Spanish La Liga football club FC Barcelona move closer to qualifying for the First Knock-out round of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League after posting a 2-0 victory over Scottish Premier League club Rangers FC at the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Spain just recently.

Barcelona established an early lead in the 6th minute of the match when Barac striker Thierry Henry was able to recover a rebound from a Lionel Messi header that bounced off the post. Thierry Henry slid to put the ball in the back of the net, and give Barcelona 1 -0 advantage.

On the 43rd minute, Barca midfielder Ronaldinho was able to dribble through the defense and make a shot on the Rangers goal. Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor blocked Ronaldinho's shot, but wasn't able to stop the rebound by Barcelona Argentinian forward Lionel Messi, who scored the second goal for the Blaugrana.

The scoreline was kept at 2-0 and FC Barcelona earned 3 points to bring their points standings in Group E of the UEFA Champions League to 10 points. Barcelona are leaders of Group E followed by the Rangers with 7 points. French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyon have 6 points. Should Barcelona beat Lyon on their next UEFA Champions League match, Lyon could be prevented from qualifying should Rangers defeat German Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart, who haven't earned a single point in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. There are 2 matchdays left for the group stages.

VfB Stuttgart wil play host to the Rangers on November 27. Meanwhile, Lyon will be hoping that the home pitch advantage will keep their qualifying hoeps alive when they host FC Barcelona.

To find out more about UEFA Champions League betting tips, or to place bets on Stuttgart vs. Rangers, Lyon vs. Barcelona, and other upcoming UEFA Champions League matches, then click here.

Real Valladolid are in the relegation zone of the Spanish Primera Liga, and sit among the bottom three in the La Liga standings. FC Barcelona, who are among the top teams in the Spanish Primera Liga, were expected to win this match easily despite it being an away game at Valladolid's home pitch.

However, Real Valladolid were keen to play against Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona, and it was Valladolid who gained the advantage first. Valladolid were able to score in the 16th minute, when Valladolid's Joseba Llorente received a wonderful pass from Valladolid team mate Jonathan Sesma, and did well to shoot past Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes.

Barcelona were able to find an equaliser in the 43rd minute when Barcelona star midfielder Ronaldinho took a pass from Xavi Hernandez before shooting over Real Valladolid keeper Alberto Lopez for his third goal of the season and first in league play in nearly two months.

The scoreline stayed at 1-1, and Barcelona were content to salvage a point after an inspired performance by Valladolid.

"Valladolid played better as a team ... we didn't sacrifice enough for each other," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said. "We played better collectively in the second half but we still need to learn from this in order to imporve."

Barcelona improved their standings in the Spanish La Liga to 21 points - same as Villarreal - to remain in second place behind Spanish La Liga champions Real Madrid, which has 25 points after 10 rounds played.

Barcelona's next Spanish La Liga match will be against Real Betis on the Barcelona home pitch at the Nou Camp this November 4.

On November 7, FC Barcelona will have a UEFA Champions League match against Scottish Premier League clun Rangers FC also at the Nou Camp. The last time Barcelona met Rangers FC was last month for a UEFA Champions League group stage match at Glasgow, Scotland. Barcelona drew with Rangers FC 0-0. Hopefully, the magic and support of the fans at the Nou Camp in Barcelona will be abel to inspire Barca to a win. Barcelona and Rangers are both tied in the UEFA Group E with 7 points. Definitely, the winner of the Barcelona-Rangers UEFA Champions League group stage match will be Group E leaders.

Barca will be relying on stars Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Toure Yaya and Eric Abidal for a win against Rangers. FC Barcelona's Cameronian striker Samuel Eto'o is still recovering from his injury, but will be expected to join Barcelona again by the end of November.

Perhaps, the completion of Barcelona's Fantastic Four - Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'0, Lio Messi and Thierry Henry - will improve Barcelona's chances to lead the Spanish Primera Liga. Definitely, Barca's Fantastic Four will be great to have on the pitch, especially with the El Clasico coming the the Nou Camp in Barcelona on December 23, 2007.

El Clasico is the name given to the football matches between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. The rivalry comes about as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain as well as the two most successful and influential football clubs in the country. In the last El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on the second half of the 2006-07 Spanish La Liga season, the score was a 3-3 draw. Earlier in that first half of the 2006-07 Spanish La Liga season, Real Madrid won the El Clasico 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, the home pitch of Spanish La Liga champions Real Madrid.

Find out the football betting odds on Barcelona vs. Real Betis and other Spanish La Liga matches, by visiting the Bodog sportsbook.

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Just last month, the France national football team was looking dismal at third place of Group B in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages. With only the top two teams of Group B qualifying for the Euro 2008 Finals, it looked like France needed to produce some amazing football in order to keep in contention with Scotland and Italy, who were leading Group B at that time. A recent 6-0 away win against the Faroe Islands restored some confidence for France, and France was looking to carry over that momentum going into a tough match against Lithuania at La Beaujoire in Nantes, France.

The match had a shaky start for both Lithuania and France. France saw a lot more attempts at the goal of Lithuania during the first half through the efforts of Florent Malouda, Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery, William Gallas and Thierry Henry, but they weren't to capitalize on their effortsto get past Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. The closest France could get were hits at the crossbar care of Florent Malouda of English Premiership club Chelsea and Karim Benzema of French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais.

Lithuania almost came close to breaking the deadlock when Lithuania's Audrius Ksanavicius was able to avoide the French defenders and curled a kick that beat France's goalkeeper Mickael Landreau, but went off the post.

The deadlock was broken until the 80th minute when France's Ben Arfa supplied a left-wing cross that was deflected and landed into the path of Thierry Henry, who made no mistake on pouncing at the ball from close range to beat Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas, and give France a much-deserved 1-0 advantage. The French fans went delirious as Thierry Henry's goal gives him a record total of 42 goals for France, surpassing the French record held by French football great Michel Platini, who is also the current UEFA President.

The French fans weren't even done with their celebrations when France was able to steal the ball from the Lithuania and launch a quick counter attack. French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan played a perfectly timed through-ball that Thierry Henry was able to race to beating out the Lithuanian defenders and side-footing it just past the reach of Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas to give France a 2-0 advantage.

When the final whistle blew, the French fans were in a party mode with France collecting the 3 points to overtake Italy in Group B. France has now a total of 25 points and are at the top of Group B. Scotland failed to collect any points after suffering a major upset in their 2-0 defeat against Georgia, and remain with 24 points to hold the second spot in Group B. Group B's Italy did not have a Euro 2008 qualifier that day, and their point standing remains unchanged at 23 points.

A crucial match for Group B takes place on November 11, 2007 when Italy visits Scotland. Italy won against Scotland 2-0 earlier this March 2007, but Italy are entering the Scottish territory, and Scotland has won 4 of 5 home matches with their only loss being a 1-0 home defeat against France back in October 2006. The November 11 Euro 2008 qualifier between Italy and Scotland will be the last group stage qualifier for Scotland, and it will also be their last chance to earn the points to be among the top 2 in Group B, and advance to the Euro 2008 Finals. A win by Italy means Scotland will not be advancing to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals. A win by Scotland means that Italy will have to win against the Faroe Islands on November 21, and hope that France will not win in their last Euro 2008 qualifier match against Ukraine on November 21, 2007.

Defintely, everything is crucial now in Group B for France, Scotland and Italy next November 2007 in the final stages of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.

It was an easy match for the French national football team, who visited the Faroe Islands and beat them with an astounding 6-0 result.

Two goals in the first half of the match by French forwards Nicolas Anelka of English Premier club Bolton Wanderers and Thierry Henry of Spanish La Liga club Barcelona looked to be good enough to give France a convincing win against the Faroe Islands in Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 group stage qualifiers. However, France kept the pace going in the second half and added 4 more goals to their tally in a show of football supremacy.

French substitute Karim Bebzema of French Ligue 1 team Lyon scored two goals, proving the awesome goal-scoring ability of the French Ligue's top scorer. Karim Bebzema has racked up 10 goals in the French Ligue 1 in just 10 matches played so far, giving Olympique Lyonnaise, or Lyon, the lead in the French Ligue 1 standings with 22 points.

France's Jerome Rothen of French Ligue 1 team Paris Saint-German also scored from a wonderful curling free-kick, and Hatem Ben Arfa of French Ligue 1 team Lyon also added a goal in second-half injury time to make the final score of France 6 against the Faroe Islands.

While France's win over the Faroe Islands has improved its standings in Group B of the Euro 2008 to 22 points, they still stand in 3rd place behind Italy with 23 points and Scotland with 24 points.

Italy was able to win 2-0 at home against Georgia and Scotland was able to win 3-1 at home against Ukraine to give them 3 points to stay at the top of Group B. With only the top two teams of Group B advancing to the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland, France must win their next match against Lithuania on France's home pitch at the Stade de France on October 17.

France must win in order to overtake Italy at the second spot , and keep their hopes alive for a spot in the Euro 2008 Finals. Meanwhile, France will be also hoping that the Group B match between Scotland vs. Georgia at the Boris Paichadze Stadium in Georgia will favor the Georgia national football team, so that Scotland won't pull too far away in the standings. Of course, that's highly unlikely as the Scotland national football team, led by the talents of JamesMcFadden and Kenny Miller, are red hot.

Following the France vs. Lithuania match at France, the last group stage qualifier for the France national football team will be on November 21 against Ukraine.

To bet on the October 17 match of France vs. Lithuania and other group stage qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 2008, click here.