Champions League Update

Both Arsenal and Chelsea maintained their 100% records in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League as they looked to reach the latter stages of the elite European competition. Arsenal were rarely troubled in a comprehensive 5-1 victory against Shaktar Donetsk and broke the record for the number of goals scored after the first 3 matches of the group matches with 15 goals in total. Goals from Alex Song, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and Marouane Chamakh helped Arsenal reach the landmark total whilst a consolation goal from former player Eduardo was greatly cheered. Chelsea made light work of playing on a plastic pitch in a freezing Moscow with goals from the native Yuri Zhirkov and Nicolas Anelka giving them a 2-0 victory against Spartak Moscow. Elsewhere, in the glamour match of the night, Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a 2-0 victory against AC Milan with a goal and an assist in 2 minutes. Robinho came off the bench to play against his old team but was ineffective and was jeered every time he received the ball. For the latest leagues tables click here

AS Roma 1-3 FC Basel

Bayern Munich 3-2 CFR Cluj-Napoca

Spartak Moscow 0-2 Chelsea

Marseille 1-0 MSK Zilina

Ajax Amsterdam 2-1 AJ Auxerre

Real Madrid 2-0 AC Milan

Arsenal 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Braga 2-0 Partizan Belgrade

Ferguson admits that Rooney wants to leave

Sir Alex Ferguson has remarkably confirmed that Wayne Rooney wants to quit Manchester United following intense speculation over the last few days. In a press conference before the club’s match against Bursaspor, Ferguson admitted that Rooney declared that he wasn’t going to sign a new contract back on August 14th, and his immediate shock at the decision.

To see the BBC’s coverage of the conference click here.

Jonny Wilkinson is miCoach

So I must be one of the few people that has recently converted over from a Blackberry to an Iphone 4 and actually miss my old Bold. Don’t get me wrong, the Iphone is great and all with its “there’s an app for anything” approach but as an actual phone touch screens inherently annoy me and Apple’s latest invention is no different. However, one recently discovered application which I cannot praise highly enough is Adidas miCoach. Yes, I will admit that I was drawn by the rather spectacular advertising campaign featuring the likes of David Villa, Jonny Wilkinson, Jessica Ennis and Andy Murray but having been initially sucked in this is a definite keeper.

So who do you want to be like?

For the first few weeks I have been doing just some simple free running back home from work as a means of just getting some badly needed fitness and the fact that miCoach is able to track and record your run home is a nice feature which I’ve never encountered before. However, having looked around the website in more detail Adidas have also created plans to help you get fit for a variety of sports and exercises. As a part time amateur rugby player this appeals, although the one big negative so far is that Rugby is not one of their defined sports. Thus I have plumped for American Football over Football [proper] as my training regime. Quite how it goes is another thing! To help me along Adidas allow you to download various sportsmen and women trainers who bark instructions down your ear as you run to your heart’s content. Mr Wilkinson is my current choice as trainer but if all else fails that I’m sure Jessica Ennis will have the desired effect.

I’m sure that there are other applications/gadgets which offer a similar service but for the time being I have no inclination to try them out. I will eventually upload my charts so that you can track my progress but for the time being I am going to go for a run!

McGeechan to retain Lions role?

According to the latest reports Ian McGeechan could possilbly return as Lions coach for the 2013 tour to Australia following his narrow 2-1 tests defeat against South Africa last year. McGeechan had ruled himself out of contention for the role but tour manager Andy Irvine still feels that he is a prime candidate because he has similarly discounted himself from the role before!

The other leading candidate for the position is current Wales coach Warren Gatland but Sky Sports quotes Gatland as saying that whilst "It's theoretically possible to coach the Lions and be the head coach of a national side in the Six Nations immediately prior, …it's unlikely”.

Much is likely to be dependent on how well Gatland does with Wales over the next few years and this year’s 6 Nations is likely to be as tightly contested as ever.

Heineken Cup Update

In the 2nd round of the Heineken Cup the scores were:

Castres 27 - 20 Cardiff Blues

Ospreys 27 - 16 London Irish

Aironi 6 - 22 Bath

Edinburgh 27 - 31 Northampton

Racing Metro 16 - 9 Clermont Auvergne

Munster 45 - 18 Toulon

Dragons 19 - 40 Toulouse

Saracens 23 - 25 Leinster

London Wasps 38 - 26 Glasgow

Perpignan 35 - 14 Benetton Treviso

Biarritz 35 - 15 Ulster

Leicester 46 - 10 Scarlets

For the latest league tables click here