Bernie’s Sports Focus - 31st August 2012

Newcastle are through to the next round of the Europa League following their 1-0 win against Atromitos at St James’s Park though the Greek side were unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty when Newcastle keeper Tim Krul brought down Brazilian striker Chumbinto.

Liverpool squeezed into the group stages thanks to a late Suarez strike that salvaged a 1-1 draw against Hearts with the premier club a goal up from the first leg.

Inter progressed to the group stages with a 2-2 draw against Romanian club Vaslui that gave the Italians a 4-2 aggregate win.

All the premier clubs are in action this weekend with defending champions Valletta against Qormi tomorrow at Ta’Qali.
Hibernians take on Melita while tonight B’Kara play Rabat and Sliema face Mosta.

On Sunday Hamrun meet Tarxien and Balzan tackle Floriana.

The English premier includes matches at Manchester City, Tottenham and West Brom who take on Everton.

On Sunday it’s Liverpool against an Arsenal side still looking for their first premier goal.

Newcastle are home to Aston Villa and Manchester United are at Southampton.

The draw for the Champions League group stages was held yesterday with premier title holders Manchester City drawn against Real Madrid, Ajax and Bordussia Dortmund in Group D.

Champions League holders Chelsea faces Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk and Nordsjaelland in Grouop E while Group H sees Manchester United take on Galatasaray,Braga and Cluj.

The third round of the Europa League threw up some juicy ties such as Man Utd against Newcastle, travel to Carlisle.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso says he is not favourite to win the world title as he heads into this weekend’s Belgium Formula 1 Grand Prix with a 40 point advantage over Red Bull’s Mark Webber.