Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina highlights - UEFA Champions League

Bayern Munich 2          Robben (pen) 45, Klose 89
Fiorentina 1                Kroldrup 50

Olympique Lyon vs Real Madrid highlights - UEFA Champions League

Highlights:

AC Milan vs Manchester United highlights - UEFA Champions League

Brilliant game and a United win made it even better for me. Rooney scored 2 on the day when he was not even at his best. Enjoy the highlights:

Champions League: Enticing match ups in round of 16

Champions league round of 16 draw will guarantee loads of firework with United facing Beckham’s Milan and Chelsea pitted against Jose Mourinho’s Inter.

The Draw is as follows with team listed first playing at home in the first leg:

Internazionale v Chelsea
Lyon v Real Madrid
Milan v Manchester United
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
FC Porto v Arsenal
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina

The first-legs ties will be played on 16-17 February and 23-24 with the second-leg ties on 9-10 and 16-17 March.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/18/champions-league-draw-chelsea-inter-mourinho

Liverpool's champs league exit: The Financial implication: Part 2

European clubs participating in champs league earn a combination of participation fees and income from TV rights, the latter contributing a larger chunk.

Here is a breakdown of how much participation money is at stake for every Champions League game. This is just the participation fees.

Group Stage:

-Reaching group stage: €3.8m

-Participating in group stage: €550k per match, x6 matches = €3.3m

So that’s €7.1m guaranteed. Now the results of each group game also matter as below:

-For a win: €800k

-For a draw: €400k

Knockout Stage:

-Playing in Round of 16: €3m

-Playing in Quarters: €3.3m

-Playing in Semis: €4m

-Playing in Final: €5.2m

-Champions League winners: €9m

As I had mentioned earlier, another chunk comes from the market pool (TV audience size in home country of the club). These figures are even higher than the participation fees and would be even more skewed for EPL sides owing to the enormous TV audience.

Here’s how UEFA puts it: "In addition to these sums, the clubs receive a share of revenue fixed in accordance with the value of the TV market of the country they represent. If an association has more than one representative, the amount received by each club depends on its position in the national championship in the previous season and the number of matches played in the current season’s Champions League."

Last night ESPN Sportscenter put things in perspective when they mentioned that overall loss for Liverpool could be anywhere in the region of 25-30 million if they fail to qualify next year. The figure suggests that Rafa and the owners need to put their best foot forward to finish in top 4 this season else the club would in real bad shape. If they fail to qualify for next year they would potentially lose a lot of top players including Torres and maybe even Gerrard.

Source: http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/champions-league/uefa-champions-league-200910-prize-money.html

Liverpool's champs league exit: The Financial implication!

Liverpool has crashed out of the Champs League as was widely expected and there are some serious financial implications for an already beleaguered club. It leaves a huge dent on Liverpool's yearly earnings which are far more dependent on UEFA's contributions than other top clubs in England - Chelsea, ManU and Arsenal. Reason is simple, they lose out on the chunk that UEFA shares with the teams from its television rights and that money is significantly higher for knockout stages. The financial hit from failing to qualify for the knockout stage is substantial, although not as calamitous as it would be if they fail to qualify for next year’s Champions League. To put things in perspective, Liverpool are expected to suffer a shortfall of 2.4 million as a consequence of group exit. The figure would be much higher if fail to qualify for the next season.

One thing is clear, Liverpool needs to get its act together swiftly towards resurrecting their premiership season failing which they might have to put a lot of top players up for sale. I just hope they can somehow make a strong statement in the remaining EPL season and resist selling Torres because that would be a complete disaster.

Listen to what Rafa had to say after the exit. His job appears to be quite safe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8377734.stm

Liverpool's slide continues

Since the last time I wrote just before their Champs League match, Liverpool's season has gone from bad to worse. Champion’s league season is already out of their hands and premiership hopes have waned faster than the injuries to some key players. It's clear that without both Torres and Gerrard on the pitch, Liverpool lacks inspiration and last night’s draw against City was ample proof of lack of overall talent. Benayoun was the savior this weekend just when it appeared to be all over after Adebayor and Ireland had struck in quick succession. Last week they had managed a point against Birmingham thanks to the referee.

Liverpool's performance all through the season has been scratchy to say the least and now they find themselves hard pressed to even secure a Champs league birth for next season. They find themselves in the seventh spot with Sunderland breathing down their neck after a fine win over Arsenal. Liverpool can now forget about the top 3 finish but the fight for the title is alive with ManU and Arsenal both looking good to challenge Chelsea. If I have to take a call now, I would stick with Chelsea as the title favorites with Arsenal and ManU close behind.

Big day for Liverpool’s season!

It’s quite obvious that Liverpool’s season is in tatters and it could be more so if they fail to produce a win tonight at Lyon. What a debacle it would be for 5 times champions of Europe if they were to get knocked out at the group stage itself. Rafa appears to be short of answers and has made some undeniably woeful decisions this EPL season and it could get from bad to worse if his team fails to gather 3 points tonight.

There are problems aplenty for the reds and it would be interesting to see the starting lineup for tonight’s big game. The injury list has grown stronger and Rafa is going to have tough time getting a fit and confident team up for the game. Based on the form of its players and more so it’s manager, I would be more hopeful than confident to predict a positive result tonight for the reds.

While everyone seemed to suggest that the win against United was the turning point for the reds, last week’s loss to Fulham has all but put an end to their premiership hopes. While a whole lot of football still has to be played and loads of surprises still in store this EPL season, Liverpool's championship chances are remarkably bleak as early as November. Europe could again be the saving grace however it could be rather optimistic to suggest so at this time. One more loss in Europe could spell doom and the game tonight is going to be huge in terms of where Liverpool ends this season. Silverware appears to be distant though it would be great to see the team advance through the group stage. I hope they do because they are a formidable force and great to watch when in full flow. I am hoping for a great display tonight from one of Europe's foremost clubs.