Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Live - Wednesday football

GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times BST)

606: DEBATE
Your thoughts on the action

To get involved use 606 or text us your views & comments on 81111. (Not all contributions can be used)

By Caroline Cheese

1946: And they're off.

1942: The Apoel Nicosia fans are holding up coloured placards in the shape of their logo as the teams arrive on the pitch. Terrific atmosphere at the GSP Stadium.

From Rob, London, via text on 81111: "I don't see the quality Wolfsburg attack receiving enough service, United will boss the midfield and run out 4-0 winners."

1934: Oh don't worry, you'll get Football League updates. You can be sure of that. Newcastle can go five points clear at the top of the Championship with victory over QPR - who are in a bit of form themselves. Nottingham Forest will leapfrog Scunthorpe with a win over the Iron. And in League Two, Chesterfield host Grimsby. Mid-table that one.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti: "I've never seen an easy game in the Champions League. It's important. We want to do better than Saturday against Wigan. I think we are ready. Apoel play with good organisation. They're very compact. They showed that against Atletico Madrid."

From a referee in Warrington via text on 81111: "A shout out to Howard Webb, who has a huge game in Munich tonight. He's as much chance of being in the World Cup Finals next year as any Englishman."

From David in Repton via text on 81111: "Fergie has surprised me with selection. Midfield pair have slipped from favour this season. So to see both is a concern. Let's hope Owen is ready to make an impact."

1921: And there is the final whistle at the Luzhniki Stadium. Juande Ramos's CSKA are off the mark in Group B, while Besiktas are still pointless. Manchester United and Wolfsburg make up the rest of that group.

1920: Ismail Koybasi flicks the ball up and volleys it left-footed into the roof of the net. Fabulous strike. Shame it's only a consolation for Besiktas, who are now 2-1 down at CSKA with seconds remaining.

From BullOnParade on 606: "I'm really looking forward to the Man Utd game, Wolfsburg are a very exciting team and Utd are in for a shock if they underestimate them."

1917: Elsewhere tonight, goal-shy AC Milan must surely beat FC Zurich if Leonardo is going to hang on to his job as manager of the Rossoneri. Bayern Munich, who have had an up-and-down start under Louis van Gaal, host Juventus in a European giants derby. And Real Madrid will beat Marseille at the Bernabeu. No, honestly, they will.


1912: TEAM NEWS Man Utd v Wolfsburg
Manchester United make five changes from their 2-0 win at Stoke on Saturday, with Tomasz Kuszczak taking over from Ben Foster in goal and Anderson, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen all starting. Wolfsburg go with two up front in Grafite and Ezin Dzeko, so Obafemi Martins has to settle for a place on the bench.

1910: TEAMS Man Utd v Wolfsburg
Man Utd: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Anderson, Giggs, Owen, Rooney. Subs: Foster, Brown, Berbatov, Nani, Scholes, Fabio Da Silva, Fletcher.
Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Riether, Madlung, Ricardo Costa, Schafer, Josue, Hasebe, Misimovic, Gentner, Dzeko, Grafite. Subs: Lenz, Martins, Santana, Ziani, Pekarik, Dejagah, Barzagli.

From JP, expecting a surprise at Old Trafford, via text on 81111 "Re 1845: The Liverpool game is the exception that proves the rule. All home wins tonight except Wolfsburg, predictable."

1906: Manchester United, meanwhile, are up against German champions Wolfsburg, who play their first away Champions League game tonight. "So what's Wolfsburg like?" our own Jonathan Stevenson asked Die Wolfe's summer signing Obafemi Martins a few days ago. "Um, it's the home of Volkswagen but there is not much really to say," chuckled the former Newcastle striker.


1903: "A team like Chelsea need no introduction," says Apoel coach Ivan Jovanovic. But a team like Apoel Nicosia might. The Cypriot champions defeated Copenhagen to get to this stage and opened their Group D campaign with a 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid. They haven't been in great form domestically though. Having suffered just four defeats in the whole of last season, they've already lost twice this season.

1900: TEAM NEWS Apoel Nicosia v Chelsea
Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole has recovered from a knee problem and plays, but there are three changes from the side that lost to Wigan. John Mikel Obi is out injured so Juliano Belletti will play in the holding midfield role. Striker Didier Drogba and right-back Jose Bosingwa are suspended and they are replaced by Salomon Kalou and Branislav Ivanovic. Apoel Nicosia are without Polish strikers Adrian Sikora and Marcin Zewlakow as well as defenders Joost Broerse and Paolo Jorge because of injury.

1858: TEAMS Apoel Nicosia v Chelsea
Apoel Nicosia: Chiotis, Poursaitides, Kontis, Grncarov, Haxhi, Charalambidis, Morais, Michael, Alexandrou, Pinto, Mirosavljevic. Subs: Kissas, Papathanasiou, Kosowski, Satsias, Elia, Jean Paulista, Breska.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Belletti, Essien, Lampard, Kalou, Anelka, Malouda. Subs: Hilario, Joe Cole, Zhirkov, Deco, Sturridge, Hutchinson, Bruma.

1855: Busy afternoon for me, submitting my latest feature proposal to be filed in the folder marked 'bin'. Does marriage improve a player? Fergie says he's "always been an advocate of players being married and settled down". He said this with the unmarried Jonny Evans sitting next to him, and not realising Evans' girlfriend was sitting among the assembled journalists. "Get him tied down, dear," responds Fergie, to much curling of toes all round.

1851: Football eh? Besiktas are now 2-0 down. Anyway, your thoughts would be quite welcome on 81111, 606 or Twitter.

1849: So who might spring a surprise today? Well, it doesn't look like being Besiktas, currently 1-0 down to a wonder strike from CSKA Moscow's Alan Dzagoyev at the impregnable Luzhniki Stadium.

1845: Hello there. Yesterday, at about this time, Stevo launched a passionate(ish) defence of the Champions League group stages. I respect and admire your enthusiasm Stevo, I thought to myself, but the fact is the group stages are predictable, they are nothing but a money-making exercise, and they are meaningless. And then Fiorentina beat Liverpool.

о 8:45 AM

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