1 Football: UEFA champions league group stage fixtures and results

UEFA champions league will be kicking off today with teams well prepared to start journey to Amsterdam Arena.  Chelsea FC, UEFA defending champions had not had good results in premier league and UEFA super cup but they will surely settle and aim to qualify. Big European teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City and last season finalist Bayern Munich won't like to make similar mistakes again. This guarantee fans of good competitive games. 

UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures preview 
Group A (FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb and Paris Saint-Germain)

FC Porto won UEFA Cup and Champions League in 2003 under Jose Mourinho’s as head coach. It was these success which made the special one catch eyes Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich.   Andre Villas-Boas took over after Mourinho’s departure and again FC Porto lift Europa league cup. Following second AVB moved to Chelsea and Vitor Pereira took charge of Porto. 

In this Group, PSG following Qatar billionaire take over, great coach Carlo Ancelotti and signing of European top players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva Ezequiel Lavezzi and others.

Group B (Arsenal, Olympiakos, Schalke 04 and Montpellier)

Arsenal have lost their two key players to rival clubs for UEFA title, the premier league top scorer 2011-2012 to Manchester United and Alex Song to Barcelona. Great signings Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski will be the key to Arsenal success. Group B seems for Arsene Wenger’s boys, but surprises can’t be rolled out. 

Schalke  04 has former Arsenal goalie, Jens Lehmann and Klaas-Jan Huntelaarp scorer with 29 goals in 2011-2012. Huntelaar also assisted 13 his predator character inside the box.

Monterpellier, League one champions get its first taste of UEFA champions league competition after a long time. Head coach Rene Girard have lost him top striker Olivier Giroud  to Premier League Arsenal and has to relay on Younes Belhanda.

Group C (AC Milan, Anderlecht, Zenit St Petersburg and Malaga)

AC Milan won UEFA champions league 7 times and the only top team in this group with underdogs Anderlecht, Malaga and Zenit St. Petersburg who might be competing for one remaining spot. Milan will miss Thiago Silva and ZlatanIbrahimovic who moved to Paris Saint-Germain.

Group D (Ajax, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund)

This is the toughest group. Many call it group of death. It consist of champions from top leagues Real Madrid - La Liga, Manchester City - Premier league, Ajax - Eredivisie and Borussia Dortmund - Bundesliga. Only two of these top teams will qualify to the nest stage.

Jose Mourinho was unhappy with league performance at the start of the season. Especially following defeat by Sevilla making Mourinho to give his strange football quotes. Also faced with rumors of Cristiano Ronaldo being unsettled.

Champions league teams groups A-D logos

UEFA champions league group stage fixtures and results

18:45 GMT TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012
Group A
Dinamo Zagreb	0-2	FC Porto
Paris Saint-Germain	4-1	Dynamo Kiev
Group B
Montpellier	1-2	Arsenal
Olympiakos	1-2	Schalke 04
Group C
AC Milan	0-0	Anderlecht
Málaga	3-0	Zenit St Petersburg
Group D
Borussia Dortmund	1-0	Ajax Amsterdam
Real Madrid	3-2	Manchester City

Group E (Chelsea, Juventus, Nordsjaelland and Shakhtar Donetsk)

UEFA champions league champions; Chelsea FC also had had poor results in recent games. Losing to Athletic Bilbao in UEFA super cup and derby draw against QPR in premier league competition.

Champions are without their main hit man, Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres has showed if he can reproduced Drogba’s performance and goals. With injury worries for Petr Cech and Terry, Chelsea will have to find magic to reproduce their last year results and the likes of Eden Hazard and Juan Mata could bring those magic.

Group F (BATE Borisov, Bayern Munich, Valencia and Lille)

UEFA Champions league and Bundesliga Runners-Up, Bayern Munich last won the cup in 2001. The incident has been sandwitched by two big disappointments at 1999 final with Manchester United and 2012 final at penalty shoot-out with Chelsea at Allianz Arena.

Midfielders new signing Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Xherdan Shaqiri and two wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery give Bayern Munich possession they wanted. Jupp Heynckes will miss his bundesliga top scorer and UEFA runners-up top scorer, Gomez and left back David Alba in opening tie.

Valencia faced financial problems, forcing the club to loss start players and missed major signings but they have managed to stay in top four. Once again Valencia has a chance to compete with the best. Last season Valencia nearly threatens Chelsea chance of qualifying but the champions won 3-1 on second tie. Combination of Roberto Soldado new signing from Real Madrid could be vital Fernando Gago

Group G (Barcelona, Benfica, Celtic and Spartak Moscow)

Barcelona playing in UEFAchampions league under new head coach Tito Vilanova for the first time since last season.  Lionel Messi is still the their top scorer in all competition having finishing as top scorer for UEFA champions league and La Liga despite tough competition with Ronaldo. Reached club and European goals record of 72. The Nou Camp club has greater hunger to reclaim UEFA trophy but one big weakness is over dependence of Messi, if he get injury they will surely strungle.

Benfica last season was knocked out by Chelsea FC in a tight game which could have gone to any team. It mainly relay on Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo at front, receiving balls from Pablo Aimar at midfielder position. The team concentrates more on attacking and sometimes this expose them team.

Group H (Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj)

Manchester United head coach, Alex Ferguson have signed two top players, EPL top scorer Robin Van Persie and Japanese international from Borussia Dortmund,Shinji Kagawa. Already Van Persie has started paying the money with hat-trick which earn united 3-2 win over Southampton. United also has young players Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck who can step up at any time and change the game.

Braga had big success in the competition last season, finishing third in group stage and moved to Europa league. This season they are more experience and as the group is not very tighter they might go through.

Champions league teams groups E-H logos

 UEFA champions league group stage fixtures and results

18:45 GMT WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012
Group E
Chelsea	2-2	Juventus
Shakhtar Donetsk	2-0	FC Nordsjælland
Group F
Bayern Munich	2-1	Valencia
Lille	1-3	BATE Borisov
Group G
Barcelona	3-2	Spartak Moscow
Celtic	0-0	Benfica
Group H
Braga	0-2	CFR Cluj-Napoca
Manchester United	1-0	Galatasaray