Hleb's Bogus Journey

Alexander Hleb, the former Arsenal midfielder, subscribes to the theory that when you're leaving one club for another, it's best to trash your former manager.

He apparently did not enjoy Octoberfest or the fine German beer as he returns to Barcelona from a loan spell with Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga.

The Belarus international impressed initially after moving to the Bundesliga for a year, but the arrival of Christian Gross as boss was a hindrance to his own performances and he is now keen to focus on resurrecting his Barca career.

Hleb, who failed to impress in his first season at the Nou Camp before being loaned out last summer, told Bild: "I'm going back to FC Barcelona, where I have a two year contract.

"I want to go there and make the breakthrough. I want to prove to myself and everyone else that I can play at the highest level."

As for his relationship with Gross, Hleb said: "From day one he has criticised me. If I'm dribbling, he has criticised me. If I have not played the ball right back, he has criticised me. I have the feeling that everything I do is wrong."

I think it's safe to say that Hleb won't be getting a Christmas card (do Germans do those?) from Gross this winter.

Barcelona salvages Champions League tie with Stuttgart; Bordeaux captures first leg

Barcelona 1, Stuttgart 1
Cacau scored in the 25th minute to put host Stuttgart up 1-0 in the first leg of its round-of-16 Champions League game with Barcelona this afternoon.

Timo Gebhart hit a cross from the right side and Cacau outleaped Carlos Puyol for the surprising lead.

Soon after that, Stuttgart should have doubled their advantage as they had the ball in the box on a 2-on-1 but they fumbled it around and Puyol was able to clear it for a corner.

After a slow start, the defending champions from Barce woke up as Messi's shot was deflected by Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 40th minute and rolled past him, only to hit the post and bounce back to Lehmann's arms.

Swedish international Zoltan Ibrahimovic tied it in the 52nd minute, tapping home a rebound and with that, Barcelona had their all-important away goal.

The second leg is on March 17.

Bordeaux 1, Olympiakos 0
I didn't catch much of this game but I did see the goal as it happened during injury time in the first half. Michael Ciani headed in a free kick from outside the box by Yoann Gorcuff.

The Greek hosts squandered a few golden chances and even had a header goal by Enzo Maresca disallowed when the referee ruled that Matt Derbyshire fouled Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso during that play.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/02/23/champions.league.ap/index.html