Bordeaux Chelsea: 1-1
What is going with the Blues lately? Not only they are slowing down in the Premiership, their Champions League latest performances are leaving a lot to be desired. After convincingly defeating Bordeaux 4-0 in Matchday 1, they could only get a draw in the return match. Are they simply exhausted or are other teams figuring them out? Thanks to this draw, Bordeaux still have a chance to qualify. They'll have to defeat Roma on Matchday 6 to get through.
Inter Milan Panathinaikos: 0-1
Chelsea aren't the only ones struggling. Lately, Mourinho's men have had trouble finding the back of the net. That explains their 1-0 defeat against Panathinaikos.
Anorthosis Werder Bremen: 2-2
Anorthosis have been surprising a lot of people in this competition. They have only one win, but their three draws leave them hanging on to the two leaders. A win on Matchday 6 will send them through to next stage.
Sporting Barcelona: 2-5
With Lionel Messi in the line-up, Barcelona are virtually unstoppable. One has to wonder who will stop them from going all the way.
Group D
Atletico Madrid PSV: 2-1
Liverpool Marseille: 1-0
One goal was enough for Liverpool to dispatch Marseille, but the win comes with a cost as they lost Torres to an injury for the second time this season.
Group E
Villareal Manchester United: 0-0
Both teams needed only one point to qualify for the next round, so the atmosphere on the pitch was a bit subdued Tuesday night. Not taking any risks, Sir Alex Ferguson clogged up the middle of the park with a five-man midfield with Carrick and Fletcher in defensive roles while Anderson supported Rooney who was alone in front. The game opened up a bit in the second half when Senna was replaced due to an injury. Still, I was disappointed by the performance of Villareal's wingers Cazorla looked dangerous only on one play while Robert Pires was conspicuously invisible. Villareal's strength comes from their midfield, and on that night, they were dominated by Manchester's wingers on that front. As a matter of fact, both Rooney and Ronaldo came close to scoring, but Lopez's stood tall on Ronaldo's opportunity, deflecting the winger's shot on the crossbar while Rooney's deflected cross turned into a lob and was saved off the line by defender Capdevila who was later sent off for a dangerous tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo. In the end, both confrontations between the two teams finished on a 0-0 draw, and their identical run in the group stage will send both teams to the next round.
Arsenal Dynamo Kyiv: 1-0
About a week after William Gallas' incendiary comments on his teammates, the French veteran was stripped off his Arsenal captaincy which was given to Cesc Fabregas. The young midfielder showed why he deserved this title by being the architect of the match's lone goal, sending a superbly lofted pass straight in the path of Nicklas Bendtner who hammered in the winner at the 87th minute. The win sees both Arsenal and Porto go through to the next stage.
Zenit Juventus: 0-0
In the infamous group of death, Juventus have been the most consistent club, and after a two-year absence from the competition they now go on to the next stage.
I managed to catch only bits and pieces of Barcelona's first half, and from what I've seen, they were simply going through the motions, not bothered at all by Basel.
It seems like all the French teams are on the same wavelength. When one wins, they all win, when one loses, they all lose. That's pretty weird.
Fiorentina Bayern: 1-1
Lyon Steaua: 2-0
Group G
Perhaps it's time to shake things up at the Emirates. This disappointing result shows that the Gunners poor form isn't exclusive to the Premiership.
Arsenal Fenerbahce: 0-0
Dynamo Kyiv Porto: 1-2
Group H
How can anyone criticize Del Piero? The guy gets better with every year that passes. His two goals at the Bernabeu show that he is a real leader that can carry his team through hostile territory. Let's just hope he won't get exhausted by the end of the season. It's simply a delight to watch him play. What I don't understand though, is how the Madrid defenders could let him score from the exact same spot he scored in Matchday 3.
It's a tight race for second place in this group. By losing against Chelsea, Roma are now in third place behind Cluj and tied with Bordeaux. They should be thankful that Bordeaux defeated the Romanians since a win by Cluj would've put a considerable gap between the teams. As it stands, Chelsea is the incontestable leader of the group while there's only one point separating Cluj from the other two teams.
It was a walk in the park for Barca on Wednesday where they crushed Basel 5-0 despite resting Eto'o. The match was mostly a one-way affair as the visitors kept the ball firmly planted in Basel's end. Bojan had a strong game with two goals (he almost got an hat-trick but his lob over the keeper landed on the roof of the net) while Dani Alves is proving to be a very important acquisition. Hleb returned to action in this game and was great in the second half with nice runs on the left wing. After a wobbly start to their domestic campaign, we can now safely say that they're firing on all cylinders.
Two goals by Dimitar Berbatov (both times offside) got things going for the Red Devils who couldn't find a way through Celtic's crowded box in the opening stages. Rooney added a third one at the 75th minute, extending his streak to seven games.
It's funny. When you expect Arsenal to have a tough game, they manage to play their best football, completely dominating their opponents in the process. When they're supposed to have easy games, they find a way to make life complicated for themselves. They're very unpredictable in both Europe and the Premiership. If they have serious ambitions, they should get themselves some consistency.
We're only three games in the Champions League but one must wonder if the term 'overrated' doesn't apply to the Zenit St. Petersburg. They only have a point so far from a game that they should have won. Maybe rose too high too fast. Meanwhile an early goal in each half was enough for Juventus to defeat Real Madrid. Alessandro Del Piero seems to be getting better and better with age. It's a shame that he'll have to retire at some point. As for Madrid, I don't understand Schuster reasoning in putting Robben on the bench instead of on his starting eleven for a confrontation like this, especially with Heinze as the left-back. The same problem pops out every time it happens: Heinze is too slow to properly support the attack and to keep up with the other team's speedy wingers, and without Robben to counterbalance that weakness, Madrid's left flank becomes a vulnerability easily exploited.
Note: I'm sorry for the lack of commentary this time around. If you guys noticed, I didn't even put up my reports of Serie A and Liga matches from Sunday. Studying for midterm exams is taking most of time now. I could only watch Manchester United and Juventus' games in their entirety. Everything should be back to normal by next week.
Chelsea CFR Cluj: 0-0
Cluj are continuing to impress everyone on the European stage. After defeating Roma 2-1 on Day 1, they held Chelsea to a scoreless draw which keeps them in second place. Granted, Chelsea didn't play very well. Without Joe Cole on the wing, they lacked the mobility necessary to stretch Cluj's compact defense. The Blues started with a 4-3-3 formation but suprisingly looked better with a 4-4-2 once Anelka came on in the second half. However, Drogba's injury before the hour-mark erased all the momentum they had at the start of the second period while Cluj gained in confidence as time went on. The Romanian even tested Cech late in the game but everyone could tell that they were equally satisfied with a draw
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