7 December 2005
BREMEN 5-1 PANATHINAIKOS
Galinovic got Bremen off to the perfect start when he flew off his line and floored Klose and the 'keeper was made to suffer further embarrassment when Micoud sent him the wrong way with a casually taken penalty. Micoud headed on a free kick to Valdez, he used his abs to control the ball before firing inside a post. Three minutes later Valdez tapped in his second when the visitors got caught ball watching on a throw-in. A beautifully weighted pass from, yes, Micoud sent Klose clear on the break and he held off a defender before shooting wide of the 'keeper. Morris headed in Neilsson's corner. Jensen found Frings with an excellent crossfield pass and as the Greeks backed away he picked his spot.
Attendance : 37,500
Assists : Klose (won pen), Micoud, Micoud, Micoud, Neilsson (ck), Jensen
UDINESE 0-2 BARCELONA
This was the Barca B team, with the odd exception, and to show how things went they had 67% possession. With 5 minutes to go Udinese had 9 men behind the ball.
van Bronckhorst's deflected cross was volleyed into the ground by Ezquerro, the ball bounced under the crossbar (and over the line) before being headed out,
Larsson's follow up was charged down but Ezquerro made sure the second time of asking. Udinese were caught when playing offside on the half-way line, Ezquerro
unselfishly passed to Iniesta to tap-in and send Udinese into the UEFA Cup.
Attendance : 40,000
Assists : n/a, Ezquerro
22 November 2005
PANATHINAIKOS 1-2 UDINESE
The normally dependable Muntari hit a hospital pass out of defence to Leontiou, he rode a tackle from Bertotto before firing the ball across the face of goal, Felipe should have cleared but slipped leaving Charalambides with a tap-in at the far post. In the second half De Sanctis made an amazing save from Flavio Conceicao's free kick (yes the ex Real Madrid player). Had that gone it, it was game over. Iaquinta equalised from a corner. Mauri should have scored but missed when standing on the goal-line, Kotsios tried to clear as he turned but only succeeding in hitting the ball against Iaquinta and he stuck out his big boot to score. Two minutes later Candela played a one-two with Muntari on the edge of the box before slamming a right foot shot into the top corner, fantastic goal.
Attendance : 30,000
Assists : Leontiou, n/a, Muntari
BARCELONA 3-1 BREMEN
The new European footballer of the year (Ronaldinho obviously) was loitering with intent on the left wing just inside the Bremen half as he received a pass, his
step-overs failed to shake two Bremen players so he took a few steps back before hitting an inch perfect 40 yard reverse pass upto Gabri and he recovered from a poor first touch to find the bottom corner. van Bronckhorst probably made the best tackle of his career to rip the ball off Micoud as he ran into the box so the ref gave a penalty. Barca were awarded a free kick on the far left of the box at a stupid angle. Ronaldinho sent the ball sailing over the wall and into the bottom corner. Simply extraordinary. Ronaldinho was pulling out all the stops in this match so you could probably forgive the Bremen defence for freezing as he collected a ball 30 yards from goal and gave a simple pass to Larsson for the third.
Attendance : 70,000
Assists : Ronaldinho, Micoud (won pen), Larsson (fk), Ronaldinho
2 November 2005
BREMEN 4-3 UDINESE
Klose easily got above old man Sensini to head in Valdez's cross. Bertotto was hilarious appealing for offside with the rest of his Udinese defenders, like complete
idiots, after he tried to tackle Valdez and only succeed in sending the ball to Baumann who almost done his knee when poking over the advancing De Sanctis.
Micoud's header should have finished off the Italians but Reinke gave them hope when he let a Di Natale shot slip through his fingers. Panic set in among the Bremen
defence as they were drawn in by Di Michele as he ran forward before passing to Di Natale who lobbed the ball over Reinke as he flew off his line. Schulz put through his own net when attempting to clear Di Natale's cross. Having drawn level thanks to gifts from a Bremen defence who were only returning the favour, Udinese went to sleep on a free kick allowing Micoud to volley in the winner.
Attendance : 38,000
Assists : Valdez, n/a, Valdez, Mauri (fk), Di Michele, n/a, Frings
BARCELONA 5-0 PANATHINAIKOS
Van Bommel burst through a high Panathinaikos defence onto Iniesta's perfectly weighted first time pass before lobbing over Galinovic. Eto'o headed in his first from Iniesta's cross as the Greeks once against screwed up playing offside. Messi scored his first ever Champions league goal when the Panathinaikos defence wasted 203 chances to clear. Messi and Ronaldinho laid on a second for Eto'o and he completed his hat-trick with an outrageous first time curling lob from Messi's gorgeous disguised pass. Wonderful goal and great performance from the Spanish/Argentinean prodigy.
Attendance : 70,000
Assists : Iniesta, Iniesta, n/a, Ronaldinho, Messi
18 October 2005
PANATHINAIKOS 0-0 BARCELONA
Attendance : 57,000
Assists : n/a
UDINESE 1-1 BREMEN
Bremen took the lead completely against the run of play when Felipe headed Schulz free kick past his own 'keeper. Mauri found Di Natale with a fantastic pass and he
finished with an emphatic half volley.
Attendance : 28,000
Assists : n/a, Mauri
27 September 2005
PANATHINAIKOS 2-1 BREMEN
Torghelle won the Greeks a penalty with a farcical dive. The Bremen defence did a disappearing act as Torghelle and Mantzios charged in on goal, Andreasen
managed to tackle Torghelle but the ball broke for Mantzios. Klose beat Galinovic with a superb first time shot. Bremen had more chances and more possession but
couldn't find an equaliser.
Attendance : 40,000
Assists : Torghelle (won pen), n/a, Frings
BARCELONA 4-1 UDINESE
Udinese got the beating they so richly deserved for being arseholes and dropping Iaquinta from the squad for not extending his contract. Ronaldinho gave Barca the
lead with what was the first of two free kicks. Felipe smashed in the equaliser from a corner but got caught in possession by Xavi as Barca broke quickly to add a second. A hilarious free kick put the result beyond doubt at the end of the first half. Ronaldinho was stood over the ball. When the whistle blew he stepped forward then back, Deco ran from behind and curled into the top corner. Ronaldinho completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after baiting Felipe with the 'lollipop' or 'elastico' as it's also called.
Five goals, three different scorers all Brazilians. That can't have happened before.
Attendance : 85,000
Assists : Messi (won fk), Barreto (ck), n/a, Deco (won fk), Ronaldinho (won pen)
14 September 2005
UDINESE 3-0 PANATHINAIKOS
Panasonic tried to play offside when Di Natale sent the ball out wide to Zenoni, he fired a high cross into the box, Nilsson, mindful of the giant Iaquinta, leapt early but completely missed the ball and Iaquinta headed into the net. Felipe floored Dutch jobber Wooter with a superb tackle and passed to Di Natale. The Panasonic defence were trying to play offside 40 yards from goal so Di Natale sent a ball straight down the middle and Iaquinta ran clear before rounding the 'keeper and tapping into an empty net. He completed his hat-trick three minutes later with a shot on the turn after Goumas screwed up.
Attendance : 25,000
Assists : Zenoni, Di Natale, n/a
BREMEN 0-2 BARCELONA
Deco gave the Spanish champions the lead when his shot deflected of Baumann wrong footing Reinke. Eto'o should have made it 0-2 but shot straight at Reinke when clean through. Valdes missed an absolute sitter and Micoud hit a post as the home side finished the first half strongly. Messi flung himself to the ground after Schulz stupidly grabbed hold of his shirt and Ronaldinho converted the penalty.
Attendance : 37,000
Assists : n/a, Messi (won pen)