DID you know that 52% of men would give up a “date” with a supermodel to see their side win the Champions League Final? Heineken has done the research. Of course, the question should not be ‘would you give up a date with a top model to see your team win the Cup’, but:

“If you decline Adriana Lima’s offer to date (shag) her, your team will win the Champions’ League once in the next three seasons. Do you shag her?”

It’s all in the question. Asking a Blackpool fan if he wants to shag a top babe or watch his side win the Champions League is akin to arguing which of Rebecca Loos or Vicotia Beckham is posher.

Anyhow, without further ado, the top ten life events that men from around the world would be willing to miss to see their team win are as follows:

1. A friend’s stag-party (62%)

2. A date with a girlfriend/wife (58%)

3. Meeting a girlfriend’s parents for the first time (55%)

4. An important meeting with the boss (48%)

5. A mother’s birthday (46%)

6. Best – Man’s duties (44%)

7. Wedding anniversary (44%)

8. Girlfriend’s birthday (44%)

9. University Graduation Ceremony (43%)

10. An important hospital appointment (43%)

For what it’s worth, I once went to a huge family do on the occassion of the 1978 World Cup final. Many of the famaily there were Dutch. The evening was horrible…

                          

By Ollie Irish

Pav stubs his toe. Or scores a penalty

Wow, that was some ride. Through curtains of rain in north London, you could make out one world-class footballer, struggling to get his colleagues to sing from the same team sheet: Rafael van der Vaart may be a classic ‘Look at me!’ drama queen but boy, he’s fun to watch. Or he was until he saw red – rightly so – for a couple of clumsy challenges. Still, in the time he was on the pitch he did it all: ran his socks off, tackled worse than Paul Scholes, shot from everywhere, had a penalty saved, scored with a fierce finish, and generally gave a command performance worthy of any diva.

Not that Spurs missed VdV much, thanks partly to a couple of dubious penalty decisions by the ref, which Roman Pavlyuchenko converted with cool aplomb. The ref also missed a flailing, malicious elbow by Tom Huddlestone, for which the midfielder should have walked.

Gareth Bale also gets an honourable mention, not only for his superb finish for Tottenham’s final goal, but also for his incredible ‘engine’. He must have three or four lungs, so freakish is his stamina.

Overall, it was a cracking home bow for the Lilywhites in the CL. Spurs may be many things, but dull is not one of them. And props to Twente, who played their part and were certainly not flattered by the scoreline. They’re easily as good as Werder Bremen, on this evidence at least, as well as judged on their 2-2 draw against champs Inter.

The best pics from the Lane below. Click to enlarge the thumbs:

Photos: PA

                          

By Ollie Irish

Such is the abject state of Scottish football that even a slender win at Ibrox against hitherto unheard-of opponents must be celebrated to the rafters. Steven Naismith, who had a fine game, scored the winner to give the Gers their first Champions League win in 14 attempts. After the battling 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, Walter Smith couldn’t have asked for a better start to his team’s European campaign. Photo gallery below, click on the thumbnails to enlarge:

Photos: PA

                          

By Ollie Irish

Starring Bebe, a flying Evra (and his penis) and a classic Midnight Express moment between Chicharito and Berba. Click the thumbnails to see the full-size pics:

Photos: PA

Precitions for tonight’s game? I’m going for Valencia 1-0 Man Utd

                          

By Ollie Irish

Overall Chelsea didn’t play that well against Marseille (twas a classic 6/10 display), but even without Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard they were much too strong for the Ligue 1 side. French youngster Gael Kakuta caught the eye with a lively performance – shame he was taken off midway through the second half; I wanted to see more, but by then Marseille were threatening to score and Ancelotti wanted to consolidate his side’s 2-0 lead.

Whatever, there’s almost no doubt that Chelsea will make it out of their group. Zzzz.

Photos from the Bridge (click the thumbnails to enlarge). See if you can spot Lamps and his WAG…

Photos: PA

                          

By Ollie Irish

Photos: PA

Didier Drogba trained with Chelsea for this evening’s Marseille clash in the Chaaaaaaaampions League, but he won’t play against his former club as he is serving the second part of a two-match ban.

Prediction? I say Chelsea 1-0 Marseille

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil

Photos: PA

A dominant win (62% possession, 15 shots on target – it should have been much more comfortable) for Jose Mourinho’s New All-Star Galacticos (© Pies) in the Special One’s first European game in charge at the Bernabeu. Martin Jol, the Ajax head coach, even reached for the ‘men against boys’ cliché after the match, to which Mourinho countered with: “It was boys against boys because we have a group of boys, leaving aside Ricardo Carvalho, Iker and Alonso.”

After a sluggish, cautious start in La Liga, which prompted some Madrid fans to jeer and whistle Mourinho (crazy but true), this result, against a proper European team (albeit one that’s seen better days), may well be the start of something beautiful between Jose and Los Merengues. Given Mourinho’s impeccable record in this competition, I wouldn’t bet against C-Ron, Ozil and co. making it to Wembley in May. Maybe against his old club Chelsea?

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Arsenal's Marouane Chamakh (right) is fouled by Braga goalkeeper Luiz Felipe leading to a penalty for Arsenal

Photos: PA

Arsenal were brilliant, Braga weren’t. That sums it up. It’s difficult to believe this was the same Braga that demolished Celtic earlier in the competition, but we must give credit to Wenger’s side, which made hay against a team that came to play, not kick opponents, and as a consequence hardly touched the ball. In the middle of the pitch, Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere conducted the orchestra with wit and skill (from an Englishman’s perspective, Wilshere’s potential scares me – in a good way), while Marouane Chamakh (who’s turning out to be the bargain buy of the summer, despite his atrocious hair), Andrey Arshavin and supersub Carlos Vela finished things off.

If I wasn’t a Spurs fan, I might even have enjoyed watching it. Wink.

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Tottenham Hotspur team group

Photos: PA

Okay, a draw away from home in the Champions League is not to be sniffed at, especially not in your first bow in the competition and against a decent German side – but Spurs played so well in the first half, when they outclassed Bremen completely and led 2-0, that just one point feels slightly disappointing, or it did last night anyway. In the cold light of day though, this result looks just fine. It’s a solid start.

And I particularly enjoyed Ary Redknapp’s twitchy, exasperated response when some hack – the Beeb’s Pat Murphy, I think – suggested Spurs had learned a painful lesson in European football: “What lessons can I learn because they score? What can I do?!

“How can they learn lessons? We’re always talking about lessons.

“Was it a lesson in Champions League football? No, it’s a game of football. We’re 2-0 up, they’ve got a goal out of nothing. It happens.

“It could happen at Hackney Marshes on Saturday afternoon.”

Triffic.

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Francesc Fabregas (centre) gestures while running with team mates during a training session at London Colney, Hertfordshire

Photos: PA

This is what it is: some pics of Cesc, Wilshere and co. jogging around a field in Hertfordshire ahead of tonight’s Champions League group match against Braga, which I suppose the Gunners will win by a couple of goals. If you’re a Gooner, you might well want to check out the pics. If not, then, er, sorry – move along, nothing to see here.