The draw for the Champions league was populated with the usual suspects and some new fringe teams. There were no less than six British in the draw. The big four from England Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are joined in the draw by the old firm from north of the border. Glasgow Rangers will welcome the windfall from the group stage, the £10m should help ease their current financial situation. Celtic scraped through the last round beating Spartak Moscow in a penalty shoot out to earn a place in the draw for the group stage.

UEFA Champions League GROUP A

Liverpool FC (England)
FC Porto (Portugal)
Olympique Marseille (France)
Besiktas (Turkey)

Last years beaten finalists Liverpool will hope their newly strengthened squad can go the extra mile this year, but they may be distracted with their domestic campaign. They will have trips to Portuguese side Porto who have been successful in the competition in recent years. Marseille are back in the big time after recovering from the scandals of the last decade, they may do well enough to compete for the second spot although they might settle for for the UEFA Cup spot. Besiktas will enjoy their participation in the Champions League, they are familiar with the format having played in the UEFA cup last season.

UEFA Champions League GROUP B

Chelsea FC (England)
Valencia (Spain)
Schalke 04 (Germany)
Rosenborg (Norway)

Premier League runners-up Chelsea will be confident of their progression from Group B, their assembly of stars should cruise through the group as they try to secure the one trophy that has eluded Jose Mourinho in his tenure as Chelsea manager.

Chelsea’s toughest test will come against Spanish side Valencia, who they managed to beat in last years quarter final. Although it must be said that Schalke and Rosenborg will be no push overs as they fight for the second qualification or UEFA Cup place, Schalke finished second in the Bundesliga last year behind Stuttgart.

UEFA Champions League GROUP C

Real Madrid (Spain)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Lazio (Italy)
Olympiakos (Greece)

Spanish League winners Real Madrid have Germany’s third placed team Werder Bremen in their group along with Italy’s third place side Lazio, which will suit Madrid’s new man in charge Bernd Schuster who has recently strengthened his squad, adding names like Robben, Sneijder and Heinze. The fourth team in the Group C is Olympiakos from Greece.

UEFA Champions League GROUP D

AC Milan (Italy)
Benfica (Portugal)
Celtic (Scotland)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

2007 Champions Milan will face Glasgow Celtic again this season after playing them last year.  Benfica, Celtic and Shaktar Donetsk will be competing for the second place and the UEFA Cup place, unless they manage to raise their game to upset the Champions.

UEFA Champions League GROUP E

FC Barcelona (Spain)
Olympique Lyon (France)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
Rangers (Scotland)

Instantly recognised as the ‘Group Of Death’ Glasgow Rangers will struggle to make even the UEFA Cup place. Winners from 2006 Barcelona who are fresh from a pre-season tour of Scotland will be favourites to top Group E. Barca & Celtic are joined in the group of death by winners of their respective leagues Lyon who won in France and Stuttgart who won the Bundesliga.

UEFA Champions League GROUP F

Manchester United (England)
AS Roma (Italy)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

The English and Italian authorities will hope there is no rekindling of hostilities between Manchester United and Roma, after the violence that erupted in last seasons clash. The new and improved United squad will want to try and better the 7-1 result they managed last season. Ronaldo and Nani will face their old club Sporting Lisbon. The fixture that could cause the upset will be Dynamo Kiev, clubs that have a trip to Kiev in late October early November in the bitter cold may not perform well allowing the Ukrainians to exploit their familiar conditions.

UEFA Champions League GROUP G

Inter Milan (Italy)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)

Another group where trips to a freezing cold Moscow could be a deciding factor in who is successful in the group. Italian Champions Inter Milan should finish top of the group, then it is a three way scramble between PSV, CSKA & Fenerbahce for the other two places.

UEFA Champions League GROUP H

Arsenal (England)
Sevilla (Spain) or AEK Athens (Greece)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

England’s fourth placed team face two eastern European sides in Steaua Bucharest and Slavia Prague, having dispatched the Czech Republic’s other entrant to the competition Sparta Prague in the qualifying round. The fourth club to be in the group has yet to be decided. The game between UEFA Cup holders for the last two seasons Sevilla from Spain, had their game against AEK Athens postponed following the death of Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta.

England midfielder Owen Hargreaves is expected to join Manchester United next week having already been shown round and undergone a medical at Old Trafford.

Canadian born Hargreaves was courted by Manchester United last summer, but was told by the board at Bayern Munich that he would not be allowed to move until his contract expired in 2010. However the board have changed their stance and they now want to cash in and sell the player who clearly wants a new challenge.

With Hargreaves unavailable Sir Alex Ferguson elected to buy Michael Carrick to play in the holding role for Manchester United. The Geordie helped the red devils to Premiership success and was an integral part of the reds charge in the Champions League. How will Sir Alex manage to keep both Carrick and Hargreaves content?

Jens Lehmann has accepted the obligatory one-year contract extension that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger gives to his ageing stars. The Frenchman introduced a policy a few years ago, where he would only offer players over 30 years old one-year deals when their original deals expired.

Thirty-seven year old Lehmann had been linked with a number of moves that would seen him finish his career back to his native Germany. He had been considering the potential moves because he felt as he was worthy of a two-year deal, probably because goalkeepers seem to age better than out field players. Lehmann can be a bit of a liability at times, and his short fuse has seen him and his team suffer needless yellow cards, the last of which was received during last weeks London derby with Tottenham Hotspur.

Wenger will no doubt look to secure the services of a talented youngster who can come in and learn from Lehmann safe in the knowledge that the German will be gone within twelve months.

Peter Crouch was on target for the Reds as they strolled in to the semi finals. PSV posed little threat to the Liverpool goal and with Rafa Benitez resting a number of players, Liverpool looked a little sluggish and were unable to create space to attack.

PSV looked like a different team from the one that dispatched Arsenal in the previous round. They were further weakened when debutant Dirk Marcellis was given a straight red card for a clumsy challenge on Zenden. Given the occasion and the location of the incident the referee could have given the youngster a yellow card or even a strong talking to.

Liverpool took immediate advantage of the extra space on the pitch when Peter Crouch put Liverpool ahead. Extending the aggregate score to 4-0 and securing another European clash with Chelsea.

Ronald Koeman’s PSV will need to work miracles if they are to turn this tie round to progress to the next round. Liverpool carry the comfort of three away goals into the home leg at Anfield next week.

Captain Steve Gerrard led by example, putting the former European Champions on up just before the half hour. The goal makes him Liverpool’s top goal scorer in European Competition with fifteen goals.

In the second half Riise needed just five minutes in the second half to add his name to the score sheet. He was joined by the man of the moment Peter Crouch twenty minutes later with another headed goal, giving Rafa Benitez one foot in the semi final.

Having gone behind twice either side of half time the Germans had to rely on the goal scoring of Daniel Van Buyten to keep them in the tie. The home side went ahead when Pirlo scored five minutes before half time. It took another forty minutes of play for the visitors to draw level through the first of Van Buyten’s goals.

Then a poor decision from the referee awarded Milan a Penalty kick when the crowd and television audiences all believed that the ball had gone out for a corner. Brazilian playmaker Kaka stepped up to convert the spot-kick and put his side back in front.

Justice was served in injury time when defender Van Buyten finished from close range to give the visitors the away goal advantage for the return leg next week.

The draw was made today for the last stages of the 2007 UEFA Cup in Glasgow the venue for this year’s final. The eight teams in the draw represent five different countries. Three from Spain, two from Germany and one from Holland, Portugal and England, the draw was open meaning that teams from the same country could face each other for the first time in the competition.

AZ Alkmaar who managed to squeeze past Newcastle on the away goals rule will play Weder Bremen in the first fixture out of the hat. The three Spanish sides were kept apart Osasuna travel to Leverkusen who beat Lens in the last round. Spurs face a tough trip to holders Sevilla. While Espanyol will host Benfica in the last tie of the round.

Quarter-final draw:
1. AZ Alkmaar v Werder Bremen.
2. Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna
3. Sevilla v Tottenham
4. Espanyol v Benfica

The semi-final draw means that should Spurs progress they could go back to Germany to play Bayer Leverkusen who they beat during the group stages or a second trip to Spain to play Osasuna. The other semi final Bremen or AZ will host either Espanyol or Benfica in the other semi-final.

Semi-final draw:
1. Quarter-final four v Quarter-final one
2. Quarter-final two v Quarter-final three

The order of the final was also drawn for administration purposes and it is detailed below.

Winners of semi-final one v Winners of semi-final two

Looking for 2007 UEFA Cup Quarter-final and Semi-Final Draw?

The Managers of England’s top three clubs should be happy with the quarter final draw for the Champions League. The open draw has given them all fixtures against foreign opposition. Liverpool will travel to Eindhoven to play PSV, Manchester United have a tough trip to Roma for the first leg and Chelsea will host Valencia.

The draw for the semi-finals was also made in Athens this morning and it has set up a possible clash between Liverpool and Chelsea should they beat their respective quarter-final opponents.

Manchester United could face another Italian side in the semi-final if they manage to get past Roma without the services of Louis Saha (injury) and Henrik Larsson (End Of Loan). Alternatively they could have a replay of the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich when they won the game in injury time.

The full draw for the 2007 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final and Semi Final is as follows.

Quarter-final draw: ?
Milan v Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Roma v Manchester United
Chelsea v Valencia

Ties to be played on 3/4 April and 10/11 April.

Semi-final draw:
Chelsea or Valencia v PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Roma or Manchester United v Milan or Bayern Munich

Ties to be played on 24/25 April and 1/2 May

Tottenham Hotspur return to European competition after their enforced break, when they received a bye following the expulsion of their round of 32 opponents Feyenoord. Spurs travel to Portugal to play Sporting Braga.

The visitors started the game brightly and could have scored a number of chances but it appeared that Dimitar Berbatov had not packed his shooting boots. Spurs took the lead ten minutes in to the second half when Aaron Lennon broke through two challenges and flick the ball over a defender to Robbie Keane, who in one swift movement controlled the ball with his chest and volleyed the ball over the keeper in to the goal.

Spurs were soon two up and again Lennon was instrumental in the move. This time it was run down the right flank he checked inside and his shot was parried by Santos in the Braga goal, the ball went as far as Malbranque who thumped it into the empty goal.

The home side made a few changes bringing on Diego, Cesinha and Maciel and the changes seemed to work. As Diego was brought down by Gardener in the box and they had a penalty. Braga captain Jorge had his spot-kick saved by Robinson but he managed to squeeze the rebound past the England keeper.

Five minutes later the sides were level when Castanheira whipped in a free-kick from the right wing for Ze Carlos to head home from eight yards. Spurs demonstrated the same resilience as they did on Sunday at Upton Park against West Ham and fought till the final whistle. Their spirit was rewarded when Zokora played Robbie Keane in to the right channel, to put him one on one with the keeper. The Irishman held his nerve and put the ball between Santos’ legs to give Tottenham a one goal advantage and three away goals to take home to White Hart Lane for the second leg.

Real Madrid found themselves 1-0 down in just 10 seconds as Roy Makaay scored the fastest goal in Champions League history. The goal gave the Germans the away goal advantage, as they had scored two in the first leg at the Bernabeu when they lost 3-2.

Lucio put the home side further in front on the hour, when his header from a Willy Sagnol corner found a way past Casillas and Ramos. Ruud Van Nistelrooy got on the score sheet when he scored from the spot, after an incident that saw both Diarra and Van Bommel sent off. His goal made the aggregate score 4-4 but Munich go through to the draw on Friday having scored one more away goal than the Spaniards.

The defeat for Real means David Beckham has played his last game in the Champions League. Beckham was unavailable after sustaining an injury during the league game at the weekend.