Wednesday 5 December 2012

Celtic Through With Win, Chelsea Out Despite Hitting Nordsjaelland For Six, United Lose

Group E: Chelsea's defence of the Champions League ends at the group stage despite thrashing Nordsjaelland in Rafa Benitez's first win, making them the first holders go exit at this stage. After a missed penalty from both sides, Chelsea took the lead six minutes before half-time with David Luiz converting from the spot for his second goal of the tournament. Fernando Torres would make it 2-0 in first half injury time before Joshua John pulled one back within the first minute of the second half. Chelsea had their two goal advantage back through Gary Cahill on 51-minutes  before Torres added a fourth, his third of the competition, five minutes later. Juan Mata made it 5-1 with his third of the tournament on 63-minutes with Oscar completing the rout eight minutes later with his fifth of the campaign. But it wasn't enough as Chelsea lose on head to head.
Juventus end up winning the group as they effectively ejected Chelsea from the tournament. The only goal of the game came 11-minutes into the second half when Olexandr Kucher put the ball into his own net. The result means Shakhtar progress because they scored one more away goal against Chelsea as head to head shows they both won at home, Shakhtar 2-1, Chelsea 3-2. Final Table:

1. Juventus               12 +8
2. Shakhtar Donetsk 10 +4
3. Chelsea                 10 +6
4. FC Nordsjaelland   1 -18

Group F: Bayern Munich make it three German group winners after comfortably beating BATE at home. Mario Gomez put Munich ahead after 21-minutes. The hosts then found themselves down to ten men when Jerome Boateng was sent off six minutes into the second half. This didn't hinder them as Thomas Muller was on hand to make it 2-0 three minutes later with his third of the competition. Xherdan Shaqiri then made it 3-1 on 65-minutes before the man count was levelled four minutes later when Denis Polyakow was also sent off. David Alaba would make it 4-0 seven minutes from time before BATE scored a consolation through Yegor Flipenko in the final minute of normal time.
Valencia join Bayern on points but fail to win the group after beating Lille. The only goal of the game came nine minutes before half-time when Jonas slotted his fourth goal of the competition from the penalty spot. Final Table:

1. Bayern Munich 13 +8
2. Valencia           13 +7
3. BATE Borisov   6 -6
4. LOSC Lille        3 -9

Group G: Celtic conformed their progression into the last-16 with victory over Spartak Moscow. Celtic just had to better Benfica's result and Gary Hooper gave them a great opportunity by putting hosts ahead on 21-minutes, his second of the competition. Ari would then equalise for Spartak six minutes before half-time. The win was confirmed with eight minutes to play when Kris Commons fired home from the spot, Spartak's night ended with Kim Kallstrom being shown a red card two minutes from the end.
Barcelona fail to score in Camp Nou in the Champions League for the first time since against Chelsea in April 2009. The match against Benfica finished 0-0 but there is slight concern over Lionel Messi who was stretchered off, although it appears he just suffered a knock. Final Table:

1. Barcelona       13 +6
2. Celtic              10 +1
3. Benfica              8  0
4. Spartak Moskva 3 -7

Group H: Manchester United lose at Old Trafford in the Champions League for the first time since Besiktas, three years ago. Cluj are the team to get the famous result over United but agonisingly exit the tournament on head to head when they were on the brink of being the first Romanian club to progress from the group stage. The only goal of the game came 11-minutes into the second half via a screamer from Luis Alberto.
Because Galatasaray beat Cluj in Romania and drew in Turkey, they go through after a tight victory away to Braga. Braga began to hold their end of the deal when they went ahead through Mossoro 13-minutes before half-time. Aydin Yilmaz equalised 13-minutes into the second before Burak Yilmaz broke the Romanian hearts with the winner and his sixth goal of the tournament, 11-minutes before the end. This means that no player other than a Yilmaz has scored for Galatasaray in the Champions League this campaign. Final Table:

1. Manchester United 12 +3
2. Galatasaray            10 +1
3. CFR Cluj               10 +2
4. SC Braga                 3 -6

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