Avoiding the Drop

So today’s a pretty big day if you’re a fan of either Liverpool or Barcelona. Sadly for me, I like both of them; that means that there’s a fairly good chance that I’ll follow that epic 38-37 Browns loss on Sunday with the elimination of one or both of the soccer teams I follow from the top tier of the Champions League.

Here’s the scenario in Group E: Liverpool needs to beat Debrecen AND have Fiorentina lose to Lyon in order to make their home fixture against the Viola in two weeks mean anything. If either of those doesn’t work out, than I’ll have to start posting the Europa League schedule come January. And while they wouldn’t be mathematically eliminated should Lyon and Fiorentina draw, they’d be in a situation to have to start making up a seven-goal difference between themselves and Fiorentina. So, um…go France!

The situation in Group F isn’t much better for Barcelona. After a couple of choke jobs against two-time Russian champs Rubin Kazan, Barcelona’s now into {insert mixed sports metaphor here}: they HAVE to beat Inter today at the Camp Nou if they want to keep defending their title. If they lose and Rubin Kazan beats Dynamo Kiev (which you kind of figure is going to happen, but is tied at halftime right now), than their best case is the Europa League.

Fun, huh? There’s stuff going on in Groups G and H, too, of course, but nothing particularly surprising (Sevilla’s winning Group G with Stuttgart or Unirea Urziceni coming in second; Arsenal’s winning the weakest group imaginable, with either Standard Liege or Olympiacos picking up the slack). Looking ahead to tomorrow’s matches, there’s not much else there, either (If Juventus beats Bordeaux than Bayern’s eliminated, but that’s pretty much all that’s going on).

Oh, and there are some injuries. Liverpool’s missing Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres, who didn’t travel at all, plus a bunch of folks who are injured but on the bench (i.e., Alberto Aquilani). Fiorentina’s missing Adrian Mutu and Stephan Jovetic (who’s injured but on the bench), while Gilardino was supposed to be out but is playing. Barcelona’s not got Ibrahimovic or Messi (both are injured on the bench, but won’t play if at all possible because of the Super Classico Saturday), while Inter’s without Wesley Sneijder. So that’s fun, right?

Without further ado, hear are the lineups (for those three games at leastthen more as I add them). Good luck!

GROUP E

Debrecen vs. Liverpool

Debrecen (4-2-3-1): Poleksić; Bodnár, Mészáros, Mijadinoski, Fodor; Szélesi, Kiss; Szakály, Czvitkovics, Laczkó; Rudolf (Subs: Pantić, Ramos, Dombi, Komlosi, Bernath, Varga, Coulibaly)

Liverpool (4-4-1-1): Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua; Kuyt, Lucas, Mascherano, Aurelio; Gerrard; N’Gog (Subs: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Benayoun, Kyrgiakos, Spearing, Skrtel, Dossena)

Fiorentina vs. Lyon

Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): Frey; De Silvestri, Dainelli, Krøldrup, Gobbi; Zanetti, Montolivo; Marchionni, Santana, Vargas; Gilardino (Subs: Avramov, Donadel, Jovetic, Castillo, Jorgensen, Pasqual, Comotto)

Olympique Lyonnais (4-3-3): Lloris; Gassama, Cris, Boumsong, Cissokho; Makoun, Pjanic, Kallstrom; Govou, Gomis, Bastos (Subs: Vercoutre, Lisandro, Ederson, Kolodziejczak, Delgado, Tafer, Seguin)

GROUP F

Barcelona vs. Internazionale

Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Pedro, Henry, Iniesta (Subs: Pinto, Marquez, Ibrahimovic, Messi, Bojan, Maxwell, Dos Santos)

Internazionale (4-4-2 Diamond): Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu; Cambiasso; Zanetti, Motta; Stankovic; Eto’o, Milito (Subs: Toldo, Cordoba, Quaresma, Muntari, Vieira, Materazzi, Balotelli)

Rubin Kazan vs. Dynamo Kyiv

At half, this match is tied 0-0; that could be good news for Barcelona.

Meanwhile, over in Group H, Arsenal’s facing off in a mostly meaningless match against Standard Liege. That lineup (with a return to the bench for Theo Walcott):

GROUP H

Arsenal vs. Standard Liege

Arsenal (4-3-3): Almunia; Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Fabregas, Song, Denilson; Nasri, Vela, Arshavin (Subs: Mannone, Sagna, Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott, Silvestre, Traore)

Standard Liege (4-4-1-1): Bolat; Camozzato, Sarr, Felipe, Mulemo; Goreux, Witsel, Mangala, Carcela-Gonzalez; Dalmat; Mbokani (Subs: Van Hout, Ramos, Rocha, Traore, Gershon, Nicaise, Cyriac)