Goals, Troubles and Unexpected Surprises

As many may know, this was a pivotal Champions League matchday. It could determine who goes where and what we can expect in the last two rounds of group play.

Tuesday - Chelsea and ManUtd took the headlines on this day as both teams could secure qualification to the knockout stages ...

CSKA Moscow has been a menace in the past against the "bigger" teams in this competition, they took the lead from what you can say was a sneak attack against the Red Devils. an equalizer to follow from Michael Owen but a counter punch from CSKA put them back into the lead at halftime. 2nd half starts another sneak attack gives CSKA a two goal lead... but in typical ManUtd style they bombarded the CSKA defense with pressure until they cracked final score 3-3. in the middle of the pressure a moment of controversy when Fletcher was brought down in the box and no penalty was given, to sum it up IN ANY OTHER MATCH THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN. European Refs at it again? I think so! .... the other match in the group Wolfsburg traveled to Besiktas and handed them a solid 3-0 beating, is that a surprise? nope..

Chelsea and Atletico, one club flying high and the other in the gutters. Didier Drogba playing like a man possessed showed why he is regarded as the best striker in the world with is two goals that just over powered the Atletico defense. But El Kun (Sergio Aguero) had something to to say about that with is two magnificent strikes in the 2nd half which included a game saving freekick that beat Petr Cech at his near post... Porto left it late to get the win from a 84th min strike from Falcao, Chelsea and Porto are through to the next round with these results..

French show in Germany, WWII re-writen? the men from Bordeaux came out victors over Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena. Gourcuff and Chamakh were both on target as they give Bayern further trouble and progress to the KO Stages. Van Gaal seems to be in the same situation that Rafa Benitez finds himself in, Bayern bringing in talent to help the situation but it looks like the Bavarian Giants can't seem t get it clicking. Juventus surprisingly only came out 1-0 winners in the Isreal as they took on Maccabi Haiffa

The titans collide in Milan, Ronaldinho seems to be hitting form again and AC on a whole have been playing with a spring in their step since the beat Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. Karim Benzema (who looked offside) pounced on a rebound from Kaka's strike to give Madrid the lead but 6 mins later Milan got a penalty from a Pepe handball, Dinho fired the penalty into the top corner to level the match, and literally 1 minute later Alex Pato but the ball in the net but the ref disallowed the goal for a foul? handball? offside? no one knows that that call was for but there was nothing wrong with the goals, European refs up to it again.. *sigh* ... in the other match Marseille ran a rampage on FC Zurich beating them 6-1, the goal of the round in this match was from 25-30 yards out a thunderous strike from Benoit Cheyrou.. this group is still open between the three...

Wednesday - boy this day was full of it..

Barcelona and Inter Milan seem to be having trouble in the group that was supposed to be an "easy" group for them, this group is still wide open as Barcelona and Rubin Kazan (who?) drew 0-0 in the freezing temperature that Russia had to offer. Inter Milan had a late show from Wesley Snjieder and Diego Milito gave them the win after Andrey Shevchenko (remember him?) gave Dynamo Kiev the lead in the first half. this group is as open as a lady working the night shift, it can go any which way, do not be surprised if the big two don't make it to the knockout rounds...

Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. what is there to say about them? when it looked like they would get the win to save them (again), Lisandro had other ideas in the late late late stages of the game. the game picked up in the 2nd half with shots flying in from both teams, but Ryan Babel broke the deadlock with a wonder goal from no less than 25 yards. but the joy was short lived when Lisandro knocked it pass Pepe Reina this goal gets Lyon out of the group stages and into the last 16 and for Liverpool the worries continue as they need results to swing severely in their favor in order for them to go on.. Fiorentina doesn't look like they are giving up that spot to the Reds as they demolished Debrecen 5-2 in Florence, look out for this team as they progress they can be a lot to handle..

Rangers just continue to prove the point that Scottish clubs are just not good anymore, after getting embarrassed on their own field by Unirea they follow that up with a draw in the return fixture, this leaves them with a very slim chance of making it out of the group as they sit last in the table.. Unirea on the other hand in a surprise 2nd behind Sevilla who drew 1-1 with Stuttgart. this group not exactly playing out to the plan, but it makes great entertainment.

Arsenal continue to score goals like it is no big deal, the win over AZ today virtually puts them in the next round. Cesc Fabregas (two), Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby were on target today as they cruised to a 4-1win. Samir Nasri looks like he hasn't missed a beat with his return to the Champions League and Cesc Fabregas is just Cesc Fabregas (comic relief). Standard Liege beat Olympiakos 2-0 to make the fight for the other spot more interesting, AZ are essentially out of it. this group actually playing out to the plan with Arsenal dominating and the others fighting it out for the 2nd spot.

overall this Champions League has had a lot of twists and turns and who know what is going to happen in the matchdays coming up. The Russian clubs have been on the up, the refs have been the usual disappointing, troubles for big teams and the standard of football has been high :) ...