ello! We've got Stuttgard-Barcelona and Olympiakos-Bordeaux today as well as Manchester United-West Ham. Should be good! Lets see United drop some points, eh? 1908: TEAMS Olympiakos v Bordeaux Olympiakos: Nikopolidis, Torosidis, Avraam Papadopoulos, Mellberg, Raul Bravo, Maresca, Ledesma, Stoltidis, LuaLua, Mitroglou, Datolo. Subs: Urko, Galitsios, Oscar, Derbyshire, Zairi, Zewlakow, Leonardo. Bordeaux: Carrasso, Chalme, Planus, Ciani, Tremoulinas, Menegazzo, Sane, Plasil, Gourcuff, Wendell, Chamakh. Subs: Rame, Henrique, Gouffran, Cavenaghi, Jussie, Bellion, Sertic. 1915: TEAM NEWS Olympiakos v Bordeaux Olympiakos, who have won their last five European home matches, have more than a faint whiff of the Premier League about them. Ex-Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg, one-time Leeds United left-back Raul Bravo and ex-Newcastle striker Lomana LuaLua all start, while former Blackburn striker Matt Derbyshire is on the bench. Bordeaux, whose 16 points in the group phase was the best record of all the last 16 qualifiers, are without influential captain Alou Diarra but midfielder Jaroslav Plasil has shaken off a knock to start. Yoann Gourcuff and Arsenal target Marouane Chamakh add a sprinkling of stardust. 1906: TEAMS Stuttgart v Barcelona Stuttgart: Lehmann, Celozzi, Tasci, Delpierre, Molinaro, Gebhart, Trasch, Khedira, Hleb, Cacau, Pogrebniak. Subs: Ulreich, Osorio, Niedermaier, Marica, Rudy, Hilbert, Kuzmanovic. Barcelona: Valdes, Puyol, Marquez, Pique, Maxwell, Busquets, Toure Yaya, Xavi, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta. Subs: Pinto, Bojan, Henry, Pedro, Milito, Bartra, Jonathan. 1913: TEAM NEWS Stuttgart v Barcelona Stuttgart striker Cacau keeps his place, so Ciprian Marica stays on the bench. Sami Khedira is fit to start, Jens Lehmann plays in goal and former Barca midfielder Alex Hleb takes his place in the Germans' XI. Barcelona drop Thierry Henry to the bench and defender Daniel Alves has not recovered in time, but Xavi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are fit to start. If United lose today and we grab three-points against Stoke, we'll jump into second and be three-points behind Chelski.
Looking at United's squad, it looks very weak doesn't it? Did Ferguson pick it out of a hat? 1917: TEAMS Man Utd v West Ham Man Utd: Foster, Neville, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Gibson, Scholes, Anderson, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Owen, Park, Rafael, Evans, Fletcher, Diouf. West Ham: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Spector, Behrami, Noble, Kovac, Diamanti, Franco, Cole. Subs: Stech, Dyer, Ilan, Mido, Da Costa, Collison, Daprela.
1940: And here's Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola (although I reckon the bit where he says 'Arsenal are almost out' must have been mis-translated'): "We're playing a German team with German qualities. Given the way I know my players, I don't need to worry about them taking Stuttgart too lightly. It's a round of 16 match: Arsenal are almost out, Real are having problems with Lyon and Manchester [United] and Bayern are not in for an easy ride either." What a ***got.
Barca are 1-0 down thanks to Cacau. Bordeaux are up 1-0. Half-time at both games. United and West Ham are goalless.
