Ger McCarthy looks at five players set to take Europe by storm.

Greenpeace have stuck again, with Real Madrid and the Champions League the targets of their campaign to save the Arctic.

Chelsea 3 FC Basel 1

Tottenham 2 FC Basel 2

Swansea 1 Tottenham 2

SATURDAY

Alex Ferguson has demanded that his Manchester United players “waken” from their slumbers against Athletic Bilbao tonight in order to protect their European status.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S feint hopes of landing a Champions League place ended yesterday after the Swiss FA docked Sion 36 points for fielding ineligible players.

Darren Norris looks at Chelsea and Arsenal's possible opponents in today’s Champions League draw

FUNCTIONAL, workmanlike and efficient are not words normally associated with teams built by Alex Ferguson but such virtues were clearly a necessity after his chastening experience at the hands of Roberto Mancini.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S Achilles’ heel, a defence that has displayed uncharacteristic flaws in Europe and at home so far this season, again cost Alex Ferguson dear following 80 potentially disastrous seconds that leaves them facing the possibility of Champions League elimination.

COMPLIMENTS of the season from festive Heathrow where the annual snow crisis has arrived a little earlier this year.

REAL MADRID’S bid to win a 10th European Cup began with a comfortable 2-0 win over Ajax at the Santiago Bernabeu.

MANCHESTER UNITED and Rangers were drawn together in Group C of the Champions League at yesterday’s draw in Monaco.

Didier Drogba has been left out of a 26-man Ivory Coast squad for Tuesday’s international friendly against Italy in London.

DON GIVENS yesterday branded Eamon Dunphy a “clown” for the pundit’s charge that his period in charge of the Irish U-21s has been “disastrous and he should be shown the door”.

IN Liverpool’s group, Mamadou Niang grabbed a second-half brace as Marseille got their Group D campaign up and running with a comprehensive 3-0 win over PSV Eindhoven at the Stade Velodrome.

Manchester City this morning revealed the transfer of Portsmouth striker Benjani to the Blues was unsuccessful – because it could not be completed before the end of the January transfer window.

Manchester City have beaten the transfer deadline to sign teenage striker Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel.

Six current and three former players of a Swiss soccer club have been charged with having sex with an under-age girl.

YOUNG BOYS Bern playmaker Hakan Yakin, recently struggling with a thigh injury, has been omitted from the Switzerland squad for the games against France and the Republic of Ireland.

RANGERS and Celtic are set to be seeded in the final qualifying round of next season’s Champions League

Australia coach Frank Farina has named a 20-man squad for next week’s FIFA Confederations Cup qualifiers against the Solomon Islands.

Longford Town manager Alan Matthews will be in Liechtenstein tonight to spy on UEFA Cup opponents FC Vaduz.

VFB STUTTGART have finalised the signing of Switzerland playmaker Hakan Yakin from FC Basel ahead of their Champions League home clash with Chelsea on February 23.

THE tension within the Swiss camp between the German and French elements is expected to be reflected in their team selection against Ireland with Liverpool's centre-back Stephane Henchoz as the main victim.

DAMIEN DUFF played wide on the right of midfield throughout Ireland's training session yesterday, but it would be foolish to assume that he will fill that role in the match in Basel.

SWITZERLAND coach Koebi Kuhn has said he is prepared to drop two of the country’s most senior players in a bid to qualify for next year’s European Championship.

SWITZERLAND coach Koebi Kuhn has left injured captain Joerg Stiel out of his 19-man squad to face Russia in next week’s critical Group 10 qualifier.

FC BASEL midfielder Mario Cantaluppi has been ruled out of Switzerland’s crucial Euro 2004 qualifier against Russia on Saturday with a foot infection.

HOLDERS Real Madrid needed a last-ditch equaliser in Dortmund from Javier Portillo to keep their Champions League defence on course.

Shares in Enic, the sports and media group run by Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy, rocketed 38% today after the firm received a takeover approach.

AS Manchester United and Juventus consolidated their places at the top of Group D, the shock of the night was recorded by Swiss champions FC Basel who edged out Deportivo Coruna 1-0 to earn their first win in the second phase of the Champions League.

JUVENTUS got the result they wanted going into the winter break in the Champions’ League at an appropriately snowy Stadio del’ Alpi last night when they comfortably saw off FC Basel on a 4-0 scoreline.

I REFER to a your front page report headlined ‘State renews Croker appeal to GAA’ (Irish Examiner, Nov 21) in which Sports Minister John O’Donoghue seems to suggest that the Swiss will have to conduct a referendum on the building of a stadium capable of hosting the 2008 UEFA championships together with Austria.

RIO FERDINAND insists Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson “will not bat an eyelid” about pairing youngsters Wes Brown and John O’Shea at the heart of his defence against FC Basel tonight.

The draw for the second phase of the Champions League:

DYNAMO KIEV were within an ace of qualifying along with Juventus FC for the second phase of the Champions League, only to be denied by Craig Bellamy’s last-gasp strike for Newcastle.

FC Basel can take a significant step towards becoming the first Swiss team in UEFA Champions League history to reach the second group stage when they meet FC Spartak Moskva on Tuesday.

Tonight's Champions League fixtures have concluded.

Rosenberg have equalised against Ajax at the Arena in Amsterdam.