Champions League Matchday 3 Wednesday LiveBlog

Here we go again, with the all-eight-games-at-once Champions League LiveBlogagtacular.

So congrats to mele419, whose prediction of 17 goals was spot on. And thanks to every for reading/commenting. We’ll do this again for Matchday 4 when things start getting serious.

Full-Time:
PSV 2-0 Marseille
Chelsea 1-0 Roma
Atletico 1-1 Liverpool
Basel 0-5 Barcelona
Inter 1-0 Anorthosis
Bordeaux 1-0 Cluj
Shakhtar 0-1 Sporting
Panathinaikos 2-2 Bremen

That’s 17 goals so far, as mele419 predicted. But Laurie had 18, so one more and Laurie snatches victory.

Bremen have equalized through Hugo Almeida, making it Pana 2-2 Bremen.

Late flurry of goals brings us to 16 total, giving us a tie between Al (15) and mele419 (17).

85′ Koevermans has a second, so it’s PSV 2-0 Marseille

83′ Atletico 1-1 Liverpool – Simao has the equalizer. Got to say that justice is done there. Keane was maybe offside for his goal and Maniche’s disallowed goal was definitely onside.

76′ Liedson has given Sporting the lead in Ukraine. Shakhtar 0-1 Sporting CP. That was the last goalless game to fall.

76′ John Terry gets his head to a corner and it’s Chelsea 1-0 Roma. Looks like he hurt himself doing it too. Here’s a prediction: John Terry will retire relatively early. No human body can take that much punishment and keep going.

71′ Goal in Eindhoven. Koevermans scores and it’s PSV 1-0 Marseille

68′ Matsioz strikes again and Bremen are now behind in Greece. Panathinaikos 2-1 Bremen

Total goals scored stands at 10 with 25 minutes to go. Looking like Chris’s prediction of 11 could win it. Al predicted 15, so if we say closest wins then Al needs the total to reach at least 14 to snatch prediction victory. 13 would be a tie. That sound fair?

61′ Liverpool take a gamble: all action midfielder Steven Gerrard off, rubbish rapper Ryan Babel on. Sample lyric:

“Rappin’ is my hobby
Rappers don’t want trouble
I’m the Liverpool-star those bitches are giving me Love
I know what time it is, I’ve just buy a new watch”

60′ Somehow, Barcelona haven’t scored for about 10 minutes.

55′ Bordeaux are 1-0 ahead against Cluj. Own goal for Cadu. Still 0-0 between Chelsea and Roma. Group A’s going be complicated.

55′ Maniche has it in the net for Atletico, but it’s ruled out for offside. Even though he was clearly two yards onside. Atletico have been robbed. And then Simao hits the post.

50′ Ladies and gents it’s now Basel 0-5 Barcelona. Bojan has added a second, and Xavi is also on the scoresheet. My prediction of 25 goals might still be good if Barca keep scoring.

45′ Alright, Aguero is on for Atletico, so hopefully he’ll liven up that game.

Question: Was Robbie Keane offside for his goal?

So seven goals in the first half. If we continue at the same rate then Al’s prediction of 15 will be closest.

Here are the half-time scores:

Bordeaux 0-0 Cluj
Chelsea 0-0 Roma
Inter 1-0 Anorthosis
Panathinaokis 1-1 Bremen
Shakhtar 0-0 Sporting
Basel 0-3 Barcelona
Atletico 0-1 Liverpool
PSV 0-0 Marseille

HALF-TIME being blown around Europe.

44′ Adriano has broken the dealock in Italy, where it’s now Inter 1-0 Anorthosis.

37′ Liverpool’s Albert Riera just got a yellow for diving. Harsh, as there was some contact (though not enough for a pen.) I’m sure that booking will please The Special One.

33′ Mantzios has equalized in Greece, so now it’s Panathinaikos 1-1 Bremen. Here’s everything I know about Mantzios:

…

29′ Panathinaikos 0-1 Bremen Per Mertesacker on the scoresheet. Great start for our new Bremen blogger Jackson.

26′ So… at what point do we see Aguero now that Atletico are losing at home? Half-time?

22′ 3-0 to Barca in Basel. Bojan has his name on the scoresheet. That’s starting to look nasty for Basel.

20′ Twenty minutes in and just three goals total. This time yesterday every single player already had a hat-trick.

15′ Another one for Barca. This times it’s Busquets. So now we have Basel 0-2 Barcelona, and I predict that scoreline will steadily grow.

100% agree with Chris’s letter to ESPN yesterday, their Champions League coverage is far too Prem-centric. But I will say this: ESPN has much improved its use of graphics. Used to be impossible to see the game for all the crap on the screen. Now it’s just score in the top left and a tiny “live” in the top right corner. If only we could get rid of the ticker…

13′ Atletico 0-1 Liverpool Robbie Keane runs onto a Gerrard through ball and slots it home. Who needs El Nino?

4′ Basel 0-1 Barcelona – Messi has scored already.

Shakhtar vs Sporting ruins the Euro-wide symmetry by kicking off three minutes late.

If anyone predicted zero total goals for the day, you’re in the lead so far.

0′ We are underway. Impressively, both Atletico vs Liverpool and Chelsea vs Roma kicked off perfectly simultaneously.

OK, 15 minutes until kickoff. I’ve got the Atletico vs Liverpool game on ESPN2 and various streams via the ever helpful myp2p.eu. Chris has also embedded a variety of Chelsea vs Roma streams here.

Latest total goals predictions for today:

Daryl: 25
Rob: 20.5
Laurie: 18
Mele419: 17
Al: 15
Chris: 11

Totti is starting for Roma (aka AS Hospital Ward) against Chelsea

Mourinho is unleashing the Inter trident of Adriano, Ibrahimovic and Mancini against Anorthosis.

Eto’o, Henry and Iniesta all sit on the Barca bench today. Young Bojan Krkic starts up front, supported by Messi and Hleb. FC Basel will have to hope for the best against their offspring.

No Torres in the Atletico vs Liverpool game (injured) but surprisingly Liverpool have benched two goal weekend hero Dirk Kuyt and gone with Robbie Keane up front. Did someone say rotation? Atletico are doing it too, with top scorer Kun Aguero “rested.” What is this? The Carling Cup?

Yesterday’s eight games brought us an insane 36 goals. That’s 4.5 goals per game, and early arthritis for poor Chris. Here are today’s games:

Bordeaux vs Cluj
Chelsea vs Roma
Inter vs Anorthosis
Panathinaokis vs Bremen
Shakhtar vs Sporting
Basel vs Barcelona
Atletico vs Liverpool
PSV vs Marseille
(all kickoffs 2045 CET, 1945 GMT, 1445 EST)

So, early guesses please: if yesterday saw 36 total goals then how many will we see today? I’m going for a more conservative 25.

Predictions so far (in highest to lowest order):

Daryl: 25
Rob: 20.5
Laurie: 18
Chris: 11

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Category: Champions League