Today is Hump Day and full of news for you footie fans out there trying to labor through the rest of the week.  The biggest story of the day concerns the Arsenal v AC Milan Champions League match.  The Gunners almost pulled off an unimaginable victory over their Italian rivals and if you missed the match, you can read my match review below.  Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is also in the news, as are Chelsea, but this time it is for a win rather than an embarrassing defeat.  Get today’s Champions League fixtures and your daily football news to help get you over the mid-week hump in Wednesday’s Daily Kick Around.

Yesterday’s Champions League Results

Last night, Arsenal came up short to AC Milan in what would have been the come-back of the season.  After AC Milan crushed the North London side 4 – 0 in the first leg tie-breaker at San Siro, the Gunners needed to score five goals and concede none last night to advance to the quarterfinals.  After a valiant effort, the final score ended up at 3 – 0 (Agg 3 – 4).  Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have redeemed themselves.  Read more about last night’s match in my recap.

Benfica beat Zenit St. Petersburg 2 – 0.  Find a match review here as well as some video footage.  Benfica will advance to the CL quarterfinals along with AC Milan.

Today’s Champions League Fixtures 

Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen at 2:30 ET on Fox Soccer

Apoel Nicosia v Lyon

FA Cup Results

Roberto Di Matteo, acting manager who recently replaced Andre Villas-Boas, led Chelsea to a 2 – 0 victory over Birmingham and will advance to the FA Cup quarterfinals. Read a full recap here.

English Premier League

Current Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is Mr. Popular these days.  He has been linked with a move to take over the England National team and today, there are rumors he might be next in line to manage Chelsea.  Redknapp admitted it would be a “dream job” for anyone but not the job for him. Can anyone blame him when knowing you’d have Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich breathing down your neck all season? That job is not for the faint of heart.

Speaking of Tottenham, it is rumored that midfielder Luca Modric will be offered a £3.5million loyalty bonus if he signs a new £100,000-a-week contract for Spurs.  If you remember, towards the end of last summer, Modric was sending a loud and clear message that he wanted to be traded to a team that could qualify for Champions League.  Harry Redknapp refused to sell him, which was wise because Modric is a key element in the center for Spurs.  Currently Tottenham are third in the league standings, very likely to end up in a top four finish, so this is a win-win for Modric and Spurs.

As you can tell from this late afternoon post, we have a bit of the Monday blues today at Aerys Soccer. But never fear! We still got some headlines for you! San Jose could be the newest MLS team with a brand spankin’ new stadium, predictions are coming in for the USMNT roster against Italy and some kid … well, he showed his appreciation for Messi in a very unique way. Here’s your DKA!

World Soccer

Okay, I’ve seen fans do some crazy things for their teams. There was the Manchester City wedding dress remember? Well, this might take the cake. This kid loves Messi so much, he decided to have his face cut into his hair. Yeah, you totally read that correctly. Check out this video. You won’t be disappointed. I’m a little creeped out.

USMNT

Next  Wednesday, the U.S. Men’s National Team are set to face off with European giants Italy in Genoa. An official roster hasn’t been released yet, but the predictions are already coming out. Personally? I am really hoping for a Dempsey-Donovan hook up. We haven’t seen them together much since Jurgen Klinsmann took the helm and Italy seems like a perfect opportunity.

Major League Soccer

As MLS continues to expand through out the country, one thing we’re starting to see more of is teams building their own stadiums. Last season, it was Kansas City who were lucky, Houston is getting one this season, and it looks like San Jose Earthquakes could be the next to receive a stadium slotted with a cost of a whopping $60 million. The vote before the city’s planning commission is scheduled for Wednesday, so cross your fingers!

FA Cup

We’re still waiting on the replays of Chelsea and Birmingham, and Stevenage and Tottenham, but the draw for the sixth round of the FA Cup has already happened. Here’s how things will look:

Liverpool v. Stoke
Chelsea/Birmingham v. Leicester
Stevenage/Tottenham v. Bolton
Everton v. Sunderland

La Liga

There’s drama a-brewin’. Well, when has there not been drama in La Liga? So, the final of Copa del Rey could be played in Real Madrid’s home, the Santiago Bernabeu. But Barca boss Pep Guardiola said he doesn’t want to face off with Athletico Madrid in the Bernabeu if the Catalans won’t be welcomed there. He’s kind of got a point too.

English Premier League

Speaking of drama, as Chelsea’s season continues to become something fans would probably like to forget, many are calling for the sacking of team manager Andre Villas-Boas. However, in a press conference, AVB is calling on the owners of Chelsea to publicly back him as he already starts plans for next season. Well, good luck with that.

It’s Saturday Game Day folks! There’s tons going on in the footy world, per usual, and we’ve got lots of headlines for you today! From Leeds United getting a new manager, Balotelli adding a racial complaint to the news and trouble in China as the country’s former deputy soccer chief heads to jail. It’s here in today’s DKA!

World Soccer

China may not be little, but they’re soccer world is in big trouble. Yang Yimin, China’s former deputy soccer chief, was sentenced today to 10 1/2 years in prison after taking $20,000 in bribes to fix matches. He was just one of 39 people convicted – including four refs. Big Trouble in Little China indeed.

Will he or won’t he? It seems that instead of asking who will lead England’s National team in the coming months, the real question is if Harry Redknapp will take the job. After insisting he doesn’t want the command of the Three Lions’, Redknapp now is “opening the door” to talks of managing the squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament. Hmmm….

Major League Soccer

In a huge, late night surprise, Seattle Sounders fans were shocked as the club announced it would trade fan favorites, forward Mike Fucito and midfielder Lamar Neagle, for USMNT international Eddie Johnson, who returned to MLS. Fucito and Neagle are now headed to Montreal. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out after this.

If you’re a regular reader of DKA, you know MLS has been moving and shaking things up all off season. The Bleacher Report has a nice article outlining the 10 most important moves MLS teams have made during their months off.

Europa League

I hate to talk about it – Hell, all of the girls here at Aerys Soccer hate when we have to talk about this – but there is another complaint of racism in the EPL. Apparently Manchester City has officially filed with UEFA stating Italian striker Mario Balotelli suffered racial abuse during the Tuesday Europa League game against Porto. Midfielder Yaya Toure could have also been on the receiving end, but it seems only Balotelli is the only one the club has confirmed. UEFA stated they will make a decision to launch an investigation after they have received and reviewed the delegate’s match reports.

Championship League

Apparently Leeds United have finally settled on a new manager; former Queens Park Rangers boss Neil Warnock. And ol’ Neil is already making an impression as Leeds was able to notch a late win over Doncaster today at home. Side note: US International Robbie Rogers made his debut with the squad, only to be stretchered off 5 minutes later after a horrid collision with Tommy Spurr. Apparently, Rogers suffered a concussion, but Leeds has not issued an official statement. Here’s hoping both Robbie and Tommy Spurr are all right!

Serie A

Inter Milan got a little wake up call this week as they were hammered by a struggling Bologna. Inter went down 3-0, a hard loss after winning 8 consecutive games in the league.

Some of the big news out of Italy however this week seems to be centered around penalties. Juventus and Inter Milan are both issuing out negative remarks about refs decisions on penalty kicks this season. You just can’t make everyone happy, can you?

FA Cup

Chelsea 1 – Birmingham 1

Everton 2 – Blackpool 0

Millwall 0 – Bolton 2

Norwich 1 – Leicester 2

Sunderland 2 – Arsenal 0

We have an interesting DKA for all you footy fans out there! Everything from RvP’s son NOT joining Arsenal, Fernando Torres possibly leaving Chelsea, the Top 10 Most Expensive National Teams and a new innovative way to use your teammate when throwing in a ball!

Copa del Rey

With the Copa del Rey quarterfinal between Real Madrid & Barcelona, Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo says he “doesn’t feel any pressure” coming into the highly anticipated match of the tournament. Lately the Portuguese international has only faired one goal in Madrid’s last 4 matches, leaving the gap open for criticism. “The pressure doesn’t get to me. I try to stay positive and always see new challenges.”

Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho defended Cristiano by saying that “if someone criticizes Cristiano, he has a problem with me.” Seriously people, you can’t expect Cristiano to score every match, can you?

Now for some interesting news concerning the CDR, Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola’s birthday is Wednesday, meaning he’ll be spending his birthday at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid while Barcelona midfielder, Xavi, will celebrate his birthday at the Camp Nou next Wednesday for the second leg of the quarterfinals.

English Premier League

Birmingham have rejected an undisclosed bid for West Brom’s Liam Ridgewell, who said in the past that he was looking for an exit from St. Andrews.

Both Chelsea & Manchester United are looking to pick up Swansea keeper Michel Vorm. The Dutch keeper has been outstanding throughout the season, especially during Swansea’s 2-1 win over Arsenal this weekend.

Sorry Gunners but looks like Robin Van Persie isn’t moving his 5-year-old Shaqueel to Arsenal Juniors anytime soon. The Dutchman says that his son “has a lot of talent for football.” His son is happy where he is at the moment but he has caught the eyes of Arsenal, “His coach is really great. Arsenal has invited him a couple of times to come and play there but he likes it at his club. He’s sensitive for a good atmosphere. Just like me.” AWWWW!!!

The cat is out of the bag as we find out that Chelsea is secretly offering their player Fernando Torres to other clubs! Carlo Ancelotti, Paris St-Germain manager, sais that he’s been offered a few high-class players such as Fernando Torres and Man Utd’s Dimitar Berbatov. But it doesn’t stop there folks! Ancelotti reveals, officially or not, other players that were offered to him. Manchester City rebel Carlos Tevez, Hotspurs’ Roman Pavlyuchenko, Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente.

Serie A

AC Milan’s Van Bommel backs-up teammate Pato, who is hoping to become a key player, after rumors of him leaving San Siro this month. “We should stop talking about that now. Pato is staying here with us. If he can stay calm and relaxed then you will all see that he will produce some great things.”

Portuguese Liga

What an interesting way to throw in the ball, yeah? Benfica’s Maxi Pereira bounced his throw in off the back of teammate Axel Witsel, while he was tying up his boot. Benfica later won against Vitoria Setubal, 4-1.

International

Ever curious what nations are considered the Most Expensive National Football Teams in the World? Lucky for you, the list just came out! Round the #1 spot is the 2010 World Cup Champions, Spain. To see who else made the cut, check the list out here!