Midweek TV Preview: September 29 - October 3

(All times - UK)

Monday 29 September

7.30pm Rushden & Diamonds v Altrincham, Blue Square Premier, Setanta Sports 1
The Diamonds will be going hell for leather tonight as a win will see them jump from tenth to third in the Blue Square Conference table. On current form that seems quite likely, so our money's going on Garry Hill's mob.

Tuesday 30 September

5.30pm Zenit v Real Madrid, Champions League (Group H), Sky Sports 2
ZSP picked up their first win in three at the weekend with a 3-0 away victory against Lokomtiv Moscow while Real still can't quite get back to the top of La Liga despite the continuation of their impressive run of form against Real Betis on Saturday. This should be another three points for Los Blancos, though, and about as different a prospect as you can get to their next CL match against Juventus next month.

7.30pm Arsenal v Porto, Champions League (Group G), ITV1 & HD
What a difference a game makes. Arsene Wenger suddenly has a mini-crisis on his hands following Hull City's competency at out tactic-ing his Arsenal side on Saturday. With Porto visiting the Emirates Stadium, the question has to be asked: will Wenger put out his strongest squad, or make do with the lesser talents of Van Persie, Adebayor and Walcott?

7.30pm Aalborg v Manchester United, Champions League (Group E), ITV4
Those Danes from Aalborg might allow themselves a moment's optimism as they cast a casual eye over the Premier League table. It's not every September that ends with Man United in the bottom half of the table, but they'll do well to observe the 'Goals Played' column. Fergie's lads have a game in hand and will no doubt be right back near the top of the pile before you can say 'contentious refereeing decision'.

7.30pm Villareal v Celtic, Champions League (Group E), Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Both these teams picked up unlikely victories in their weekend league games, Celtic leaving it late to find a winner in their 3-2 win over Aberdeen and Villareal scoring a single goal against the run of play to beat Sporting Gijon. Villareal, however, remain top of La Liga while Celtic still find themselves chasing the shadows of Rangers. Call us picky if you like, but we think Brer Strachan might be just a touch scratchy in the post-match interview after this one.

7.30pm Bayern Munich v Lyon, Champions League (Group F), Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
Would you Adam und Eve it? Bayern lose AGAIN, this time by a single goal away to Hannover 96, and are now ninth in the Bundesliga. What better way, then, to revitalise your season than to play a team that hasn't lost in any competition since March 4th. "Oh 'ell", Klinsmann may be saying, and understandably so...
('O.L.' - geddit?!? Ahem...)

7.45 Fiorentina v Steaua Bucharest, Champions League (Group F), Sky Sports Interactive
Fiorentina started off with a safe and satisfactory 2-2 draw against Lyon a fortnight ago, and that's set the tone for their distinctly vanilla season thus far. Steaua, meanwhile, lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, thereby leaving them bereft of any crumb of credibility they might have had. Press the red button if your curiosity comes perversely to the fore.

7.45 Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kiev, Champions League (Group G), Sky Sports Interactive
One wonders if Luis Aragones has bitten off more than he can chew in taking on the Fenerbahce job following their third defeat of the season at the weekend. His side now lie tenth in the Turkish Super League, and a second successive Champions League defeat here might get the locals a little agitated. Ah - it says here Dynamo Kiev are eleven games unbeaten at the moment...

7.45 BATE v Juventus, Champions League (Group H), Sky Sports Interactive
Let's face it - BATE Borisov are too star-struck at the moment to be bothered with results. Probably just as well given their opponents tonight.

Wednesday 1 October

6.00pm Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven, Champions League (Group D), Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Twelve games unbeaten now for Rafa's Reds and apart from that worrying draw with Stoke recently, they look like an altogether different prospect from last season. A win over The Farmers looks highly likely, especially given the 3-0 mauling the Dutch team had at the hands of Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago.

7.30pm CFR 1907 Cluj v Chelsea, Champions League (Group A), Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
As we reported here a fortnight ago, Cluj head coach Ioan Andone was recently shown the door despite guiding his team to the Romanian league title and a place in the Champions League for the first time. So much for getting behind your man, eh?

What was even more baffling was the appointment of unknown Italian Maurizio Trombetta as Andone's replacement, but credit where it's due, he did pull off an unlikely victory away to Roma in their first Champions League game. We're really not sure what to make of this one, so we're just going to sit back and take it all in, as indeed you should.

7.45pm Bordeaux v Roma, Champions League (Group A), Sky Sports Interactive
Both teams lost their opening fixtures a fortnight ago and will be looking to make amends this evening. To spice things up a bit, Roma finally got their first Serie A win of the season yesterday, so watch out Bordeaux - you've now got a fight on your hands...

7.45 Famagusta v Panathinaikos, Champions League (Group B), Sky Sports Interactive
Pity the poor Sky Sports commentator who pulls the short straw for this one. A match of interest only to the Redbuttonistas amongst you.

7.45 Inter Milan v Werder Bremen, Champions League (Group B), Sky Sports Interactive
Jose Mourinho's men came off second best in the Milan derby at the weekend, losing 1-0 to their red-and-black-striped counterparts. Inter also had five of their men booked and two (Burdisso and Materazzi) saw red. Time, then, to take a deep breath, open the lungs and consider the scoring prowess of their German opponents who have bagged twelve in their last three games. Not an easy game for Mourinho, and one well worth watching if you get the chance.

7.45 Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona, Champions League (Group C), Sky Sports Interactive
Barcelona may be playing well at the moment and Thierry Henry got himself on the scoresheet in the 2-1 win over Espanyol on Saturday, but is it too little, too late for the former Arsenal man? Is he heading for the exit? Will he be the next superstar to find himself wearing a Man City shirt in the January transfer window? This game may (or may not) have the answer.

7.45 Sporting Lisbon v FC Basle, Champions League (Group C), Sky Sports Interactive
Sporting and Basle are enjoying a similar season so far. Both have started well, both have had a wobbly spell of late, both have recovered but both lost their weekend matches. Basle currently lead the Super League by a couple of points after ten games but lost on Saturday to Young Boys while Sporting lost the Lisbon derby to Benfica and are second in the league after four matches. Gotta favour the Portuguese team in this one, though.

7.45 Atletico Madrid v Marseille, Champions League (Group D), Sky Sports Interactive
Javier Aguirre is a man to be respected and admired. He has single-handedly managed to turn Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Diego Forlan into regular goalscorers this season and all without the aid of an expensive course of hypnotherapy. As for Marseille, they're still unbeaten in Ligue 1 after seven games, so this will either be a cracker of the highest proportions or a mutual cancelling out of two great footballing middleweights.

Thursday 2 October

3.00pm Wisla Krakow v Tottenham Hotspur, UEFA Cup, Five
Chances are you'll miss this one if you can't get home from work early, and if you're a Spurs fan, that'll be just fine. Juande Ramos finds himself with a mountain to climb as he re-enacts Martin Jol's darkest hours, but his team have a 2-1 lead from the first leg and will be looking for that all-important away goal to seal his passage (so to speak) through to the next round.

6.30pm Standard Liege v Everton, UEFA Cup, Five
Standard are flying high at the moment in the Jupiler League (which you can bet your life will appear in our League of the Week feature soon) and a repeat of their weekend victory over Anderlecht will see the end of Everton's European run this season. It was 2-2 when these teams met in the first leg, so realistically David Moyes' men have gotta go for a win tonight, unless they fancy their chances with a high-scoring draw. Unlikely, one has to assume.

7.00pm Manchester City v AC Omonia, UEFA Cup, ITV4
Here's how you play the away goals rule, Everton. Man City play hosts to the Cypriots having secured a 2-1 lead in the first leg, so if all goes to plan it'll be a case of 'score an early goal and shut up shop' for Mark Hughes men.

8.00pm Motherwell v AS Nancy, UEFA Cup, BBC1 One Scotland
1-0 down from the away leg, Motherwell find themselves with the daunting task of having to score at least two and stop the Nancy boys* from scoring themselves. They can do it, mind you, and we have every faith that Mark McGhee's men will do to Nancy what they did to St.Mirren at the weekend. (* Sorry.)

9.30pm Vitoria Guimaraes v Portsmouth, UEFA Cup, Five
Harry Redknapp's men have the same remit as Man City tonight - get an early goal and consider the game finished. Pompey won 2-0 at home in the first leg, so viewers of Five might be treated to an early night if Defoe or Crouch can bag one shortly after kick-off.

Friday 3 October

7.00pm Arminia Bielefeld v Karlsruhe, Bundesliga, Setanta Sports 1
Thirteenth plays Fourteenth tonight, and if that doesn't set the pulse racing, perhaps Bielefeld's recent unpredictable form will. Michael Frontzeck's team should have beaten Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday, but a late Benjamin Kohler goal saw the points shared.

Karlsruhe, on the other hand, made the wise decision to score twice before conceding a late goal at home to Wolfsburg and are now looking for a third consecutive victory in the Bundesliga. A win for either side tonight could result in a leap up to mid-table prior to next weekend's matches, and that's just about all the incentive you need (apart from the distinct possibility of overtaking Bayern). Watch with us and see which team "wants it more." (c) Jamie Redknapp.

Haven't we been here before?

For those of you waking up today after a six-week coma, tonight sees one of those once-in-a-lifetime occurrences that heightens the senses and gets every football fan watching in eager anticipation - a Champions League Final between two English clubs.

Over in Moscow, Chelsea and Manchester United will do battle for that ludicrously large piece of silverware resembling one of Liberace's ashtrays as well as the title of 'Champions of Europe'.

But all this business about an all-English Final is actually old hat. There's been an all-English European Final before, and it was so successful that we haven't had one for 36 years. It all happened back in 1972 when no-one had heard of Johan Cruyff and the height of new football kit design meant having a stripe running down the sleeves of your shirt.

Such was the football landscape back then, and in it were two teams intent on being the first to win the brand-new UEFA Cup - Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Along with Southampton and Leeds United, they set out to capture the trophy for England, but little did they know they'd be facing each other in the two-legged Final later that season.

Tottenham entered the competition having finished third in the old First Division in 1971 while Wolves, undoubtedly reaching a peak they hadn't experienced since the 1950's, had ended the campaign in fourth.

Both were bursting with talent that typified the hard but often skilful game played in England at the time. For Spurs there was Pat Jennings in goal, future Premier League manager Joe Kinnear, England international Alan Mullery, Welsh international Mike England, a young Steve Perryman, Martin Chivers and a member of the 1966 World Cup winning team in Martin Peters.

Wolves line-up had less in the way of big name stars, but there was still plenty to give Spurs something to think about. The late, great Derek Dougan led the way up front, backed up by people such as Kenny Hibbitt, John Richards and captain Jim McCalliog.

The UEFA Cup would prove to be a memorable one for both clubs with some impressive results along the way. Tottenham cruised through Round One with a 15-1 aggregate victory over Icelandic side Keflavik while Wolves' 7-1 aggregate victory over Academica of Portugal preceded a 7-0 aggregate win over Den Haag in the next. Spurs nearly met their match when Nantes held them to a narrow 1-0 win over both legs, but from there on in both teams were in unstoppable form.

Tottenham managed to eliminate Rapid Bucharest and AC Milan before reaching the Final but Wolves were determined not to be outdone by brushing aside Carl Zeiss Jena and Juventus in the build-up to the grand finale against their English foes.

And so to that two-legged Final. On May 3rd 1972 it was off to Molineux but it was the away team, Tottenham, that gained a numerical advantage to take back to White Hart Lane. Star Player for the Lilywhites that night was undoubtedly Martin Chivers who bagged a brace either side of a McCalliog goal in the 72nd minute. Chivers ended the game with a total of eight goals from his eleven UEFA Cup matches that season as his club sought to defend their narrow 2-1 lead in the second leg.

Two weeks later, Tottenham did just that. A goal by Alan Mullery in the 29th minute put the home side at ease, and though Wolves' David Wagstaffe got an equaliser five minutes before half time, they were still left to find another goal to level the tie on aggregate. They didn't, and so it was that at the end of the night Tottenham's Alan Mullery lifted the trophy that they'd win again some twelve years later.

An older and wiser Steve Perryman would raise the cup that night, but on May 17th 1972, he was just another member of the victorious Tottenham team that outplayed another English team in the Final, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Football in England was fast approaching such a peak back then that it was acceptable to believe there might be a few more all-English finals, yet we've had to wait all this time for another.

Could it happen again? Quite possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm sitting here writing the next similar article in 2044. Matches like the one taking place tonight don't happen every year, you know...

UEFA Cup Curiosities

As the 2007/08 UEFA Cup enters its first knockout round and we're left staring at the remaining 32 genuine contenders for the title, we thought it was a good time to look at some of the quirkier aspects of the competition from its 36 year history.

One city, one club
The UEFA Cup began life in the 1971/72 season and was brought in as a replacement for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which had been running since 1958. The old competition was based around the premise that any cities holding trade fairs could play against each other, but though that may have seemed like a good idea at the time, it had its limitations.

One curious rule the contest held aloft was that only one team could represent any given city, and that's why the Final of the first competition featured Barcelona playing a 'London XI'. If you don't want to know the score of that one, look away now:

(Barcelona beat London XI 8-2 on aggregate.)

When the UEFA Cup took over in 1971, the 'one club per city' rule remained, but not for long. In 1975, Everton complained that they'd been denied the chance to compete when they'd finished fourth the previous season in Division One, two places below Liverpool. The rule was scrapped, and Everton were able to take their place in the competition for the next few seasons as of right.

Open-door policy
The strange thing about the UEFA Cup is that it's become a refuge for practically any team to take part in. Once upon a time, it was open only to clubs finishing as runners-up in their own domestic leagues. Since then, however, the competition has welcomed the winners of domestic Cup competitions, teams failing to qualify for the latter stages of the Champions League, qualifiers from the Intertoto Cup and even clubs that have done well in the UEFA Fair Play rankings.

Quite frankly, it's more difficult not to qualify for the UEFA Cup these days than it is to qualify for it, yet some teams have remarkably managed to achieve this ignominy and yes we are talking to you, Harry Redknapp...

Territorial advantage
The UEFA Cup has been subject to a distinct sense of dominance on the part of certain parts of Europe. Take England, for example. It produced at least one of the finalists for four of the first five competitions, and three of those went on to win the competition.

In broader terms, clubs from northern Europe dominated the UEFA Cup for the greater part of its early history. In fact between its inauguration in 1972 and 1985, only Juventus and Real Madrid managed to wrestle the trophy from its northern counterparts.

Over the last ten years, of course, teams from Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy have been far more successful with only CSKA Moscow in 2005, Feyenoord in 2002 and Liverpool in 2001 breaking the current trend.

Where minnows fear to tread
The funny thing about the UEFA Cup Final is that it's attracted its fair share of lesser-known teams down the years, all of which have disappeared into history as quickly they arrived. In 1975, there was FC Twente representing the Netherlands as they faced (and were eventually beaten by) Borussia Mönchengladbach. Then in 1978 there was French side Bastia who reached the Final that year... and have promptly done nothing of any note since. They played PSV who themselves were still very much in the ascendancy prior to their European Cup win a decade later.

In 1981, Ipswich Town were pitted against AZ of the Netherlands (what is it about Dutch teams in this competition?) in another two-legged Final where both teams arrived with no prior reputation preceding them.

The ultimate in small teams must have been in the 1985 Final, however, as the mighty Real Madrid took on the equally mighty... Videoton. That's Videoton, folks - a team from Székesfehérvár in Hungary that were, for a long time, named after its sponsors, an electrical goods manufacturer.

And were they any good? Well they certainly ended Manchester United's chances that season in the quarter-finals and even managed to win the away leg of the Final at the Bernabeu. Had they not lost by a greater margin at home, they'd have lifted the trophy.

All of which goes to prove that the older the UEFA Cup gets, the quirkier it becomes. On that basis, we're backing Bolton Wanderers to win this year's competition, and why not - they've only got Atletico Madrid to get past first, after all...

Winter draws on

As always with cup competitions, it was a very 'mixed bag' of an affair for British clubs in todays Champions League and UEFA cup draws.

The stand out tie of the Champions League has to be Arsenal v AC Milan. Milan arent as strong as they have been in recent years and have yet to win at home in Serie A, but their techincal ability against Wengers attacking side should prove to be a very interesting 180 minutes of football.

As for the other Milano side, well its a trip to Merseyside for them for another great looking tie. If you look up the phrase 'in-form' on wikipedia it has an image of the Inter Milan badge. Thats because Inter have won 12 and drawn 4 of there 16 Serie A games, conceeding only 8 goals.

The Champions League draw in full
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Manchester United
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla

As for the Wafer Cup, well some clubs got lucky... others *cough*Aberdeen*cough* didnt. Aberdeen face Bayern Munich, Bolton face Athletico Madrid and Rangers face Panathinaikos. Everton and Spurs have the comparatively simpler tasks of SK Brann and Slavia Prague respectively.

Draw for the last 32
Aberdeen v Bayern Munich
AEK Athens v Getafe
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen
Anderlecht v Bordeaux
SK Brann v Everton
FC Zurich v Hamburg
Rangers v Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven v Helsingborg
Slavia Prague v Tottenham
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Sporting Lisbon v Basle
Werder Bremen v Braga
Benfica v Nuremburg
Marseille v Spartak Moscow

Draw for the last 16
Anderlecht/Bordeaux v Aberdeen/Bayern Munich
Rangers/Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen/Braga
Bolton/Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon/Basle
Galatasaray/Leverkusen v FC Zurich/Hamburg
AEK Athens/Getafe v Benfica/Nuremburg
Rosenborg/Fiorentina v SK Brann/Everton
Slavia Prague/Tottenham v PSV Eindhoven/Helsingborg
Marseille/Spartak Moscow v Zenit St Petersburg/Villarreal

Roll on February when it all kicks-off again.

Quick on the draw...

As you know, I’m a Spurs fan, and today saw the draw for the group stages of the WAFER Cup.

To be honest, I feel Spurs have been placed in a tough group but it could have been a lot worse. Away to Besiktas, home to Club Brugge, away to Bayer Leverkusen and finally home to Dinamo Bucuresti isn’t the easiest of passages to the next round, but unless you are ranked amongst the top seeds you cant really expect an easy ride.

Then again, try telling that to Newcastle. They were amongst the top seeds, but they have drawn some difficult teams. Home to Celta Vigo and Fenerbache, away to Palermo and Eintracht Frankfurt. Not pleasant. Palermo, of course, beat West Ham over 2 legs in the previous round, so it will be interesting to see how Newcastle fair against them.

Rangers have a relatively straight forward task as they take on Auxerre, Partizan Belgrade, Livorno and Maccabi Haifa, and you’d have to fancy Blackburn’s chances too, as they will take on Feyenoord, Basle, Wisla Krakow and some girl named Nancy.

GROUP A
Auxerre
RANGERS
P Belgrade
Livorno
Maccabi Haifa

GROUP B
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge
Besiktas
Dinamo Bucharest
TOTTENHAM

GROUP C
Sevilla
AZ Alkmaar
Slovan Liberec
Grasshopper
Braga

GROUP D
Parma
Lens
Heerenveen
Osasuna
Odense

GROUP E
Feyenoord
Basle
Wisla Krakow
BLACKBURN
Nancy

GROUP F
Ajax
Sparta Prague
Espanyol
Austria Wien
Zulte Waregem

GROUP G
Panathinaikos
Paris St Germain
Rapid Bucharest
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Mlada Boleslav

GROUP H
NEWCASTLE
Celta Vigo
Palermo
Fenerbahce
Eintracht Frankfurt

The group stage runs from 19 October to 14 December before the competition closes down until 14 February, when the knockout phase begins.

Top 3 teams from each group qualify for the next round.