyon and Arsenal are in a comfortable position to enter the group stage. Lyon can claim a tenth consecutive group-stage appearance unless they completely fall apart. The French … Continue reading →

Part of the changes to qualification this year sees the champions of smaller domestic leagues gaining the chance to reach the group stage of the Champions League. In the Champions Path, the feature match-up should be between FC Zurich and … Continue reading →

One of last season’s semi-finalists, Hamburger SV, enter this year’s competition in the third qualifying round against Randers FC of Denmark. Hamburg have added one of the most exciting young talents in Europe to their squad and will look to … Continue reading →

A massive number of clubs are involved in the Second Qualifying Round (80 in total). The winners of the 23 First Qualifying Round ties were joined in this round by a further 57 clubs that includes the domestic cup winners … Continue reading →

Just a few news stories that caught my interest over the last couple of days. Enjoy! Karim Benzema admits turning down Manchester United and Barcelona Jonathan Wilson’s article on the ties that existed between Romanian secret police and Dinamo Bucharest Ever … Continue reading →

A lot of lesser-known teams are involved at this stage but the big upset of the day was SPL side Motherwell losing at home to Welsh opponents Llanelli. 42-year-old player-manager Andy Legg, who played for both Swansea City FC and … Continue reading →

It has been a while since we’ve had some UEFA competition to talk about but the UEFA Cup Round of 32 kicks off today and tomorrow with some fantastic matchups. The showcase fixture has to be Werder Bremen vs AC … Continue reading →