Matchday 1 underway as 10-man Liverpool earns draw at Porto

Soccer Betting Lines

09/18/2007 - Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ten-man Liverpool FC came from a goal down to start their UEFA Champions League Group A schedule with a point at Porto as Matchday 1 got underway Tuesday.

Liverpool, a five-time champion of Europe's most prestigious club tournament, fell behind early at Estadio do Dragao with Lucho Gonzalez beating Pepe Reina from the penalty spot after the Liverpool goalkeeper had knocked down Tarik Sektioui, who broke into the box after a ball from the offensive third.

The visitors answered less than 10 minutes later on their first real threat of the game after a Steve Finnan cross into the box. The ball was then headed back across by Sami Hyypia to Dirk Kuyt, who headed home for his first UEFA Champions League goal for Liverpool.

Porto, which was the more aggressive side for much of the contest, was given a boost in the 58th minute when Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant was shown his second yellow for a hard tackle. But the home side was unable to capitalize on the advantage as Liverpool packed its defense in and limited the chances against.

In the other Group A match Tuesday, Marseille earned a 2-0 victory over Besiktas to take the top spot early on. Second-half goals by Julien Rodriguez and Djibril Cisse were the difference in the game.

In Group B action, Norwegian side Rosengord earned a 1-1 draw with English Premier League giants, Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge. Miika Koppinen got the final touch to an in-swinging free kick in the 24th minute to give the underdogs the early lead before Andriy Shevchenko headed home a Florent Malouda cross in the 53rd minute. In the other Group B match, David Villa struck midway through the second half to give Valencia a 1-0 win at Bundesliga side Schalke 04 to take the top spot in the group.

Group C saw defending La Liga Champions Real Madrid earn a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen behind goals by Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Those goals were scored on either side Werder's Boubacar Sanogo's tally. The other match in the group saw Olympiakos draw 1-1 with Lazio. A late goal from captain Luciano Zauri gave Lazio the share of the points after winger Luciano Galletti gave the home side the early lead. The game was played behind closed doors as a UEFA punishment for crowd trouble at Olympiakos's home match with AS Roma last season.

In Group D, AC Milan opened the defense of their Champions League crown with a 2-1 win over Benfica after first-half goals by Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi. Nuno Gomes scored a late goal for Benfica to pull one back. The other Group D match saw defending Scottish Champions Celtic FC fall to Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 after the Ukrainian side scored two quick goals eight minutes in. Brazilian striker Brandao opened before Cristiano Lucarelli added a second with a diving header two minutes later.

UEFA Champions League Groups E, F, G and H open play Wednesday to close out Matchday 1 of the European club championship.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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