English Premier League (Home team listed first, all times AM unless otherwise noted)
7:45 ET Saturday
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa (ESPN2)
10:00 ET Saturday
Birmingham v Sunderland
Burnley v Wigan Athletic
Hull City v Portsmouth
Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City
Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers
9:30 ET Sunday
Bolton Wanderers v Everton
10:00 ET Sunday
Liverpool v Manchester United
11:00 ET Sunday
Manchester City v Fulham
12:15 PM ET Sunday
West Ham v Arsenal
Scottish Premier League
10:00 ET Saturday
Rangers v Hibernian
8:30 ET Sunday
Hamilton Academical v Celtic
Spain’s La Liga
15:00 ET (3:00 PM ET) Saturday
Sporting Gijon v Real Madrid
16:00 ET Sunday
Barcelona v Real Zaragoza
Italy’s Serie A
15:45 ET Saturday
Inter Milan v Catania
10:00 ET Sunday
AS Roma v Livorno
Siena v Juventus
15:45 ET Sunday
Chievo Verona v AC Milan
German Bundesliga
9:30 ET Saturday
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt
French Ligue 1
Dutch Eredivisie
Russian Premier League
Champions League
With the games of this past week, we are now officially halfway through the group stage of the Champions League. The top two teams from each group will qualify to the knockout round, and the third placed team drops down to the knockout round of the Europa League (Formerly the UEFA Cup). In the group stage, there are 8 groups of four teams each. Each team will play each other team once at home and once away. Here are the tables along with some commentary:
Group A
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Bordeaux | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Juventus | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bayern Munich | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 0 | 0 | 3 | -5 | 0 |
The only team effectively eliminated at this point is Isreal’s Maccabi Haifa. Bayern and Juventus were the two favorites to make it through to the next round, and that is still a fairly likely occurrence. Bayern still gets Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa at home, but lost at Bordeaux 2-1 this past match day. Bordeaux got an impressive away draw at Juventus on the first match day.
Group B
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Manchester United | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Wolfsburg | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| CSKA Moscow | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 3 |
| Besiktas | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
Manchester United are the strong leaders of Group B after 3 successive one goal victories. They have already navigated the difficult mid-week journeys to Russia and Turkey for the matches at CSKA Moscow and Besiktas, so barring a colossal collapse the second half of group play, they should move on to the knockout rounds. Wolfsburg, on the other hand, still has yet to go to Turkey or Russia, and will have a hard time keeping their scant second place lead over CSKA Moscow.
Group C
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Real Madrid | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| AC Milan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Marseille | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
| FC Zurich | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
This has been an interesting group so far. FC Zurich has made the long journey through two qualifying rounds to get to this group stage, and proceeded to first lose at home 5-2 to Real Madrid, then shocked AC Milan, getting a 1-0 at the San Siro. Milan then went on to beat Real Madrid 3-2 at Real Madrid, so this group looks like it will shake out as expected, with Real Madrid and AC Milan progressing on. Still, Milan was very close to having only 3 points mid-way through this group stage, and has had a run of poor form to start the year in Serie A, as they are in 9th through 8 games with only 11 points. The fight for 3rd place and a spot in the Europa League will still be an interesting one.
Group D
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Chelsea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| FC Porto | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| APOEL Nicosia | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| Atletico Madrid | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 1 |
Chelsea and FC Porto have taken full control of their group, with Chelsea already just a draw away from virtually ensuring themselves a spot in the knockout rounds. APOEL Nicosia comes from the unheralded Cypriot First Division and had a solid draw at Atletico Madrid and only narrow losses to Chelsea and FC Porto. Atletico Madrid has been hurt by the severe 4-0 loss at Chelsea and will have to take big points away from matches against the top two if they wish to move onto the knockout stages or even the Europa League. Atletico Madrid is in poor form in the domestic league as well, where they are 15th, with 6 points from 7 games.
Group E
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Lyon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| Fiorentina | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Liverpool | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 3 |
| Debrecen | 0 | 0 | 3 | -6 | 0 |
Injury-plagued Liverpool have had a rough start in Europe to go along with their rough start to the Premiership season. A 2-1 loss at home to Lyon was the ultimate punch to the gut, and Liverpool only has one home match left in the group stages, at home against Fiorentina on the final match day. Debrecen is all but eliminated from all further European competitions barring any shock results, so the battle to stay in the top European competition will be a contentious one among the top three.
Group F
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Barcelona | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dynamo Kiev | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| FK Rubin Kazan | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 4 |
| Inter Milan | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
In the closest and definitely most interesting group going forward, we see four teams that all have the chance to move on to the knockout round or come in last in the group. The big stunner was Rubin Kazan making the trip from Russia to Barcelona and coming back with a win this past Tuesday. As a result, Barcelona is left with a trip to Russia to face Kazan again, a home match against an always tough Inter Milan side, and a trip to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kiev. It is never easy to make a long mid-week trip in the Champions League, and Barcelona will have to navigate two more with success on top of a visit from Inter to make it to the next round. Inter Milan has some work to do to even qualify for the Europa League, as they will have to go to Ukraine to play Dynamo Kiev as well as the previously mentioned trip to Barcelona. Every game in this group will hold massive importance and will hopefully create some genuine European drama until the final match day.
Group G
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Sevilla FC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| Unirea Urziceni | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 0 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 2 |
| Rangers | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 1 |
Unirea Urziceni are the surprise of this group, and are in second by virtue of a good 1-1 draw at home to Stuttgart and a 4-1 thrashing of Rangers in Glasgow. The game in Glasgow featured two own goals by Rangers and a missed penalty for Rangers, who are flailing in Europe much like their cross-town rivals Celtic, who are in last in their Europa League group. Sevilla is only a win away from progressing to the knockout stages, and they should get it, with home matches against Stuttgart and Rangers left to go with a trip to Romania to visit Unirea Urziceni.
Group H
| Team | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| Arsenal | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Olympiakos | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| AZ Alkmaar | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 2 |
| Standard Liege | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
In one of the only groups that has gone more or less by the books, Arsenal and Olympiakos are both looking at spots in the knockout stages, while AZ will look to hold off Standard Liege for a place in the Europa League. Olympiakos still has trips to Belgium and Holland to face Standard Liege and AZ respectively, so there could still be a battle for second place in this group
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