It was an interesting round of the Champions League this week as several results went against most experts' predictions. Several teams who were expected to be punching bags in their respective groups are surprisingly pulling great results out of thin air, making some groups' outcome difficult to judge even after three games.
- Group A -
After getting a draw against Juventus in Day 1, the French champions have taken complete control of the group with wins against Maccabi Haifa and Bayern Munich. The latter result came against a nine-man Munich who saw both Muller and Van Buyten sent off with red cards. Juventus took second place of the group after beating Maccabi Haifa to the score of 1-0.
Group B is one of the few groups where there is a clear-cut order. Manchester United stayed perfect, collecting all nine points after three games while Wolfsburg sits in second place after their draw against Besiktas.
CSKA Moscow Manchester United: 0-1
A depleted Manchester United found its way to victory in the final minutes of the game when Valencia beat Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev in the 86th minute. Without the likes of Evra, Rooney, Giggs, Fletcher and Park, United looked particularly flat on Wednesday but as they have shown time and time again, they got the result when it mattered.
For Wolfsburg, a disappointing draw against Besiktas was made even worse by the sending off of Grafite in the 74th minute. The goalscorer will miss the next meeting between the two teams on November 3rd.
For all the talk about the Galacticos, it was the Rossoneri who stole the show this week by stunning the Spanish giants at the Bernabeu and thus taking the group's top spot.
Real Madrid AC Milan: 2-3
After an early gaffe by Dida which led to Madrid's opening goal early in the game, Milan came through with steely determination, scoring three goals (two by Pato) in the second half to defeat Madrid 3-2. Facing his old teammates, Kaka was pretty much invisible for most of the game and you have to wonder if being on a team of superstars isn't weighing on him mentally especially when he has to deal with strong personalities such as Raul on the pitch.
Like Manchester United, Chelsea stayed perfect during the week, crushing Atletico Madrid to the score of 4-0. They top their group with nine points while Porto sits behind them with six points.
It's getting worse and worse for Liverpool who will be without Gerrard and Torres for awhile. Without those two anchors, the Reds suffered an embarrassing defeat against Lyon at Anfield. When N'Gog is your starting forward in a Champions League match, you have serious problems. Meanwhile in the other game, Fiorentina were almost upset by Debreceni but held on long enough to pull through with the win.
It's a three-way tie for first in Group F as Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, and Rubin Kazan are all sitting with four points while Inter Milan isn't far behind with three points. Rubin Kazan stunned defending champs Barcelona by winning 2-1 at the Nou Camp while Inter could only draw against Kyiv. It'll be interesting to see how the situation unfolds in this group.
Apart from Sevilla who seem destined to go through, group G is also wide open for second place after Unirea Urziceni gave a footballing lesson to the Rangers on Tuesday.
Rangers Unirea Urziceni: 1-4
VfB Stuttgart Sevilla: 1-3
- Group H -
Arsenal let three points slip by them when they allowed AZ Alkmaar to equalize in the dying minutes of the game but it'll be surprising to see another team dislodge them from the top spot.
Real Madrid got back to their winning ways with a convincing victory over Valladolid over the weekend. The win brings them one point closer to Barcelona who fought tooth and nail to a 0-0 draw against Valencia. At the bottom of the table, Villarreal and Atletico Madrid are continuing their downward spiral as both teams lost to lesser clubs (on paper). The full results follow.
Real Madrid suffered their setback of the season on Sunday: a 2-1 loss against Sevilla. Despite an excellent performance by Casillas, the Galacticos couldn't edge out Sevilla and often lacked creativity in attack. Although the team is filled with superstars, the absence of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lassana Diarra probably played a major part in the team's demise. They may not be so invincible after all. As for Barcelona, Almeria made it tough for them but they managed to get the three points which put them alone at the top. Here are the full results.
After two games played, we're getting a better picture of the standings in the Champions League group stage. While some powerhouses are making a good case for themselves (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United), others (Liverpool, Inter, Milan) are finding the task more difficult and should kick it up a notch in Matchday 3.
Obviously, this year's title race in la Liga will be between defending champions Barcelona and runner-ups Real Madrid. After three weeks, both teams are steamrolling their opponents in their bid to outdo each other. Both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double last weekend, and that individual race will be interesting to follow as the season goes on.
So, the Inter Milan-Barcelona game wasn't as exciting as I anticipated so I won't be posting an individual recap of that game but read on for my thoughts on Day 1. There are several games for which I didn't find any highlights. Video sites are quick to take off links these days, so there's not much I can do about that.
Sorry about not posting this earlier. Real life kept me pretty busy these past two days. Anyways, here it goes... The Spanish Liga got underway last weekend with the Galacticos 2.0 raising the curtain against Deportivo. While Raul got the first goal of the new season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona's response to Madrid's crazy summer got the last goal of the first week, scoring Barca's third in their comfortable victory against Sporting de Gijon. The full results follow.
Real Madrid R.C. Deportivo: 3-2 (Read my recap HERE)
With Real Madrid going undefeated for 18 games since last December, the second edition of this season's Clasico promised to be a passionate affair as the defending champions could pull up to one point behind this year's juggernaut, Barcelona. What happened instead was a real massacre as the Blaugrana simply ran over Madrid by putting six goals past a helpless Casillas and ensure a seven-point lead over their closest rival in the race for the title.
The home team started pretty well as they exploited a shaky Eric Abidal on Barca's left flank. In the 13th minute, Sergio Ramos simply outran the defender before delivering a precise cross to Gonzalo Higuain who headed the ball past Victor Valdes for the first goal of the game. The whole play seemed slowed down as Robben and Toure collided at the edge of the box consequently breaking Puyol and Pique's focus as the defenders let Higuain slip between the two of them and take a free header near the six-yard box
Real Madrid Almeria: 3-0
Juande Ramos seems to have found the perfect solution to strengthen his team's left side both offensively and defensively. Indeed, with the departure of Robinho, that side of the field seemed to cause problems for the Meringues as they had no reliable wingers other than Robben for the attacking side of things while Marcelo's inexperience made things dicey in defense. All of that is past now as Marcelo is slowly taking over the role of left-winger with a defensive side that betrays his left-back origin. Behind him, Heinze's experience helps to plug any hole the Brazilian might have left while Lassana Diarra's tireless running makes sure that the two men are properly covered in case of a major breakdown.
Barcelona Mallorca: 3-1
I'm starting to feel like a broken record here, but it was another win for Barcelona on Saturday. The Blaugrana's winning streak now extends to five as Pep Guardiola's troops keep rolling along. Unlike their previous victories, this one wasn't easy as Barcelona struggled to get the rust out of their system after the two-week break. Puyol especially looked a bit off-balance in the first half, and his absence in the center of defense (he switched positions with right-back Victor Sanchez after five minutes of play) proved devastating for the home side who conceded the first goal in the 14th minute on Mallorca's first real opportunity.
When Iker Casillas stopped Samuel Eto'o's penalty kick at the 69th minute, you could tell that the defending champions were starting to believe that they could hold off La Liga's current leaders to a draw. Although Barcelona had most of the possession during the game, they couldn't get through an overly physical Madrid side who constantly brought down Lionel Messi to his knees, forcing the Blaugrana to explore other options. When Barcelona did penetrate into Madrid's box, their shots were blocked by either Cannavaro or Metzelder who made a pretty solid tandem in center defense.
Chelsea CFR Cluj: 2-1
The return of Joe Cole and Didier Drogba proved to be instrumental in Chelsea's qualification for the next round as Droga scored the winning goal after coming on as a substitute
Barcelona Valencia: 4-0
There is no stopping the steamrolling machine that is Barcelona. Without La Liga's current leading scorer in the line-up, the Blaugrana put up another impressive offensive display with a 4-0 win over Valencia including a hat-trick by Thierry Henry. The Blaugrana made their intentions clear from the first minute of the game when Xavi's shot rattled off the post after a defensive mistake in Valencia's backline. At the 19th minute, Henry scored his first of the game after a nice pass from Toure. The goal was a carbon copy of the hundreds he scored under the Arsenal shirt in the Premiership. Less than ten minutes later, he scored his second, giving Barcelona a 2-0 advantage against Valencia. The home side then added a third goal before the half via Daniel Alves.
Add Comments
Read More
