CL Recap (Nov. 24-25)

The second to last round of group stage matches occurred this week and it was a round that could see a number of tournament favourites exit early. Lucky for us the fans only one of a possible three giants were knocked out from the tournament.

We first visit the sad story that is Liverpool. The Reds are second only to Barcelona when it comes to recent success in the Champions League but injuries among other things ensured that a disappointing season got even worse on Tuesday. They did all they could but a 1-0 win against Debrecen was not enough as Fiorentina beat Lyon by the same score to see Rafa Benitez’s men eliminated with one game remaining.

Barcelona were threatened by the same fate as they played hosts to Internazionale on Tuesday. The hosts had to make do without Messi, Ibrahimovich, and Toure Yaya for the match but still produced a dazzling performance to beat Jose Mourinho’s men 2-0. This puts Barca on top of this years aptly named “group of death”. Inter slide down to third thanks to a 0-0 draw between FK Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev. This sets up an important show down between Kazan and Inter in Italy in a group that still hasn’t decided a damn thing!

Leaders of Group G, Sevilla seemed content having clinched a spot as they played one of the many surprise teams in this year’s Champions League, Unirea Urziceni. Unirea got an important win to see them retain second spot but it will all come down to their last match against Stuttgart. The German squad kept their Round of 16 dreams alive with a win 2-0 win against woeful Rangers.

Arsenal was the first team to clinch first spot in their group this year. They did so with a comfortable 2-0 win against Standard Liege which makes them one of three teams to remain unbeaten so far. Olympiakos, who I do not think are capable of playing in an exciting game, tied AZ Alkmaar. The Greek side look to be joining the Gunners in the Round of 16 despite having only scored three goals in five matches.

Group A got a little more interesting on Wednesday as Bayern Munich won (gasp) while Juventus lost. Bayern Munich relieved the pressure on manager Louis van Gaal with a 1-0 win against Maccabi Haifa. The Dutchman was forced to sweat it out as it was not till the 62nd minute that his team found a goal. Juventus lost 2-0 to Bordeaux who have now secured top spot. A goal by Chamakh coupled by some woeful misses by Diego and his teammates ensured that the last round match between Juventus and Munich will be for all the marbles.

The biggest surprise of match day five has to come from Group B where Manchester United were defeated 1-0 by Besiktas. The Red Devils had already made sure of qualification and played a side featuring such youngsters as Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Obertan, Gibson, and Rafael. Meanwhile VfL Wolfsburg wasted a chance at qualification by losing the lead and the game to CSKA Moscow 2-1. Last year’s German Champions now have to overcome Manchester United to qualify while Moscow, who are tied on points, have to beat Besiktas.

Real Madrid got a boost this week in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo. He started on the bench against FC Zurich as Madrid went on to win (albeit in unconvincing fashion) 1-0. Ronaldo came on in the 70th minute and was keen to impress. Zurich were able to tie him down but the Bernabeu faithful appreciated his tricks. AC Milan played Marseille to a 1-1 draw but the French side were left bemoaning their missed chances in a game they could have won.

Top spot in Group D was secured by Chelsea with a 1-0 win against FC Porto who are also through to the Round of 16. Nicolas Anelka finally converted his brilliant play into a goal which ended up being the winner. The fight for a Europa League spot between Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia ended in a 1-1 tie. Madrid are ahead by one point and they play FC Porto while APOEL play Chelsea in the last round of the group stage.

With eight spots still up for grabs going into the last round of matches there are still matches worth watching. The following take place December the 8th and 9th.

Group A:

Juventus vs Bayern Munich
Maccabi Haifa vs Bordeaux

Group B:

Besiktas vs CSKA Moscow
VfL Wolfsburg vs Manchester United

Group C:

FC Zurich vs AC Milan
Marseille vs Real Madrid

Group D:

Atletico Madrid vs FC Porto
Chelsea vs APOEL Nicosia

Group E:

Liverpool vs Fiorentina
Lyon vs Debrecen

Group F:

Dynamo Kiev vs Barcelona
Internazionale vs FK Rubin Kazan

Group G:

Sevilla FC vs Rangers
VfB Stuttgart vs Unirea Urziceni

Group H:

Olympiakos vs Arsenal
Standard Liege vs AZ Alkmaar

Play Beautiful!

Tags: AC Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Champions League, Chelsea, Group Stage, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Round of 16

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Champions League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.