brief Champions update

Champions League group stage matchday 5 came and went this week. There are two pieces of big news. First, a few more teams clinched spots in the knockout round. Second, another world-class player sustained a major injury. After Samuel Eto'o went out earlier in the group phase, this past week Milan keeper Dida suffered an injury that forced him off the pitch. Although it did not seem major at first, it has since been determined that he injured a tendon in his quadricep and will miss three months.

As for the qualifying squads, let's see how they're standing up against my predictions:

Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiacos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille

A guide to my notations:
Bold teams have clinched a spot in the round of 16
Italic teams are currently not in a qualifying postion, but are not eliminated
Striked teams are eliminated from a qualifying position

My only pick that is certainly out is Olimpiacos, and I mostly chose them so I wouldn't have to pick Roma merda to advance. The good news is that even though the Greeks are out, merda has not clinched a spot. They'll need to play poorly to be eliminated (a win or draw clinches for them), but considering their embarassment against Shaktar this week, anything could happen.