12 December 2007
ROMA 1 (Mancini 71)
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Pique 34)
Pique headed United into the lead from a corner. Mancini turned inside Brown before curling beyond Kuszczak to equalise.
Roma's potential last 16 opponents are Porto, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla. They haven't got a prayer of beating the last four teams.
Attendance : 30,000
Assists : Nani (ck), Vucinic
SPORTING 3 (Polga 35 Pen, Moutinho 67, Liedson 88)
DYNAMO KYIV 0
Nesmachniy must have wanted an early bath and most referees would have obliged when he tried to punt Liedson's head then followed up with an elbow. As clear as penalty as you'll see. Polga sent Lutsenko the wrong way. Izmailov cut in from the left and slalomed his way through the Kyiv defence before teeing up Moutinho for his first Champions League goal. Liedson's awful first touch drew Lutsenko off his line, the striker managed to shoot into an empty net just before crashing into the 'keeper.
Sporting qualify for the UEFA Cup.
Attendance : 19,402
Assists : Liedson (won pen), Izmailov, Vukcevic
27 November 2007
DYNAMO KYIV 1 (Bangoura 63)
ROMA 4 (Panucci 4, Giuly 32, Vucinic 36, Vucinic 78)
20 year old Olexandr Rybka made a nightmare start in what I believe was his Champions League debut. He was covering his near post as Panucci crossed and completely misjudged the flight of the ball, possibly distracted by the run of Vucinic. Cassetti's fabulous tackle in midfield on Rotan sent Giuly though on goal and he rounded Rubka before tapping into an empty net. Four minutes later Dynamo were once again hit on the break, Giuly playing in Vucinic to give the Giallorossi an unassailable three goal lead. Bangoura pulled a goal back following good work by Shatskikh before Vucinic added a fourth with a nonchalant finish from the edge of the box.
Attendance : 11,000
Assists : n/a, Cassetti, Giuly, n/a, Tonetto
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Tevez 61, Ronaldo 92 fk)
SPORTING 1 (Abel 21)
Kuszczak was embarrassed by a fiercely driven cross which beat him at his near post. Man United scored a fortuitous equaliser when a poorly struck effort from Ronaldo hit Tevez and wrong footed Rui Patricio. Ronaldo sealed top spot for United with a magnificent injury time free kick.
Attendance : 75,162
Assists : Veloso, Ronaldo, Anderson (won fk)
7 November 2007
MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Pique 31, Tevez 37, Rooney 76, Ronaldo 88)
DYNAMO KYIV 0
Carrick headed a Ronaldo free kick against Tevez, the ball rebounded off the back of the strikers head to the back post and Piquet jumped above his marker Diakhate (pronounced Dick Hard) to head in his first Man United goal. Tevez started and finished a lightning counter attack. He played a one-two with Rooney on the edge of the box before thumping past Shovkovskiy. Nani's fantastic whipped cross left Rooney with a close range tap-in and Ronaldo sealed Man United's qualification for the last 16 with a fantastic goal. Running onto an Evra through ball he checked suddenly, back-heeling the ball around Diakhate, who is a huge hit with the ladies, took a couple of steps and hammered a shot inside into the net.
Attendance : 75,017
Assists : Tevez, Rooney, Nani, Evra
SPORTING 2 (Liedson 22, Liedson 64)
ROMA 2 (Cassetti 4, Polga 90 og)
Cassetti played a one-two with Mancini on the left flank, ran across the edge of the box and as he approached the D unleashed a rocket into the top right corner. The appalling Doni spilled a long range shot and gathered the ball on the rebound as Liedson went in, Mexes pushed him out of bounds then Doni fumbled the ball over his line but recovered before the linesman could see. Doni crashed into Mexes when trying to catch Izmailov's driven centre and the ball broke to Liedson for an easy tap in. If you're wondering why Roma's defence is so bad 70% of the answer is right there. Romagnoli worked a short corner to Izmailov and Liedson met the Russian's cross with a spectacular diving header. In the last minute Polga headed Pizarro's long range shot past his own 'keeper.
I know Roma have developed a bit of a following with the cavalier football but their defending and goalkeeping especially are an embarrassment to all that is holy in Italian football.
Attendance : 32,273
Assists : Mancini, n/a, Izmailov, n/a
23 October 2007
DYNAMO KYIV 2 (Rincon 34, Bangoura 78)
MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Ferdinand 10, Rooney 18, Ronaldo 41, Ronaldo 68 Pen)
Ferdinand headed United into the lead from a Giggs free kick. Brown and Ronaldo launched a counter attack after Brown broke up an attack in his own half, Ronaldo headed for the box, played the ball out wide to Brown and Rooney, unmarked in the centre after Shovkovskiy slipped, tapped into an empty net. Rincon pulled a goal back from a corner before Ronaldo restored United's two goal lead with a fabulous header from Giggs' left wing cross. Ronaldo converted a penalty awarded for handball. Bangoura beat VDS with a low right footed drive from 20 yards.
Attendance : 43,000
Assists : Giggs (fk), Brown, Correa (ck), Giggs, n/a, Correa
ROMA 2 (Juan 15, Vucinic 70)
SPORTING 1 (Liedson 18)
Juan headed Roma into the lead from a corner thanks largely to Tiago flapping at Pizarro's cross and the fact that Sporting have a team of midgets. As well as having the best attack in Serie A the Giallorossi also have one of the worst defences and Liedson jumped between Mexes and Cassetti to head in the equaliser. Totti went off injured late in the first half and Mancini missed a second half penalty. Vucinic chased down Abel as he tried to shepard a ball out of play, Abel foolishly tried to turn inside Vucinic instead of hacking the ball clear, he slipped, Vucinic stole possession, skipped past Tonel's outstretched leg and smashed the ball past Tiago.
Attendance : 35,000
Assists : Pizarro (ck), Abel, n/a
2 October 2007
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Rooney 70)
ROMA 0
Attendance : 73,652
Assist : Nani
DYNAMO KYIV 1 (Vaschuk 28)
SPORTING 2 (Tonel 14, Polga 38)
Sporting worked a short corner, Djalo swung a cross into the box and Tonel jumped in the air with his right foot at head height and kicked the ball out of Shovkovskiy's hands into the net. How the hell the ref let this stand is beyond me, utter bullshit. Dynamo drew level following some patient approach play. Yussuf played in Shatskikh on the right hand edge of the box, he passed to Gavrancic and Vaschuk side footed his clever back heel past Stojkovic. While Shovkovskiy can feel mightily aggrieved on the first goal he was totally at fault for Sporting's winner. Ronny swung in a low cross from the left and Shovkovskiy decided to dive low for the ball instead of kicking it clear, he punched it to the edge of the box and Polga sent it straight back, into the back of the net.
Attendance : 36,000
Assists : Djalo, Gavrancic, n/a
19 September 2007
ROMA 2 (Perrotta 9, Totti 70)
DYNAMO KYIV 0
Perrotta's goal followed at least 15 passes, I say at least because the directors joined the build up in progress. Totti touched the ball four times alone, his final pass was to Aquilani who found Tonetto is space out wide, after the Dynamo Kyiv defence had been completely pulled apart, and Perrotta darted across the box to beat Shovkovskiy with a standing header at his near post. Taddei won the ball in midfield, skipped a tackle and passed to Perrotta, he threaded the ball through to Totti and he fired inside the left post.
Attendance : 50,000
Assists : Tonetto, Perrotta
SPORTING 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Ronaldo 62)
Attendance : 39,574
Assist : Brown