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!

Here's a round-up of the news across Europe from Monday, 14 August.

Yep, not just a flesh wound.

(1) Rooney out 2 Months with Fractured Left Foot

Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed in a press conference that star forward Wayne Rooney suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot in the first half of the defending Premier League Champions' 0-0 draw with Reading on Sunday. The initial prognosis is that the injury is similar to the one suffered by Rooney in 2004 and 2006, which led some pundits to wonder if there's something to his boots, which are supplied by Nike as a part of his rather lucrative deal with the athletic apparel giant.

In a move that took the weight of the world off of our shoulders, Nike immediately laid to rest that thought on the UK's Channel 4 today. Nike UK Head of Corporate Communications Charlie Brooks said "He [Rooney] himself is personally absolutely confident, as we are, that the boot had nothing to do with his injury. [In fact,] Nearly 20% of the professional players in the Barclays Premier league this weekend were wearing this boot."

Whomever's fault it was is not the concern of England Manager Steve McLaren, who now must come to grips with the fact that he must go outside the box to get him a serviceable striker to go with his favourite Michael Owen in their upcoming crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Croatia. 6 points from those matches are a must if the Three Lions hope to qualify for Euro 2008. Yeah right.

(2) Royson Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder introduced at Real Madrid

We're rather stoked, honest!

In front of a crowd of around 5,000, Real Madrid introduced their new Dutch duo of defender Royston Drenthe and midfielder Wesley Sneijder. Of course, both bubbles of enthusiasm are just part of Real's €90 million spending spree this summer. Both are expected to play in Real's Spanish Super Cup return leg against FC Sevilla this Sunday. Sevilla leads 1-0 on aggregate.

(3) Freddy Adu added to Benfica UEFA Champions League Roster

American wunderkind Freddy Adu was named to Portuguese giant Benfica's UEFA Champions League roster for their third round matchup with Danish side FC København. And in the 37th minute of Benfica's 2--1 win in the first leg, Adu came on as a substitute, replacing injured defender Anderson Luisao. No word yet on his performance, but regardless, I'm rather stoked at Adu's appearance, but not quite as stoked as Drenthe and Sneijder seem to be.

(4) Rafael van der Vaart's potential move to Valencia is a "Dream."

Yo no amo Hamburg!

Hamburger SV captain and Dutch International Rafael van der Vaart is quoted in a special report in today's Hamburger Abendblatt that "I absolutely want to leave [Hamburg], Valencia is my dream... If I had to stay in Hamburg it would be painful." Van der Vaart has been extensively linked with the Spanish side recently, though Hamburger SV have yet to receive an official transfer offer.

Of course, van der Vaart claimed in an interview earlier this year that "Real [Madrid] is my life’s dream. That is where I really want to play.” Perhaps van der Vaart failed Spanish Geography class in school?