Your daily dose of soccer news is here just in time to perk you up (after a Fat Tuesday hangover perhaps) and get you over this dreariest day of the week – Wednesday Hump Day!  Today we have enough news to make your head spin: dramatic Champions League results, Carlos Tevez’s “apology”, an interesting England National Team experiment, a football-related freak accident, the relationship between prisoners and World Cup football and so much more!  Read on and get your medicine for the football soul (and hangover headache).  Have a great Hump Day!

UEFA Champions League Results

CSKA Moscow 1 – 1 Real Madrid

Napoli 3 – 1 Chelsea

Today’s CL Schedule

Marseille v Inter Milan at 2pm ET on Fox Soccer Channel

FC Basel v Bayern München at 2:45 ET on Fox Soccer Plus

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is not deterred by the first leg final-16 draw to CSKA Moscow last night.  He believes that the second leg at Bernabeu will give his club enough of an advantage to allow them to move forward in the tournament

English Premier League

Andre Villas-Boas has finally taken some of the heat after his team lost 3-1 last night to Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League final-16.  As pressure piles up on the Blues’ manager, he has finally agreed there are some defensive problems that need to be addressed.  Of course he is still confident he can salvage the rest of the season but only time will tell.

Carlos Tevez has finally apologized publicly to his Manchester City club.  The Argentinian, whose behavior has cost him close to $17 million, seems set to make amends and join his teammates.  I hope we can finally put an end to this tasteless drama.

It’s high time someone from the English government spoke out against the scandalous racism-related cases popping up all season long. Prime Minister David Cameron issued a statement today and insisted the government will work with the FA to put an end to the racism problem in English football.  He is quoted as saying: ”We will not let recent events drag us back to the bad old days of the past.”

Stoke City’s defender Rory Delap is known best for his freakishly long throw-ins, which have been known to be longer and more deadly than many corner kicks.  Today, Delap has won his appeal concerning a red card given to him in last weekends FA Cup match against Crawley.  His 3-match suspension has been withdrawn.

England National Team

New and interim England manager Stuart Pearce wants to test out some new ideas on his squad as they prepare for a friendly against Holland next week. Rather than using the more senior star players, Pearce, who manages the U21 side, is expected to name an inexperienced group to the 23-man team.  The more “seasoned” England players might experience a little knee-shaking nervousness, but whatever the outcome, it makes for an interesting experiment!

La Liga

The freakiest accident of the week has to be when Valencia midfielder Ever Banega ran over his own leg with his car.  He will be out for at least six months. Read the crazy details here!

World Soccer News

As everyone knows, Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup Tournament and are building a new stadium in honor of the event.  Some very unexpected, yet equally passionate Brazilian football fans are involved in those preparations.  Prisoners and slave laborers–yes you read that right–are getting the opportunity to contribute to the stadium construction and are hopeful it will be a life-changing event.  The AP quoted one prisoner as saying: “This is the best thing that has ever happened to me…. this type of work gives us dignity, it gives us something to look forward to in the future. If we do a good job here, maybe the company will want to stay with us after we are set free.”  Read more here. Thanks to our amazing Aerys Soccer Co-Editor Trista Lutgring, for bringing us that equally amazing story.