 |
| (Courtesy of Ben Sutherland - Flickr) |
We are now
absolutely at the business end of the group stages and last night’s results
have spelt the end for the dreams of some clubs and also propelled others into
the next round. Here’s a look at who will be preparing for the first knockout
round and who will be preparing for life out of the Champions League.
Group E
Shakhtar avoided a potential upset after they had
found themselves behind, away to Nordsjaelland, when Nordstrand found himself
free at the back post to slot home from 5 yards. In a moment of disgraceful
sportsmanship Willian passed the ball back to the opposition goalkeeper after a
drop ball only for Adrian
to latch onto it, round the keeper and score to draw the Ukranians level. It
seemed as if, following this, Shakhtar had resolved to let Nordsjaelland score
to even it out but then changed their minds half way through. As fate would
have it the home side scored of their own accord 3 minutes later anyway but
this was to no avail as Shakhtar managed to level just before the half time
whistle to leave things all square and very sour at half time. After the break
it was all Shakhtar and they scored 3 goals, including Luiz Adriano completing
a hat trick, which he has no right to be proud of, and the game finished 5-2.
 |
| The end of the road for Di Matteo (Courtesy the sportreview - Flickr) |
In Turin last night we saw Juventus effectively end Chelsea’s hopes of retaining their crown and also definitely
end Roberto Di Matteo’s reign as Chelsea
manager. Roman Abramovic showing yet again how ridiculously fickle he is when
it comes to his choice of manager. I will be writing something separate about
this and don’t want to take up the whole article ranting about Di Matteo’s sacking
so I’ll leave that there for now. On the night, Chelsea were soundly beaten by a team high on
confidence and, despite having slightly more possession, received a battering
ram of shots on goal (Juventus managed 26 in total). The home side should have had a
goal after 3 minutes when Stephen Lichsteiner could only volley against Cech
from 3 yards.
After that Chelsea had a chance of their own when Eden Hazard found himself
free in the box following a mazy run from Oscar but could only side foot his
shot against keeper Buffon. Juve then turned up the pressure forcing some
decent saves from Cech and eventually found the net in the 37th
minute when Fabio Quagliarella, somewhat fortunately, turned in Andrea Pirlo’s
soft shot past a floundering Petr Cech. Juventus were only prevented from going
2 up before half time when Ashley Cole made a last ditch stop on the line after
he and David Luiz almost scored an own goal. Just over 15 minutes after half
time Arturo Vidal made it 2-0 for the home side and this essentially killed off
any hope Chelsea
had of staging an already unlikely comeback. In the dying minutes Giovinco made
it 3-0 but by this time the game was beyond over.
This leaves
Chelsea relying
on a Shakhtar win against Juventus and a win over Nordsjaelland to qualify, not
impossible but certainly unlikely. The most likely situation is that we will
see the two teams who need to draw, Shakhtar and Juve, do exactly that and the
group will finish as it now stands. Nordsjaelland were out a long time ago.
Group F
By far the
most surprising result in this group came in a foggy game between BATE and
Lille in Belarus, a match which the home side should have won comfortably to
keep their chances of progressing alive but instead lost 2-0 to an
inexperienced Lille team. First half strikes from Djibril Sidibé and Gianni
Bruno, who was making his Champions League debut, were enough to see off a BATE
side that had the majority of the possession but could not convert it into
goals. Sidibé was sent off in the 74th minute but even against 10
men BATE couldn’t manage to find the net.
Also
playing last night in Group F were Valencia and Bayern, who played out
a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla. Both these teams will have been heartily relieved
to have seen that they had already qualified for the first knockout round
thanks to BATE’s loss in the early kick-off, meaning they don’t have to go
through a nerve-racking last day. Antonio Barragan had already been booked when
he showed unbelievably bad judgement and went in for a two-footed lunge on
David Alaba and was consequently given a straight red. Despite being at such a
disadvantage so early in the game Valencia battled well and even took the lead
in the 76th minute through a deflected shot from Sofiane Feghouli
after the Algerian had made a very purposeful run, ghosting past three of the
Bayern players. It was only at this point that the away side showed any real
desire to win, seemingly contented to earn a draw prior to this wake-up call. It
was only 5 minutes later that the Germans got one back. Phillip Lahm showed his
class by chesting down a cross-field ball and then drilling a cross into the
box, which was then mis-controlled by Mario Gomez allowing Thomas Müller to
follow up and shank the ball into the net.
All in all
neither side will be particularly disappointed by this result, and it leaves
Bayern in the driving seat with a better head-to-head record and only needing a
home win against BATE to qualify in first. Valencia can take solace from the
fact that with the number of top quality sides likely to finish second in their
groups this season their chances of drawing a big team will be just as high
whether they finish first or second.
Group G
 |
| Already on 5 for the season (Courtesy of golbalite - Flickr) |
Barcelona, who had virtually already
qualified, secured their first place position last night with a 3-0 away win over
lacklustre Spartak Moscow. Dani Alves started the scoring with a long range
drive and Lionel Messi added two to complete a first half rout and take his
Champions league tally for this season to 5. After this Barcelona took their foot off the pedal but
still had no trouble containing the Russian side who now have no chance of
finishing anywhere other than 4th place.
In a far
more significant match Benfica recorded a home win over rivals for 2nd-place,
Celtic. Things started well for the Portuguese side when they took the lead
early on, Ola John connecting with a ball that was bouncing around the Celtic
box, lashing it into the bottom corner after less than 6 minutes. But just past
the half-hour mark Giorgos Samaras rose at the back-post to head home from a Charlie
Mulgrew corner to draw Celtic level. As things stood Celtic would have clinched
that all important second place and this was very apparent in the way that
Benfica played. Their 61% possession and
astonishing 31 attempts on goal finally paid off when, in the 71st
minute, centre-back Ezequiel Garay, of all people, smashed home a close range
volley.
These
results see Barcelona
through to the next round in first place and leaves Benfica and Celtic to
thrash it out for the second place on the final match day. Benfica just have to
match Celtic’s result as the Portuguese side have the better record in the
head-to-heads. This is easier said than done, however, because Benifca have to
play Barcelona
away and Celtic have Spartak Moscow at home. It remains to be seen what kind of
side Barcelona
field, as for them that match will be a dead rubber, but a game at the Nou Camp
is difficult no matter what Barca side you face.
Group H
 |
| The cauldron that is the Ali Sami Stadium, Istanbul (Courtesy of Galatali - Flickr) |
Finally we
come to Goup H. Alex Ferguson, having already seen his side qualify for the
next round in first place, sent out a reasonably young side to face Galatasaray
in an atmosphere that can only be described as fiery. The first half that the ‘weakened’
United side played dimmed the enthusiasm of the Turkish crowd slightly,
limiting the home side to half chances and shots from range. But the away team
were always on the back foot and in the 53rd minute, with the
incessant crowd behind them, Galatasaray grabbed the all important goal. Burak Yilmaz
won header far too easily from a Selcuk
Inan corner and sent the ball over Rafael’s head into the back of the net. After
this United picked up the tempo again, much to the displeasure of the deafening
crowd, but failed to find the net despite Javier Hernandez being presented with
a golden opportunity by Danny Welbeck.
A first
half hat-trick from Rui Pedro dashed Braga’s
hopes of getting through to the next round as the Romanian Champions earned a
well-fought 3-1 home win. Pedro started early, running onto a neat flick from striking
partner Rafael Bastos to slot home from 10 yards after just 6
minutes. Only 8 minutes later Bastos was involved again, sending a superb ball
over the top for Modou Sougou who laid it across the box for Pedro’s second.
All was not over yet though, as only 2 minutes later captain Alan grabbed one
back for the visitors giving them a thin ray of hope by sliding the ball
through Cluj keeper Mario Felgueiras’ legs to narrow the margin. Things were
wrapped up before half time when Modou Sougou again set up Pedro to slam home
from 11 yards
out.
This leaves
Galatasaray and Braga
equal on points as we go into the last match day with the two teams at a 3-3
aggregate in the head-to-heads but with Galatasaray just ahead on away goals in
those two matches. Cluj have the difficult task of having to get something at
Old Trafford while Galatasaray travel to Portugal
to face Braga.
Comments
Post a Comment