Champions League kicked-off on Tuesday and there are many interesting results along the way. While teams like Real Madrid, AC Milan or Bayern Munchen won, other teams like defending champions Inter Milano, Manchester United or AS Roma didn’t played as well as they would have wanted.
In the first group Internazionale Milano wanted to kick-off the campaign with a victory against Dutch outfit Twente, but Benitez’s team does not look so strong as last season, and only managed a 2-2 draw. Snejder and Eto’o scored for the defending champions, while an own goal by Milito and a goal by Jansen assured the Dutch team to get a result against the Italian team. The same result between Tottenham and Werder Bremen and an own goal here too, by Pasanen. Marin and Almeida scored for Werder, Crouch did it for Tottenham.
Not any surprising results in the second group, with Benfica winning 2-0 against Hapoel Tel-Aviv, and Lyon winning 1-0 against Schalke, which can’t manage to score a goal again, despite having Huntelaar and Raul in the squad. Felix Magath’s short-term faith does not looks so good after this bad start of season, Schalke sitting now on the last place in Bundesliga.
While Valencia won 4-0 away against Bursaspor, Manchester United and Rangers were not able to score against each other, which can count as an upset for the Red Devils. I tipped here Valencia to have some problems with their European season, but it seems they started well and may, in the end, go through. However, we don’t have to forget they played against one of the weakest teams in the competition, so don’t get too enthusiastic with that.
Sidney Govou opened the score away against Barcelona on Nou Camp, but that was not enough for Panathinaikos. Five goals from Barcelona came right after that, in another impressive attacking game. Lionel Messi even blown his hat-trick chances after missing a penalty kick in the 55th minute, when already scored a brace before. David Villa, Alves and Rodriguez scored a goal each to complete the job for Guardiola’s team. FC Copenhagen won 1-0 against Rubin Kazan, after a goal by N’Doye in the 87th minute.
The E group’s derby was played between Bayern Munchen and AS Roma. The first half was disappoiting and boring, and the second continued to be boring as well, until Muller scored the opening 11 minutes before the end of the game. Four minutes later Miroslav Klose netted another goal and the game ended, but the former Champions League finalists don’t look so strong as last season either. The other game was played between Romanian outfit CFR Cluj and FC Basel, with the Romanian team taking an early 2-0 lead. Basel struggled from there and only managed to score once more, so three points go to Cluj.
Chelsea’s campaing started off well, with Ancelotti’s team banging four goals in Zilina’s goal, following a brace by Anelka. French champions Marseille lost home against Spartak Moscow, after another own goal of this first matchday, this time by Azpilicueta. I doubt Chelsea will have problems in this group, they will probably go through from the first place, as tipped before.
The G group, definitely the most difficult one in this years group stage, put Real Madrid and Ajax in front of each other. Mourinho’s European campaign with Real Madrid started well, an own-goal by Anita and a goal by Higuain brought all the three points on Bernabeu. AC Milan won against Auxerre, after a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, at his Champions League debut with The Rossoneri.
Home victories in the last group, with Arsenal trashing Braga after two goals by Fabregas, Vela and one by Arshavin and Chamakh. Dario Srna scored a goal to bring three points for Shakhtar Donetsk against Partizan Belgrad, and in my opinion the English outfit and Shakhtar are favorites to go through.
messi ma thift karin e une fabians