The first leg of the various third round matchups of the UEFA Champions League are in the books, and several ties seem to be already over with. Here's some ties of interest:

Toulouse 0-1 Liverpool (Liverpool leads 1-0 on Aggregate)

Liverpool had its Summer transfer score his first goal fired in anger on Wednesday. No, not Fernando Torres but Andriy Voronin! Voronin, signed from Bayer Leverkusen this summer, scored in the 43rd minute to give Liverpool the goal they needed to put a stranglehold on the tie, which will finish up at Anfield in 2 weeks. More importantly for Liverpool, Steven Gerrard took a nasty kick to the foot in the first half, and left in the 65th minute, though the extent of the injury is not known, but he is expected to play in Sunday's Premier League showdown with Chelsea.

Chance that Toulouse comes back: You actually think Toulouse will go to Anfield and beat Liverpool 2-0? I laugh at you!

Sparta Prague 0-2 Arsenal (Arsenal leads 2-0 on Aggregate)

In a tough, physical game marred by 5 yellow cards, Arsenal all but punched their ticket to the Group Phase with their 2-0 win in Prague. Goals by Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb put down Sparta, who established early pressure, and attempted to bully Wenger's young gunners. By the 25th minute, Arsenal gained control of the match, but still had to weather several sharp counter attacks, each stopped by Jens Lehmann, showing none of the signs of his gaffe on Sunday against Fulham.

Chance that Sparta Prague comes back: Arsene Wenger puts out Arsenal's U-14 side, and it would still go to PKs

Spartak Moscow 1-1 Celtic (Teams tied 1-1 on Aggregate. Celtic leads on Away Goals Rule)

The biggest question going into the away leg of this tie for Celtic was how the Scottish giant would do on the artificial turf at the Olympic Stadium. Well, not to shabby, actually, as Celtic grabbed a vital away goal with Paul Hartley's strike in the 21st minute. Spartak managed to tie up the match in the 42nd minute to set up a potential thriller at Celtic Park.

Chance that Spartak Moscow comes back:Very good. This tie is rather delicately poised. Spartak needs to take an early lead to pressure Celtic into trying to tie up the aggregate score.

... and apparently OleOle ate my recaps of Valenica, Rangers, and Ajax's matches. To sum them up, Valencia smashed Elfsborg 3-0, Rangers are up 1-0 on Red Star Belgrade after a Nacho Novo goal in the 90th minute, and Ajax are in a world of trouble, falling to Slavia Prague 1-0 in Amsterdam. Curse you finicky servers!

I was nominally done for the weekend, but this breaking news just came across the wire, courtesy of Reuters:

http://football.uk.reuters.com/european/news/L12459539.php

Ajax agree on Sneijder move to Real Madrid
20:59 BST, Sun 12 Aug 2007


AMSTERDAM, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Ajax Amsterdam have accepted a 27 million euro ($36.98 million) offer from Real Madrid for midfielder Wesley Sneijder, the Dutch club said on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Netherlands international, who has played 180 matches and scored 57 goals for Ajax, will sign a five-year contract, the Spanish champions said in Madrid.

This signing makes absolutely no sense to me, for several reasons. First off, this doesn't exactly fill a hole that Real had. They already have Julio Baptista and Javier Balboa in the attacking midfield role, so it isn't as though there was a dearth of offencive talent in Real's midfield. I guess you could see him as a replacement for David Beckham because of his passing and free kick ability, but Sneijder is more of a player that leans toward scoring goals than creating scoring chances.

Secondly, I thought Real's Galacticos policy was over and done with with the retirement of Zidane and transfers of Beckham and Ronaldo. Evidently Real has revised this policy to going after the hottest young prospects instead of over-the-hill mega stars. Methinks the same result is forthcoming, though Barcelona's policy of bringing in every single striker on the face of the earth this summer may help them out.

Most importantly, Sneijder was my number 1 pick in my fantasy draft. I was surely looking forward to him lighting up the Eredivisie this coming season for Ajax. He may end up being a success for Real, but I severely doubt he will duplicate his 18 goals and 9 assists in la Liga.

Ah well, this won't hurt PSV's chances for repeating as Eredivisie champions one bit. Hup de Boers! and all that...