10 December 2008
CELTIC 2 (Maloney 14, McGeady 45)
VILLARREAL 0
Celtic secured a pointless victory against a scratch Villarreal side. Reserve goalkeeper Viera flapped at a cross and Baloney headed into an empty net. Franco was apparently sent off for violent conduct, the replays I saw showed nothing. Hinkel won a ball on the edge of his own penalty area, played a one-two with Nakamura then squared a pass to McGeady, he ran 50 yards as the Villarreal defence backed off his low drive bounced in off a post.
Attendance : 58,104
Red Card : Franco 35 (Villarreal)
Assists : n/a, Hinkel
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Tevez 3, Rooney 52)
AAB AALBORG 2 (Jakobsen 31, Curth 45)
Tevez ran between two defenders onto an excellent Giggs pass and poked a half volley past Zaza. Jakobsen headed in the equaliser from a free kick, helped greatly by Kuszczak's poor positioning. Kuszczak was made to look an even bigger tool when Curth, standing wide right 12 yards from goal, headed Due's cross into the opposite corner. Anderson played in Rooney for the equaliser, Rooney finishing with an early shot under Zaza's legs.
Dirty chav Rooney should have been sent off for stamping on Aalborg goalkeeper Kasper Risgaard's chest. UEFA are investigating. Normally this sort of incident would result in a ban.
Attendance : 74,382
Assists : Giggs, Augustinussen (fk), Due, Anderson
25 November 2008
VILLARREAL 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 0
Attendance : 26,000
Red Card : Capdevilla 83 (Villarreal)
Assists : n/a
AAB AALBORG 2 (McManus 73 og, Caldwell 87 og)
CELTIC 1 (Robson 53)
Robson gave Celtic a shock away lead when he headed in a deep inswinging cross from the left. On initial viewing Aalborg's Brazilian midfielder Caca scored a goal his more illustrious namesake would have been proud of but replays showed his shot took a massive deflection of McManus. When attempting to clear a centre Loovens kicked the ball against Caldwell who in turn wrong footed the helpless Boruc.
Caldwell's late, desperately unlucky own goal was a mercy killing, bringing to an end another of Celtic's tiresome Champions League campaigns.
Attendance : 12,647
Assists : Wilson, n/a, n/a
5 November 2008
AAB AALBORG 2 (Curth 54, Due 81)
VILLARREAL 2 (Rossi 41, Franco 75)
Rossi and Franco ran forward in support of a Pires lead counter attack, Pires played the ball to Rossi who had taken a position on the right of the penalty area, he cut outside two players before beating Zaza with a low drive. Caca's back heel took out four defenders and Curth finished with a fierce first time strike. Llorente chipped a ball over the Aalborg defence after the Danes failed to clear a free kick, Franco took the ball on his chest and volleying Zaza. Due's fantastic left footed free kick was worthy of winning a point in any match. Great game.
Attendance : 9,500
Assists : Pires, Caca, Llorente, Risgard (won fk)
CELTIC 1 (McDonald 13)
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Giggs 84)
Vidic appeared to clear the danger from a Celtic free kick, as the Man United defence pushed up two headers sent the ball back into the box and from a ridiculous angle McDonald beat Foster with an outrageous lob. Boruc, who by all accounts has had a poor season, flapped at a Ronaldo shot from distance which he should have saved comfortably and Giggs headed in the rebound.
Attendance : 58,903
Assists : Caldwell, n/a
21 October 2008
VILLARREAL 6 (Rossi 28, Capdevilla 33, Llorente 67, Llorente 70, Pires 79, Llorente 84)
AAB AALBORG 3 (Saganowski 19, Enevoldsen 36, Johansson 77)
The Villarreal centre backs watched Due's cross sail in from the left and Saganowski threw himself at the ball to head the Danes into a shock lead. Rossi finished off a measured passing move to equalise. Five minutes later the home side were in front, Capdevilla with a lovely shot from the edge of the box which hung in the air before rattling in off the right post. Saganowski sucked in the Villarreal centrebacks and flicked on a crossfield pass, sending Enevoldsen clear to beat Diego Lopez.
Llorente snared a rebound after Zaza fumbled Senna's speculative effort and bagged a second minutes later after Pires pushed a defender out of the way before laying on a pass. Aalborg got within a goal when Johansson headed in a free kick via a deflection off Capdevilla. Zaza parried from Cazorla but Pires, who fed the midfielder, headed in the rebound. Llorente volleyed in Capdevilla's cross to completed his hat-trick.
Attendance : 22,000
Assists : Due, n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a, Pires, n/a, n/a, Capdevilla
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Berbatov 30, Berbatov 51, Rooney 76)
CELTIC 0
O'Shea poked on a half cleared corner and Berbatov, standing in an offside position, flicked the ball past Boruc and took a quick look at the linesman before running off to celebrate. He tapped in a second after Boruc spilled a Ronaldo free kick. Rooney, who looks even more like a potato following his recent haircut, finished off a quick counter attack which started with VDS throwing the ball to Fletcher, Tevez with the final pass.
With Tevez now a bench warmer following the arrival of the taller and more elusive Berbatov I wonder if United will go through with their plan to sign the Argentinean, especially for the massively inflated fee of €30 million. He's worth half that at most.
Attendance : 74,655
Assists : n/a, n/a, Tevez
30 September 2008
AALBORG 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Rooney 22, Berbatov 55, Berbatov 79)
Giggs was an early substitute for Scholes who, ironically, left on a stretcher after being kicked. The Welshman threaded a pass through the heart of the Aalborg defence and Rooney timed his run to perfection before placing a first time shot past Zaza. Berbatov punished atrocious control from Aalborg's Augustinussen on the edge of the box to open his Man United account and scored his second minutes later, an indulgent scissor kick at the back post from a Ronaldo cross.
Attendance : 10,346
Assists : Giggs, n/a, Ronaldo
VILLARREAL 1 (Senna 67 fk)
CELTIC 0
Attendance : 25,000
Assists : Llorente (won fk)
17 September 2008
MANCHESTER UNITED 0
VILLARREAL 0
Attendance : 74,944
Assists : n/a
CELTIC 0
AAB 0
Attendance : 57,432
Red Card : Beauchamp 79 (AAB)
Assists : n/a