UEFA Champions League 2011/12

Udi close again, Asenal living dangerously

Arsenal have lost 2 defenders to hamstring injuries.....

Djourou off 9 minutes after coming on for Gibbs

Just got in so missed this, blimey they are having an awful start to the season all round.

Close again by Udi, just over the bar.

So they will be missing Wilshire, Gibbs, Djourou, Nasri (probably on his way), Gervinho, Song, Fabregas left.

We have absolutely no excuse on Saturday.

Lett's hope it continues on Saturday

Pinzi rugby tackling Gervinho then.

Udi close again

So they will be missing Wilshire, Gibbs, Djourou, Nasri (probably on his way), Gervinho, Song, Fabregas left.

We have absolutely no excuse on Saturday.

No van Persie tonight, is he injured or suspended?

No van Persie tonight, is he injured or suspended tonight?

He's banned because of his sending off at the Nou Camp last season.

2-2 at Twente-Benfica, goal by Ruiz. Great assist by Ola John, very talented 19 year old winger, looks like a future star.

He's banned because of his sending off at the Nou Camp last season.

Ah, of course.  Thanks!

Ooh, great save off Walcott, good move that by Arsenal.

Up the other end and Armero goes close.

Great save from the Udi keeper
1-0 Arsenal FT

Arsenal win 1-0.  Next Wednesday could be really tough for them.

Copenhagen losing 1-3 against Viktoria Plzen is a bit surprising.

1-0 to Arsenal then.

No idea what Udinese are like at home.

Happily see them go out knowing they will still have the extra games of the Europa League.

This will affect our game, as Arsenal only have a slender lead, they can not afford to lose next week, so may not risk some of their injured players.  Ironically, this may see them miss out of CL football next year

Copenhagen losing 1-3 against Viktoria Plzen is a bit surprising.

They need to buy Poulsen, I've heard he's available!

Gutted it wasn't 1-1. Di Natale is a god, my favourite player from outside Liverpool.

If we didn't have Pepe either, Handanovic would be awesome. He's a gun.

Hopefully 2-0 at home to Udinese next game.

I think Udinese could have pulled off a 1-1 draw if they still had Sanchez.

Yeah that's obvious, but without having signed one player this off-season, a lot of games they would of drawn or won last season with Sanchez will go astray this season.

If they manage a European spot this season it'll be seen as an achievement.

Agreed.

Last year's Champions League thread is locked so I'll post it here:

Champions League financial distribution – 2010/11

The 32 clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League last season received performance-related payments, as well as money from the TV market pool, amounting to €754.1m.

A total of €754.1m was distributed to clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League last season, with the two finalists, FC Barcelona and Manchester United FC, receiving the largest amounts.

A further €13.3m was distributed as solidarity payments to those clubs who were eliminated in the three qualifying rounds, while each of the 20 teams involved in the play-off matches received a fixed amount of €2.1m, irrespective of the result of their ties.

Additional solidarity payments for national associations and leagues to allocate to their clubs who did not participate in the UEFA Champions League totalled €69.9m, and must be used for youth development programmes.

UEFA has announced the sums that the participating teams received for their efforts in the 2010/11 campaign after money generated by the centralised marketing of European football's blue-riband club competition was redistributed among the 32 sides.

Manchester United got €53.197m in payments from UEFA. This comprised more than €27m for their performances from the UEFA Champions League group stage onwards, and another €25.9m from the television market pool.

Barcelona's triumphant run to the title at Wembley in May earned them a total of €51.025m. The Spanish club's performance-related payments amounted to €30.7m and they also collected €20.3m from the TV market pool.

Barça netted €9m for winning the trophy thanks to their 3-1 success over United, who picked up €5.6m as runners-up. The other major earners from the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League were Chelsea FC (€44,523,000), FC Schalke 04 (€39,750,000), Real Madrid CF (€39,288,000), FC Internazionale Milano (€37,982,000), FC Bayern München (€32,562,000) and Tottenham Hotspur FC (€31,133,000).

The €754.1m prize money allotted to the 32 teams who figured from the group stage onwards consisted of €413m in fixed amounts plus €341,100,000 from the market pool.

All the clubs were entitled to a minimum €7.2m in accordance with the distribution system, which awarded a basic participation bonus of €3.9m, plus €3.3m from the six €550,000 match bonuses given per group game.

Additionally, performance bonuses were paid in the group stage: sides received €800,000 for every win and €400,000 for every draw. The 16 clubs that reached the round of 16 were each assigned an additional €3m, the eight quarter-finalists an extra €3.3m, and the four semi-finalists – including Real Madrid and Schalke – a bonus of €4.2m.

Monies from the market pool were distributed according to the proportional value of the national TV market each individual team represented, among other factors, so the amounts given varied from country (or national association) to country.

The full financial distribution from the 2010/11 group stage onwards can be found here.

UEFA.com