22 October 2009



CSKA MOSCOW 0

MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Valencia 86)



Attendance : 37,500

Assist : Berbatov





WOLSFBURG 0

BESIKTAS 0



Attendance : 18,757

Red Card : Grafite 74 (Wolfsburg)

Assists : n/a





BORDEAUX 2 (Ciani 27, Planus 40)

BAYERN MUNICH 1 (Ciani 6 og)



Ciani made amends for giving Bayern the lead with an outrageous mid-air back heel volley from Wendel's corner. Muller was sent off for chopping down Chalme from behind. Planus bundled in a free kick after more sloppy defending from the Germans. Butt was lucky not see red for a ridiculous foul on Chamakh in the Bayern penalty area. He was subsequently booked then saved Gourcuff's awful penalty. Van Buyten sacked Chamakh to concede another penalty which Butt also saved, this time from Jussie.



Attendance : 30,267

Red Card : Muller 30 (Bayern Munich), Van Buyten 88 (Bayern Munich)

Assists : n/a, Wendel (ck), n/a





JUVENTUS 1 (Chiellini 47)

MACCABI HAIFA 0



Attendance : 40,000

Assist : Diego (fk)





REAL MADRID 2 (Raul 19, Drenthe 76)

MILAN 3 (Pirlo 62, Pato 68, Pato 88)



This was of course no ordinary Champions League group tie, pitting the greatest club sides in the history of European football against each other and they served up a classic which wasn't exactly high on quality but high on drama.



Real should have been awarded an early penalty after Zambrotta chopped down Benzema. Dida further eroded his once proud reputation with the type of goalkeeping error only he seems to make. He caught Granero's speculative shot, bounced the ball onto the turf, then bounced it off his knee, out of his hands and Raul pounced. Zambrotta hurled a throw-in back to Pirlo who was standing 35 yards from goal, he took a few steps infield before unleashing a sensational right foot shot which whistled past Casillas via the inside of his left post. Ambrosini intercepted from Ramos and lofted a longball between Real's centre backs, Casillas flew off his line, got nowhere near the ball and Pato tapped into an empty net. Raul played a corner out to the edge of the box and Drenthe's left foot crept inside Dida's left post. Pirlo spun away from a Diarra challenge before attempting another shot, the ball deflected off a Real Madrid defender, Pato killed it stone dead with his left before firing off a shot with his right straight at Casillas. Thiago Silva headed in from the resulting corner but the goal was disallowed for no reason whatsoever amid furious protests in which Ronaldinho pushed Raul in the face. Pato skipped away from a Drenthe sliding tackled as he turned onto a pass out of defence, he was eventually tackled and the ball broke to Ronaldinho who eased a pass out wide to Seedorf, Seedorf baited Ramos, Pepe stepped forward in support and as he was about to make a tackle Seedorf floated a cross over to the unmarked Pato at the back post and he eased a volley over Casillas to complete a stunning victory.



Real Madrid will not come across many teams who are not overawed at the prospect of playing at the Bernebeu or encounter a midfield that, IF allowed, can pass the ball for fun. Real Madrid won't win anything with Xabi Alonso and Lassana Diarra as their central midfield pairing. The older, bigger Diarra is/was a much better player.



Attendance : 73,500

Assists : n/a, Zambrotta (throw-in), Ambrosini, Seedorf





ZURICH 0

MARSEILLE 1 (Heinze 69)



Attendance : 24,800

Red Card : Bonnart 90 (Marseille)

Assists : Lucho





PORTO 2 (Hulk 33, Hulk 48 Pen)

APOEL NICOSIA 1 (Pereira 22 og)



Charalambides challenged two defenders for a cross from the left and the unlucky Pereira got the final touch. Pinto inexplicably headed a goalkick back to his 'keeper, Falcao intercepted and passed to Hulk whose first time shot was in fact his first ever Champions League goal and a generous penalty awarded for handball gave Hulk the opportunity to score his second and he made no mistake.



Attendance : 30,399

Red Card : Gonzalez 75 (Porto)

Assists : n/a, Falcao, n/a





CHELSEA 4 (Kalou 41, Kalou 52, Perea 69 og, Perea 91 og)

ATLETICO MADRID 0



Kalou scored goals either side of half time. The first a tap-in from a deflected centre and the second a header from a Lampard corner. Lampard ended his 10 game goal drought via a significant deflection off Perea who followed that up with another own goal.



Attendance : 39,997

Assists : n/a, Lampard (ck), n/a, n/a





21 October 2009



DEBRECEN 3 (Czvitkovics 2, Rudolf 28, Coulibaly 88)

FIORENTINA 4 (Mutu 6, Gilardino 10, Mutu 20, Santana 37)



Czvitkovics finished off a superb move to give the Hungarians a lead which lasted all of four minutes. Mutu volleyed in the equaliser from a Dainelli centre. Gilardino, back following his ludicrous suspension, tapped in Mutu's centre to give the Italians the lead then returned the favour, Mutu's first time shot crashed in off the right post. Rudolf was surrounded by traffic on the edge of the Fiorentina box, he dribbled past three players then curled a superb right foot shot into the top corner. Santana restored Fiorentina's lead with a tap-in after Mutu forced a save from Poleksic. Coulibaly headed in a free kick but Fiorentina just about held on to claim a priceless three points.



Attendance : 40,000

Assists : Vargas, Dainelli, Mutu, Gilardino, Leandro, n/a, Bodnar (fk)





LIVERPOOL 1 (Benayoun 41)

LYON 2 (Gonalons 72, Delgado 91)



Benayoun tapped in a late first half goal after Lyon failed to clear a centre. Reina flapped at a corner and partially redeemed himself with saves on the follow-up but was eventually beaten by Gonalons. A neat passing move opened up Liverpool down their left flank and Delgado tapped in Govou's centre to increase the pressure on the despicable Benitez.



Attendance : 41,562

Assists : n/a, n/a, Govou





BARCELONA 1 (Ibrahimovic 48)

RUBIN KAZAN 2 (Ryazantsev 2, Karadeniz 73)



Rubin goalkeeper Ryzhikov launched a goal kick high into the Barca half, the ball fell to Ryazantsev via Toure's sloppy touch and from 40 yards he struck an amazing first time shot which caught Valdes by surprise and flew in off a post. Ibrahimovic's equaliser was a perfect illustration of the striker's sublime talent. He controlled a wonderful Xavi cross on his chest before lashing a half volley in off a post. The Russian champions countered after Messi cheaply gave away the ball and Karadeniz hammered Dominguez's perfectly weighted through ball past Valdez. The woodwork came to Rubin Kazan's rescue twice in the remaining minutes as the Russian's just about held on to complete a famous victory.



Attendance : 52,000

Assists : n/a, Xavi, Dominguez





INTER 2 (Stankovic 35, Samuel 47)

DYNAMO KYIV 2 (Mikhalik 5, Lucio 40 og)



Mikhalik punished awful defending from a free kick to give the Ukrainian's the lead. Bogush rushed miles off his line to cut out a Lucio through pass and Stankovic tapped into an empty net. Within five minutes of setting up the equaliser Lucio headed Dynamo back in front from Magrao's corner. Samuel sparred Inter blushed by heading in a Sneijder corner.



Mourinho has extended his fantastic winless run in Europe to 8 games. Congratulations.



Attendance : 45,000

Assists : n/a, Lucio, n/a, Sneijder (ck)





RANGERS 1 (Vilana 2 og)

UNIREA URZICENI 4 (Bilasco 32, Lafferty 49 og, McCulloch 59, og, McCulloch 65 og)



Mendes tried his luck from the edge of the box and his shot took a wild bounce off Vilana, looping over Tudor in the Unirea goal. Rangers' pathetic offside trap gift wrapped the equaliser to Bilsaco. Fernandes handled in the box to concede a penalty but Davis' terrible spot kick was saved by Tudor. Rangers' charity continued with two own goals. Lafferty was somewhat unlucky when a shot from a short corner bounced off his heels but McCulloch had no such excuse for heading Balan's free kick into his own net. Apostol backheeled a free kick to Brandan, McCulloch tried to jump out of the way but the ball clipped off his heels and wrong footed McGregor. Four own goals has to be some sort of record.



Attendance : 37,500

Assists : n/a, Brandan, n/a, n/a, n/a





STUTTGART 1 (Elson 74 fk)

SEVILLA 3 (Squillaci 23, Navas 55, Squillaci 72)



Squillaci gave Sevilla the lead from Adriano's outstanding cross. Lehmann fumbled a cross and Navas doubled the Spanish side's lead. Stuttgart's inability to deal with crosses cost them a third but their Brazilian midfielder Elson scored a fantastic consolation goal, sending a free kick up and over the Sevilla wall and dipping under the crossbar.



Attendance : 40,000

Assists : Adriano, n/a, Dragutinovic (fk), Elson (won fk)





AZ ALKMAAR 1 (Mendes 93)

ARSENAL 1 (Fabregas 36)



Centre back Schaars heavy first touch presented Arshavin with the ball, he passed to RVP who made an overlapping run and Fabregas tapped in the Dutchman's centre at the back post. Pelle headed on a longball in a packed penalty area and Mendes smashed a right foot volley into the roof of the net.



Attendance : 16,000

Assists : RVP, Pelle





OLYMPIAKOS 2 (Mitroglou 43, Stoltidis 93)

STANDARD LIEGE 1 (De Camargo 37)



De Camargo finished off an excellent move from a throw-in, steering Jovanovi's pass wide of Antonios 'George' Nikopolidis. Mitroglou headed in the equaliser from a free kick. Having withstood a second half onslaught the Belgian's finally crumbled from an injury time corner.



Attendance : 33,000

Assists : Jovanovic, Galletti (fk), Dudu