The group stage of Champions League 2009-10 is over and now its time for the knockout stages. The teams for the knockout stage are finalized by a draw. This is done by dividing the 16 qualified teams in two pots. The first pot will consist the top team from each of the eight groups and the second pot will consist the runners up teams from each group. All the teams will be place in an alphabetical order in their pots as follows;

Pot 1

Arsenal
Chelsea
Man Utd
Bordeaux
Fiorentina
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Sevilla

Pot 2

Lyon
Olympiacos
Bayern Munich
VfB Stuttgart
Milan
Inter
Porto
CSKA Moscow

A random team from pot 1 will be pitted against a random team from pot 2 which will be finalized by a draw. The draw is scheduled on 18th Dec 2009. All the big teams are looking in great shape to qualify for the quarter finals as there were not many upsets in this year’s group stage apart from Liverpool. So all teams are hoping for a weaker team to play against in the knock out stage.

After facing defeat on home soil, the Irish players were motivated to a win tonight against football powerhouse France. The match was too intense as a place in the 2010 World Cup Finals was at stake. As disclosed by Giovanni Trapattoni, the Italian coach for Ireland’s national team, Irish players were once again successful in scoring an away goal. A beautiful strike from Tottenham Hotspur star Robbie Keane in the 32nd minute made sure that the match was going to the wire.

France was attacking with full strength with every second passing. Anelka and Henry from Chelsea and Barcelona respectively, tried very hard to score but in vain. Manchester United left back, Patrice Evra was also disappointing tonight as he missed some important chances and so did Arsenal’s Gallas and Real Madrid’s Diarra. Gallas’s Arsenal team mate Sagna was impressive throughout the 90 minutes.

Ireland too had a set of good and bad players for the night. Manchester United regular John O’Shea was unfortunate as he was injured and was visibly limping because of which he was substituted in the 66th minute. Manchester City goalie Shay Given made some good saves tonight and kept the score at 0-1 for 90 minutes.

The match entered extra time as the score over two legs remained 1-1. In the 103rd minute, France was awarded a free kick near midfield by Swedish referee Martin Hansson. Malouda lobbed the ball into the penalty box which was clearly controlled by Henry using his left hand near the left post before volleying it towards Gallas who easily headed the ball into the net. The referee allowed the goal and the Irish players pleas fell to deaf ears.

After the goal, France was in control of the game as they had an upper hand now. Ireland tried attacking but their efforts didn’t seem to trouble the French defense. The match ended in a draw after extra time. France goes through to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup Finals and Ireland goes back home as if all their efforts were for nothing.

Manchester United regained the top spot in the league as Chelsea who were playing away this afternoon, lost 2-1 to Aston Villa. Manchester United defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Old Trafford. The first goal came soon in the 5th minute in the form of an own goal when Evra’s cross into the box was directed into the goal post by Bolton defender Zat Knight.

Ecuadorian Antonio Valencia scored his first goal for Manchester United and it was a goal he won’t forget. In the 33rd minute Valencia pierced through the Bolton defense and with a little help from Neville scored the second goal of the day for United. United kept attacking and if they had converted those chances, the scoreboard at Old Trafford would have seen a double figure score sheet today.

But the last 15 minutes of the match saw a sudden surge from the Bolton side who scored in the 75th minute through Taylor and kept the entire stadium on their feet till the final whistle and for once Old Trafford was delighted for no late goals.

Chelsea looked set to win the match when Drogba netted in the 15th minute. But the home team was not going to give up and won the match by scoring a goal in each half of the match. Dunne equalized in the 32nd minute while Collins scored the winner in the 52nd minute.

Liverpool suffered their 3rd defeat this season when they lost 1-0 to Sunderland this afternoon. Bent scored the only goal early in the 5th minute, surprising the visitors. Arsenal defeated Birmingham City 3-1 at the Emirates.

The only team that secured an away win this afternoon was Tottenham Hotspurs who defeated Portsmouth who continued their poor form this season as they have only 3 points from the 9 games played. Stoke defeated West Ham by 2-1 whereas Everton managed to draw at home against Wolves. Everton were saved from embarrassment when Bilyaletdinov scored in the 88th minute to equalize for the home team.

Chelsea could probably get respite from the transfer ban that FIFA imposed on the Londoners two yesterday. It has been known that a club has 21 days to file an appeal after the official issuing of a notice from FIFA. According to this if Chelsea appeals at the end of 21st day, their appeal will be heard in November by Cas (Court of Arbitration for Sport). Once the hearing starts, the decision will probably come out in January which will conflict with the January transfer window.

This means Chelsea will be allowed to sign new players in the January transfer window. This can be bad for Chelsea as they will not be able to sign any new players for the entire 2009/10 season. But if Chelsea appeals right away, then they will not be allowed to sign new players during January transfer. So as of now it seems that Chelsea have the time to decide which transfer window they would not like to sign new players.

Ex Manchester City defender, Richard Dunne has revealed that he never wanted to leave the club. He believes it was the club who wanted him out as the club had signed younger and more acclaimed defenders over the summer transfers. The new signings would have probably meant Dunne, who was a regular in the starting 11 during the 2008/09 campaign will have to start from the bench this season. This pressure forced Dunne to leave the club for Aston Villa, where he believes his services as a defender would be appreciated in a much better way.

Chelsea faced defeat for the first time this season at the DW stadium (formerly known as JJB stadium). Wigan became the first English club to defeat Chelsea since March, the last team to beat Chelsea being Tottenham Hotspur. The win gave Wigan their first victory ever against a top club (big four) in England.

Wigan shocked everyone including their own fans as they got the first goal in the 16th minute initiated by a Charles N’Zogbia corner which was headed home by Bramble. However, Chelsea was not to sit behind and two minutes into the second half Malouda’s low cross was angled into the net by Drogba through the Wigan goalie’s legs. Chelsea tried pushing for a goal at every possible chance but somehow they didn’t reflect any of that champion’s composure today.

Chelsea were swarming forward but a sudden surge forward by Wigan saw Petr Cech red carded for bringing Rodallega down in the box. This left Henrique Hilario, the Chelsea reserve goalie with the task of saving the penalty that was awarded to Wigan as a result of the foul. Rodallega scored from spot kick and gave Wigan a lead over Chelsea.

After this point, Chelsea did attack but it seemed that they were always scared of a counter attack. A counter attack did happen late into the game taking the score to 3-1 and giving Wigan their 3rd win this season. New Chelsea coach, the Italian, Carlo Ancelotti, faced defeat for the first time since starting his job early this season.