John Arne Riise’s late own goal in the 95th minute (the last minute of stoppage time!!) doomed European giants Liverpool to a 1-1 draw withLondon rivals Chelsea just a few hours ago.  To be fair, a lucky bounce coupled with an uncharacteristic comedy of errors helped Dutch winger Dirk Kuyt’s opening goal bounce under Petr Cech, but then again, Kuyt’s immense work rate facilitated the play in the first place.

The match at Anfield proved a cagey one, as the British commentators on ESPN2 would say — that is, not exactly the most exhilarating.  Tomorrow’s affair at the Camp Nou between hosts Barcelona and the sublime Manchester United will hopefully be more entertaining.  United enter the match led by their supremely confident talisman, the scintillating Portugese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, while their Catalan opponents are in disarray, as clubhouse factions between the Brazilians and others at the club have escalated in recent weeks, climaxing with revelations from the team’s economic adviser (and really famous Columbia university professor) Xavier Sala-i-Martin. (Please click that link – his webpage is incredibly funny for such a venerable economist, replete with outrageous pictures of him and beavis and butthead, among other things) The economist reported that the club has been labeling players such as the (previously) irreplaceable Ronaldinho as injured in order to keep the out of the squad –when they are actually not.  Ronaldinhois set to put pen to paper with AC Milan at the season’s close.

Tomorrow:  Manchester United v Barcelona. 2.30 ET. ESPN2.  Prediction: Man Utd 2-1.

Ah Finally: Here’s video of the tremendous own goal.  Wow. Hopefully this video will still be working in a  few hours, UEFA and the Premier league are notorious for taking down soccer videos due to copyright claims.