tonight the most pretigous club competition is going to kick off:
21:45 PM CET
Besiktas-Lazio
Sparta Prague-Chelsea
Glasgow Rangers -VfB Stuttgart
Manchester United-Panathinaikos
Milan-Ajax
Club Bruges-Celta
Real Madrid-Marseille
Partizan-Porto
Real madrid v Marseille is goin' to be a good game as Real are in great form as they showed on their weekend la Liga round up against Real valladolid which is not a bad side.
Other interesting 1st round matches :
AC Milan v Ajax Amsterdam ( 16th sept )
Arsenal v Inter Milan ( 17th sept )
Goals should not be in short supply at the Bernebeu when Real Madrid face-off against Marseille in Champions League match day one.
The Menengues hit seven past Valladolid in a scintillating display on Saturday night, while Marseille thrashed Le Mans 5-0 to go top of Le Championnat after six matches.
Real, it must be said, faced little resistance from a Valladolid team who were quite simply dreadful. By the 75th minute Raul was completing his hat-trick by cheekily back-healing the ball into the net. That was a measure of just what an easy night Carlos Queiroz's men had.
While Real still cut the irresistible attacking force, defensively they remain far from sound. Following their failure to recruit a replacement for Fernando Morientes in the summer, it was almost inevitable that another centre-back would pick up an injury. That man was Ivan Helguera, meaning the Menengues are forced to play with the inexperienced Francisco Pavon, and Raul Bravo in this first Bernebeu encounter.
One man who will be relishing this encounter more than most is Zinedine Zidane, who supported his home town club Marseille as a boy.
"I am looking forward to the game and although I have a soft spot for Marseille, I will still take every opportunity I can to score against them as a real professional must," he said.
Alain Perrin's men will realistically be targeting second place in this tough group, but their priority for the season will surely be the Championship after missing out last season. On paper they have a good enough squad to launch a real assault, but prolonged Champions League participation could prove a hindrance.
LATEST TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid: Helguera is still out so Bravo will continue to deputise at centre-back. Esteban Cambiasso is a doubt after injuring his ankle against Valladolid. If he doesn't make it, Guti will step in to partner David Beckham in central midfield.
Marseille: one of Saturday's scorers Didier Drogba is a doubt with an ankle injury, while Brazilian defender Fernandao could also miss out. Daniel van Buyten who was left on the bench on Saturday, will return to the line-up, and it will be his job to mark Ronaldo.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Real Madrid: Casillas; Salgado, Pavon, Bravo, Roberto Carlos; Luis Figo, Beckham, Guti, Zidane; Raul, Ronaldo
Marseille: Runje; Beye, van Buyten, Meite, Ecker; Hemdani, Celestini, Meriem, Vachousek; Marlet, Sychev
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ronaldo (Real Madrid): many expect the Brazilian to have a season to remember. He has already built up a fine understanding with Beckham.
Vedran Runje (Marseille): the keeper's performance will surely be key if the French side are to leave Spain with anything to show for their efforts.
I haven't seen any of today's matches. But I do hope Bayern Munich looses again tomorrow :D
Results last night:
Man Utd 5 - 0 Panathinaikos
Rangers 2 - 1 VfB_Stuttgart
Partizan_Belgrade 1 - 1 FC_Porto
Real_Madrid 4 - 2 Marseille
Besiktas 0 - 2 Lazio
Sparta_Prague 0 - 1 Chelsea
AC_Milan 1 - 0 Ajax
Club_Brugge 1 - 1 Celta_Vigo
manuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu 
shame on chelsea 5 mins b4 the end against an oposition weaker than them selves 
Chelsea have yet to build an understanding between the players…i am sure once they do so they will perform better.
Just take a look at how many new players they are in the Chelsea side. You can’t just throw that many new players together and expect them to play as a team. It takes time. But having said that the mark of a good team is one that can win even when it doesnt play well. And to win 1-0 away from home with a side that consists mostly of new players, after a pretty poor first half display isn’t a bad result.
On a seperate note - the constant specualtion about Ranieris future is really starting to get irritating. Nobody can come up with any concrete proof that Roman is even thinking of replacing him, yet all the press can say is he hasnt got much time. I mean give the guy some credit - on a shoe string budget last year he managed to get Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League. Now he gets pratcically a brand new squad, and despite a good start to the season with players that are still familiarising themselves the press still manage to dig up a new rumour about his replacement ever week. The worst part is - not one of the candidates that has been mentioned so far would be an improvement on Ranieri (Ericsson/Sounness/Ferguson). Surely they should speculate about managers that are actually under some pressure like Hoddle, Jones McLaren. Ranieri’s made an unbeaten start to the season, and he’s under pressure??? Am i the only Chelsea fan who finds this annoying??
Ranieri has been a good manager for Chelsea and they should continue with him...or some days later there might be some other news..."Roman Abrahamovich replaces Chelsea's name with *********" or "Abrahamovich quits leaving the club in debt of millions of dollars". lol.
but what has happened to Crespo??? :(....he was to supposed to show good understanding with Veron but he failed to deliver....otherwise Chelsea was'nt that bad
Gooooners swamped by Inter!!! 0-3 loss to Inter and that too at home!!
Arsenal had the possession for most of the time in the first 20 odd min…but then three quick goals sealed their fate…and too make matters worse Theirry Henry missed a penalty 
Other results
Bayern 2-1 Celtic
Lyon 1-0 Anderlecht
Arsenal 0-3 Inter
Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 Locomotiv
AEK 1-1 Deportivo
PSV 1-2 Monaco
Juventus 2-1 Galatasaray
Real Sociedad 1-0 Olympiacos
Juventus :k:
some very good matches!
i’m very much amazed by the 3-0 butchering of Arsenal by Inter…but then again i’ve never considered Arsenal a top-club…maximum a sub-topper: just like the Paistani cricket team: star-studded team with a lot of individual talent, but time and again failing miserably.
Good to see Italian football where it belongs: at the top! all 4 serieA clubs have won their respective matches. Along with Real i think, Milan and Juve are the teams to beat :k:
Arsenal hahahahahahaahahahahahaha all u fans of arsenal shame thats all i can say :p
i forgot the penelty wasnt even on target :D LOL
u r right about the fact that wen u have so many new players its hard for them to come together. to be honest i hope and wish veron does well in chelsea . my bro says that ‘they’ say that chelsea is up to the level of manu … i dont think so and the above is the argument i put up … i mean u only have to think abou tmanu spending so much on veron but he didnt do so well there but he looks to be doing well in chelsea (ok its abit early to say). still shame on chelsea the oposition wasnt that strong u know. any way it early days lets see how they do.
about ur secons paragrahp… the media is liek that not just about football but politics etc. i hate the tactics they use… they make things that dont exists stick out liek a soar thumb 
.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by waleed: *
Arsenal hahahahahahaahahahahahaha all u fans of arsenal shame thats all i can say :p
[/QUOTE]
don't worry Chelsea won't survive the second round either :D quarter finals maximum
all time champion's league top scorers:
Alfredo di Stefano 49
Eusebio 46
Raul 46
Ferenc Puskas 36
Gerd Muller 34
Andrei Shevchenko 34
Ruud van Nistelrooij 33
Gento 31
Patrick Kluivert 30
Alessandro del Piero 29
Filippo Inzaghi 29
Bayern won :(
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Umer: *
Bayern won :(
[/QUOTE]
welcome to the club of those who don't like to c the FCB winning
To be honest I can’t really be bothered - I didn’t know much at all about what was going on the Champions League after we(Newcastle United) didn’t qualify - but that was of course until two nights ago when Arsenal got the living ass thrashed out of them by Inter Milan - that was absolutely great - made my day! ay…
Pretty much all the big guns won their opening games - Manchester United, both the Milan sides, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus all winning - however Deportivo were held to a draw.
Upcoming Champions League Matches.
Group A
30/09/2003 20:45 Anderlecht - Bayern
30/09/2003 20:45 Glasgow Celtic - Lyon
21/10/2003 20:45 Anderlecht - Glasgow Celtic
21/10/2003 20:45 Lyon - Bayern
05/11/2003 20:45 Bayern - Lyon
05/11/2003 20:45 Glasgow Celtic - Anderlecht
25/11/2003 20:45 Anderlecht - Lyon
25/11/2003 20:45 Glasgow Celtic - Bayern
10/12/2003 20:45 Bayern - Anderlecht
10/12/2003 20:45 Lyon - Glasgow Celtic
Group B
30/09/2003 20:45 Inter - Dynamo Kiev
30/09/2003 20:45 FC Lokomotiv Moscow - Arsenal
21/10/2003 20:45 Dynamo Kiev - Arsenal
21/10/2003 20:45 FC Lokomotiv Moscow - Inter
05/11/2003 20:45 Arsenal - Dynamo Kiev
05/11/2003 20:45 Inter - FC Lokomotiv Moscow
25/11/2003 20:45 Inter - Arsenal
25/11/2003 20:45 FC Lokomotiv Moscow - Dynamo Kiev
10/12/2003 20:45 Arsenal - FC Lokomotiv Moscow
10/12/2003 20:45 Dynamo Kiev - Inter
Group C
30/09/2003 20:45 Deportivo Coruña - PSV
30/09/2003 20:45 Monaco - AEK Athens
21/10/2003 20:45 AEK Athens - PSV
21/10/2003 20:45 Deportivo Coruña - Monaco
05/11/2003 20:45 Monaco - Deportivo Coruña
05/11/2003 20:45 PSV - AEK Athens
25/11/2003 20:45 Deportivo Coruña - AEK Athens
25/11/2003 20:45 Monaco - PSV
10/12/2003 20:45 AEK Athens - Monaco
10/12/2003 20:45 PSV - Deportivo Coruña
Group D
30/09/2003 20:45 Galatasaray - Real Sociedad
30/09/2003 20:45 Olympiakos - Juventus
21/10/2003 20:45 Galatasaray - Olympiakos
21/10/2003 20:45 Juventus - Real Sociedad
05/11/2003 20:45 Olympiakos - Galatasaray
05/11/2003 20:45 Real Sociedad - Juventus
25/11/2003 20:45 Galatasaray - Juventus
25/11/2003 20:45 Olympiakos - Real Sociedad
10/12/2003 20:45 Juventus - Olympiakos
10/12/2003 20:45 Real Sociedad - Galatasaray
Group E
01/10/2003 20:45 Panathinaikos - Glasgow Rangers
01/10/2003 20:45 Stuttgart - Manchester United
22/10/2003 20:45 Glasgow Rangers - Manchester United
22/10/2003 20:45 Stuttgart - Panathinaikos
04/11/2003 20:45 Manchester United - Glasgow Rangers
04/11/2003 20:45 Panathinaikos - Stuttgart
26/11/2003 20:45 Panathinaikos - Manchester United
26/11/2003 20:45 Stuttgart - Glasgow Rangers
09/12/2003 20:45 Manchester United - Stuttgart
09/12/2003 20:45 Glasgow Rangers - Panathinaikos
Group F
01/10/2003 20:45 Marseille - Partizan Belgrade
01/10/2003 20:45 Porto - Real Madrid
22/10/2003 20:45 Marseille - Porto
22/10/2003 20:45 Real Madrid - Partizan Belgrade
04/11/2003 20:45 Partizan Belgrade - Real Madrid
04/11/2003 20:45 Porto - Marseille
26/11/2003 20:45 Marseille - Real Madrid
26/11/2003 20:45 Porto - Partizan Belgrade
09/12/2003 20:45 Partizan Belgrade - Marseille
09/12/2003 20:45 Real Madrid - Porto
Group G
01/10/2003 20:45 Chelsea - Besiktas
01/10/2003 20:45 Lazio - AC Sparta Praha
22/10/2003 20:45 Chelsea - Lazio
22/10/2003 20:45 AC Sparta Praha - Besiktas
04/11/2003 20:45 Besiktas - AC Sparta Praha
04/11/2003 20:45 Lazio - Chelsea
26/11/2003 20:45 Chelsea - AC Sparta Praha
26/11/2003 20:45 Lazio - Besiktas
09/12/2003 20:45 Besiktas - Chelsea
09/12/2003 20:45 AC Sparta Praha - Lazio
Group H
01/10/2003 20:45 Ajax - Brugge
01/10/2003 20:45 Celta - Milan
22/10/2003 20:45 Ajax - Celta
22/10/2003 20:45 Milan - Brugge
04/11/2003 20:45 Celta - Ajax
04/11/2003 20:45 Brugge - Milan
26/11/2003 20:45 Ajax - Milan
26/11/2003 20:45 Celta - Brugge
09/12/2003 20:45 Brugge - Ajax
09/12/2003 20:45 Milan - Celta