Russia has two teams in the Champions League Group Phase: FC Zenit (Saint Petersburg) and PFC CSKA Moskva (Moscow). Zenit is in Group C with SL Benfica (Portugal), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) and AS Monaco FC (France), while PFC CSKA Moskva is in Group E, with FC Bayern München (Germany), Manchester City FC (England) and AS Roma (Italy).
Group A: Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Olympiacos FC (Greece), Malmö FF (Sweden)
Group B: Real Madrid CF (Spain), FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), Liverpool FC (England), PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)
Group C: SL Benfica (Portugal), FC Zenit (Russia), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany), AS Monaco FC (France)
Group D: Arsenal FC (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey), RSC Anderlecht (Belgium)
Group E: FC Bayern München (Germany), Manchester City FC (England), PFC CSKA Moskva (Russia), AS Roma (Italy)
Group F: FC Barcelona (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), AFC Ajax (Netherlands), APOEL FC (Cyprus)
Group G: Chelsea FC (England), FC Schalke 04 (Germany), Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal), NK Maribor (Slovenia)
Group H: FC Porto (Portugal), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Athletic Club (Spain), FC BATE Borisov (Belarus)
The team to watch? FC Porto (Portugal)
England (4): Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC, Manchester City FC, Chelsea FC
Germany (4): Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern München, FC Schalke 04
Spain (4): Club Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club (Bilbao)
Portugal (3): SL Benfica, FC Porto, Sporting Clube de Portugal
France (2): AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain
Italy (2): Juventus, AS Roma
Russia (2): FC Zenit, PFC CSKA Moskva
Belarus (1): FC BATE Borisov
Belgium (1): RSC Anderlecht
Bulgaria (1): PFC Ludogorets Razgrad
Cyprus (1): APOEL FC
Greece (1): Olympiacos FC
Netherlands (1): AFC Ajax
Slovenia (1): NK Maribor
Sweden (1): Malmö
Switzerland (1): FC Basel 1893
Turkey (1): Galatasaray AŞ
Ukraine (1): FC Shakhtar Donetsk
The qualifiers
August 27
Alexis Sánchez puts Arsenal FC through to the group phase of the UEFA Champions League for the seventeenth consecutive season, an amazing feat for manager Arsene Wenger, approaching the totallists Real Madrid, FC Porto and until this season, Manchester United. Steaua Bucureşti went out on penalties and this year misses out on the Champions League.
Malmö 3 Salzburg 0 (aggregate 4-2); Arsenal 1 Besiktas 0 (1-0); Athletic 3 Napoli 1 (4-2); Ludogorets 1 Steaua 0 (1-1, 6-5 on penalties); Leverkusen 4 Kobenhaven 0 (7-2)
First leg
Salzburg 2 Malmö 1; Besiktas 0 Arsenal 0; Napoli 1 Athletic 1; Steaua 1 Ludogorets 0; Kobenhavn 2 Leverkusen 3;
August 26
FC Porto 2 Lille 0 (aggregate 3-0); Zenit 3 Standard Liège 0 (4-0); Celtic 0 Maribor 1 (1-2); BATE 3 Slovan Bratislava 0 ( 4-1); APOEL 4 AaB 0 (5-1)
First leg
Lille 0 FC Porto 1; Standard de Liège 0 Zenit 1; Maribor 1 Celtic 1; Slovan Bratislava 1 BATE 1; Aab 1 APOEL 1
Zenit passes to the group phase of the Champions League after beating Standard de Liège (Belgium) over two legs, 1-0 away in Belgium and 3-0 at home tonight in Saint Petersburg. The goalscorers for André Villas-Boas' team were Rondón (30') and a brace from Hulk, a penalty on 54' and another on 58'. Zenit, Porto, BATE, Maribor and APOEL pass.
Chempionat Rossii - Russian Premier League (After 5 matches)
André Villas-Boas' Zenit Saint Petersburg, FC Zenit, are atop the Chempionat Rossii, with a maximum 5 wins from 5 games - fifteen points, after beating Amkar Perm 2-0 in St. Petersburg, goals from Shatov and Hulk; Ionov scored a brace for Dinamo (12 points) at Khimki in the 2-0 defeat of Ural; Dzyuba scored a couple for Spartak Moskva (12 points) at Ufa in Perm in the 2-0 away win for the Moscow side; Krasnodar teams FC Krasnodar and FC Kuban Krasnodar have 11 points each.
FC Krasnodar won against Torpedo 3-0 in Moscow while Kuban beat Lokomotiv Moskva 2-1 in Krasnodar.
Premier League (England) (After 2 matches)
There are four totallists in the Premier League, with a maximum of six points from two games, namely Tottenham Hotspur FC, Chelsea FC (both from London), Manchester City FC and Swansea City AFC (Wales).
FA Community Shield Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0
Goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey in the first half, followed by the third, a rocket from 25 metres, after the break from Olivier Giroud started a promising season for Arsene Wenger's Gunners and raises questions as to the preparation of Manuel Pelligrini's Manchester City.
La Liga (Spain) (After 1 match)
Wins for FC Barcelona, RC Celta de Vigo, Real Madrid CF, Villarreal CF, Granada CF, SD Elbar and Malaga CF in the kick-off matches in La Liga.
Bundesliga (Germany) (After 1 match)
Wins for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, FC Payern München, Hannover 96 and Eintracht Frankfurt in the opening game in the Bundesliga.
Ligue 1 (France) (After 3 matches)
The top three in France are FC Girondins de Bordeaux (9 points from three matches), AS Saint-Étienne (seven points) and LOSC Lille (seven points)
Serie A (Italy)
Matches start August 30
Primeira Liga (Portugal) (After 2 matches)
The top five with two wins out of two in the Portuguese Primeira Liga are Rio Ave FC, Vitória SC (Guimarães), CF Os Belenenses (Lisbon), SL Benfica (Lisbon) and FC Porto.
Premer Liga (Ukraine) After 4 matches
FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk lead the Ukrainian Premer Liga with a maximum 12 points out of the first four games, with FC Dynamo Kyiv just behind on 10.
Shakhtar beat local rival FC Olimpic Donetsk 5-0 away in the local Derby, while Dnipro went to Zaporizhya to beat Metalurh 1-0. Dinamo went to Mariupol to beat Illychivets 4-1, with a hat-trick from Kravets.
In Romania, after 4 games, FC Steaua Bucureşti leads with the maximum 12 points, followed by FC Petrolul Ploieşti on 10 and FC Astra Giurgiu on 9. Steaua beat Pandurii 6-0; Petrolul drew 0-0 at home with Rapid Bucureşti and Astra beat Iaşi 2-1.
In Armenia, FC Pyunik and FC Shirak top the table with 6 points from the first two games.
Pyunik won 2-0 away at Alashkert, while Shirak beat Mika 1-0
In the Azerbaijan Premier League (Topaz Premyer Liqası), Sumqayit FK leads with 6 points out of 6 after 2 games (1-0 away at Xäzär Länkära) while Inter Baki PIK is second on 4 points (1-0 defeat at Neftçi).
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru
(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)