The two biggest upsets came from Italy. Above, misfiring Milan suffered a shock defeat after a beautiful finish from Zurich defender Hannu Tihinen enough to win the game 1-0. Milan are now in all kinds of trouble with the start of the season they’ve had.

Elsewhere in Italy and to Florence, where La Viola gave Serie A a reason to smile, as they beat Liverpool. After the defeat they suffered in Matrch Day 1 against Lyon, Fiorentina needed a result here, and it makes that group very interesting indeed.

Fiorentina’s first goal by the way, a perfectly brilliant abuse of the “interfering with play” rule, and indeed, proof that you should play to the whistle.

Man United looked like they might join Liverpool in terms of teams beaten, after they went 1-0 to German Champions Wolfsburg, but a freak Giggs Free-kick (his 150th Man United goal) and a Carrick winner meant United won the game 2-1

For awhile it looked like OM would get a result against Real Madrid, an even first hour fell to pieces for the French side, when a preventable opener for Ronaldo, a penalty for Kaká and a second Ronaldo goal in ten minutes spelt game over for Marseille.

Despite the means available to a handful of clubs who can aspire to sign extraordinary performers from around the globe, many people still think of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winners as the finest of all teams. It emerged, however, from utter chaos. Joao Saldanha, for instance, was forced out as coach. His past as a journalist cannot have helped and his reservations about Pele’s eyesight were not crowd-pleasers either.Saldanha had even argued that Tostao and Pele could not function together. With him gone, the pair were to be a glorious combination. They were given their freedom by Saldanha’s successor, Mario Zagallo, who knew that there must be a solution that did not entail discarding genius.

A line-up such as Brazil’s in 1970 will never be built to order, irrespective of budget. There is always an intangible element in the creation of an unforgettable line-up. We should be glad of the chance to see Barcelona and the others in the Champions League, but the mysteries of football greatness cannot be cracked even with the means of billionaire owners.

Money is not necessarily enough. Real Madrid’s performance this year will be a litmus test as to a) the actual quality of Cristiano Ronaldo; and b) how much CR depended upon the balance, the quality and the unusual ability of Giggs & Co. to turn the football screw just when everyone — all twenty two — were completely puffed.

In the Guardian, Kevin McCarra surveys the difficult schedules of the Champions League elites …

“Early-season congestion is capable of upsetting England’s four clubs” | 27 Aug 2009

Manchester United go to Turkey and then to Russia, then back to Anfield in October. Then they battle the unknowns — including the fearsome Edin Dzeko — backed by Volkswagen.

Eto’o faces his ex-teammates soon when Inter face Champions, Barcelona.

Chelsea’s travels don’t look particularly stressful, as they center about the Mediterranean.

Arsenal seem to have little to worry about.

FC Bayern München
Juventus FC
FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa FC (Israel)

Group B

Manchester United FC
CSKA Moscow
Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü
Vfl Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid CF
Olympique Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea FC
FC Porto
Club Atlético de Madrid S.A.D.
Apoel FC (Cyprus)

Group E

Liverpool FC
Olympique Lyonnais
ACF Fiorentina
Debreceni VSC (Hungary)

Group F

FC Bacelona
FC Internazionale Milano
FC Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)

Group G

Sevilla FC
Rangers FC
VFB Stuttgart
Fotbal Club Unirea Voluntari Urziceni (Romania)

Group H

Arsenal FC
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus
Royal Standard de Liège (Belgium)

Which are todays games? Sporting Lisbon take on Fiorentina, Timisoara take on Stuttgart, and Arsenal take on Celtic in the Non-Champions side of things. In the Champions side, Copenhagen take on APOEL and familiar faces abound as Sheriff take on Olympiacos.

I’ll be covering it live here.

Earlier today it was conceivable that Barça would play beautiful football and even win, but few would have predicted they would give Manchester United a footballing lesson and steal the oxygen away from this English side through midfield possession, but it’s true.

Barça took the ball and stole all Manchester United’s fabled rhythm to the extent that United looked disheveled for most of the time and, except for a few times in the first eight minutes, hardly threatened goal.

Scoreline: Samuel Eto’o hammered a toe-poke by van der Saar after making Vidic look silly in the box in the 10th minute; Lionel Messi scored from his head on a Barça counter attack off a lovely ball from Xavi Hernandez in the 70th.

Surely, events will quell sounds for Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or and Messi will be Player of the Year. Furthermore, you have to wonder how this influences Ronaldo’s potential move to Real Madrid.

Tonight in Rome, football was the winner. Soon now, we’ll bring in links from all over to discuss the ebb & flow of play, the ins & outs and ups & downs. For the time-being, the text of the Liveblog is available, below.

Our condolences to Wayne and all at manu.theoffside. Manchester United support world-wide have been all class, admitting the better team won tonight.

Featured, including Clarey himself, are five of the most experienced footballing writers in Europe …

Ian Hawkey | The Sunday Times (London)

Erik Bielderman | L’Equipe (Paris)

Santiago Segurola | Marca (Madrid)

Peter Berlin | International Herald Tribune (London)

Part 1 | May 22nd

SEGUROLA: The true uniqueness of Barca has only been produced in the last 20 years, after Johann Cruyff’s arrival as manager in 1988. Despite all its social significance in Catalunya, Barca lacked a true distinctiveness until Cruyff arrived. During this most recent period, the club has won nine of its 19 league title and two European Cups. The world has recognized in Barca a singular, brilliant style, short on defensive orthodoxy and long on aesthetics. There was a Barca before and after Cruyff. Before it had a persecution complex and could not win the big one. After it became a widely admired winner. As a player, Guardiola was the clearest symbol of this second identity.

Part 2 | May 23rd

BIELDERMAN: Ronaldo and Messi will certainly be the two main contenders for the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA player of the year award in 2009, both of which Ronaldo won last year. For the moment, Messi, who finally has stayed healthy, seems to have the edge, but his performance in the semifinal against Chelsea started to raise some questions. Ronaldo has clearly asserted himself in the Champions League with the return leg against Porto and the semifinals against Arsenal. He seems to be the “money time” player. If he’s the man of the match on Wednesday, he’ll have the edge over Messi. It’s all the more important for Ronaldo because he can’t count on his performances for the Portuguese national team, which, barring a miracle, is going to get eliminated from the 2010 World Cup. Messi is not going to have that blot on his 2009 copybook with Argentina. I also think Wednesday’s final is all-important for Ronaldo because if he does sign with Real Madrid, he could easily fall from grace in an environment that is going to be much less protective and stable than the one he has gotten accustomed to at United.

It’s the passion & petulance of Messi v Ronaldo; the cunning and confidence of Ferguson v Guardiola, innit?

Part 3 | May 25th

BERLIN: Park played in the semis last year and didn’t even make the bench or the final. But if Ferguson is worried about having to chase the ball around midfield, then Park would be an obvious choice. For that reason, in the center, Scholes, for all his experience, is a red card waiting to happen when Xavi and Iniesta are keeping the ball.

HAWKEY: Scholes ought to have learned by now about bad tackles.

BERLIN: You’d have thought he would. He’s such a smart player with the ball. But the evidence of this season is that he still can’t suppress the urge to leave his feet and lunge.

Part 4 | May 26th

HAWKEY: Cynical football is not really working, unless you think Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan have achieved a lot this season, or you like watching Juande Ramos’s Real Madrid. Even Liverpool have played nicer football under Rafael Benitez this season, haven’t they?

For UEFA Ref, Tom Øvrebø, his performance on the night was John-Arne-Riise-esque: Norwegian & vaquely one-sided. Mr Ø, indeed, had a poor match but it was not that bad under the difficult circumstances.

On account of the beauty of Barça’s footballing, a favoritism for them was installed in the Zeitgeist. That feeling was is amplified by the ugliness of Chelsea’s footballing in general and by the negative approach Chelsea took last week to the semifinal 1st Leg at Camp Nou in particular.

Mr Ø probably had this very intuition clanking about his subconscious (Barça = Beautiful) and was loath to give Chelsea a significant decision unless clearly, visibly earned. Refs, after all, are people.

I felt the worst decisions on the evening were the Pique handball, which was clearly a loss of an earned-advantage by Chelsea (despite being ball-to-hand) — a deserved penalty for Chelsea to take, if seen. The other was the sending-off of Barça’s Abidal which, in my opinion, was pure simulation by Anelka — a frame-job. If the rest are just gray calls, these two mistakes largely offset as well. However, in the final calculus an unwarranted dismissal for Barça is the heavier burden to carry. It is Barça who should have been howling like a petulant child who has missed his dose of Ritalin, rather than Chelsea.

When we saw Ballack’s & Drogba’s anger spill over on the telly, you can be sure this was their own anger at themselves for not taking earlier and obvious chances. Champions win football matches through goals, and do not passively await decisions on points.

The important point I haven’t seen made — which favors Mr Øbrevø — is that by diving all over Christendom (and Asia too), Drogba & Anelka make a technically difficult job by the Referee EVEN MORE DIFFICULT. These players — and Drogba in particular — cannot be trusted NOT to simulate, so a ref’s bias to reward them sparingly is assured & reinforced.

Which of a thousand falli fatti is CLEAR, I ask you? The disadvantage is self-imposed in the arrogant habit of begging-the-decision.

The weaker parts of Drogba’s character have boomeranged upon him (as they do, and should, for us all) and upon the Chelsea Football Club. Consequently, I am glad to see this truth acknowledged in the Club’s murmuring without hesitation about Drogba’s transition out, although I wonder if their firm price doesn’t reflect a lack of sincerity. Sort of takes QPR & Sheffield Wednesday out of the running. It’s good & necessary for Chelsea to cut right to the chase, remove the cancer and move on to next year. Ballack should go too, but only because his footballing contributions are so conspicuously prosaic. Let’s be clear that Ballack is not a simulator. Drogba & Anelka — in the mood — get goals, but the net effect of having these two head-cases is more than a club of Chelsea’s ambitions can tolerate.

Roll the tape. I feel Lampard was disgusted by his colleagues’ performances and believe he will agree that all disadvantage & misfortune Chelsea experienced on the day was self-inflicted.

You know the sort of things – Platini hates England, Chelsea bought their success, Ronaldo is a bottler, Serie A is boring etc.

You might disagree with the below anyway, and believe the cliché to be true. That’s fine, and if you can come up with a rational reason for them, then I’d be happy to hear it. Its just the mindless repeating of the same phrases with a knowing glance that I’m finding a bit boring.

Myth No. 1: UEFA fix the draw/matches in the Champions League

This is a silly one. it is linked slightly I think to Myth No. 2, but I’ll explore that one in a second. First the idea that UEFA fix the draw, which has been floating around ever since a crazy man predicted the entire draw to the CL QF’s against the odds (Except somewhere on the internet, which is filled with alot of people afterall, someone is bound to get it right, are they not?) . Basically, I don’t really understand why or how. Why would UEFA bother fixing the draw of the Champions League? To get better games? Why then do the same teams usually end up drawing one another? If you take the Liverpool/Chelsea draw from this year for example, why would any orginisation risk thier tournament by making everyone sit through another tedious stalemate? (OK, so this time it turned out to be an epic, but I defy anyone to have predicted that beforehand)

And why would UEFA bother fixing matches? Well supposedly to sell more tickets or to get the tie that they want in the final. But this is silly. Alot of this was thrown around yesterday because Chelsea had a couple of penalty calls turned away. But if the ref was told to favour Barca so much, why did he send Abidal off for watching Nicky Anelka fall over his own feet? I just think its a bit paranoid to suggest that there is some kind of massive conspricy going on. I doubt UEFA could be bothered to organise it to be honest.

Myth No. 2: Michel Platini hates England, The English, English Football and Fish and Chips.

This one is spread throughout the English press, and seems to be believed by a remarkable number of English people. Basically Platini likes to have a moan if there are too many English teams at the latter stages of the tournament. But basically what he’s getting at is the fact that there are too many clubs from one country at the end of the tournament. And he’s sort of right*. You don’t put the CL on because you want to see a Premier League game – you do it to watch something out of the ordinary. England is dominating in Europe at the moment, and to Platini’s mind – and its his job to protect this thing remember – its devaluing the tournament. I’m sure if the Semi Final was 3 Italian teams, or 3 French or Spanish teams, he’d be saying the same sort of things about them. Its also worth noting, that those of an Italian, or Spanish bias tend to perceive Platini and UEFA as always going against them – its just the nature of the beast.

*Though if he really wanted to fix it, he could just make it so that the Champions League became that again, a league of champions. But that would be less lucrative.

Myth No. 3: ” Player X is Overated” is a legit argument

It’s just lazy. I’m sure I’ve done it more than my fair share of times, but it is getting a bit boring. The key behind the Overrated Factor is the fact that we’re using an internet blog – of which there are thousends upon thousands – to state our opinions, which means that you guys read them over and over and over and over and it probably can seem that the whole bloody world can’t stop banging on about how good Guardiola/Ronaldo/Messi/Titus Bramble is. Its just the nature of our obsessiveness I fear. The way around it is to make a good argument, and one that doesn’t fall into the trap of…

Myth No. 4: The Big Game Bottler

This isn’t a very convincing argument either. How many times have you heard that Henry, Zlatlan, Messi, Ronaldo or whoever else doesn’t ever do it in the big matches? Well there is a number of reasons for this:

i) The big games usually mean playing against the big defenders. Pele didn’t do it against Bobby Moore, but that doesn’t make him a big game bottler.
ii) You can’t perform every week. So if you catch someone having a bad game, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t actually any good.
iii) Sensible managers stick two players on the best ones.

Also, its mostly a lie anyway. Ronaldo has scored in all the knockout rounds of this years Champions League for example, they don’t come a great deal bigger than that.

Myth Number 5: Any one of the Big Leagues is better/worse than the other

One of the ralliing cries against Barca this season has been that they’ve scored 100 goals, but only against Championship/Serie B standard opposition. This is absurd. Have any of you lot seen the bottom half of the Premier League (where everyone from about 11th downward is interchangable) or Serie A? They’re all about the same as La Liga – Not amazing. There is an increasing gap between the top teams and the rest all around Europe at the moment, not just in Spain.

Let us be honest, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the leagues. At the moment the Prem is riding high, on the success of the English clubs in the Champions League, just as Spain did before, and Germany before that and Italy before that. The guard will change soon, and we’ll be thinking about someone else being the best in the world. Its all circular.

Myth Number 6: Italian Football is, like, well boring

Ah this old chesnut. I never understood it when I was growing up watching Serie A simultaionously with the Premier League, and I still don’t really get it. Season on Season Serie A produces about the same number of goals as the Premier League, and indeed, there are some absolutely cracking games in both. I can only assume this myth comes from the fact that Italy has produced some great defenders.

Myth Number 7: Chelsea’s Success is Entirely Bought

No-one – not even the most ardant Chelsea fan – is going to deny that Roman’s money has enabled them to be in the position they’re in, as one of the top clubs in Europe at the moment. But to dismiss all the success they have had this decade entirely as being bought is quite petulant, I think. They might not have done it without the money, but lest we forget, Chelsea qualified for the Champions League in the season before Roman arrived. Let us not also forget that Claudio Ranieri had £100m to spend in his first season, and he didn’t win the league. It took Jose Mourinho’s ability to manage a coherent team to do that. He spent money for sure, but he still had to put together a side that could play together and win, and the players still had to win the games.

Myth Number 8: Defending is not a worthwhile skill

Might sound strange after I critiqued Guus for “Parking the bus” against Barca, but I am a great admirer in defence as a skill. I think it is one of the great tragedies of modern football that Maldini will retire having never won the Balon d’Or. There’s no doubting Chelsea’s achievement in stopping Barca for almost two legs, there are few sides in Europe who could manage the same. Defenders rarely get any credit at all – indeed you are more likely to hear a superstar has bottled it than hear that a defender has been the best player on the park. Its one of the many dissapointing things about Vidic being overlooked in terms of Player of the Year in the Prem – he’s been way better than Giggs.

Myth No. 9: The Premier League is over-foreign comparative to everywhere else

No-one is going to deny that the Prem has alot of foreign players in its league. But I do think its a fact that is exaggerated by fans of other leagues to create some kind of unjustified superiority. Take a look at this study here, which takes a random weekend and notes that 40% of Serie A players (not including subs) were not from Italy – 57% of players in the Prem were not from England. The thing the poll doesn’t take into account is the inclusion of Wales, Irish and to an extent Scottish players, who arguably aren’t all that forigen at all. Ok so they can’t play for England, but have you looked at the Irish and Welsh leagues recently? No? Well they’re rubbish basically. Any Welsh or Irish player of any note has always come to England to play. Most Scottish ones too, ok so they have a league, but a league of two is a bit of a pointless league, no? (Just kidding Scots, I love your league really.)
Anyway take those out and…well I can’t be bothered doing the maths, but I bet its much closer.

Myth Number 10: Gerrard and Lampard can’t play together

A England World Cup Blog Special this. But seriously I think this is just a sum of a nation being over-analytical. The chances of two central midfielders both having really good games on the same day is really quite unlikely unless the team really really rolls someone over. For example, last night Iniesta got all the plaudits for getting a last minute goal – Xavi was quiet – but no-one will say “Oh Xavi and Iniesta can’t play together”, because we know they bloody well can. We also know Gerrard and Lampard can because back in 2005 Lampard was considered England’s best player, and Gerrard wasn’t very far behind – they came second and third in the European Footballer of the Year poll. But we’ve been blinded by what has fast become a very boring cliché.

LiveBlog below…