Champions League: keeper’s blunder saves Barca’s blushes
Published 02 October, 2008, 00:43
Some sensational results from Romanians and Cypriots, Shakhtar’s fall from grace and the eternal dichotomy behind the Brazilian defenders – in focus of Matchday 2 of the Champions League.
CFR Cluj (Romania) 0 Chelsea (England) 0
Cluj, the little-known Romanian champions, managed to hold English giants and last-year's runners-up Chelsea to a goalless draw.
This was the first Chelsea’s game without scoring since Luiz Felipe Scolari took the managers’ seat this summer.
After a first day win over Roma and this draw, Cluj look set to battle for a place in the next round.
Bordeaux (France) 1 Roma (Italy) 3
Roma kept their hopes of qualification alive, coming back from a goal down to beat 10-man Bordeaux.
A brilliant move by ex-A.C. Milan midfielder Yoann Gourcuff, who beat two defenders to score a midrange shot past Doni, gave the French team the lead, but they then had Henrique sent off for a bad tackle.
Bordeaux fought bravely and it took Roma some 50 minutes to cancel the disaster start, through a Mirko Vučinić header from a corner.
Substitute Júlio Baptista then sent the ball over the wall and into the upper right corner of the goal from a free kick and then converted a Rodrigo Taddei cross.
GROUP A:
1. Chelsea 4,
2. CFR Cluj 4,
3. Roma 3,
4. Bordeaux 0.
Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus) 3 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece) 1
Another shock in Group B, as Cypriot minnows Anorthosis defeated Panathinaikos.
Panathinaikos had a typical bad day at the office, which started with José Sarriegi putting the ball into his own net for no apparent reason at all. He had an opponent, Lukasz Sosin, near him after a throw-in from the right, but Sosin wasn't even attempting to get the ball.
Gilberto was then reluctant to jump to prevent Siniša Dobrašinović from meeting Sávio Bortolini’s cross in a definite case of underestimating the opponent.
The Greeks were handed a chance to get back into the game, when Dimitris Salpingidis converted a spot-kick with less then half an hour played. But it took Panathinaikos too long to conjure the second. Sávio was quicker to provide substitute Hawar Taher with another incisive cross.
Internazionale Milan (Italy) 1 Werder Bremen (Germany) 1
A solo performance by Maicon once again outlined the eternal dichotomy behind the Brazilian defenders, which makes them the first choice all around the world, despite some obvious flaws.
When a right flank attack after 13 minutes seemed all but over, Maicon managed to come steaming from the back and take control the ball, make a sizzling run into the box and lob the goalkeeper.
However it was the same Maicon, who blatantly ignored Claudio Pizarro on the far post, split-seconds before he put in a Mesut Özil cross after an hour of play.
GROUP B:
1. Internazionale 4,
2. Anorthosis 4,
3. Bremen 2,
4. Panathinaikos 0.
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) 2 Basel 1893 (Switzerland) 0
Playing without the injured Russian international Marat Izmaylov, Sporting Lisbon's left it late to ensure a 2-0 win over Basel.
The teams met this February in the UEFA Cup with an identical result.
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 1 Barcelona (Spain) 2
After this win Josep Guardiola will have an even tougher time choosing his attacking players.
Starting the game without Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkić and Eidur Gudjohnsen, his team went behind in the dying seconds of the first half and had to bring on all three to equalise. Shakhtar’s goal came courtesy of Ilsinho, who managed to deftly take the ball from Carles Puyol in the opponents’ box before chipping it past Víctor Valdés.
The Catalans were sweating buckets trying to put on a show near Shakhtar’s goal, while the Ukrainians were simply trying to run the clock down.
Their plan could easily have worked, if not for a dreadful mistake by the home side’s goalkeeper Andrey Pyatov. With no more then three minutes of regular time left he was unable to hold on to Krkić’s low cross from the right, leaving the ball to Messi inches from the goal line.
The downhearted Shakhtar managed to concede a second, after Messi made an opening on the left from Xavi Hernández’s pass.
GROUP C:
1. Barcelona 6,
2. Sporting 3,
3. Shakhtar 3,
4. Basel 0.
Liverpool (England) 3 PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1
Dirk Kuyt made the most of the rebound after Fernando Torres volleyed a Steven Gerrard corner just four minutes into the match to give the home side an early lead.
The second goal came following a touch of brilliance from Robbie Keane – the kind he was bought for. Keane managed to redirect the ball from a Torress' cross with a single touch into far corner of the goal.
Gerrard then struck his 100th goal for Liverpool from a brilliant free kick.
Some complacency after going 3-0 up cost the Merseysiders a consolation goal from Danny Koevermans, but it was too little, too late to put the result in doubt.
Atlético Madrid (Spain) 2 Olympique Marseille (France) 1
Maxi Rodríguez was the mastermind and Sergio Aguero the executive of Atlético’s first goal in a home win over Marseille. A brilliant high pass by Rodríguez still left Aguero with three defenders and the goalkeeper to beat, which he did with aplomb.
Mamadou Niang’s surprise equaliser proved to be only a temporary setback, as it took Raúl García just six minutes to redirect a free kick into Steve Mandanda’s goal.
Atlético were the better side for the rest of the game and deservedly got three points.
GROUP D:
1. Atlético 6,
2. Liverpool 6,
3. Marseille 0,
4. PSV 0.
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