Andre Villas-Boas sent out an SOS to Chelsea supporters to help him turn the club’s calamitous season around after watching them lurch to another last-gasp defeat that put their Champions League future in serious doubt.

ACCEPTED wisdom throughout the football world, from Moscow to Munich, is that it is unrealistic to pay muchattention to the league table early on — especially when only three games have been played, as is the case with Milan and Madrid.

Bayer Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt was happy with Michael Ballack’s performance against Augsburg in the Bundesliga last night, but claims it does not guarantee him a place in his starting line-up against Chelsea on Tuesday.

Jupp Heynckes has confirmed he will leave his post as Bayer Leverkusen coach when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Mario Gomez led the way with a hat-trick as Bayern Munich steamrollered Kaiserslautern 5-1 to go third in the Bundesliga standings.