thebeautifulgamefc: Champions of Champions

Tonight the first round of the Champions League proper starts, and we'll see the Premier League title winners head to Madrid to battle it out against the reigning La Liga champions. With the galaxy of stars on show, it's the stand-out match for tonight.

After a poor start to the campaign, Mourinho's men are already 8 points behind rivals Barcelona, and after losing 1-0 away at Sevilla, he has openly criticised his Galacticos; 'they got what they deserved'. As well as questioning the commitment of individual players! You'd think a good performance in tonights match would get their season underway.

Manchester City on the other hand, may have Aguero back and playing, he's flown out with the team so Mancini obviously feels he can play some part tonight. It'll be interesting to see what formation the Italian will go with, after playing a couple of matches with 3-5-2 but more recently against Stoke, he reverted to the their familiar 4-2-3-1.

Potentially a few exciting head to heads are in store; Marcelo vs Maicon, Benzema vs Kompany, Casillas vs Hart and Yaya Toure vs the Madrid midfield!

Tomorrow there is a match that looks just as promising as Chelsea host Scudetto champions, Juventus. The Milan sides have seemingly weakened their teams, Inter have lost Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Cordoba, Forlan and Pazzini. Whilst A.C Milan have seen Ibrahimovic leave along with their centre half partnership of Silva and Nesta. A few midfield options have also exited San Siro; Seedorf, van Bommel, Gattuso and Aquilani.

Juve look to be going in the right direction though, extending their unbeaten league streak to 42 over the weekend. Although it didn't start all that well. They had gone into half time 1-0 down away at Genoa after resting a few first team players, they were lucky not to be losing by more than just one after the home side had failed to make their chances count. Inevitably the Old Lady were to make opportunities of their own, inducing the Genoa defence and after bringing Vucinic and Asamoah on (who both scored), they were able to maintain their streak which goes back to May 2011.

Chelsea are of course a completely different side to the trojans that reigned victorious just a few months ago! Losing Drogba has forced them to change their style of play, but with Hazard looking to be one of the signings of the summer, they'll undoubtedly cause the stern Italian defence problems.

Last night saw two fantastically supported clubs face each other, after a warm tribute to the 96 that lost their lives during the Hillsborough Disaster.

The match could not have begun more one-sided. Everton were passing the ball across the pitch in a way you wouldn't normally associate with the traditional English club. The fox in the box Jelavic almost started the match with a bang, but his goal was rightfully chalked off. The early pressure paid off though as Pienaar delightfully linked up with Baines to produce the opening goal of a cracking encounter!

Everton continued to dictate play with Mirallas having plenty of shots at goal.

The second half started in different fashion, Demba Ba was introduced and within 5 minutes he had found the back of the net, 1-1. Newcastle looked more comfortable with 4-4-2 as Cisse was extremely isolated in the first half, and Gutierrez switched to the left wing after looking lost in centre midfield.

Momentum looked to have swung the Toffees way, but Fellaini's goal was given offside, altough replays shown it should've been given.

A moment of real sportsmanship was shown by 'keeper Steve Harper after he had rushed out of his goal to clear an under hit pass. Anichebe had caught him late and as the referee charged over to speak with the striker, Harper clearly signalled that the his opponent was playing for the ball - great honesty!

Back to the action and Anichebe appeared to have headed the ball over the line. Wrongly not given. Although Everton will feel hard done by, the play that followed was harsh on the Magpies when Ben Arfa was clipped he still had possession of the ball and they had men over as the referee blew for a foul.

After a few strong tackles and dramatic goings-on, Goodison was rocking again after a clinical finish from Anichebe put them ahead again. 2-1 with just a few minutes to go. Even us neutrals were begging for Moyes' side to hang on! It wasn't to be as Ba had got on the end of a flick on, Howard committed with a Schmeichel style frog splash as Ba shot beneath him to equalise in the 90th minute.

A few goals you might not have seen..

Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls vs. Columbus Crew)