Wednesday's Champions League Roundup

(Courtesy of El Ronzo - Flickr)

As match day 5 comes to an end it’s time to look at what has been decided and what is yet to be finalised in the first four groups of the draw.

Group A

Last night Group A’s qualifiers were decided in a routine round as PSG and Porto both recorded easy wins against Eastern European opposition. Porto, who had already qualified, had a home game against the group’s whipping boys Dinamo Zagreb and left the Croatians still without a point at the bottom of the table. The 3-0 score line did not flatter the Portuguese champions either who, with 21 shots on goal and 58% of possession fully deserved all 3 points. Lucho Gonzalez struck the first blow after less than 20 minutes from 12 yards with a half volley and despite constant pressure it stayed this way until half-time. After the break Porto did not let up and this dominance paid off in the 66^th minute when Joao Moutinho knocked a peach of a free kick past Zagreb keeper Ivan Kelava to double their lead. Silvestre Varela completed the scoring with a simple finish following a neat flick from Moutinho, turning provider.

The other game in the group came from Kiev where the group’s other Dynamo went down 2-0 to a brace from Ezequiel Lavezzi. The first a neat dink coming from Ibrahimovic’s 5^th assist in Europe this season and the second coming from a weak back-pass from Yevhen Khacheridi which Blaise Matuidi latched onto and squared for Lavezzi to tap into an open net.

This leaves PSG and Porto to battle it out for first place, which Porto currently hold by one point, in Paris in a fortnight’s time. Dynamo Kiev are resigned to 3^rd place and a pointless Dinamo Zagreb have no hope of continuing in European competition.

Group B

Podolski's goal ensured Arenal's
safe passage into the next roud
(Courtesy of Ronnie MacDonald)

In Group B we saw a similar situation as Arsenal and Schalke completed victories at home over Montpellier and Olympiakos respectively. Arsenal knew that nothing but a win could give them a chance of qualifying before the final round of games and were hopeful that Schalke could help out by beating Olympiakos. Arsenal did their part scoring two second half goals to give themselves a chance of even qualifying top of the group. Arsenal had the better of the first half, with Laurent Koscielny unlucky to see his header cannon off the bar, but it was not until the 49^th minute that a good run and cross from Thomas Vermaelen was headed down by Olivier Giroud for Jack Wilshere to lift neatly over the keeper and give the Arsenal fans some relief. Just 12 minutes later the scoring was wrapped up when Olivier Giroud assisted again, this time lifting the ball over the defence to Lukas Podolski who slammed home a fantastic volley.

The other game in this group was slightly less comfortable for the eventual winners, Schalke, as they dominated for large periods of the match (27 shots on goal in total) but couldn’t get the breakthrough for a long time. It eventually came in the 77^th minute, when Christian Fuchs struck a decent shot from long range which Olympiakos keeper Roy Carroll will be nonetheless be disappointed about conceding.

These results see Schalke and Arsenal both qualify with Schalke a point ahead and having the slightly easier task of going to Montpellier, now condemned to last place in the group, whereas Arsenal face a diffcult away trip to Olympiakos.

Group C

Milan have finally pulled their collective finger out and got a first win in three games in this competition meaning they can finally start looking forward to the 1^st knockout round in February. It was a comprehensive victory the likes of which we haven’t seen from Milan in Europe this year. There were no surprises as Stephan El Shaarawy, Serie A’s top scorer, brought the ball down comfortably in the box and opened his body to knock the ball past the helpless Silvio Proto in the Anderlecht goal in the first minute of the second half. Milan did not always look in control though and Anderlecht were their equals for long spells in the game. In the 69^th minute Anderlecht centre-back Bram Nuytinck was sent off for a foul on Alexandre Pato and from the resulting free kick Philippe Mexes gave the away side a 2 goal lead with a magnificent overhead kick. It was almost as if he had that of former team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic and thought he would try and do better. It wasn’t quite as good, but it was from 20-odd yards and the keeper was in his goal, stunning strike. Tom De Sutter gave 10-men Anderlecht some hope 7 minutes later when a he knocked in from close range but with a man less it was always going to be an uphill struggle and Pato sealed the win for the Italians in the dying minutes with a close range tap-in.

Malaga kept up their unbeaten run in this competition so far with an impressive 2-2 away draw against Zenit. The Spanish side will, however, be cursing themselves for not holding onto a 2-0 lead that they had established as early as the 9^th minute, Diego Buonanotte and then Seba, benefiting from a mistake by Zenit keeper Malafeev, providing the goals. Zenit came back at the Spaniards though and were unlucky to go into half time still 2 goals down. Zenit manager Luciano Spalletti must have said something right in the dressing room at half time as after less than 5 second-half minutes the home side had reduced the deficit to one goal with a neat finish from Portuguese forward Danny. It looked for a long time as if Malaga were going to keep all three points until, in the 86^th minute, Viktor Fayzulin sent a left-footed half volley past several away defenders to give the Russians hope. Unfortunately for Zenit it was not to be however and it stayed 2-2.

This point for Malaga means that because of head-to-head results with Milan they have qualified top and Milan are now sure of 2^nd place. It is left for Zenit and Anderlecht to battle it out for the Europ League spot, with the Russians going to Milan and the Belgians going to Malaga. Both sides are level on points and level in the head-to-heads but Zenit are currently just ahead on goal difference.



Against all the odds Jürgen Klopp has led his
team to first place in the group of death
(Courtesy of Axel Schwenke - Flickr)

Group D

The group of death killed off the hopes of two teams last night as Ajax and Man City both went crashing out of the Champions League. Borussia Dortmund put on a show of real style, demolishing Ajax 4-1 in the Amsterdam Arena to ensure that they finish top of the group. The German side were by no means dominant, in fact they only had 33% of possession throughout the match, but they gave Ajax nothing in the German defensive third and were extremely clinical when it came to attacking. Marco Reus started the scoring after only 8 minutes, set up by Mario Gotze, who then went on to score himself and set up two goals for Robert Lewandowski either side of half time. Gotze put in an absolutely devastating performance and 3 assists and a goal can only increase the high level of interest that there is in him from other big clubs around Europe.

Manchester City and Real Madrid played out a match that neither will be happy with. Real Madrid now have no hope of finishing top of the group and Manchester City have no hope of qualifying. The Spaniards had a strong first half and perhaps should have done better than to go in to half time only 1-0 up, thanks to a goal from Karim Benzema. The second half was much more even and in the 72^nd minute Alvaro Arbeloa was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Sergio Aguero in the box. The Argentinean dusted himself off and got up to slide the ball calmly past Iker Casillias but despite having fought themselves back level City could not go one better and win the game against a 10-man Real and now face the possibility of coming bottom of the group.

This means that with Dortmund assured of first place and Real Madrid taking second, the only thing left to be worked out is who will finish 3^rd. Ajax face a tough fixture away in Madrid but, 1 point ahead, will be confident of grabbing the Europa League spot especially given that Man City will probably not send their first team to Dortmund. Despite all the tosh that managers of top teams spout about the Europa League being a top competition it isn’t, and I can’t see Roberto Mancini busting a gut to get that third spot.