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8 December 2004

LEVERKUSEN 3-0 DYNAMO KYIV

Shovkovsky was up to his old tricks in this one. He went missing on a corner allowing Juan to head Leverkusen into the lead. Schneider laid on a second for Voronin before Shovkovsky displayed his legendary goalkeeping skills again when he let Babic's speculative shot slip through his fingers.

It's a little known fact that Juan is the long lost brother of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr but dropped his surname shortly after joining Leverkusen.

Attendance : 22,500
Assists : Voronin, Schneider, n/a


ROMA 0-3 REAL MADRID

It seems Perez's meeting with Roma on Monday went well, neither Totti, Montella or Cassano played in an empty stadium (punishment for the Frisk coin throwing incident). Ronaldo took his goal brilliantly, he pushed Zidane's pass out of his feet before racing into the box and lobbing wide of Pelizzoli. He then displayed the type of speed and dribbling skills we hadn't seen for years with a tremendous run from the half way line, having made his way into the box he ran into traffic so threw himself down to win a penalty. Figo did his one step trick and this time it worked. Figo recovered from a poor first touch to drill Beckham's cross into the corner.

Attendance : 0
Assists : Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo (won pen)


23 November 2004

REAL MADRID 1-1 LEVERKUSEN

Krzynowek, who scored an absolute beauty in the first encounter missed a sitter. Voronin met Nowotny's cross with a spectacular diving header, the ball cannoned off the crossbar, Samuel inexplicably headed the ball across the face of goal and Berbatov stabbed the ball over the line. Leverkusen rode their luck as Real missed chance after chance. Figo put fat boy Ronaldo clean through but he hesitated as the ball bounced and Nowotny arrived to clear. Raul, who is dreadful in the air, wasted Figo's glorious cross.

Morientes, who is usually superb in the air, managed to head wide two yards from goal. Raul finished off an interchange of passes between Zidane and Figo with a tap-in to equalise. His 50th goal in the competition. Butt made a superb save as Bobby Carlos actually managed to get one of his wild shots on target. Roque Junior deflected a Ronaldo effort onto the post. Raul shot straight at Butt after Bobby Carlos' deflected free kick landed at his feet. Zidane dived to win a penalty. Figo did his stop start routine, Butt waited before moving at the last second and tipped the ball out for a corner.

There was Nazi's in the crowd and I literally mean Nazi's, giving the Hitler salute and adorned with Swastikas and one even had Hitler tattooed on his arm. Time for UEFA to get serious because after what happened last week 'fans' are taking the piss.

Attendance : 65,000
Assists : n/a, Figo


DYNAMO KYIV 2-0 ROMA

The match was played in a blizzard. Pelizzoli made two fantastic saves before Dellas beat him with a pointless diving header. Shatskikh, who is NOT called Shat by his mates, scored his 100th goal for Dynamo when he tapped in a deflected cross.

Dynamo go through if they avoid defeat. Leverkusen have to match whatever result Real manage against Roma.

Attendance : 40,000
Assists : n/a, n/a
Red Card : Scurto 76 (Roma)


3 November 2004

DYNAMO KYIV 2-2 REAL MADRID

Yussef's speculative shot took a wicked deflection off Pavon before looping over Casillas. Rincon played in Verpakovskis wide on the right, he ran into the box, cut inside Salgado and drilled a low shot into the corner, excellent finish. Figo slipped in Raul before equalising from the penalty spot after Ronaldo was chopped down by El Kaddouri.

Attendance : 80,000
Assists : n/a, Rincon, Figo, Ronaldo (won pen)


ROMA 1-1 LEVERKUSEN

On 72 minutes Ramelow took possession off Totti with a sliding tackle, as Totti jumped in the air he brought both feet down into the defenders ribs and shoulder. Appalling foul, yellow for Totti and bizarrely yellow for Ramelow. There's no doubt that Totti is facing a minimum 4 match European ban but the ref should also be punished for failing to take action. Berbatov scored a magnificent goal. He received the ball with his back to play, flicked it up, flicked it away from Dellas then lobbed over Zotti. Montella scored a last gasp equaliser, from Francesco ' the egg sucking dog' Totti's pass.

Attendance :
Assists : Babic, Totti


19 October 2004

REAL MADRID 1-0 DYNAMO KYIV

Attendance : 68,000
Assist : Ronaldo


LEVERKUSEN 3-1 ROMA

Roma took the lead and once again collapsed though this time they only had themselves to blame. Totti's free kick took a wicked deflection off Berbatov, Butt had no chance. Roque Junior was credited with the equaliser but it's hard to say who got a touch to Ponte's free kick. Krzynowek out Leverkusen in the lead with a freak goal, he volleyed Jones cross into the ground and the ball bounced into the bottom corner. Panucci was sent off for smashing his forearm into the back of Krzynowek's head. Panucci should NEVER play. De Rossi followed Panucci into the showers for kicking Krzynowek. The goal was a bit of a fluke but really, why didn't they kick Roberto Carlos a few weeks ago? Or Raul? If anyone deserves a kicking it's those two. Franca tapped in a third deep into injury time.

Attendance : 22,500
Red Cards : Panucci 61 (Roma), De Rossi 87 (Roma)
Assists : Ponte (fk), Jones, Freier


28 September 2004

DYNAMO KYIV 4-2 LEVERKUSEN

Rincon received the ball on the left of the box with his back to play, turned, nutmegged Freier then rolled in off the post. Ironically a Ukrainian equalised for the Germans. Shovkovskiy, consistently the worst goalkeeper in this competition, patted down Ponte's shot but forgot to catch it leaving Veronin with a tap-in. The notoriously fragile Nowotny then played a one-two with Veronin before rounding Shovkovskiy and tapping into an empty net. Juan headed a cross against Ramelow, Rincon pounced to equalise. Cernat scored the winner three minutes after coming off the bench. Fellow substitute Shatskikh found him in space inside the box and the Romanian blasted the ball past Butt. Rincon showed tremendous strength, skill and vision to lay on a chance for Kleber but having rounded the 'keeper he shot against the post. Rincon and Shatskikh combined for Cernat's second.

A sensational performance from Brazilian midfielder Rincon. I have a hard time believing he plays like this regularly because if he does then he's one of the best players in the World. His ability to ride tackles was extraordinary. Dynamo Kyiv vs Real Madrid should be very interesting.

Assists : ?, Veronin, Shatskikh (x2)
Red Card : Veronin 83 (Leverkusen)

REAL MADRID 4-2 ROMA

Quite possibly the first match in Champions League history between teams with caretaker coaches. Cassano was standing in an offside position when Dellas chipped a ball over the defence, De Rossi wasn't and as the Real defence froze waiting for the flag, he scored. Totti, surrounded by three defenders, took them out with a sublime reverse pass, Perrotta flicked the ball to Cassano who shot inside the post. Excellent goal. Raul's shot took a wicked deflection of Dellas before looping over Pelizzoli. The Roma players were furious because in the build-up Zidane took a throw in and threw the ball to Roberto Carlos who picked it up, took a few steps and threw it again. Figo levelled from the spot when Ivanov awarded Real an extremely soft penalty, for a push on Raul by Panucci. Even the Real players were surprised. Raul got in front of Cufre to turn in Figo's shot. A minute after Mancini wasted a great chance to equalise Roma watched Real Madrid string together fifteen passes, Figo rolled the ball to Bobby Carlos and after shooting wildly all night he finally found the target.

Totti was Real Madrid's best player. Whenever he had possession he continually threw himself on the floor looking for free kicks and on the rare occasions he managed to stay on his feet he over-dribbled. For a player of his experience such a display of tactical indiscipline is unforgivable.

Assists : Dellas, Perrotta, Raul (won pen), Figo (x2)

15 September 2004

LEVERKUSEN 3-0 REAL MADRID

Mein Gott, as they say in Germany. Ronaldo should have given Real the lead on the break but hammered his shot against the post at the other end Franca missed two glorious chances. Leverkusen were totally dominating at this stage and took a deserved lead through Krzynowek. Beckham's attempted clearance from a corner fell straight to Kryzynowek who sent a stunning left foot shot smashing off the inside of a post, off Casillas into the net. Franca doubled Leverkusen's lead with a brilliant shot from the edge of the box and his cross caused confusion in the Real defence, Samuel cleared as Casillas was about to claim leaving Berbatov with an empty net.

At the start of the second half Morientes came on for Zidane, who was absolutely terrible. After Franca scored Leverkusen's third Celades came on for Figo (what a slap in the face that was) and Solari for Ronaldo. Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos and Beckham are past it. As for Raul in the first team at 17 finished at 27? This team needs a new midfield, Gerrard alone won't solve anything.

I always tell the wife he's a footballer not a model but boy is Franca ugly. If looks could kill he would be a mass murderer.

Assist : Kryzynowek


ROMA 0-1 DYNAMO KYIV

Dacourt should have been sent off for horrible foul on Gusev. Gavrancic scored from the resulting free kick, he struck the ball with extreme pace, sending it crashing off the underside of the crossbar. Mexes was sent off for kicking Verpakovskis.

As the officials left the pitch at the end of the first half Frisk was busted wide open by a cigarette lighter thrown from the VIP section of the Roma stands. Instead of letting the fourth official take over presumably, fearing for the safety of the officials he abandoned the match. Roma are no strangers to crowd violence, as we have seen from the bench clearing brawl against Galatasaray 2 years ago and during Milan vs Roma last season. The FIGC are too weak to do anything about violence at Italian grounds and nothing short of kicking the team out of Europe will get the message across.

Assist : Gusev
Red Card : Mexes 48 (Roma)