Live The Pitch » Champions League

Inter Milan Advance To Face Bayern Munich

Jeff Ramos — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:12:15 +0000

Inter Milan will face Bayern Munich in the final of the UEFA Champions League after advancing over Barcelona with a 3-2 aggregate score. Inter were dominated throughout the match playing a man down for the final sixty minutes after Thiago Motta received a controversial red card in the 28th minute. It was a terrible decision by the referee to send off Motta after replays showed he just committed a simple foul with no harm intended.

Playing a man down, Inter’s defense was spectacular. The back line kept their shape and organization frustrating Barcelona going forward throughout the match. Possession was inside Inter’s half almost the entire match. Barcelona finally broke through the Inter defense in the 84th minute with a great goal by Gerard Pique. Pique received a great through ball and circled with the ball at his feet faking out Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar before finding the open net.

Inter would hold off Barcelona for the remainder of the match as it finished 1-0. Inter should be proud of their defensive effort against the hottest team in the world. The final will be a great match between two powerhouse clubs on May 22 in Madrid.

Here is the full story from FoxSoccer.com with highlights-Inter advances to Champions League Final

Inter Milan-Barcelona Prediction

Jeff Ramos — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:05:17 +0000

In the second semifinal tomorrow, Inter Milan will take on Barcelona. Inter hold a 3-1 advantage after their first leg victory in Italy. Barcelona were the favorites to advance to the final but Inter showed up ready to play in the first leg and surprised the world. Barcelona has a huge mountain to climb and must hold Inter scoreless to have a shot. Barcelona did manage to score one away goal which gives them little hope of advancing.

In the first leg, Lionel Messi was held in check by Inter. I don’t see this happening again tomorrow. Messi is the best player in the world and will not go down without a fight in front of his home fans. For Inter to advance they will need another big match from their stout back four. The Brazilian Maicon is a lethal threat coming forward from right back.

I am going to predict a 3-0 Barcelona victory on Wednesday. I like Barcelona to come back and play with the ability we are all accustomed to. Look for Xavi Hernandez to have a huge match along with Messi giving the Inter defense fits all night.

Bayern Advance After Dismantling of Lyon

Jeff Ramos — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:14:05 +0000

Bayern Munich secured a spot in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League final in Madrid after crushing Lyon 3-0 in the second leg of their semifinal. Bayern are firing on all cylinders at the moment. Ivica Olic continued his fantastic play netting a hat trick in the win. The Croatian has been unstoppable the past few weeks finishing everything that comes his way.

After watching Bayern the past few weeks they look tough to beat! Bayern advance with a total aggregate score of 4-0.

Here is the full story from Fox Sports along with video Highlights-Olic sends Bayern into European final

Robben Leads Bayern Munich Past Lyon

Jeff Ramos — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:58:32 +0000

Arjen Robben proved once again he is in the prime of his career after scoring his fourth goal of this years Champions League competion leading Bayern Munich to a 1-0 win over Lyon. Robben was by far the best player on the pitch showing the world his great creativity on the ball. Bayern dominated the fixture from whistle to whistle frustrating Lyon in every aspect of the game.

In the first half Bayern had some decent chances at goal, but failed to capitalize. The story of the first half was the sending off of Franck Ribery in the 37th minute. It was a controversial straight red card from referee Roberto Rosetti. Ribery went in to a tackle studs up after losing the ball to the Lyon defense. The red was a bit harsh but FIFA rules say it’s worthy of a straight red.

The second half would again be dictated by the referee. In a matter of five minutes Jeremy Toulalan received two yellow cards and was sent off in the 54th minute. The first yellow was well deserved but the second was extremely soft. It was almost like the referee was waiting to even the match up.

Bayern would take the lead in the 69th minute when Robben struck a laser from 30 yards out that seemed to take a slight deflection before hitting the back of the net. Robben was threatening all night and finally got some room and made Lyon pay.

The Germans will be very pleased with this outcome. Going into halftime Bayern looked as if they were in for a long night and being at home knew they needed a good result. Bayern manager Luis van Gaal deserves the credit for keeping his team focused on the task at hand.

Barcelona Stunned at the San Siro

Jeff Ramos — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:10:12 +0000

In the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho had to be concerned with the form of Barcelona in recent weeks. Mourinho and Inter knew they would have to play their best soccer to get a good result against arguably one of the best teams in recent history. Inter decided to play its best match of the season at the right time defeating the defending champions 3-1.

Inter though would start flat allowing Barcelona to take the early 1-0 lead in the 19th minute off a goal from Pedro. Pedro found himself on the end of a great ball from Maxwell streaking up the left side to give the visitors the early lead. Barcelona looked as if they would take care of business as usual, but things would change shortly.

Inter would soon take over the match in the midfield and tie the match in the 30th minute when Wesley Sneijder hit the back of the net. Sneijder was left wide open on the back post and slotted the ball past a helpless Valdes.

The hosts would take the lead for good short after the break in the 48th minute when Maicon slithered through the Barcelona defense to score the go ahead goal. As a right back Maicon is an excellent goal scorer that has to be treated like a striker.

There was a bit of controversy in the 61st minute when Sneijder once again found himself open on the back post and headed the ball back across the goal to Milito who flicked a header into the back of the net. The Barcelona players were very upset with the assistant referee as it looked as Milito was in an offside position. Assistant referees are under an extreme amount of pressure to make the right calls and it was too close to call.

The defending champions need a huge performance next week if they want to repeat. If any team can come back from a two goal deficit it’s Barcelona. Lionel Messi will have to have more of an impact next week. Inter bottled him up and didn’t allow him any space to create chances. Our man of the match is Wesley Sneijder who was a constant threat out of the midfield for Inter.

UEFA Champions League Video Highlights

Jeff Ramos — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:36:24 +0000

Manchester United 3-2 Bayern Munich
4-4 Aggregate- Bayern Munich advances with a 2-1 advantage on away goals.

Inter Milan 1-0 CSKA Moscow
Inter advances over CSKA Moscow with a 2-0 aggregate score.

Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal
Barcelona advances over Arsenal with a 6-3 aggregate score.

Bordeaux 1 – 0 Lyon
Uploaded by nongcream7. – Basketball, baseball, pro wrestling and more sports videos.
Bordeaux 1-0 Lyon

Lyon advance over Bordeaux with a 3-2 aggregate score.

UEFA Champions League Highlights

Jeff Ramos — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:52:55 +0000

Bayern Munich 2-1 Manchester United

2′ Wayne Rooney-Manchester United

76′ Franck Ribery- Bayern Munich

90′ Ivica Olic- Bayern Munich

Lyon 3 – 1 Bordeaux
10′ Lisandro Lopez- Lyon
14′ Marouane Chamakh-Bordeaux
32′ Michel Fernandes Bastos-Lyon
77′ Lisandro López-Lyon

Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona

46′ Zlatan Ibrahimovic- Barcelona

59′ Zlatan Ibrahimovic- Barcelona

69′ Theo Walcott- Arsenal

85′ Cesc Fabregas-Arsenal

Inter Milan 1-0 CSKA Moscow

65′ Alberto Diego Milito

UEFA Champions League Brackets Set

Jeff Ramos — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:58:35 +0000

Here are the brackets for the 09/10 UEFA Champions League. Also we have included two teams from each group that we believe will advance to the round of 16. Here at Livethepitch.com we will have plenty of updates to come!

Lionel Messi looks to lead Barcelona to another title.

GROUP A

1. Bayern

2. Juventus

3. Bordeaux

4. Maccabi Haifa

We see Bayern and Juventus moving through.

GROUP B

1. Manchester United

2. CSKA Moskva

3. Besiktas

4. Wolfsburg

Manchester United should have no problem getting through along with CSKA Moskva.

GROUP C

1. AC Milan

2. Real Madrid

3. Marseille

4. Zurich

AC Milan and Madrid should coast through this group.

GROUP D

1. Chelsea

2. Porto

3. Atletico

4. Apoel

Chelsea should dominate this group with Porto sneaking in the second round.

GROUP E

1. Liverpool

2. Lyon

3. Fiorentina

4. Debrecen

Liverpool looks too strong to not get through along with a tough Lyon side.

GROUP F

1. FC Barcelona

2. Inter Milan

3. Dynamo Kyiv

4. Rubin

This is a very intriguing group but we see Barcelona and Inter Milan advancing.

GROUP G

1. Sevilla

2. Rangers

3. Stuttgart

4. Unirea Urziceni

Sevilla should coast through and we see Stuttgart also moving on.

GROUP H

1. Arsenal

2. AZ Alkmaar

3. Olympiacos

4. Standard

Arsenal ans Olympiacos should move on from Group H.

Man U Advances to Semi’s

Jeff Ramos — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:14:18 +0000

Manchester United took the next step in repeating as the top team in the UEFA Champions League Wednesday, April 15, at Dragao Stadium in Porto, Portugal. Man. U squeezed out at 1-0 victory against FC Porto to advance to the semifinal round in the final phase of this year’s tournament.

For the first five minutes both teams played possession soccer as each team was trying to feel out the other squad. In the sixth minute Cristiano Ronaldo changed all that when he received the ball around 40 yards out.

He took 2 quick touches and drilled home the goal of the year. The Porto keeper had absolutely no chance as Ronaldo scored one for the ages.

The rest of the half was dominated by Manchester United. Nemanja Vidic of United should have made it 2-0 right before half, but his shot from inside the six went flying over the cross bar.

In the second half FC Porto came out with a purpose to tie the game, but United’s back line proved to be up to the challenge. In my opinion Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were the players of the match.

Porto had a few decent chances but could not break through the Manchester defense. Overall this was not a bad performance by The Red Devils, but their play will have to improve if they hope to advance.

Good luck in the semifinals!

Chelsea vs. Liverpool – Champions League Game of The Year!

Jeff Ramos — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:23:09 +0000

There is no doubt that watching the final leg of the quarterfinal between Liverpool and Chelsea was a treat for us all. Chelsea went into the game with a score of 3-1 on aggregate so Liverpool had a huge mountain to climb. This was a back and forth affair that no one wanted to end. It had the making of on of the greatest matches in recent history between two English Premier league powers.

The scoring started when Fabio Aurelio of Liverpool struck a free kick to the near post completely fooling Chelsea gk Petr Cech. It was just awful goalkeeping from arguably one of the best keepers in the world. Liverpool made it 2-0 with Xabi Alonso finishing off a penalty into the left corner of the net. Overall both teams had their share of chances in the first half but Liverpool still needed more.

The second half of the match in my opinion was the best half of soccer I have seen in a long time….

Didier Drogba got Chelsea on the board with a flick off a cross that cought the Liverpool keeper off guard in the 51st minute. Then just six minutes later Chelsea defender Alex struck the goal of the year. From about 25 yards out Chelsea was awarded a direct free kick that Alex surprisingly struck and he hit a perfect shot that was knuckling from his initial impact of the ball.

Liverpool would change thier tactics throughout the second half and now needing a miracle they were caught pushing players forward when Frank Lampard found the net in the 76th minute. Chelsea took the lead 3-2 and it seemed there was no hope for Liverpool. Yet they would not give up.

Liverpool came back and score again off a deflection in the 81st minute with Lucas getting credit for it. Just one minute later Dirk Kuyt would net home a great header from a cross from the outside midfield. This made the score 4-3 Liverpool with Chelsea looking stunned on the field.

Liverpool was extremely close to netting a 5th if not for Michael Essien saving a shot off the line with his head. Liverpool was pushing everyone forward trying to get one more goal when Frank Lampard put Chelsea into the next round in the 89th minute with a shot that hit both posts!

Final Score 4-4! Chelsea advances to the semifinals with a final score of 7-5.