Sevilla Handed Europa League Spot In Place of Malaga, For Now.

There was some interesting, and frustrating, news coming out of Spain today for fans of La Liga side Malaga.  The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland has dismissed their appeal to set aside their ban from European Football and play in the Europa League next season.  Their spot will now go to Sevilla, provisionally.

Last December UEFA banned Malaga from European competitions for two years after they were found to be in violation of financial fair play rules.  That ban was later reduced to one year.  Malaga spent much of the 2012-2013 campaign fighting for the fourth and final Champion's League spot, but faded toward the end of the season.  In addition, the court upheld the fine of 300,000 euros leveled by UEFA, which Malaga will now have to pay.

Eighth place side Rayo Vallecano had hopes of being granted the Europa League spot should Malaga's ban be upheld.  However, UEFA have not granted them a license for European competitions.  This being the case, the spot will go to ninth place Sevilla.  Rayo is still hopeful of a decision from the same court in the favor, which would grant them that spot in Europe.

Champions League Roundup: Bayern Drubs Arsenal. Barca Fall

Didier Drogba returned to Champions League Play with Galatasaray (Getty Images)

The second week of knockout action in the UEFA Champions League action certainly provided some interesting results, though not a lot of it along with the pundits' scripts.  Out of the eight teams that played, probably only one really punched their ticket to the next round, but there definitely could be some surprises in store in the second legs.

The action kicked off on Tuesday with Arsenal hosting last year's finalists Bayern Munich at the Emirates in London.  The Gunners were reeling after the weekend saw them drop out of the FA Cup with a home loss to Blackburn.  Sadly for Arsenal supporters, things didn't improve on Tuesday as Bayern were up two goals within 25 minutes courtesy of Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller.

Arsenal did manage to survive until halftime without conceding again, and a stroke of luck awarded them a comeback goal in the second half.  The referee wrongly awarded a corner kick to the Gunners after Santi Cazorla's shot defected off of his own man.  Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer totally flubbed on the corner, missing the ball completely.  Arsenal man Lucas Podolski was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball into goal to give Arsenal hope on on 55 minutes, but Matrio Mandzukic struck in minute 77 to ice the match 1-3 to Bayern.  It's tough to see the Gunners going to Germany and making up the deficit, but as Chelsea fans will tell you, stranger things have happened.  However,  I do believe at this point that Bayern are as good as through.

Tuesday's other match took place in Portugal as FC Porto hosted La Liga's Malaga.  Much of the punditry, especially on Fox, gave Malaga the advantage in this one, despite Porto's excellent record at home in Europe.  Malaga have been decent in La Liga this year, but far from world beaters, and to me, they're a bit over-rated. 

Porto controlled the possession 63%-37%, but the match offered few clear chances for either side.  Finally Porto broke through in the second half though.  Portugal international Joao Moutinho took a pass from Alex Sandro, who positioned him well between the final Malaga defender and goalkeeper. From there it was only for Moutinho to side foot the ball into the net to give Porto the 1-0 win.  The hosts would probably have preferred to see a bigger advantage for all their possession, but Malaga will be disappointed not to come away with the away goal.

The shocker of the week came Wednesday at San Siro in Milan as AC Milan hosted Barcelona, who have looked to be a juggernaut in most of their competitions this year.  Barca seemed to sputter a little more than usual against Milan, albeit on an obviously choppy pitch.  Kevin-Prince Boateng put the home side up early in the second half, but in controversial fashion.  Riccardo Montolivo took a shot the quite clearly deflected off the arm of Milan's Christian Zapata, but there was no whistle.  The ball fell to Boateng, who managed to slot past Victor Valdes to give Milan the 1-0 lead on 56 minutes.  Gerard "Mr. Shakira" Pique was booked for dissent after the goal.

There wasn't controversy in the 81st minute though as Sulley Muntari beat Valdes with an excellent finish to make it 2-0 on full time.  The organized Italian side contained Messi for most of the match and their lead is well deserved, despite the obvious talking point.   Certainly Barca are more than capable of making up the ground at Camp Nou, but it might be a bit tougher without the away goal.  Don't bury them yet though.

The final game of the week took place in Turkey as a revitalized Galatasary squad hosted Schalke 04.  With former UCL champions Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba now in the fold, the Turkish side looked to be in good shape for a deep run in the knockout stages.  They even took the lead only 12 minutes in when Burak Yilmaz.  Yilmaz wowed the crowd by flicking the ball over a Schalke defender then banging into the net to get to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Schalke had some other things in mind though.  Right before halftime Jefferson Farfan set up  US International Jermaine Jones after Gala gave the ball away in midfield.  Jones took the pass and calmly beat Gala 'keeper Fernando Muslera to tie the score at 1-1.  It would be the last scoring of the day.  Schalke will be well pleased with the way goal.

There is some controversy surrounding this result as well as Schalke have officially challenged the match with UEFA.  The concern is over Drogba's inclusion in the Galatasaray squad.  Drogba was given a temporary license with UEFA after the Ivorian striker contended that his contract with the Chinese club he joined was void after they failed to pay his wages for three months.  He then joined Galatasaray.  However, there is some dispute over this, and UEFA is investigating the legal status of the contract.  Schalke is contending that Drogba was ineligible to play pending the outcome of this investigation.  I doubt UEFA will do anything given the temporary license, but we'll see.  At any rate, the result is a positive one for the German club.

La Liga: Malaga Beat Levante In Style.

Malaga's Javier Saviola tallied a goal and an assist Saturday morning. (Reuters)

La Liga matchday kicked off in style Saturday as Malaga hosted Levante in front of 22,000 fans on a warm Spanish afternoon.  The home side, newly minted in the Champion's League group stage, looked to continue their unbeaten start to the season against a Levante squad that faces Europa league action later on in the month.

The home supporters were anxious to see Malaga's newest arrival, Javier Saviola, who signed for the club as the transfer window drew to a close a couple of weeks back.  They weren't disappointed either, as Saviola contributed mightily to a rather dominating victory.

The opening minutes were rather subdued from both sides, as temperatures hovered around 86 degrees at kickoff.  However it was clear right away that Malaga were going to have the better of the run of play.  In the 8th minute Joaquin woke up the Levante 'keeper, rifling a shot right at him for the day's first chance.

Shouts of discontent from the home players and supporters arose in the 18th minute though, as Malaga were denied a penalty appeal.  Levante's Sergio Ballesteros came up behind Saviola in the box and appeared to clip him, sending the attacker to the ground.  The referee wasn't buying though, and play continued.

Saviola left little up to the referee in the 27th minute though.  Isco found him streaking into the middle of the box and hit him with a wonderful through ball.  The Levante defense had a split second chance to cut it out, but the defender couldn't get a foot to it, leaving Saviola with an easy chance, which he promptly slotted to give Malaga the 1-0 lead.

The Malaga crowd was again asking for a penalty on 36 minutes when Sergio Sanchez went to the floor in the Levante area.  This time the referee not only denied the appeal, but showed Sanchez the yellow card for diving.  That card would come back to haunt him, but Malaga still held the 1-0 lead at halftime.

The lead didn't last long though as Levante managed an equalizer right after the break.  In the 46th minute Michel saddled up on the end of a clearance and streaked up the pitch toward the Malaga goal.  He hammered his shot from just outside of the area sending the ball into the upper netting to level the match at 1-1.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the rest of the match's chances presented themselves to Malaga.  In the 59th minute Saviola took center stage again, hitting Joaquin with another gorgeous through ball that was clinically finished to restore Malaga's lead at 2-1.

Some hope almost emerged for Levante late on as Sergio Sanchez was hit with his second yellow card of the match on 87 minutes.  However, they were unable to muster an attack and Malaga iced the match in stoppage time.  In the 93rd minute Francisco Portillo got on the end of a cross from Duda and volleyed it home from close range to make the full time score 3-1.