7 December 2004
SHAKTAR 2-0 BARCELONA
Rijkaard rested his stars and Shaktar took full advantage with a brace from Aghahowa. Iniesta blew a 92nd minute penalty.
Attendance : 25,000
Assists : Matuzalem, Lewandowski
CELTIC 0-0 MILAN
Attendance : 59,228
Assist : n/a
24 November 2004
MILAN 4-0 SHAKTAR
A wonderful move gave Milan the lead. Rui Costa hit a magnificent lobbed pass to Cafu, he ran into the box and pulled the ball across goal, Kaka' connected with a diving header, 1-0. Crespo knocked the fight out of Shaktar a minute later when he ran onto Rui Costa's superb though pass, rounded the 'keeper and tapped into an empty net. Lastuka made phenomenal saves from Crespo's overhead kick and a drive from Seedorf. Kaka' beat Stoican on the left flank before floating the ball over to the back post, Seedorf's header was brilliantly saved but Crespo tapped in the rebound. Kaka' scored the pick of the goals in injury time. Dhorasoo held off a challenge before passing to Kaka', he drove straight down the middle, wrong footed Srna with a sharp dragback then rolled the ball between the 'keepers legs.
Attendance : 38,841
Assists : Cafu, Rui Costa, n/a, Dhorasoo
BARCELONA 1-1 CELTIC
Things didn't look good for the Jocks after Eto'o opened the scoring on 24 minutes with a fantastic goal. Ronaldinho sent Eto'o away with a quickly taken free kick, Eto'o played a one-two with Deco before blasting a right foot shot into the corner. Hartson equalised on the stroke of half time. Varga flicked on Petrov's free kick and Hartson tapped in at the back post.
Attendance : 74,119
Assists : Deco, Varga
Celtic better hope Milan are not interested in finishing first, they should be in order to avoid Chelsea.
2 November 2004
BARCELONA 2-1 MILAN
Pirlo found Shevchenko with a fantastic long ball and he powered his way through Oleguer's foul before side footing past Valdez. Barca scored a curious equaliser. As Urs Meier was busy talking to Cafu on the touchline Xavi played in Eto'o and his first time shot flew past Dida. Barcelona overwhelmed Milan in the second half and scored a deserved late winner. An fantastic turn of pace took Ronaldinho away from Nesta and he let rip with a stunning left foot shot into the top corner.
Attendance : 89,109
Assists : Pirlo, Xavi, Eto'o
CELTIC 1-0 SHAKTAR
20 October 2004
MILAN 1-0 BARCELONA
This was typical of many Milan matches this season. Shevchenko headed the Italian champions into the lead shortly after Larsson missed a sitter. Milan were cruising in the second half and should have doubled their advantage then switched off. Barca took control and would have came away with a point but for Iniesta who wasted two glorious chances including one in the last minute which struck the crossbar.
In a battle of potential Ballon D'or winners Kaka' and Ronaldinho shone for their respective teams but Deco was absolutely rubbish. It doesn't matter as after this week I'm sure Adriano has sewn it up. For those not old enough to remember Ancelotti and Rijkaard ran the Milan midfield under Sacchi and I'm sure the return match won't be the last one between teams coached by two former Milan players.
Attendance : 77,000
Assist : Cafu
SHAKTAR 3-0 CELTIC
Matuzalem fired a loose ball into the net and scored his second 5 minutes later after he burst from midfield onto Vukic pass and both players combined to send substitute Brandao clear for the third.
Attendance : 15,800
Assists : n/a, Vucinic, Matuzalem
29 September 2004
BARCELONA 3-0 SHAKTAR DONETSK
Barca's big stars combined for the opener. Ronaldinho played Eto'o lay-off into Deco and his shot took a deflection off Stoican wrong footing Lastuvka in the Shaktar goal. In the second half Ronaldinho broke a tackle in midfield and drove at goal, Lastuvka stepped off his line, the Brazilian tried to lob him, Lastuvka parried the ball up in the air and as Ronaldinho went past pushed him and the ball down, penalty. Ronaldinho almost tore a hole in the net. Iniesta teased the Shaktar defence before laying on a third for Eto'o.
Attendance : 75,000
Assists : Ronaldinho (won pen), Iniesta
MILAN 3-1 CELTIC
Shevchenko exchanged passes with Kaka' before finishing brilliantly, shooting over a Celtic defender as he slid in to tackle. Milan switched off and came back to life after Varga equalised with a bullet header. Rui Costa helped Kaka's pass onto Shevchenko and Inzaghi beat Balde to his centre. Pirlo's deflected free kick wrong footed Marshall to give Milan a flattering two goal victory.
Attendance : 52,648
Assist : Kaka', Petrov (ck), Shevchenko
14 September 2004
CHAKA KAHN 0-1 MILAN
Srna got a second yellow for being very, very stupid. As Maldini passed the ball across the ground he stopped it with his hand instead of doing what most players would have i.e. kicked it. I think he's been watching too much Beach Volleyball, I know I have. After that it was largely one way traffic and there was bizarre serious of misses from Kaka', having controlled the ball with his arm he shot twice at Duljaj before his third shot was blocked by Barcaun. Barcaun's next intervention wasn't quite as good, as he slid to clear the ball rolled to Seedorf who fired into the corner.
Assist : n/a
CELTIC 1-3 BARCELONA
While Ronaldinho was busy mesmerising Varga Deco ran wide of Balde and smashed the Brazilian's return pass beyond Marshall. Agathe made the equaliser with a strong run down the left, Sutton got ahead of Belletti to volley his cross in off the post. Giuly restored Barca's lead when he swept Belletti's centre into the net and Larsson predictably scored against his former club when he punished Thompson's hospital pass and despite being swamped by team-mates understandably refused to celebrate.
If you're a betting man and didn't bet a large sum of money on Larsson scoring against his former club then you're dumber than a wet brick.
Assists : Ronaldinho, Agathe, Belletti