In light of Fenerbahçe’s dramatic penalty shootout aggregate goal victory against Sevilla in the knock-out round of the Champions League, I thought I’d repost Episode 5 of Carson and my Journey to Istanbul.

Here’s my predictions for who will be atop the Premier League come May:

1. Manchester United

2. Arsenal

3. Chelsea

4. Liverpool

Everton and Aston Villa will just miss out on the Champions League.

18. Sunderland

19. Fulham

20. Derby County

Just missing relegation will be Bolton, Birmingham City and Newcastle United.

Saturday afternoon: Liverpool loses by a 90th minute goal at Anfield in the 5th round of the FA Cup to Barnsley, currently ranked 14th in the Football League Championship.

Tuesday night: Liverpool pulls off a late match two to nil victory at home vs Inter Milan, who are currently ranked #1 in the Italian Serie A and #1 in the world by Fox Soccer Channel.

So what gives? How could a team loose to a nobody and then beat the top dog 3 days later? I admit, Anfield is a special place on European nights. While I watched the Inter match this morning, it was easy to sense the unique vibe that pervades the fans when a European team comes there to play. It didn’t feel the same way on Saturday when I watched the Reds play at Anfield vs. Barnsley. I told my friend that I was watching the Inter match with that Liverpool’s repetitive attacks on goal seemed like a balloon being filled with water…soon it would burst and Liverpool would score. But one could also argue that Liverpool didn’t take advantage of an Inter Milan team that didn’t really show up and played a man down for most of the game. Liverpool had significant more possession time, corner kicks, and shots on goal, but they didn’t pull a goal out until the 85th minute and then again in the 90th. Still, I’ll take the Liverpool team that came out against Inter any day. They were aggressive, took advantage of Inter’s weaknesses, and kept the ball away from their goal.

But I wonder what gives at Liverpool? Is it the trouble between Rafa and the American ownership? Rafa says that there are no problems, but reports keep coming out that there are. Is his job on the line? Should it be on the line? I don’t think so. I hope he gets one more year. And I hope the face of Liverpool that showed up last night verses Inter Milan shows up for the second leg of the knock-out round in Italy.
Other UEFA Champions League Scores:

Schalke 1 - Porto 0

Olympiacos 0 - Chelsea 0

Roma 2 - Real Madrid 1

Today:

Celtic 2 - Barcelona 3

Arsenal 0 - Manchester United 0

Fenerbahce 3 - Sevilla 2

Lyon 1 - Manchester United 1

I’m intrigued to know the political climate on my campus. Select the links below to show where you stand. Please only vote if you attend Covenant Theological Seminary. Thanks

What is the most important political issue to you? Which issue is it most important that you align with a candidate on in order to vote for him/her?

What is the second most important political issue to you?Which issue is it second most important that you align with a candidate on in order to vote for him/her?

What is the least important issue to you? Which issue do you care least about lining up with a candidate on?

Which is more important to you: foreign policy or domestic policy?

Democrat, Independent, or Republican?

Liberal, Moderate, Conservative

View from the hallway of our hotel.

Chillin’…

Sunset in the Bay of Banderas.

I’m still not exactly sure what these guys were doing, but it was cool…

Food prep on the streets and in restaurants of Puerto Vallarta.

Guacamole at our hotel…we ate boatloads of this stuff.

This parrot whistled at Virginia as we walked by.

In the market.

Food off the street…you have to believe that you won’t get sick, and then you don’t…its all in your head.

Out to eat…

On the streets in the central district.

A couple of things we bought: that sun painting right in the middle, and a flowery lamp.

We didn’t buy any devil masks.

At Las Animas Beach

On the Cielito Lindo

Me, the bearer of the ring, and the best man.

Adrian and Clay toast and roast at the rehearsal dinner.

Stunning is an understatement…

http://studiojblog.com/?p=35#comment-337

Thanks Jake. The pictures are awesome.

This morning, Liverpool drew Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Knockout stage draw in Nyon, Switzerland. This could be the toughest possible match up for Liverpool, as Fox Soccer ranks Inter #1 in the world right now. These rankings fluctuate a lot, but they’re helpful to gauge a team’s quality and current form. Liverpool is ranked 11th. Following are the other matchups and current fox soccer rankings. Teams listed first were runners-up in their groups. The second team won their groups. Runners up play at home first. This puts them at a slight disadvantage if they are scored against, as the pressure is on them to score the coveted away goal when they visit their opponent several weeks later. This is often how a team is knocked out if each team wins 1 match and the aggregate goals are equal. Ex:

In this scenario, Inter would advance

Match 1 - Inter Milan 1 at Liverpool 2

Match 2 - Liverpool 0 at Inter Milan 1

Celtic (16) vs Barcelona (5) - Barca’s Lionel Messi was up in arms after his team traveled to Glasgow to play Celtic’s rivals, Rangers. Their conservative play lead to a nil-nil draw with Barca, a strategy that Messi deemed not playing football. The Catalans handled Rangers 2 to nil when they visited Camp Nou. I would expect a similar result in this match up.

Olympique Lyon (10) vs Manchester United (3) - I don’t know much about Lyon, but I know Man U has been in good form. These match ups aren’t until February and March, but I would expect that Sir Alex won’t let his team slide much between now and then.

Schalke 04 (unranked) vs FC Porto (14) - Porto isn’t an exceptionally strong team in my opinion, but neither is Schalke.

AS Roma (7) vs Real Madrid (4) - Real Madrid has won the Champions League title 9 times (1956, 57, 58, 59, 60, 66, 98, 2000, 2002). Roma can play well, but I would expect Real to advance in this match up.

Arsenal (2) vs AC Milan (12) - Another English team playing another Milan team. This has the potential to be a great match up.

Olympiakos (25) vs Chelsea (8) - If Chelsea has an off-day, Olympiakos could draw at home. Chelsea has been plagued by injuries lately, but they should be in good form by the time these matches roll around.

Fenerbahce (29) vs Sevilla (30) - This is the best match up for a runner-up to beat a group winner. Fenerbahce showed a decent performance during the group stage, beating Inter Milan 1 to nil at home in Istanbul. If Fener’s momentum continues to roll, they could advance to the second knock out stage.

Who would you like to see Liverpool draw in the knock-out round?  Why?

AC Milan

Barcelona FC

Inter Milan

Real Madrid

Sevilla