Champions League action round-up - Matchday 6 - December 8/9, 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
The final Matchday of the Champions League lacked the usual excitement expected on a night of European football. With qualification already sealed for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United and with Liverpool and Rangers out of the competition, it was not surprising that the final group games saw a win, a draw and three losses for the British teams.
Manchester United travelled to Germany in search of a point to secure top spot in Group B and ended up with three. United began the game with a makeshift defence consisting of natural midfielders, Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick alongside Patrice Evra. Carrick showed weaknesses in defence and almost gave Wolfsburg a penalty after mis-timing his tackle on Makoto Hasebe. Andrea Barzagli and Zvjezdan Misimovic nearly headed the home side ahead just before Danny Welbeck’s neatly placed slot was ruled out for offside. The opening eventually came a minute before half-time and it was Michael Owen who headed in Nani’s cross from the left. The Germans responded immediately after the interval when Marcel Schafer found Edin Dzeko who equalised with a powerful header. An excellent save by Tomasz Kuszack prevented Wolfsburg from going ahead just before Gabriel Obertan was introduced into the game. Obertan expertly skipped past three defenders before setting up Owen to score his second of the night. Owen then scored his hat-trick with a deft chip over the Wolfsburg keeper, consolidating United’s position at the top of the group.
Chelsea hosted Cypriot-outfit Apoel Nicosia at Stamford Bridge and Carlo Ancelotti’s men finished the qualifying campaign in anticlimactic fashion. Apoel were ahead inside six minutes after Constantino Charalambides picked out Marcin Zewlakow who slotted the ball past Ross Turnbull. Chelsea replied almost immediately when Michael Essien beat Apoel keeper Dionisios Chiotis with a fierce strike from outside of the area. The Blues were 2-1 up just before the interval when Yuri Zhirkov’s cross found Didier Drogba who duly finished. After the break Chelsea enjoyed the majority of the possession and the Londoners would have sealed victory if John Terry’s strike was not ruled offside. In the end, it took a mistake from John Obi Mikel and a fine finish by Nenad Mirosavljevic to ensure that the Cypriot team left London with a point.
With top spot already confirmed by Arsenal in Group H, Arsene Wenger resorted to his youth players in Athens against Olympiakos. The visitors were dominant in possession and they frustrated the Greek champions, who only needed a point to qualify alongside Arsenal. Both sides failed to make their chances in front of goal count in the first half and it remained goalless. However, after the break Olympiakos were a goal to the good after Kyle Bartley’s tackle fell to Geraldo Leonardo who sprinted towards the Arsenal goal, finishing confidently through the legs of Lukasz Fabianski. The goal prompted the Gunners to search for an equaliser but both Theo Walcott and Carlos Vela were wasteful in front of goal. Wenger’s side nearly scored a late equaliser, however, the Olympiakos goal scorer prevented Aaron Ramsey from grabbing a deserved point for Arsenal.
Liverpool hosted Fiorentina at Anfield and Rafa Benitez’s side had the chance to finish their dismal Champions League campaign on a high by beating the team that confirmed their exit from the competition. The Reds could not have hoped for a better start when Steven Gerrard’s free-kick reached Yossi Benayoun who slotted it past Sebastian Frey to put them a goal up. In the second half, Liverpool almost increased their lead but this time Daniel Agger could not get on the end of Gerrard’s inviting free-kick. Knowing that a win would put them top of the group, Fiorentina showed much more purpose and Martin Jorgensen struck a fierce shot past Diego Cavalieri for the Italian side’s equaliser. The goal made for an exciting end to the game, however, to the discontent of the Anfield crowd, Liverpool suffered defeat at the hands of a late goal, as Juan Vargas snatched the ball off Stephen Darby and crossed it into the path of Alberto Gilardino who put his team at the top of Group E.
Just like Liverpool, Rangers could not compensate for a poor European campaign with an away victory against Sevilla. Sasa Papac prevented Frederic Kanoute from putting the home side ahead in the opening minutes with a fantastic goal-line clearance. Four minutes later Sevilla were rightly awarded a penalty after Steven Whittaker tripped Fernando Navarro in the penalty area and Kanoute converted the spot-kick past Allan McGregor. Renato then nearly increased Sevilla’s lead with two long range efforts which were parried by McGregor. After that, the game lost its quick tempo and Sevilla began to play possession football, frustrating the Gers. With ten minutes to go, Rangers showed more potency and Nacho Novo came close put he fired into the side netting. Eight minutes later Lee McCulloch’s half-volley was Rangers’ first shot on target, however, it was saved by Palop and the Gers suffered their fourth loss of the competition.
Full results
Tuesday December 8, 2009
GROUP A
Juventus 1-4 Bayern Munich
Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Bordeaux
GROUP B
Besiktas 1-2 CSKA Moscow
Wolfsburg 1-3 MANCHESTER UNITED
GROUP C
FC Zurich 1-1 AC Milan
Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid
GROUP D
CHELSEA 2-2 Apoel Nicosia
Atletico Madrid 0-3 FC Porto
Wednesday December 9, 2009
GROUP E
LIVERPOOL 1-2 Fiorentina
Lyon 4-0 Debrecen
GROUP F
Inter Milan 2-0
Dynamo Kiev 1-2 Barcelona
GROUP G
VfB Stuttgart 3-1 Unirea Urziceni
Sevilla 1-0 RANGERS 1-4
GROUP H
Olympiakos 1-0 ARSENAL
Standard Liege 1-1 AZ
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