The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #165

Final Destination
The 10 Stadia That Have Hosted The European Cup/Champions League Final Most Often

1. Wembley Stadium, London - 5 times (1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1992)
2. Heysel Stadium, Brussels - 4 times (1958, 1966, 1974, 1985)
3. Stadio Olimpico, Rome - 4 times (1977, 1984, 1996, 2009)
4. Hampden Park, Glasgow - 3 times (1960, 1976, 2002)
5. Olympiastadion, Munich - 3 times (1979, 1993, 1997)
6. Olympic Stadium, Athens - 3 times (1983, 1994, 2007)
7. Parc Des Princes, Paris - 3 times (1956, 1975, 1981)
8. Prater Stadium, Vienna - 3 times (1964, 1987, 1990)
9. San Siro, Milan - 3 times (1965, 1970, 2001)
10. Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid - 3 times (1957, 1969, 1980)

Sound Of Football Episode 35 - PFA Awards and European Semi Finals

With a full compliment on the podcast, the chaps discuss the merits or otherwise of the PFA awards. Terry tries to put himself in the mind of a professional footballer and questions are raised about the value of having seasoned player James Milner nominated for Young Player of the Year.

Then we look ahead to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League semi finals. Can Fulham and Liverpool keep the British end up? And what of Jose's tactical tribulations against Barca?

You can listen to the podcast here or if you right-click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.

Sound of Football Episode 27 - Champions League Play-Off

Only one topic of conversation for this week's Sound of Football and it wasn't the contents of Ashley Cole's underpants. Nope, the latest edition of the podcast is focused on the Champions League Qualifying Play-Off currently being proposed by the Premier League.

It's a fascinating topic which gets the chaps all hot and bothered so don't miss the latest episode of the Sound Of Football.

You can listen to the podcast here or if you right click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.

Bundesbag Week 16: Bundesliga clubs in Europe

Having spent the majority of last weekend hunched over a PC producing the Onion Bag Christmas podcast (which I really hope you'll take the time to listen to) there was no oppurtunity for me to watch any football. Naturally I've caught up with the latest shenanigans with Jens Lehmann and the hilarity that was Hannover managing to score 6 (six) goals and still lose to 'Gladbach but that's old news.

So rather than take you back over well trodden ground. Let's take a moment to look at the Bundesliga's representation in European competitions. Between the last sixteen of the Champions League and the final thirty two of the Europa League all the German clubs that entered European competition at the beginning of the season are still there, albeit not necessarily in the same tournament.

Champions League:

It must be said that both Bayern Munich and Stuttgart have progressed to the knock-out phase in unlikely fashion. While a home win against Urziceni may have seemed on the surface to be a winnable game, the way that Stuttgart had been playing under the recently sacked coach Markus Babbel you would not have thought that they could have achieved even that relatively modest goal. Nevertheless, the post Babbel bounce worked and Stuttgart's new coach Christian Gross can now look forward to an eminently losable tie against the Champions Barcelona.

Bayern meanwhile were not given a hope of making it out of their group but their 4-1 win at Juventus condemned The Old Lady to a couple of evenings with Ajax in the Europa League while the Bavarians can look forward to the very good yet still quite beatable Fiorentina. Louis van Gaal can be thankful. That draw could have been worse.

Europa League:

This is a huge competition for Hamburg who will be hosting the final. After having been knocked out in the Semi Final by Werder, Bruno Labbadia's men will be looking to at least make it to their own party on 12th May. However, they're in for a tricky path as they were drawn with PSV Eindhoven in the Round of 32. But that wasn't the only German-Dutch Encounter to come out of those little plastic containers. Last season's beaten finalists Werder Bremen will play FC Twente who are currently top of the Eredivisie.

The mouth watering ties don't end there because Champions League drop outs Wolfsburg will be taking on the always dangerous Villareal.

Last and very much least I'm afraid, the worst team in the Bundesliga were not bad enough for the likes of Herenveen and Ventspils in their group. Hertha find themselves in the final 32 and facing what promises to be a bloody encounter with Benfica. That's the same Benfica that murdered Everton in Group I.

That's it. Much to look forward to when business resumes next year, particularly those Dutch clashes with PSV and Twente. Meanwhile the final round of Bundesliga fixtures kick off tonight before the Winter Break. The Bundesbag will be back sometime next week.

Sound Of Football Episode 16 - World Cup Wigans

With Terry experiencing technical issues, it is left to Graham and Chris to struggle through this week's Sound Of Football podcast. Mercifully the wonderful world of football has thrown up plenty of talking points including Spurs thrashing of Wigan 9-1, Liverpool's impending Champions League exit/dramatic recovery and of course, there's that World Cup Qualifier to talk about... plus France v Ireland. Didn't see that coming did you?

You can listen by clicking here. Or if you right click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think. You can do so on the comments section below or on our Facebook Fanpage.

Sound Of Football Podcast 11

And we are back for another blast of premium audio soccer chat.

This week, Chris, Graham and Terry draw a line under the World Cup Qualifiers, dissect the Play Off draw and hope beyond words that Diego does not quit as Argentina boss.

Then we return to our own affairs and review last week's Premier League action. Graham tells us about his trip to the Emirates to see Arsenal beat Birmingham and we discuss the finer points of football law with regards to beach balls .

Finally we look forward to the Champions League and Europa League this week.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. Or if you right click on the link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via iTunes.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think. You can do so right here or on our Facebook Fanpage.

Sound Of Football Podcast 8

A little earlier than usual to accommodate the West Ham game tonight. This week we look back on the high scoring Premier League weekend and marvel at the exploits of Fernando Torres and Darren Bent.

We also take a moment to tip our hats to Wigan and their superb victory while wondering if Petr Cech was a shade unlucky to be sent off.

Then we look ahead to the Champions League and ask who exactly is playing Lyon in a couple of weeks time.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. Or if you right click on the link, you can download the mp3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via iTunes.

Champions League Quarter Final draw (kind of)

The draw for the quarter finals of the Champions League has taken place at UEFA headquarters as Europe's best teams awaited their fate in the competition.

Last year's beaten finalists, FC Vulva of Sweden were drawn to play this year's surprise package from Russia, Titanium Membrane. The Russians have only reached the quarter final stage once before in 2001 when they were knocked out by Taramasalata of Greece, so they'll be hoping to avoid a similar upset this time around.

A clash between the giants of Europe is on the cards between Italian club Inter Fiore and Spanish champions Atletico Supporto. Many of the neutrals will be favouring the Italians to win, but the Spaniards are renknowned for their ball control and may have the upper hand as a result.

Elsewhere, the Germans of SV Grosse Wichser will meet Destituto of Portugal at a packed Manfredmanstadion in their first leg tie while Caramel Brulee of France play Turkish side Erectile Dysfunction in a match which looks set to be anything but a let down.

All ties to be played on April 14th and 13th 2009.

Midweek TV Preview: September 29 - October 3

(All times - UK)

Monday 29 September

7.30pm Rushden & Diamonds v Altrincham, Blue Square Premier, Setanta Sports 1
The Diamonds will be going hell for leather tonight as a win will see them jump from tenth to third in the Blue Square Conference table. On current form that seems quite likely, so our money's going on Garry Hill's mob.

Tuesday 30 September

5.30pm Zenit v Real Madrid, Champions League (Group H), Sky Sports 2
ZSP picked up their first win in three at the weekend with a 3-0 away victory against Lokomtiv Moscow while Real still can't quite get back to the top of La Liga despite the continuation of their impressive run of form against Real Betis on Saturday. This should be another three points for Los Blancos, though, and about as different a prospect as you can get to their next CL match against Juventus next month.

7.30pm Arsenal v Porto, Champions League (Group G), ITV1 & HD
What a difference a game makes. Arsene Wenger suddenly has a mini-crisis on his hands following Hull City's competency at out tactic-ing his Arsenal side on Saturday. With Porto visiting the Emirates Stadium, the question has to be asked: will Wenger put out his strongest squad, or make do with the lesser talents of Van Persie, Adebayor and Walcott?

7.30pm Aalborg v Manchester United, Champions League (Group E), ITV4
Those Danes from Aalborg might allow themselves a moment's optimism as they cast a casual eye over the Premier League table. It's not every September that ends with Man United in the bottom half of the table, but they'll do well to observe the 'Goals Played' column. Fergie's lads have a game in hand and will no doubt be right back near the top of the pile before you can say 'contentious refereeing decision'.

7.30pm Villareal v Celtic, Champions League (Group E), Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Both these teams picked up unlikely victories in their weekend league games, Celtic leaving it late to find a winner in their 3-2 win over Aberdeen and Villareal scoring a single goal against the run of play to beat Sporting Gijon. Villareal, however, remain top of La Liga while Celtic still find themselves chasing the shadows of Rangers. Call us picky if you like, but we think Brer Strachan might be just a touch scratchy in the post-match interview after this one.

7.30pm Bayern Munich v Lyon, Champions League (Group F), Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
Would you Adam und Eve it? Bayern lose AGAIN, this time by a single goal away to Hannover 96, and are now ninth in the Bundesliga. What better way, then, to revitalise your season than to play a team that hasn't lost in any competition since March 4th. "Oh 'ell", Klinsmann may be saying, and understandably so...
('O.L.' - geddit?!? Ahem...)

7.45 Fiorentina v Steaua Bucharest, Champions League (Group F), Sky Sports Interactive
Fiorentina started off with a safe and satisfactory 2-2 draw against Lyon a fortnight ago, and that's set the tone for their distinctly vanilla season thus far. Steaua, meanwhile, lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, thereby leaving them bereft of any crumb of credibility they might have had. Press the red button if your curiosity comes perversely to the fore.

7.45 Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kiev, Champions League (Group G), Sky Sports Interactive
One wonders if Luis Aragones has bitten off more than he can chew in taking on the Fenerbahce job following their third defeat of the season at the weekend. His side now lie tenth in the Turkish Super League, and a second successive Champions League defeat here might get the locals a little agitated. Ah - it says here Dynamo Kiev are eleven games unbeaten at the moment...

7.45 BATE v Juventus, Champions League (Group H), Sky Sports Interactive
Let's face it - BATE Borisov are too star-struck at the moment to be bothered with results. Probably just as well given their opponents tonight.

Wednesday 1 October

6.00pm Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven, Champions League (Group D), Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Twelve games unbeaten now for Rafa's Reds and apart from that worrying draw with Stoke recently, they look like an altogether different prospect from last season. A win over The Farmers looks highly likely, especially given the 3-0 mauling the Dutch team had at the hands of Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago.

7.30pm CFR 1907 Cluj v Chelsea, Champions League (Group A), Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
As we reported here a fortnight ago, Cluj head coach Ioan Andone was recently shown the door despite guiding his team to the Romanian league title and a place in the Champions League for the first time. So much for getting behind your man, eh?

What was even more baffling was the appointment of unknown Italian Maurizio Trombetta as Andone's replacement, but credit where it's due, he did pull off an unlikely victory away to Roma in their first Champions League game. We're really not sure what to make of this one, so we're just going to sit back and take it all in, as indeed you should.

7.45pm Bordeaux v Roma, Champions League (Group A), Sky Sports Interactive
Both teams lost their opening fixtures a fortnight ago and will be looking to make amends this evening. To spice things up a bit, Roma finally got their first Serie A win of the season yesterday, so watch out Bordeaux - you've now got a fight on your hands...

7.45 Famagusta v Panathinaikos, Champions League (Group B), Sky Sports Interactive
Pity the poor Sky Sports commentator who pulls the short straw for this one. A match of interest only to the Redbuttonistas amongst you.

7.45 Inter Milan v Werder Bremen, Champions League (Group B), Sky Sports Interactive
Jose Mourinho's men came off second best in the Milan derby at the weekend, losing 1-0 to their red-and-black-striped counterparts. Inter also had five of their men booked and two (Burdisso and Materazzi) saw red. Time, then, to take a deep breath, open the lungs and consider the scoring prowess of their German opponents who have bagged twelve in their last three games. Not an easy game for Mourinho, and one well worth watching if you get the chance.

7.45 Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona, Champions League (Group C), Sky Sports Interactive
Barcelona may be playing well at the moment and Thierry Henry got himself on the scoresheet in the 2-1 win over Espanyol on Saturday, but is it too little, too late for the former Arsenal man? Is he heading for the exit? Will he be the next superstar to find himself wearing a Man City shirt in the January transfer window? This game may (or may not) have the answer.

7.45 Sporting Lisbon v FC Basle, Champions League (Group C), Sky Sports Interactive
Sporting and Basle are enjoying a similar season so far. Both have started well, both have had a wobbly spell of late, both have recovered but both lost their weekend matches. Basle currently lead the Super League by a couple of points after ten games but lost on Saturday to Young Boys while Sporting lost the Lisbon derby to Benfica and are second in the league after four matches. Gotta favour the Portuguese team in this one, though.

7.45 Atletico Madrid v Marseille, Champions League (Group D), Sky Sports Interactive
Javier Aguirre is a man to be respected and admired. He has single-handedly managed to turn Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Diego Forlan into regular goalscorers this season and all without the aid of an expensive course of hypnotherapy. As for Marseille, they're still unbeaten in Ligue 1 after seven games, so this will either be a cracker of the highest proportions or a mutual cancelling out of two great footballing middleweights.

Thursday 2 October

3.00pm Wisla Krakow v Tottenham Hotspur, UEFA Cup, Five
Chances are you'll miss this one if you can't get home from work early, and if you're a Spurs fan, that'll be just fine. Juande Ramos finds himself with a mountain to climb as he re-enacts Martin Jol's darkest hours, but his team have a 2-1 lead from the first leg and will be looking for that all-important away goal to seal his passage (so to speak) through to the next round.

6.30pm Standard Liege v Everton, UEFA Cup, Five
Standard are flying high at the moment in the Jupiler League (which you can bet your life will appear in our League of the Week feature soon) and a repeat of their weekend victory over Anderlecht will see the end of Everton's European run this season. It was 2-2 when these teams met in the first leg, so realistically David Moyes' men have gotta go for a win tonight, unless they fancy their chances with a high-scoring draw. Unlikely, one has to assume.

7.00pm Manchester City v AC Omonia, UEFA Cup, ITV4
Here's how you play the away goals rule, Everton. Man City play hosts to the Cypriots having secured a 2-1 lead in the first leg, so if all goes to plan it'll be a case of 'score an early goal and shut up shop' for Mark Hughes men.

8.00pm Motherwell v AS Nancy, UEFA Cup, BBC1 One Scotland
1-0 down from the away leg, Motherwell find themselves with the daunting task of having to score at least two and stop the Nancy boys* from scoring themselves. They can do it, mind you, and we have every faith that Mark McGhee's men will do to Nancy what they did to St.Mirren at the weekend. (* Sorry.)

9.30pm Vitoria Guimaraes v Portsmouth, UEFA Cup, Five
Harry Redknapp's men have the same remit as Man City tonight - get an early goal and consider the game finished. Pompey won 2-0 at home in the first leg, so viewers of Five might be treated to an early night if Defoe or Crouch can bag one shortly after kick-off.

Friday 3 October

7.00pm Arminia Bielefeld v Karlsruhe, Bundesliga, Setanta Sports 1
Thirteenth plays Fourteenth tonight, and if that doesn't set the pulse racing, perhaps Bielefeld's recent unpredictable form will. Michael Frontzeck's team should have beaten Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday, but a late Benjamin Kohler goal saw the points shared.

Karlsruhe, on the other hand, made the wise decision to score twice before conceding a late goal at home to Wolfsburg and are now looking for a third consecutive victory in the Bundesliga. A win for either side tonight could result in a leap up to mid-table prior to next weekend's matches, and that's just about all the incentive you need (apart from the distinct possibility of overtaking Bayern). Watch with us and see which team "wants it more." (c) Jamie Redknapp.

Haven't we been here before?

For those of you waking up today after a six-week coma, tonight sees one of those once-in-a-lifetime occurrences that heightens the senses and gets every football fan watching in eager anticipation - a Champions League Final between two English clubs.

Over in Moscow, Chelsea and Manchester United will do battle for that ludicrously large piece of silverware resembling one of Liberace's ashtrays as well as the title of 'Champions of Europe'.

But all this business about an all-English Final is actually old hat. There's been an all-English European Final before, and it was so successful that we haven't had one for 36 years. It all happened back in 1972 when no-one had heard of Johan Cruyff and the height of new football kit design meant having a stripe running down the sleeves of your shirt.

Such was the football landscape back then, and in it were two teams intent on being the first to win the brand-new UEFA Cup - Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Along with Southampton and Leeds United, they set out to capture the trophy for England, but little did they know they'd be facing each other in the two-legged Final later that season.

Tottenham entered the competition having finished third in the old First Division in 1971 while Wolves, undoubtedly reaching a peak they hadn't experienced since the 1950's, had ended the campaign in fourth.

Both were bursting with talent that typified the hard but often skilful game played in England at the time. For Spurs there was Pat Jennings in goal, future Premier League manager Joe Kinnear, England international Alan Mullery, Welsh international Mike England, a young Steve Perryman, Martin Chivers and a member of the 1966 World Cup winning team in Martin Peters.

Wolves line-up had less in the way of big name stars, but there was still plenty to give Spurs something to think about. The late, great Derek Dougan led the way up front, backed up by people such as Kenny Hibbitt, John Richards and captain Jim McCalliog.

The UEFA Cup would prove to be a memorable one for both clubs with some impressive results along the way. Tottenham cruised through Round One with a 15-1 aggregate victory over Icelandic side Keflavik while Wolves' 7-1 aggregate victory over Academica of Portugal preceded a 7-0 aggregate win over Den Haag in the next. Spurs nearly met their match when Nantes held them to a narrow 1-0 win over both legs, but from there on in both teams were in unstoppable form.

Tottenham managed to eliminate Rapid Bucharest and AC Milan before reaching the Final but Wolves were determined not to be outdone by brushing aside Carl Zeiss Jena and Juventus in the build-up to the grand finale against their English foes.

And so to that two-legged Final. On May 3rd 1972 it was off to Molineux but it was the away team, Tottenham, that gained a numerical advantage to take back to White Hart Lane. Star Player for the Lilywhites that night was undoubtedly Martin Chivers who bagged a brace either side of a McCalliog goal in the 72nd minute. Chivers ended the game with a total of eight goals from his eleven UEFA Cup matches that season as his club sought to defend their narrow 2-1 lead in the second leg.

Two weeks later, Tottenham did just that. A goal by Alan Mullery in the 29th minute put the home side at ease, and though Wolves' David Wagstaffe got an equaliser five minutes before half time, they were still left to find another goal to level the tie on aggregate. They didn't, and so it was that at the end of the night Tottenham's Alan Mullery lifted the trophy that they'd win again some twelve years later.

An older and wiser Steve Perryman would raise the cup that night, but on May 17th 1972, he was just another member of the victorious Tottenham team that outplayed another English team in the Final, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Football in England was fast approaching such a peak back then that it was acceptable to believe there might be a few more all-English finals, yet we've had to wait all this time for another.

Could it happen again? Quite possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm sitting here writing the next similar article in 2044. Matches like the one taking place tonight don't happen every year, you know...

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 12

Yet another long-running feature reaches its conclusion now at SPAOTP.com as we play our final round of Champions League You Bet.

Let's be honest - we've not done terribly well since we've started. Any hopes we had of making a fortune for our chosen charity have been sadly dashed, but before we try one last time to recoup a little cash for Little League Football, let's remind ourselves that one of the three options in Week 11 would have come up trumps if enough people had voted for it. That should give you enough incentive to think long and hard on this last occasion before selecting the bet you want us to choose this week.

And of course this Wednesday sees the Final of the 2007/2008 Champions League between Chelsea and Manchester United, so it's an extra-special occasion in more ways than one. To add a bit of spice to the proceedings, we've decided to give you not three but five bets to choose from and here they are in all their glory...

Bet A
Three goals scored in the match (not including Extra Time)
Potential winnings: £3.60

Bet B
Cristiano Ronaldo to score first
Potential winnings: £4.50

Bet C
Five minutes of injury time to be played (not including Extra Time)
Potential winnings: £8.00

Bet D
Manchester United to win in Extra Time
Potential winnings: £11.00

Bet E
Chelsea to win 2-0
Potential winnings: £15.00

The choice, as ever, is yours so tell us which one you think we should bet our final £1 stake on and if your opinion coincides with the majority of all those taking part, we will do...

VOTING ON THIS WEEK'S 'YOU BET' HAS NOW CLOSED.
For tonight's Final, the majority of you feel we should bet on Cristiano Ronaldo scoring first. That was Bet B which got 33% of your vote, so keep those fingers crossed, sit back and cheer on your most*/least* favourite Portuguese starlet. You never know - he might just win us some money...

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 11

Oh dear.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

We enter Week 11 of Champions League You Bet with just £3.75 in the kitty.

That's £3.75. Three hundred and seventy-five of your English pence.

We started off with £10 back in September, won £3.75 (ironically) in the first week and lost our £1 stake money every week since. The Champions League Final may yet arrive before we finally lose it all, but there's still time to win some money back for our chosen charity by taking part in this week's vote-off.

This Wednesday's main match (as far as we're concerned) is the semi-final second leg between Liverpool and Chelsea, so as usual, cast your eye over these three potential bets and ponder which one you'd bet £1 on if you had to...

Bet A
Liverpool to win
Potential winnings: £3.60

Bet B
Didier Drogba to score first
Potential winnings: £7.00

Bet C
Steven Gerrard to score first
Potential winnings: £11.00

THE VOTING PERIOD FOR WEEK 11 OF 'CHAMPIONS LEAGUE YOU BET' IS NOW OVER.
Thanks to everyone who voted this time around. The appeal of a simple 'who do you think will win' bet was obviously right up your street this week, as the winning option was Bet A with 60% of your votes.

That means we'll be hoping for Liverpool to beat Chelsea in today's match, and let's face it, with Liverpool's form in Europe you wouldn't bet against it. Well, 40% of you did, but that's beside the point.

Fingers crossed then, ladies and gentlemen, and let's hope we can prize £3.60 from the tight grip of our chosen bookmaker this week...

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 10

Apologies for the absence of 'Champions League You Bet' last time around. Circumstances beyond my control, I'm afraid ('being on holiday' being a more useful explanation), but it's back, back, back once again in time for the Champions League semi-finals, you lucky people...

As has been said during every week of this feature since the dawn of time, we're struggling to raise some money for our favourite football-related charity on account of the fact that our bets haven't been coming up trumps - a lesson in why not to gamble if ever there was one - but we remain determined to improve on our initial £10 stake until the very last kick of the 2008 Final.

This week, we're focussing solely on the first leg of the semi-final between Barcelona and Manchester United that's taking place this Wednesday. All you have to do is choose the bet you think is most likely to bring in some winnings and make your selection accordingly. Here's this week's three options for you to survey, and study them carefully as we don't want any more careless selections like we've had for the previous eight weeks (ahem...)

Bet A
Samuel Eto'o to score first
Potential winnings: £7.00

Bet B
Man United to win 2-1
Potential winnings: £10.00

Bet C
Rio Ferdinand to score at any time
Potential winnings: £17.00

VOTING FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 'YOU BET' WEEK 10 HAS NOW CLOSED.
Thank you to everyone that took the time to vote on this week's You Bet. With a 53% share, Bet B was the winner, so keep your fingers crossed that Manchester United can beat Barcelona 2-1 in today's semi-final first leg!

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 9

So here we are in the Last Eight stage of the Champions League with four English teams remaining. We could talk 'til forever about the whys and wherefores of that particular situation, but we have other fish to fry - namely how we're going to salvage a nice little sum of money for our chosen charity, Little League Football.

In case you're joining us late, SPAOTP has a challenge running throughout this season's Champions League whereby a £1 bet is being put on an outcome of your choice. Any winnings we recover go back into the kitty and whatever we win at the end of the competition goes off to Little League Football as they attempt to develop football for children throughout the UK who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Anyway, the thing is our kitty is now running a little low having seen £1 stake after £1 stake leave our tight clutches, but all is not lost for this week we have another selection of bets for you to peruse. Take a look at these three options and as ever choose the one you think is most likely to happen...

Bet A
Arsenal v Liverpool
Fernando Torres to score first
Potential winnings: £6.00

Bet B
Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Frank Lampard to score first
Potential winnings: £9.00

Bet C
Fenerbahce v Chelsea
Fenerbahce to be leading at half-time and the match to end as a draw
Potential winnings: £15.00

VOTING FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 'YOU BET' WEEK 9 HAS NOW CLOSED.
With 47% of your votes, this week's winning option was Bet A - Fernando Torres to score first in the match between Arsenal and Liverpool. Thanks very much for taking part in 'You Bet' this week - 'You Bet' will return in a fortnight...

Champions League: Last 8 Analysis

With Liverpool winning the second leg of their First Knockout Round tie against Internazionale last night, we now know the line-up for the quarter finals of this season's Champions League. It is:

Arsenal (ENG)
Barcelona (SPA)
Chelsea (ENG)
Fenerbahçe (TUR)
Liverpool (ENG)
Manchester United (ENG)
Milan (ITA)
Schalke 04 (GER)

No prizes for spotting that for the first time in Champions League history, one country (England) has four teams representing it in the last eight. Reason to celebrate and rejoice if you're English, then, but one is reminded that even with three teams in the last four in 2006/07, England did not provide the eventual winners of the competition.

Still, it's a great achievement and one that English football fans should be proud of, but of the other four teams that remain this season, can any of them stop an English team lifting the trophy?

First of all there's Schalke 04 who finished runners-up to Chelsea in Group B of the First Round and couldn't beat them in either of their two games. At Stamford Bridge, the Germans lost 2-0 while a 0-0 draw in the return match left us in no doubt who the better of the two sides were there. Schalke also lost to Valencia in the same group, so perhaps the English sides have nothing to fear on that front

Roma were second only to Man United in First Round Group F, and though they avoided another 7-1 thrashing like the one they endured last season, they still lost 1-0 at Old Trafford and 0-0 in Rome. The Italians have been a tough team to beat in the earlier stages and could well scupper one of the English teams' hopes.

Fenerbahçe were the runners-up in Group G behind Inter, but if they have a weakness it's their away form. Despite winning all three of their home ties, away from Turkey they could only draw two and lose the other. Good for only one leg of their quarter-final match, perhaps? We shall see…

Finally there's Barcelona, and there's not much to tell you about them that you don't already know. They finished Group E unbeaten with four wins and two draws, and they fair old steamrollered through Stuttgart, Rangers and Lyon. Winners of the Champions League in 2006, their hopes of regaining the title last year were undone by Liverpool in the first knockout round, so perhaps The Reds will fancy their chances again this season?

Let's wait and see. For now we can only lick our lips at the prospect of some of the English teams meeting each other before or during the Final, but a game against Barcelona somewhere between now and May could be just as mouthwatering.

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 8

It's You Bet time again and I'm sad to report we failed to win some money for Little League Football again a fortnight ago.

But as the old saying goes, where there's hope, there's life so let's redouble our efforts once again and try to pick a winner from this week's selection of potential bets.

Though we usually feature three Wednesday night games involving British sides, we can't this week as only Chelsea are playing, so we're casting our net a little wider across Europe this time. Perhaps it'll bring us a bit of luck, eh?

Anyway, here are the three choices for this week:

Bet A
Porto v Schalke 04
Both teams to draw
Potential winnings: £3.00

Bet B
Chelsea v Olympiakos
Chelsea to win 1-0
Potential winnings: £6.00

Bet C
Real Madrid v Roma
Robinho to score first
Potential winnings: £8.00

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR 'YOU BET' WEEK 8.
Thanks to all of you that took part in 'You Bet' this time around. With 64% of the votes, we'll be putting our £1 charity bet on Chelsea to beat Olympiakos 1-0, so keep those fingers crossed and hope that the Greek club make a reasonable fight of it...

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 7

Welcome back to Champions League 'You Bet' where, if you recall from a couple of months ago, we were desperately failing to generate some money for our chosen charity.

Yes, our only win since this fund-raising exercise began was in our very first week and since then our not-particularly-hard-earned winnings have been frittering away like Liverpool's chances of playing in Europe next season.

So now we're back again from our winter betting break and it's time to start making some money for Little League Football. To that end, we invite you to cast your peepers on the following three options, one of which we will be betting our £1 on come Wednesday...

Bet A
Celtic v Barcelona
Thierry Henry to score first
Potential winnings: £5.00

Bet B
Lyon v Manchester United
United to win 2-0
Potential winnings: £10.00

Bet C
Arsenal v Milan
Teams to draw 2-2
Potential winnings: £15.00

And now all you need to do is pick the option you think's most likely to happen and place your bet accordingly below. The one with the most votes at 7pm (GMT) on Wednesday night is the one we'll bet our £1 on. You need not part with any money of your own and your house is not at risk if you fail to keep up repayments on your mortgage.

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED ON WEEK 7 OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 'YOU BET'.

As we've mentioned all too often before, all winnings go back into the kitty and when the Champions League Final takes place in May, we'll see how much we've got and send it off to Little League Football. If we've got any by then, that is.

Keep those fingers crossed, folks, and let's hope for a win again this Wednesday!

UPDATE...
We've had a great response to this week's You Bet, so thanks to everyone that took part. After a close start, Bet B finally became our clear winner with 63% of the vote with Bet A coming in second with 29% and Bet C finishing last with just 8%.

All of which means we'll be keeping our fingers crossed for Man United to win 2-0 in Lyon, and if they don't, we'll be writing a strongly-worded letter to Sir Alex Ferguson. So there.

Winter draws on

As always with cup competitions, it was a very 'mixed bag' of an affair for British clubs in todays Champions League and UEFA cup draws.

The stand out tie of the Champions League has to be Arsenal v AC Milan. Milan arent as strong as they have been in recent years and have yet to win at home in Serie A, but their techincal ability against Wengers attacking side should prove to be a very interesting 180 minutes of football.

As for the other Milano side, well its a trip to Merseyside for them for another great looking tie. If you look up the phrase 'in-form' on wikipedia it has an image of the Inter Milan badge. Thats because Inter have won 12 and drawn 4 of there 16 Serie A games, conceeding only 8 goals.

The Champions League draw in full
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Manchester United
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla

As for the Wafer Cup, well some clubs got lucky... others *cough*Aberdeen*cough* didnt. Aberdeen face Bayern Munich, Bolton face Athletico Madrid and Rangers face Panathinaikos. Everton and Spurs have the comparatively simpler tasks of SK Brann and Slavia Prague respectively.

Draw for the last 32
Aberdeen v Bayern Munich
AEK Athens v Getafe
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen
Anderlecht v Bordeaux
SK Brann v Everton
FC Zurich v Hamburg
Rangers v Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven v Helsingborg
Slavia Prague v Tottenham
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Sporting Lisbon v Basle
Werder Bremen v Braga
Benfica v Nuremburg
Marseille v Spartak Moscow

Draw for the last 16
Anderlecht/Bordeaux v Aberdeen/Bayern Munich
Rangers/Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen/Braga
Bolton/Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon/Basle
Galatasaray/Leverkusen v FC Zurich/Hamburg
AEK Athens/Getafe v Benfica/Nuremburg
Rosenborg/Fiorentina v SK Brann/Everton
Slavia Prague/Tottenham v PSV Eindhoven/Helsingborg
Marseille/Spartak Moscow v Zenit St Petersburg/Villarreal

Roll on February when it all kicks-off again.

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 6

OK folks, here's the situation. We need to start winning some of these bets, and we need to start winning fast. Actually, come to think of it, we need to start providing you with some decent choices that could result in us winning money, and fast.

So to that end, here are this week's three options for you to choose from. Oh, and if you haven't the foggiest idea what the hell we're talking about, click on the 'Week 1' link to the right in the Champions League You Bet section. It's all explained there.

Bet A
Arsenal v Steaua Bucharest
Adebayor to score first
Potential winnings: £4.50

Bet B
Rangers v Lyon
Rangers to win 2-1
Potential winnings: £11.00

Bet C
Roma v Manchester United
Man U winning at Half Time, Roma winning at Full Time.
Potential winnings: £26.00

Quite a tempting selection, we think you'll agree. Just use the buttons below and tell us which one you think we should put our £1 bet on, and with any luck, we'll have our coffers overflowing with wealth once again. All for charity of course. Not a penny goes into our pockets. Honest.

UPDATE:

The public has spoken. The public has opted for Bet C - Man U winning at Half Time, Roma winning at Full Time, which could swell our coffers quite considerably.

Fingers crossed...

Champions League 'You Bet' - Week 5

Apologies for the slight lateness in bringing you the latest round of Champions League You Bet, but here we are again hoping that you can help us raise lots of lovely lolly for charity.

The charity in question is Little League Football, a cause that hopes to make it easier for young children in the UK to play for a local team regardless of availability or cost. By engaging the community, Little League Football hopes to get kids into football much earlier so that their passion for the game and skills have longer to develop. The end result will hopefully be a whole new generation of star players that we don't even know exist yet, but that can only happen if you make a generous contribution to their charity or by taking part in our You Bet competition to help raise a decent-sized sum of money.

And so to the job in hand. This week, as with every other, we have £1 just waiting to be placed on a bet which ultimately you will dictate. We give you three to choose from and all you have to do is pick the one you like the sound of most. If the bet wins, the money goes straight back into our 'kitty' and when the Champions League Final has been played next year, all money accrued will go off to Little League Football. Simple as... beating England.

Now last time around you may remember that we lost out again so that means our kitty now contains less money than we started for the first time since we started. We can easily put that right though, so let's see what the offerings are for this week:

Bet A
Rosenborg v Chelsea
Draw
Potential winnings: £3.50

Bet B
Liverpool v Porto
Steven Gerrard to score from outside the penalty area
Potential winnings: £8.00

Bet C
Celtic v Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar to win 2-1
Potential winnings: £15.00

So which of those do you think could bring us wealth beyond our wildest dreams? Make your choice and let us know by using the voting facility below. You have until 7pm GMT on Wednesday 28 November 2007 to tell us, so choose carefully and good luck!

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED
Unfortunately the voting period for Week 5 of You Bet is now over. With 56% of the vote, the winner this week is Bet B - Steven Gerrard to score from outside the box. Let's hope Stevie G has his sights set from a long way out tonight. Thanks to all of you who voted and good luck to us all!