Champions League Recap (Nov. 3-4)

The fourth round of group stage matches took place this week and a number of teams booked their places in the knockout stages. Although after this round of games there are no perfect sides left in the competition.

Bordeaux dominated Bayern Munich for a second time in a fortnight. They beat the Germans 2-0 with goals from Gourcuff and Chamakh which puts them in the knockout stages.

United, Chelsea, and Arsenal all joined the French team in qualifying for the next stages. United had to fight back from a 3-1 deficit. They needed two goals in the last six minutes to tie CSKA Moscow. Chelsea also tied in their match against Atletico Madrid. A brace from both Aguero and Drogba in the last half hour ensured a frantic finish. The only other London side in the competition had an easier time of it against AZ Alkmaar with a 4-1 thrashing.

Lyon and Sevilla both qualified as well. Lyon stuck a thorn in Liverpool’s proverbial side with a late equalizer thanks to Lisandro Lopez. Liverpool’s hopes of a place in the knockout stages took a massive hit which means that it is out of their hands. Sevilla FC tied 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart but it was enough to guarantee them a spot.

There are only two groups that are completely undecided. There are three teams with two wins in Group C. AC Milan and Real Madrid played to a lacklustre 1-1 draw that did not even resemble the thriller that was played a fortnight ago. Marseille made sure that group C was not a two horse race with a 6-1 demolition of FC Zurich.

Group F is one of the closest groups I have ever seen. Two points separate first from fourth after four matches. Barcelona were stymied again by FK Rubin Kazan. The Russian side has now beaten and tied Barca as well as tying Inter Milan in their first match. Barca now sits third and have an important match to play against Internazionale later this month. The Italian side were able to fight back from 1-0 down to a 2-1 victory in the Ukraine against Dynamo Kiev.

Juventus were able to scrap out an unconvincing win in Isreal. Two 1-0 wins in a row against Maccabi Haifa may not be what the fans were looking for but six points are six points.

Wolfsburg were finally able to produce a convincing win. They beat Besiktas 3-0 without Grafite who was serving his ban but Dzeko and Misimovic each scored in the victory. FC Porto beat Apoel Nicosia 1-0. It took the Portuguese champions till the 84th minute to find the winner.

Fiorentina and Debreceni took part in another seven goal thriller. The Viola won 5-2 with Gilardino and Mutu each scoring. Mutu came out of the match injured which may see him miss their next Champions League match. Rangers avoided another embarrassment against Unirea and were able to take a point from a 1-1 tie. Olympiacos’ knockout stage hopes may have taken a hit with a 2-0 loss to Standard Liege. The Greeks are still second but Liege are only two points behind.

The next batch of matches are on November 24 and 25th:

Debrecen vs Liverpool
FK Rubin Kazan vs Dynamo Kiev
Barcelona vs Internazionale
Rangers vs VfB Stuttgart
Sevilla vs Unirea Urziceni
Arsenal vs Standard Liege
Olympiacos vs AZ Alkmaar
Bayern Munich vs Maccabi Haifa
Bordeaux vs Juventus
CSKA Moscow vs VfL Wolfsburg
Manchester United vs Besiktas
AC Milan vs Marseille
Real Madrid vs FC Zurich
Apoel Nicosia vs Atletico Madrid
Chelsea vs FC Porto

Play Beautiful!

Tags: Arsenal, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Champions League, Chelsea, Lyon, Manchester United, Rubin Kazan, Sevilla

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Champions League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.