The second week of the group stages are officially over as some pretty big clubs took to the pitch on the world’s biggest stage. Perhaps the biggest headline in today’s match-ups was that of Real Madrid and the-one -and-only Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese international stole all recognition as he knocked in his second hat trick in two matches. Real Madrid played CL rivals Ajax once again in the Group of Death, beating them 4-1. Ajax’s only goal came from Niklas Moisander in the 56′.

The king of hat trick Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 42′, 79′ and the 81′ but it was the Frenchman Karim Benzema who scored the Goal of the Match (and I’ll say the day too,) after a stunning chilean, or bicycle kick, just after the second half kick-off assisted by Kaka.

Los Blancos sit atop their group with 6 points and will face league rivals FC Barcelona Sunday at Camp Nou for the first El Clásico of the season. Hopefully this CL match will light the fire under the boys so they can come on top of Barça once again.

http://youtu.be/CBMy7rWUeQA

Looks like Arsenal are one step closer to securing their spot in the knockout stage after winning 3-1 against Olympiakos. After a defeat by Chelsea in the Premier League last weekend, the Gunners looked refreshed on the pitch.

The goal scorers were Gervinho, Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey while Kostas Mitroglou scored the lone goal for his side. The second half was fast-paced as many opportunities arose for the Gunners.

I have to give a Flop of the Match award to Olivier Giroud who has not yet been the key player for Arsenal as others expected. Only time will tell with him and perhaps on Saturday when Arsenal face West Ham, could we see something more from him.

Dynamo Kiev 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb

FC Porto 1-0 PSG

Schalke 04 2-2 Montpellier

Anderlecht 0-3 Málaga

Manchester City 1-1 Borussia Dortmund

Photo courtesy of Real Madrid C.F.

It’s Wednesday! That means only a couple more days until the weekend.  Get a boost to your day and get your soccer news highlights here to help you over the mid-week hump and on the downhill slide towards Friday.  Besides John Terry’s nutmegs – PLURAL -  check out why Chelsea may not play in Champions League next season, which super hot players (in ability and looks) want to make a move to the EPL and another big gambling scandal for the Italians. Just enjoy the sport piasanos!

English Premier League

Just over a week ago, Chelsea beat Liverpool to win the FA Cup. Yesterday the Reds and Blues met again and this time Liverpool prevailed.  The loss means that Chelsea can only qualify for next year’s Champions League if they win this year’s tournament when they play Bayern Munich next week.  Fat chance of that happening if Chelsea continue to play as they did yesterday.  Their disgraceful defending was led by their captain, John Terry, who was nutmegged three times in the first half, twice by Suarez.  I can’t’ tell you how happy it makes me to write things like “John Terry nutmegged”! Within nine minutes, Liverpool netted three times thanks to Jordan Henderson, Daniel Egger and an own goal by Michael Essien. The  half ended at 4 – 0, with a final score of 4 – 1.  The Blues stay in sixth place and Liverpool move to eighth, a single point behind their Merseyside rivals, Everton in seventh.

A bidding war may be taking place over the 21-year old Lille midfielder Eden Hazard.  Hazard says he likes both Red and Blue, Manchester United and City, that is.  Hazard has been a coveted purchase since last summer, and a move to the EPL for next season looks promising.

Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen fancies a move to the EPL as well.  He seems to have his sights on Tottenham, although rumors were abound that his top choice was Arsenal.  The Belgium international hopes that with one year left on his contract, Ajax do not price him out of range so he can make the move.

La Liga

Barcelona defender Carles Puyol is set to miss the Euro 2012 due to knee surgery that will keep him out for six weeks.

Serie A

The Italian football federation, known as FIGC, will place 22 clubs and 61 people under investigation in the latest match-fixing and betting scandal to mar the national sport.

Championship League

Hey Leeds United fans, want a little more at your stadium? You might just get it! Sources are reporting Elland Road could feature a casino in the future, which adds to Leeds United’s ambitions of a hotel as well. Man, clubs are getting creative to bring in the dough, aren’t they?

Crazy day in Champions League.

First off, we start with Real Madrid vs Ajax. Score: 3-1 Real Madrid.

Los Blancos headed to Amsterdam to face the dutch club, who were on the verge of

Real Madrid's Jose Callejon celebrates after his first goal

moving through to the next round. Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho decided to rest his key players to prepare them for Saturday’s El Clasico. And boy, you could tell. Without keeper Iker Casillas, defenders Sergio Ramos and Pepe as well as midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, the first half of the match was poor for the Spanish club.

Ajax missed two goal opportunities, both being ruled offside, though clearly, they should have been allowed. The Dutch club kept over half of the possession, rattling Madrid’s midfield who featured players that don’t regularly start, such as Esteban Granero, Jose Callejon and Kaka.

The Madridistas scored two goals, one coming from Jose Callejon, in the 14th and 90th minute and captain Gonzalo Higuain scored a beautiful shot in the 41st minute. The second half is where Real Madrid found their stride. Hamit Altintop came on for Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso for Esteban Granero and Mendes for Alvaro Arbeloa.

Even though it wasn’t the best match Real Madrid has played in the CL, I’ll take the win. Real Madrid win their group and advance to the next round with the highest points possible so far with +17 goals scored. The best group phase in all of CL history. BOOM.

Next we have Manchester United – Basel. An interesting match overall, but a poor one for the Red Devils, who were eliminated from the next round of Champions League after a 2-nil loss to BASEL. Streller scored for BASEL in the 9th minute, giving Man United a fighting hope for a draw, however A. Frei ruined their chances of advancing after he scored BASEL’s second goal in the 84th minute. You can find a full recap of the game from our writer Trista Lutgring here.

Other upsets in the CL action today included Manchester City being eliminated after Napoli beat Villarreal 2-nil. Man City won 2-nil to Bayern Munich but it wasn’t enough.

Ligue 1 club, Lyon, had a fantastic match as they beat Dinamo Zagreb 7-1, eliminating Ajax. Gomis scored four goals, three of them within 7 minutes of each other at the 45′, 48′, 52′ and the 70′. But it didn’t stop there for Lyon as Gonalons scored in the 48th, Lisandro in the 64th, leaving Briand to score the final goal at the 75th minute.

Champions League Scores

Manchester City 2-0 Bayern Munich

Villarreal 0-2 Napoli

Lille 0-0 Trabzonspor

Inter Milan 1-2 CSKA Movska

BASEl 2-1 Manchester United

Benfica 1-0 Otelul Galati

Dinamo Zagreb 1-7 Lyon

Real Madrid 3-0 Ajax

Clubs Advancing to Round of 16:

Bayern Munich

Napoli

Inter Milan

CSKA Movska

Benfica

BASEL

Real Madrid

Lyon

Chelsea

Bayern Leverkusen

Arsenal

Marseille

APOEL

Zenit

Barcelona

AC Milan

The draw for the Round of 16 in Champions League will be on December 16th at 5am ET on Fox Soccer Channel!

Stay tuned with Aerys for all your Champions League needs!

Photo courtesy of Real Madrid C.F.

Real Madrid's two strikers Karim Benzema & Gonzalo Higuain celebrate after Benzema scores his second goal of the night assisted by Higauin

Real Madrid faced their Matchday 1 pair, Dinamo Zagreb, at the prestigious and very wet, Santiago Bernabeu winning 6-2.

Sending a strong message to all their future opponents, Los Galacticos broke the match wide open with a goal from Karim Benzema. The goal came 83 seconds after the kickoff, making it the fastest goal scored in ALL of Real Madrid’s Champions League history. With Benzema’s goal, Real Madrid is the first club to reach 200 goals at home in Champions League.

But it didn’t stop there. In the 6th minute, Jose Callejon scored his first goal in the CL as well as receiving his first start in a Champions League match.

It took only 8 minutes for Real Madrid to be up 3-nil when Gonzalo Higuain, or Pipita, scored a beautiful goal that landed in the top right of the net.

With 3 goals scored in 8 minutes, a fourth goal was stemmed from Mesut Ozil after a brilliant pass from Pipita in the 20th minute, making it them the first club to score 4 goals in the first 20 minutes of Champions League history.

It was around the the halfway point, where Dinamo Zagreb looked to give up. Too be honest, I was starting to feel for the Zagreb supporters that traveled all the way to Madrid to see their club get defeated so badly.

Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid manager, made three subs in the beginning of the second half. Due to rotations, we would get the opportunity to see our bench get some play time. Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Mesut Ozil were subbed out for Hamit Altintop, Raul Albiol and El Pirata, Esteban Granero (who I was super excited to see!)

With the last 45′ left to be played, Dinamo started to show up by standing their ground on the defense. But it wasn’t enough for Karim Benzema who took a pass from Gonzalo Higuain, putting the Madridistas up 5-nil. This is the first match of the 2011-2012 season that Jose Mourinho started both his strikers. Maybe it was to shut up the critics? Sorry, but it’s nearly impossible to pick one over the other. But after this match, it is possible to start both strikers and still get that classic Real Madrid result.

Jose Callejon also gave Madrid a brace scoring his side’s 6th and final goal of the match. The last two Real Madrid players to score a brace for the club in Champions League was Raul and Ruud five years ago.

Dinamo showed up late in the match when Beqiraj scored in the 81st minute only to be accompanied with yet another goal for Dinamo in the 90th minute by Tomecak giving Zagreb final score of 2 goals.

With the two goals by Dinamo, Real Madrid kissed their hopes of a clean sheet record goodbye. However, they still are undefeated in Champions League with the maximum points possible, qualifying as group leaders. Hello Knockout Stage!

Fun Fact: With this 6-2 win, Jose Mourinho and his club surpass rivals Pep Guardiola and Barcelona with a 12 match winning streak.

Men of the Match:

Jose Callejon and Karim Benzema

Tuesday’s Champions League Scores:

Manchester United 2-2  Benfica

Ajax  0-0  Lyon

Bayern Munich  3-1  Villarreal

Napoli  2-1  Manchester City

Otelul  2-3  Basel

Inter Milan  1-1  Trabzonspor

CSKA Moskva  0-2  Lille

Be sure to stay with Aerys Soccer for all your Champions League coverage!

Photos courtesy of @RMadridinfo & Real Madrid C.F.

La Liga

Granada are awaiting their RFEF (Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol) verdict after their match against Mallorca was cancelled when  linesman Aguilar Rodriguez was struck by an umbrella thrown from the crowd, cutting his cheek. Granada had just scored a goal giving them the lead, making the match 2-1. It’s likely Granada could be fined, giving Mallorca the win.

English Premier League

It was a case of “Monday Night Football” when the Tottenham Hotspurs faced Aston Villa. Former Real Madrid player Emmanuel Adebayor scored the only goals of the match, giving the Spurs a 2-nil victory.

So where exactly has Carlos Tevez been? Well, he was winning golf tournaments in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tevez, claimed as the Man City Rebel, has been MIA after being charged with misconduct in September when he refused to warm up during a Champions League match against Bayern Munich. Manager Robert Manchini offered Tevez an option to come back to the club if he apologized to the club and the players. Tevez refused and left for his homeland. When will this Tevez Saga end? Only time will tell.

“The Future of Arsenal” Jack Wilshere made a heavy bet with his twitter fans earlier today. The wager? If Arsenal-rivals Tottenham finish the season above the Gunners, Wilshere will donate £3,000 to a charity. Part of me wants Jack to donate to the charity of his choice, but the Gooner inside refuses to take part in this bet.

Serie A

Juventus striker Amauri is likely heading to England in January’s transfer window. Rumor has it that both Tottenham and Fulham are interested.

Major League Soccer

With the expansion draft coming up to kick off the entrance of the Montreal Impact into MLS, teams released the dreaded protected lists yesterday. According to MLS Expansion Draft rules, each of the 18 teams currently in MLS could protect “11 players between their On-budget and their Off-budget Roster.”

Bundesliga

The DFB (German Football Federation) stated that referee Babak Rafati was released from the hospital after his failed suicide attempt on Saturday. Rafati was found in his hotel room covered in blood hours before Saturday’s match between Cologne and Mainz. May all the wishes in the football community be sent to Rafati and his family. Stay strong!

UEFA Champions League

Matchday 5 starts today. Some key matches to look out for:

Real Madrid vs. Dinamo Zagreb

Bayern Munich vs. Villarreal

Lyon vs. Ajax

Manchester United vs. Benfica

Fox Soccer is offering FREE access to all Champions League matches this week by providing their Facebook fans a promo code for their online TV service. You can also catch the CL action on normal TV as well, starting with Manchester United vs Benfica at 2 p.m. ET!

Major League Soccer

Ahead of what some are calling the biggest MLS Cup final in years, L.A. Galaxy and Time Warner Cable just agreed to a 10-year TV deal to air all of the Galaxy’s home and away games, in HD, in English and Spanish. Wow, way to go Time Warner for bringing soccer to everyone.

Still think MLS isn’t popular and no one cares about soccer in the U.S.? Well, according to an article in the L.A. Times, attendance at games across the league was up 7 percent this past season, and all signs are pointing that numbers will continue to grow.

This news makes me a little sad: Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching alluded Friday after practice at the HDC that he might hang up his boots after the 2012 season. The 33-year-old has had a 10-year career in MLS.

English Premier League

Ahead of the big Chelsea and Liverpool clash Sunday, Fernando Torres is alluding to the fact that he is returning to his “blistering form of old,” finally. Chelsea fans are probably holding their breath a little big, but Sunday would be the best opportunity considering the Blues are way behind in the EPL standings.

Tottenham’s Gareth Bale said he was flattered by Barcelona’s interest in him and . . . that’s about it.

Bad news for Manchester United fans; Tom Cleverley has been ruled out of the squad until Christmas after ligament damage to his ankle. He suffered the injury last month against Everton, but scans revealed the injury was more serious than previously thought.

La Liga

Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen said recently that he would like to move to Spain. Only 19, Eriksen is one of the rising stars in Europe right now and interest is already being shown from Barcelona, Manchester City and AC Milan.

You can tell it’s getting close to January with all the transfer rumors. Word is going around now that Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger is eyeing Athletic Bilbao’s striker Fernando Llorente and winger Iker Muniain, and Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero. Hmmm.

U.S. National Teams

The U.S. Women’s team will take on Sweden today in Arizona  for the third time in 2011. The match is said to have a record attendance and fans can follow the game at 7 p.m. MT live via webcast on ussoccer.com.

If you missed it yesterday, my interview with U.S. Men’s keeper Tim Howard can be found here.

Welcome to the new weekly column Penalty Kicks. It was a pretty big hit last week, and I got requests for encores – so it’s back. And it has a name. Which means readers, you’ll get to see it more often. We will always take submissions – DM them to me on Twitter @myrla_cat They can be snarky, happy, silly, or serious, just nothing we can be sued over please.

I’d like to welcome my new cowriter for the column, @halaesque. Everyone be nice, no biting or shoving or hair pulling!

And now it’s time for another round of Penalty Kicks!

Good idea: Winning a cup and bringing it home
Bad idea: Having its first impression of home be the undercarriage of a bus. (Droppa Del Rey)

Good idea: Letting your goalkeeper hang onto your trophy
Bad idea: He’s seen Sergio Ramos’ video too. (Ajax Goalkeeper Drops Trophy)

Good idea: Making sure your players eat balanced diets
Bad idea: Forcing them to dive to eat their daily meal of grass and dirt.

Good idea: Kicking the ball
Bad idea: Kicking the ball so hard it smacks a fan on the face.

Good idea: Giving said fan your shirt
Bad idea: Not having enough to go around Classy, Ronaldo

Never a good idea: having an affair
BAD IDEA: Super-injunctions. By the way, we here at Penalty Kicks have never met Ryan Giggs, for the record….

Good idea: Having uniforms and dress codes
Bad idea: Being intolerant and not following your own rules. Really FIFA? Really?

Good idea: Supporting good, clean sports.
Bad idea: Hiring Placido Domingo as your spokesperson. #blatterout

Good idea: Transfer season!!11!!11!!!!
Bad idea: Transfer season )#@($*#)(@*$)(#*)(#*$(.

Good idea: Getting snazzy new kits
Bad idea: Those kits are made by Adidas. @FIFA_Boycott

Good idea: Buying new players that you’re actually going to let play
Bad idea: Benching them forever.

Good idea: Playing international friendlies.
Bad idea: Hosting one and getting your butt spanked. (Cough)

Good idea: Eating chicken
Bad idea: Eating chicken in Mexico (Bock Bock)

Good idea: Naming your kid Ronaldo
Better idea: Giving said kid a football.
Can’t possibly be a bad idea: having there be more than one Ronaldo that’s legendary and speaks Portuguese!
Thanks for the memories, Ronaldo, for all the teams, and for your country Brasil. Parabéns on your retirement!