23 November 2011

LEVERKUSEN 2 (Derdiyok 73, Friedrich 90)
CHELSEA 1 (Drogba 49)

Drogba pulled down a Sturridge cross, wriggled free of his marker and shot into the corner. Derdiyok flicked on a Castro longball, Cech came miles off his line to close down Sam, Sam chipped a cross to the back post and Derdiyok headed into an empty net. Friedrich completed an unlikely turnaround for the Germans when he leapt above the Chelsea defence to send a Castro header in off the underside of the crossbar.

Attendance : 30,000
Assists : Sturridge, Sam, Castro (ck)


VALENCIA 7 (Jonas 10, Soldado 13, Soldado 36, Soldado 40, Hernandez 68, Aduriz 70, Costa 81)
GENK 0

Jonas headed in a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant cross from Costa - on the run away from goal. Jonas sent Soldado clear of the Genk offside trap for the first of his goals and repeated the trick for the second. Hernandez centred a deflected shot for Soldado's hat-trick goal. Hernandez curled in a fifth from the edge of the box. Aduriz scored the pick of the goals when he spun outside a defender onto a pass, rode two tackles and as he stumbled rolled the ball inside the right post. Costa smashed in a rebound to complete the rout and give the Spaniards a huge confidence boost ahead of what should be a dramatic tie against Chelsea.

Attendance : 49,026
Assists : Costa, Jonas, Jonas, Hernandez, Jonas, n/a, n/a

Given their recent form and the mounting pressure on AVB there is a real danger Chelsea will miss out on a place in the last 16 which will of course be highly amusing.


MARSEILLE 0
OLYMPIAKOS 1 (Fetfatzidis 82)

Attendance : 41,000
Assists : Yeste


ARSENAL 2 (Van Persie 49, Van Persie 86)
DORTMUND 1 (Kagawa 92)

Song did a Ronaldinho style lollipop before ripping through two defenders and crossing for the irrepressible Van Persie to head home. RVP blasted in the second after Vermaelen flicked on an Arteta corner. Lewandowski was tackled but had the wherewithal to spot Kagawa who tapped in the consolation goal.

Attendance : 59,531
Assists : Song, Vermaelen, Lewandowski

With Arsenal already through and guaranteed top spot you would think Wenger won't take any injury risks in a meaningless game in Greece. Marseille and Dortmund could still qualify.


ZENIT ST PETERSBURG 0
APOEL NICOSEA 0

Attendance : 21,800
Assist : n/a


SHAKHTAR DONETSK 0
PORTO 2 (Hulk 79, Rat 91 og)

Moutinho played the ball through a gaping hole in the middle of the Shakhtar defence for Hulk to score a late opener. Hulk also forced the second. His deflected cross fell to a team-mate and in turn his shot went in off Rat.

Lucescu gets a lot of favourable press but he's a shit tactician. Any coach who employs an offside trap as poor as this is a fool.

Attendance : 42,565
Assist : Moutinho, n/a


BATE BORISOV 0
VIKTORIA PLZEN 1 (Bakos 42)

Attendance : 24,000
Assists : Petrzela


MILAN 2 (Ibrahimovic 20, Boateng 54)
BARCELONA 3 (Van Bommel 14 og, Messi 31 Pen, Xavi 63)

Van Bommel turned a center intended for Xavi into his own net. Nesta found Seedorf with a brilliant crossfield pass, he played the ball outside Puyol and Ibrahimovic shot past Valdes as Mascherano dived in with a sliding tackle. Speaking of dives Xavi was already on his way down as Aquilani briefly put his arm on his shoulder. A bullshit penalty. Messi was booked for stuttering his run on the first penalty. Boateng scored a fantastic equaliser. Mascherano headed a cross out to the edge of the box, Boateng jumped in the air to pull down the ball and as he landed flicked it between Abidal's legs, ran around him then hammered a shot inside Valdes' near post. Nesta and Thiago Silva were caught out of position, Messi slipped a pass between Abate and Aquilani and Xavi shot first time wide of Abbiati.

Great performance by Milan who just came up short. They're a couple of transfer windows away from beating Barcelona.

Attendance : 78,927
Assists : n/a, Seedorf, Xavi (won pen), n/a, Messi