Champions League Wrap Up

The Champions League returns, with few thrills, most of them being Spanish. Click read more for match reports.

Match Results:


Bayern Munich - 0-0 - Juventus
Bordeaux - 1-0 - Maccabi Haifa
CSKA Moskva - 2-1 - Besiktas
Manchester United - 2-1 - Wolfsburg
AC Milan - 0-1 - Zurich
Real Madrid - 3-0 - Olympique Marseille
APOEL - 0-1 - Chelsea
Porto - 1-0 - Atletico Madrid
Fiorentina - 2-0 - Liverpool
Debreceni - 0-4 - Olympique Lyon
Rubin Kazan - 1-1 - Inter Milan
Barcelona - 2-0 - Dinamo Kiev
Unirea Urziceni - 1-1 - Stuttgart
Rangers - 1-4 - Seville
Arsenal - 2-0 - Olympiakos
AZ - 1-1 - Standard Liege



Match of the Round: Fiorentina - Liverpool


Fiorentina - Liverpool
Stadio Artemio Franchi - Attendance: 33,426

28' GOAL!!! Jovetic scores for Fiorentina!
37' GOAL!!! Jovetic scores for Fiorentina!
HALF TIME
72' Babel replaces Insua- Liverpool
75' Jorgensen replaces Vargas- Fiorentina
80' Voronin replaces Kuyt- Liverpool
82' Donadel replaces Mutu- Fiorentina
89' De Silvestri replaces Marchionni- Fiorentina


Click read more to see detailed match reports.


What do you think about this round of Champions League group stages? Comment below!

Quote of the Week: Ray Hudson

Click read more to also see our new changes to SWU. 


For Spanish striker Raul has been known to score goals even when everybody has written him off; whether it's because of his old age, or whether it is because his team, Real Madrid, is under terrible form, he always delivers. Ray Hudson has a unique way of describing the Spanish legend.

Raul, man, he’s like a Twinkie. He would survive a nuclear war.

- Ray Hudson


And there's your quote of the week, I hope you enjoyed it.


Click read more to see our new changes to SWU.

Association with Story Wrap Up!!!

Story Wrap Up

Soccer Wrap Up has now officially associated with Story Wrap Up, a young and fresh blog which posts stories for readers to enjoy.

Visit at www.storywrapup.blogspot.com.

I hope all of you will check it out, because it will be quality posting, and if you don't like it or are not interested, then just don't visit.

Continue to read, comment and spread the word about Soccer Wrap Up, Zgame Wrap Up, and Story Wrap Up.

Manchester United looking at Julio Cesar

Manchester United have been recently looking at Inter Milan goalkeeper Julio Cesar as an option. Although their first choice would be Sporting Lisbon's Rui Patricio, it seems that if the portuguese club keeps Patricio then an offer for Julio Cesar would be imminent. The Brazilian goalkeeper is currently on great form, and seems happy at Inter.

Sampdoria Defeat Inter Milan to Move to Top of the Table

In the Serie A, Sampdoria defeat the Italian Champions to move to the top of the Italian League, for the Match Wrap Up and quick match report, click read more.

New Premiership Talk article out: Ronaldinho, the wrong promise?

My new article on Premiership Talk is out, Ronaldinho, the Wrong Promise, takes a look at three key factors in AC Milan's chances this year. Read, Comment, and more not only on Soccer Wrap Up, but also on Premiership Talk.

The article URL is http://www.premiershiptalk.com/2009/09/21/ronaldinho-the-wrong-promise/


Check out other Premiership Talk articles at www.premiershiptalk.com.

Quote of the Week: Phil Woosman

This Quote of the Week is by Welsh soccer player and manager, Phil Woosnam, who explained the rules of soccer in one sentence, uniquely and originally.

The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does.

-Phil Woosnam

Although maybe he doesn't express all of the rules, he captures the spirit of soccer with this quote.

Major League Wrap Up: Owen decides Manchester Derby while Real are on top

Big weekend in the Premiership, Manchester derby ends in an exciting 4-3, Owen scoring the final goal six minutes into injury time giving the red devils a precious win. Chelsea beat Tottenham 3-0 to stay at the top of the table, while Liverpool overcome a tough West Ham United side 3-2, with two goals by Torres and one by Kuyt.

In La Liga Real Madrid are first above Barcelona by goal difference after pummeling Deportivo Xerez 5-0 with two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, but Barcelona also win in style beating Atletico Madrid 5-2, with two goals from Messi.

In Italy Cassano continues to inspire as Sampdoria stay top of the table with a 4-1 win over Siena, while Roma are guided by Totti and De Rossi as they get the clubs 1000th win in club history beating Fiorentina 3-1. Inter Milan suffer but are able to win against Cagliari with two goals from Diego Milito.

Poll closed, Maradona does not Qualify, and is sent to Spa

Our poll just closed today, and after the voting 70% voted that Maradona's side does not qualify, and 30% said, Yes, Argentina will qualify.
In other news, Maradona has gained weight and is attending a spa in Italy and had his earrings taken away because of unpaid taxes while playing for Napoli.

Champions League Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the Champions League group stages,


Inter Milan hold Barcelona to a draw,

Eternal Inzaghi scores double to give AC Milan three points,

Juventus draws with Bordeaux giving both a slow start,

Real Madrid slaughters Zurich 5-2 with two goals by Ronaldo,

Chelsea get past Porto plain and simple 1-0,


Lyon shrugs off Fiorentina winning 1-0,


Arsenal come back from a two goal deficit to win 3-2, the third goal by Eduardo,


Manchester United struggles with Besiktas in Turkey,


Bayern Munich power through Maccabi Haifa 3-0,


and Liverpool get through Debrecen with a goal from Kuyt.



For more the group tables, and all match reports click on read more.

Quote of the week: Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho recently left a comment on him saying Eto'o is the best striker in the world, the year before, he said the same about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now at Barcelona,

"Eto'o is the best attacker in the world," ... "My players are always better. Last year Ibrahimovic was the best forward in the world, now I say Eto'o"

Jose Mourinho

Is this Mourinho being arrogant, or could he be thinking to sept 16th when Inter Milan play Barcelona in the Champions League?

Premiership Talk article is now out!

 Premiership Talk article, Champions League Possibles, who's next?

My very first Premiership Talk article is out on the website, you can either click on the link above, or if that doesn't work, copy and paste the URL below into your browser,

http://www.premiershiptalk.com/2009/09/15/champions-league-possibles-whos-next/

It is a breakdown of which team could lift the crown next after Barcelona, go to www.premiershiptalk.com to read, comment and more on many different articles, I hope you like it!

Major European Leagues Wrap Up

In the Premiership Chelsea continues to stay at the top of the table while Manchester City probe themselves against Arsenal, Manchester United able to come back against Tottenham 3-1 and with the Manchester derby next week the table might start to take its form.

In Serie A everything continues as expected except Roma who with new coach Claudio Ranieri are
able to get a 2-1 win against Siena. Cassano continues to sparkle as he provides the winning assist for Mannini against Atlanta putting Sampdoria in third place with Inter Milan right behind, having won 2-0 against Parma. Caceres scores on his debut for Juventus and Milan continue to delude.

In La Liga Barcelona stay in 1st spot winning 2-0 against Getafe with Ibrahimovic scoring and providing an assist to Messi, and Real Madrid is driven by Kaka' who provides two assists for Granero and Guti with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the third goal against Espanyol. Sevilla gets through Real Zaragoza winning 4-1 with two goals by Luis Fabiano, Valencia wins 4-2 against Real Valladolid, and Villareal is held to a draw by Mallorca with the game ending 1-1.

For more detail and the French and German league wrap up's, click read more.

Transfer Wrap Up

From Vieri to Beckham here is a Transfer Wrap Up

Vieri is retiring,
Beckham can return to Milan,
Juventus want Rossi,
Kaka comments on Milan,
Bayern regret selling Lucio,
Roma looking at Van Nilsterooy,

To read more click on read more at the bottom.

Juande Ramos replaces Zico at CSKA Moscow

Juande Ramos has replaced Brazilian legend Zico as head coach at the russian club, CSKA Moscow. Juande Ramos has been the head coach at great clubs like Seville, and Real Madrid.

Renovation is done, what do you think about it?

Now that SWU renovation is done, let us know what you think about it via comments, If you don't like it, or have a problem that you think we can fix, don't hesitate to let us know.

SWU is currently under some renovations, please be patient

Soccer Wrap Up is under renovations, please be patient, hopefully we will return better than ever!!!

If you want to read about the renovations being made click read more.

England qualify in style and Italy don't need Kaladze to win

England have qualified for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, all they needed was a draw against Croatia, and they won in style, winning 5-1. Lampard and Gerrard scoring two goals each, with Rooney scoring one to finish off the Croatians.

Italy having won both of their matches in this International break, look to be in a good position in their group with 20 points, 4 above the Ireland Republic. Italy won their match against Georgia 2-0 with two own goals by Kakha Kaladze, veteran defender returning from a 5 month injury. Although the debate in Italy raged on whether the national side could score in open play, and if Cassano should be called by Lippi, both debates were quieted fairly quickly with Italy winning 2-0 against Bulgaria. Neither Cassano or Kaladze were needed as Grosso and Iaquinta scored the goals giving Italy another win.

Association with zgame wrap up!!!

Zgame wrap up is a new and fresh videogame blog, so far there are no posts, but a good friend runs it and I would appreciate it if you could take a look at it. I know the writer well, and I know that the quality of the posts will be top notch, (I might even post something) so it would be great if you guys could check it out and follow it!

The URL is www.zgamewrapup.blogspot.com

Brazil Powers through Argentina 3-1 leaving doubts for Maradona

In international news, Brazil beat Argentina at home in the Rosario stadium 1-3, Argentina dominated the game for 20 minutes but soon after Luisao headed it into the back of the net with a beautiful free kick by Elano. Several minutes later Luis Fabiano scores, making it 0-2 for Brazil. Napoli's winger Datolo scores for Argentina in the 65' minute, but Luis Fabiano put the game away three minutes later, making the score 1-3.

Here are the South American qualifying stage table

Brazil 30

Chile 27

Paraguay 27

Argentina 22

Colombia 20

Ecuador 20

Uruguay 18

Venezuela 18

Bolivia 12

Peru 10

The first four qualify automatically, and the 5th plays against a Concacaf team to qualify, with this loss, and only three more games to go, Brazil has qualified mathematically, and Argentina might not even be able to get the 5th spot. Many Argentinean sport magazines and newspapers say that Argentina will not qualify.

What do you think, do you think Argentina will qualify? And if they don't, would the 2010 World Cup be the same without Messi, Aguero, and Tevez? Have your say in our poll, and leave comments below!

News and Transfer Rumour Wrap Up

From Messi to Milan, here is the latest transfer news rumours and more.

Berlusconi to sell AC Milan to Lybian contacts

Silvio Berlusconi, long time AC Milan president and Italian Prime Minister has decided to sell the Rossoneri, he could sell to the Central Bank of Lybia, Lybian Investment Authority, or the Lybian Foreign Bank. It seems that none of his sons are interested in carrying the Italian giant financially. It seems that Berlusconi would like to sell the club little by little, to avoid a sudden change in the AC Milan staff and results.

Robinho looking to leave for Barca, to replace Henry?

It seems that Robinho is tempted go to Barcelona, Barcelona want to replace Thierry Henry who said when his contract expires with the Spanish giants he will move to the MLS. Barcelona are planning to sign him either during the upcoming transfer window in January, or in the next summer transfer window. Manchester City would like to keep the Brazilian talent, but if a good offer comes in they could easily give away Robinho.

Italian champions look at Argentinean phenomenon, Messi

In a recent interview, Javier Zanetti, Argentina international and Inter Milan captain has said that Moratti would like to sign Messi one day,

"Mr.Moratti is a big Messi fan and would like him at Inter. But, it is impossible to sign him in the short term. Messi told me he wants to stay at Barcelona, where he is happy and gets along with everyone. .... Messi is an extraordinary player. ..... One day, when I will become an Inter executive, I could try to sign him - he is still young"

Messi's current buy out clause is reported around 250 million euros, and Inter Milan and Barcelona have always been on good terms, as the Ibrahimovic - Eto'o deal has proved, so Messi wearing blue and black is more than just a remote possibility.

Real Madrid looking at Jovetic

Real Madrid coach, Pellegrini has stated that Jovetic could be the revelation of not only the Champions League, but also the 2010 South Africa World Cup. The 20 year old Montenegrin forward has shown great form in the Champions League Qualifiers stage against Sporting Lisbon and could explode with Fiorentina this season. Whether Real Madrid want to sign him or not will have to wait until the January transfer window.

Trezeguet announces departure from Juventus

Trezeguet has announced that at the end of this year he will leave Juventus. This statement surprised but when thought about you can understand why Trezeguet would like to leave, Juventus hasn't played him yet in the Serie A and with all the attacking talent they have, he might not play at all. Not only does he have to compete with Amauri, Iaquinta, and Del Piero, but the club has brought in Diego and have the young Giovinco that has shown great form in the Under 21's Euro's in Sweden. Trezeguet has not announced where he could go, but Juventus coach has said that he will speak with Trezeguet as soon as possible about the matter.

Chelsea banned for two transfer windows by FIFA

Chelsea received a two transfer window ban by FIFA stating, Chelsea cannot register any new players until January 2011. Chelsea has responded that they will appeal with the utmost strength possible. This ban of about a year and a half was given to Chelsea because of the way they dealt with signing Kakuta. Apparently Chelsea persuaded the player to break his contract with his previous club, Lens, and to join Chelsea.

What could also surprise many is that Manchester United could have a similar ban on their hands, as club Le Havre stated, they are pursuing a "very similar" case as the Chelsea Lens case. It seems that Manchester United "stole" young prodigy Pogba by telling him not to sign a professional contract with Le Havre, but to come to Manchester and sign one with the English giants.

Premiership Talk articles

I will soon be writing some articles for Premiership Talk, it is a great football website, and I will provide links to my articles. Follow, comment and read both Soccerwrapup, and Premiership Talk at www.soccerwrapup.blogspot.com, and www.premiershiptalk.com.

Ranieri is new Roma coach, and Spalletti update

Ranieri has replaced Spalletti as Roma head coach, and Spalletti not only looks to be moving to Zenit St. Petersburg, but could also replace Leonardo at AC Milan or even move to the Premiership to replace Rafael Benitez at Liverpool.

Spalletti resigns as Roma coach, Ranieri the replacement?

On Tuesday Luciano Spalletti officialized his resignation, he left with these words,

"I offered my resignation and the club accepted, so my professional relationship with Roma is finished,".

Roma had lost the first game of the season against Genoa 3-2 and then lost against Juventus 1-3 giving Roma an unexpected and unwanted start.

Ranieri and some of his staff are talking with Roma and it is a high possibility that Ranieri takes over as Roma's head coach, meanwhile it seems very possible that Spalletti could move to coach Zenit St. Petersburg.