Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

It was an interesting day indeed. Liverpool looked lost against Fiorentina, Lyon look excellent against Debreceni VSC, Inter stuttered against Rubin Kazan, Barcelona somewhat hummed (I've seen them play better) against Dynamo Kiev, Stuttgart whimpered against Unirea Urziceni, Sevilla roared against Rangers, Arsenal won a fun one against Olympiacos, and AZ Almaar and Standard de Liège did their part!

Click here for full results and reports.

OK, I would not be a true Barca fan if I did not sing Lionel Messi’s praise again! Oh, boy! You can see the fear in the defenders’ eyes when Messi, in full speed and ball at his feet, comes down the right and cuts to the left running parallel to the goal line on the top of the box! He did it again today.

Click here for post match interviews.

Now that my Barca duty is done, did you see the cheeky goal by Arshavin? Here it is:

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Matchday 2 of the UEFA Champions League gets underway tomorrow and there are a few interesting matchups on the schedule.

On Tuesday one might suggest Liverpool vs. Fiorentina, Barcelona vs. Dynamo Kiev, and Rangers vs. Sevilla are the more interesting matchups with a bit of an emphasis on the first.

On Wednesday Bayern München vs. Juventus, Manchester United vs. VfL Wolfsburg, and Real Madrid vs. Olympique de Marseille may be the more intriguing matches of the day. If I had to watch one, I’d choose the first.

For the complete schedule of the matches click here.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

One team’s loss is another team’s gain, or at least that is how it is in case of Majid Jalali, Perspolis, and Foolad of Khuzestan.

The former Foolad coach, who had been fired just last year, turned Perspolis down just so that he could coach his former team. Jalali told reporters that his previous experience negotiating with Perspolis was the key in his decision. A few years ago Jalai had agreed to take over the reins at Perspolis after a meeting with then Perspolis President Ali Parvin, and announced that it was a “done deal” at an interview shortly after only to have Perspolis deny that it was a “done deal” and proceed to give the job to someone else.

So now Perspolis has no coach and Foolad that had just fired Croat Luka Bonacic has Jalali back.

Don’t count on Jalali being there next year!

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

The Iranian duo of Masoud Shojaei and Javad Nekounam helped their team win one this weekend.

Osasuna defeated Sporting Gijon 1-0 and the goal came curtesy of Javad Nekounam off the spot. Interestingly the call came after Sporting defender Rafael Sastre handled a crossing attempt by Masoud Shjaei.

Here is the sequence:

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Blaugranas did it again. It was not the best game they have played this year so far, but it was convincing enough. What was even more significant was that Ibrahimovic scored in his fifth straight game.

It looks like this La Liga season is going to be a two horse race, and that is not necessarily a good thing, but as long as my team is one of the two horses, I cannot complain too much!

Here are the goals; the first one by Ibra and the second by Pique.

ANd here are the highlights of the other game:

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

I had to miss this one because of this thing some call “work”, but managed to watch the highlights and read the reports. Apparently it was another stellar performance by Barca boys, and Big Ibra scored his fourth in that many league matches. Here are some highlights for you. Oh and Real Madrid play Villarreal tomorrow morning at 11:00 PT and it is broadcasted live on Goltv.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

A funny thing happened during the Iran-Brazil futsal match yesterday. The large contingent of Perspolis FC supporters who were amongst the 10,000 strong fans attending the match spotted the Perspolis President Abbas Ansarifard in the VIP section and started chanting uncomplimentary slogans asking for his resignation. The chanting would stop during the match and as soon as there was a break in action the chanting would resume. To make things worse, former Perspolis president Habib Kashani, under whose reign the Reds won their last championship, was also present and the crowd cheered him at every chance they had in between their anti-Ansarifard chants.
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Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

It was a good football weekend for football fans everywhere because there was no shortage of interesting matchups, but our ragtag band of Barca fans only cared about one game, Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid, and the Catalan boys did not let us down.

The 5-2 win over Atletico was very convincing. Big Ibra opened the scoring by showing off his soft touch. Messi showed again why he is arguably the best player in the world right now scoring the 2nd and 5th goals and making the 4th goal for Keita. Alvez scored the third showing his power and skill on long distance free kicks. However, there were negatives too. Sergi Busquets errand header intended for defender Chyhrynsky gave Atletico to score their first, and Valdez bad kick resulted in their second. But altogether it was a good day for the Catalans.

Here are the highlights:

Yep, I know Real Madrid scored 5 too, and they did not let in any goals. SO what? They played the hapless Xerez. Here are their highlights:

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Matchday 1 of UEFA Champions League is history. The highly advertised “match of the day” did not leave up to expectations as Barcelona and Inter Milan played it safe. Don’t get me wrong, chances for both teams were there and a couple of them should have been converted but anyone who watched the game would agree that more was expected.

The true match of the day turned out to be Arsenal versus Standard Liege. The Gunners fell behind by two goals in the first five minutes, but then rallied back to win 3-2. Here are the highlights for both Liverpool and Arsenal matches, catch them before they disappear from youtube!

And here are the results of the rest of the matches; just click here.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Did you guys watch any of the Champions League games today? Real Madrid showed some offensive power in defending FC Zurich 5-2. Chelsea barely squeezed by Porto by one goal. Super Pippo scored a double for AC Milan as they defeated Olympique Marseille 2-1. For the rest of the results on Matchday 1 (part I) click here.

Check out the Real Madrid goals here, especially Ronaldo's first freekick.

And here are the AC Milan goals:

Tomorrow the rest of the matchday 1 games will be played. Undeniably the most intriguing matchup is the one between Barcelona and Inter Milan. I am DVRing the match, staying off of the internet, and watching it after work tomorrow.

Enjoy the games.