Champions League: Fenerbache Thrown Out, Trabzonspor Replacement, Not Liverpool

Calm down, calm down... you're not in the Champions League.

The BBC reported this afternoon that Fenerbache have been removed from the Champions League with immediate effect.

That led to a flurry of social media activity as rumours of who would replace the troubled Turkish side in tomorrow's draw flew around the web.

The team who emerged as favourites to replace them: Liverpool?  Well, according to speculation in the social media world anyway.

Of the teams across Europe that are not already in a European competition, Liverpool hold the highest coefficient ranking, which some felt would earn them a European spot this year.

Not the case.

As Arsenal prepared for their crucial play-off second leg with Udinese, their qualification hanging in the balance, fans were teased with the prospect that they would go through regardless of the result.  Arsenal are the highest ranked team in the play-offs, and so it was widely assumed that the highest ranked loser would go through.

For half an hour at least that is.

Those early rumours on Twitter look to be the product of some over-productive scouse imaginations, and then taken over by Arsenal fans desperate to ease their nerves ahead of tonight's showdown.

UEFA have since announced that Fenerbache will be replaced will fellow Turkish side Trabzonspor.

The Turkish second-place finishers have not come out of the match-fixing inquiry completely clean, and are heavily involved with the same investigation that has seen Fenerbache removed from the competition.  Only last month their chairman was arrested as part of the investigation.

Still it seems highly likely that Trabzonspor will be allowed to compete and will take the place of Fernerbache, meaning Liverpool once again without European football, and Arsenal fans back on the edge of their seats.Already Liverpool fans sit by their computers waiting for the next opportunity to raise hopes on Merseyside.

There are a lot of ups and downs in football, but thanks to Twitter they now happen a lot faster.