BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

Russian afternoons can warm the cockles

WHY does it take so long for these competitions to get going?

The England rugby team have already been white-water rafting, bungee jumping, off-roading and getting themselves in all sorts of drink-related incidents at the rugby World Cup, but they are still nowhere near the quarter-finals.

And Mrs B informs me we’ve had weeks of the X Factor and are still being subjected to people who cannot sing a note.

People say the Champions League doesn’t get going until February, but I’m having none of that.

I’ll tell you when it starts. It’s whenthe Russian teams are at home and we can watch live games at five o’clock in the afternoon.

Tuesday’s 3-2 win for Inter at CSKA Moscow was a belter and I’m expecting more of the same from Wednesday’s offering of Zenit St Petersburg and Porto.

The Portuguese outfit were virtually unbeatable last season and, although both manager Andre Vilas-Boas and striker Falcao, they still look the part.

Fourteen points from six games is all right in my book and I fancy them to get the job done, even though Zenit are top of the tree in Russia.

There’s not much between the leagues so far as I can see, but Porto have already beaten Shakhtar inwhat looks like an intriguing group and I’ll be siding with them.

And then I’ll watch Chelsea in Valencia.

Two games for the price of one.

Expand the competition further east. That’s what I say.