10 December 2003
ARSENAL 2-0 LOKOMOTIV
Pires shouldn't have scored as he ran onto Henry's pass but Ovchinnikov failed to cover his near post. Lekcetho was sent off at the end of the first half for a
reckless two footed foul on Ljungberg. Henry juggled a Bergkamp pass off his knee before volleying the ball into the path of the onrushing Ljungberg who
chipped over Ovchinnikov. Excellent goal.
Assists : Henry (x2)
DYNAMO KYIV 1-1 INTER
Adani headed in Emre's free kick. Husyev should have equalised on the break. Cordoba's horribly sliced clearance fell to Sabic, his shot bounced off Adani
and landed at the feet of Rincon, 1-1. Both teams wasted a glut of chances in a manic 9 minute spell.
Assist : Emre (fk)
25 November 2003
INTER 1-5 ARSENAL
The Inter defence ball watched as Cole, Pires and Henry swapped passes around the box before Henry fired into the corner. Vieri equalised against the run of play with a deflected shot. Cygan intercepted a throw in and sent Henry down the left flank, he threaded a pass between Materazzi and Cordoba and Ljungberg lifted the ball over Toldo, who dived way too early. Arsenal should have been out of sight before the supposed, game changing incident took place in the Arsenal penalty area. Materazzi threw himself down in the box looking for a pen, the ref ignored his penalty appeals and Arsenal suckered them on the counter attack, Ljungberg found Henry with a long, headed ball, Henry teased Javier Zanetti before a quick turn of pace and precise shot into the corner gave him his second goal. Toldo and Cordoba
made a hash of clearing Henry's pass allowing Edu to get on the scoresheet. Aliadiere had an immediate impact after coming on as a sub for Henry. He forced Pasquale? into conceding possession and pulled the ball back to Pires who profited from Zanetti's hurried clearance to score Arsenal's FIFTH.
Thought I would that Zaccheroni was sacked as coach of Milan for the teams continual failure in Europe. Arsenal, the Deportivo of English football, finally get it right.
Assists : Cole, Henry, Ljungberg
LOKOMOTIV 3-2 DYNAMO KYIV
Buznikin finished off a brilliant passing move to give Lokomotiv the lead. Belkevich volleyed Dynamo level before Ignashevitch restored Lokomotiv's lead from the penalty spot, total dive by Buznikin. Shatskikh got the visitors second equaliser with an exquisite lob only to see Kyiv's eternal achilles heel, the awful Shovkovskiy, piss away the points when he dropped a cross at Parks feet.
Assists : Khokhlov, Gusev, Buznikin (won pen), Dmytrulin
Everyone can qualify from this group.
5 November 2003
INTER 1-1 LOKOMOTIV
Christian Zanetti cleared off the line then Recoba gave Inter the lead with a blistering shot on the turn. Vieri had another of those $1 million misses, this time he sent Kily Gonzalez's perfect pass into outer space with his famed left foot. Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ovchinnikov's attempts to clear the ball from a corner almost ended in disaster when he punched the ball against his post. Loskov tried his luck from distance, the ball clipped off Materazzi leaving Toldo with no chance. Helveg found Vieri with a superb long pass, even after his volley was saved he managed to hit the rebound straight at the 'keeper.
Assist : C Zanetti
21 October 2003
DYNAMO KYIV 2-1 ARSENAL
Arsenal fell to two defensive blunders. Leko tried his luck after the Arsenal defence failed three times to clear a hopeful lob into the box, Leko's shot ricocheted off Toure, the awful, awful Cole raised his hand appealing for offside while Shatskikh volleyed past Lemon. Lemon then did a Cudicini. Lemon came off his line to clear Gusev's through pass but kicked the ball straight to a Kyiv player, Lemon managed to block his shot but Shatskikh ran in and tackled him, the ball fell to Belkevich and he curled into the bottom corner. What goes around, comes around. Henry gave Arsenal hope when he turned in a Pires centre. Rincon, with a terrible miss, and Shatskikh failed to take chances and Arsenal almost snatched a draw in injury time when Shovkovskiy spilled a shot by Henry and Toure volleyed the rebound against the crossbar.
Assist : Pires
LOKOMOTIV 3-0 INTER
Captain Loskov shot slammed in Evseev's cross after the Inter defence forgot to mark him and everyone else who was waiting for the cross, that's always a good idea. Evseev also laid on the second, Loskov stepped over his centre and this time Ashvetia was on hand to slam the ball in unmarked at the back post. Khokhlov made it 3-0 with a bullet header from a free kick.
There's nothing to add as Zaccheroni doesn't take charge until Wednesday.
Assists : Evseev (x2), Loskov (fk)
30 September 2003
INTER 2-1 DYNAMO KYIV
Cannavaro forced Shovkovskiy into a save from a Kily Gonzalez free kick, the ball fell to Adani, he controlled with his arm before scoring. Seconds after making a brilliant save from Leko, Toldo spilled Ghioane's cross and Federov equalised. Vieri headed in a last minute winner.
Assist : Kily Gonzalez (fk)
17 September 2003
ARSENAL 0-3 INTER
The thing with shit stirring is that is usually comes back to bite you in the arse. In the lead up to this match Kily Gonzalez had been ridiculing Arsenal's record in Europe. Arsenal failed to prove him wrong. Arsenal's defence and Toure in particular, got caught ball watching when Martins' headed down Cordoba's throw in, with a brilliant first touch Cruz took the ball away from the defence and lobbed in off Lehmann. Two minutes later Highbury was stunned into silence. Kily Gonzalez fired a cross into the box and van der Meyde met Campbell's sloppy header with an explosive left foot volley. Ljungberg made the most of a typically stupid Materazzi
challenge to win a penalty but the last 'keeper you want to face when you're a goal down (let alone two) is Toldo and he parried Henry's weakly struck penalty out for a corner. Emre danced around the Arsenal defence before finding Martins with a beautiful disguised pass, Campbell went straight through Martins but the kid is a freak and managed to stay on his feet before blasting into the net. Henry and Kanu (on for cheater, cheater pumpkin eater Pires) had chances in the second half. Henry with a limp wristed effort and Kallon forced Toldo into a world class save. Kallon should have added a fourth but shot against the post and Martins blazed over the rebound.
Assists : Martins, Emre
DYNAMO KYIV 2-0 LOKOMOTIV
Rincon bounced himself off the back of a defender to head in Belkevich's cross and a magnificent 40yd pass from Belkevich sent him on his way to #2.