UEFA Champions League titleholders Inter Milan drew 2-2 away to FC Twente while Barcelona trounced Panathinaikos 5-1 as match-day one of the competition showed interesting results…
Group A: FC Twente 2-2 Inter Milan; Werder Bremen 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
It finished as it started. All four teams are leveled with a point each, having all played out a 2-2 draw in their respective fixture on Tuesday night. FC Twente and Werder Bremen would be the happiest, though.
In the Netherlands, Dutch international Wesley Sneijder opened the score sheet for the visitors inside the 13th minute of the game before Theo Janssen cancelled out the Nerazzurri’s lead seven minutes later. Diego Milito unluckily damaged Inter Milan’s chances to win the match as he scored an own goal on the half hour mark.
His team mate Samuel Eto’o did pull a goal back at half time, but Twente did just enough to keep Inter Milan from stealing away all three points. 2-2 in the end, as the Dutch side got off to a remarkable start in their first ever UEFA Champions League campaign.
Meanwhile, the score line was the same in Germany. Tottenham Hotspur led 2-0 after less than 20 minutes gone down the clock. Spurs had to thank Petri Pasanen’s own goal and Peter Crouch’s 18th minute strike for that.
However, Werder Bremen woke up with Portugal international Hugo Almeida reducing his side’s deficit two minutes before half time. Quickly after the break, Marko Marin clinched a point for Werder Bremen to deny Harry Redknapp’s men from enjoying a dream start in the UEFA Champions League.
Group B: Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 Schalke; Benfica 2-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Group B’s strongest teams, Benfica and Olympique Lyonnais, did exactly what was expected from them. Goals from defender Luisao and striker Oscar Cardozo in each half set the Portuguese side to a 2-0 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv whereas Bastos’ lone goal was enough for Olympique Lyonnais to down Schalke 04 as the French side’s strong form at home continued.
Benedikt Howedes had a terrible night for the Germans as he got sent off in the first period of the match while match hero Michel Fernandes Bastos got hailed for his man-of-the-match performance.
Group C: Bursaspor 0-4 Valencia, Manchester United 0-0 Rangers
Spanish side Valencia took full advantage of their “easy” fixture away to Bursaspor. They thrashed their opponents 4-0 to seat on top of Group C after match-day one of the UEFA Champions League. Who said Los Che couldn’t score without former talisman David Villa?
Those who thought that might have to retract their comment as Alberto Costa, Aritz Aduriz, Pablo Hernandez, and Soldado all got their name on the score sheet for Valencia. Aduriz and top-of-the-match Costa both scored in the first half of the game to set the pace for the visitors before Hernandez and Soldado added to the score line in the second half. From there, it was impossible for Bursaspor to get anything out of the match.
At Old Trafford, however, the story was completely different from what happened at the Ataturk Stadyumu. A rather boring game produced no goals, but Valencia’s unfortunate broken ankle injury became Manchester United’s biggest issue. Sir Alex Ferguson surprised the public by making as much as ten changes from the side that drew 3-3 away to Everton in the English Premier League last weekend.
Wayne Rooney returned to the squad after being left out for Manchester United’s game at Goodison Park whereas Patrice Evra, Luis Nani, and Dimitar Berbatov all missed Tuesday’s match against Rangers. Instead, Darron Gibson, Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling, Fabio Da Silva, Tomasz Kuszczak, and Wesley Brown were chosen to battle it out for Manchester United against Rangers.
Lack of understanding between these players resulted in a poor performance and a 0-0 draw. Both teams will certainly have to improve on their respective performances ahead of match-day two.
Group D: Barcelona 5-1 Panathinaikos; Copenhagen 1-0 Rubin Kazan
Well, that’s the kind of Barcelona side that football followers love to see! An unstoppable Lionel Messi scored twice and created two goals as Barcelona went on to win 5-1 on Tuesday night. Against the run of play, Sidney Govou gave a surprise lead to the away side but Lionel Messi restored hope for Barcelona’s anxious supporters a minute later.
As the Catalans were keen to correct the mistakes that saw them lose 2-0 to Hercules in La Liga last weekend, they displayed a top performance which Panathinaikos couldn’t match. After David Villa and Pedro helped Barcelona take a 4-1 lead, Dani Alves closed a wonderful result for the hosts with a 92nd minute goal to round up a 5-1 victory over the Greeks.
It wasn’t much of the same in terms of goals in Copenhagen. It took Dame Ndoye’s 87th minute strike to help the home side steal all three points away from Rubin Kazan. Following their 1-0 win, Copenhagen join Barcelona at the top of Group D ahead of match-day two of the UEFA Champions League.
It finished as it started. All four teams are leveled with a point each, having all played out a 2-2 draw in their respective fixture on Tuesday night. FC Twente and Werder Bremen would be the happiest, though.
In the Netherlands, Dutch international Wesley Sneijder opened the score sheet for the visitors inside the 13th minute of the game before Theo Janssen cancelled out the Nerazzurri’s lead seven minutes later. Diego Milito unluckily damaged Inter Milan’s chances to win the match as he scored an own goal on the half hour mark.
His team mate Samuel Eto’o did pull a goal back at half time, but Twente did just enough to keep Inter Milan from stealing away all three points. 2-2 in the end, as the Dutch side got off to a remarkable start in their first ever UEFA Champions League campaign.
Meanwhile, the score line was the same in Germany. Tottenham Hotspur led 2-0 after less than 20 minutes gone down the clock. Spurs had to thank Petri Pasanen’s own goal and Peter Crouch’s 18th minute strike for that.
However, Werder Bremen woke up with Portugal international Hugo Almeida reducing his side’s deficit two minutes before half time. Quickly after the break, Marko Marin clinched a point for Werder Bremen to deny Harry Redknapp’s men from enjoying a dream start in the UEFA Champions League.
Group B: Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 Schalke; Benfica 2-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Group B’s strongest teams, Benfica and Olympique Lyonnais, did exactly what was expected from them. Goals from defender Luisao and striker Oscar Cardozo in each half set the Portuguese side to a 2-0 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv whereas Bastos’ lone goal was enough for Olympique Lyonnais to down Schalke 04 as the French side’s strong form at home continued.
Benedikt Howedes had a terrible night for the Germans as he got sent off in the first period of the match while match hero Michel Fernandes Bastos got hailed for his man-of-the-match performance.
Group C: Bursaspor 0-4 Valencia, Manchester United 0-0 Rangers
Spanish side Valencia took full advantage of their “easy” fixture away to Bursaspor. They thrashed their opponents 4-0 to seat on top of Group C after match-day one of the UEFA Champions League. Who said Los Che couldn’t score without former talisman David Villa?
Those who thought that might have to retract their comment as Alberto Costa, Aritz Aduriz, Pablo Hernandez, and Soldado all got their name on the score sheet for Valencia. Aduriz and top-of-the-match Costa both scored in the first half of the game to set the pace for the visitors before Hernandez and Soldado added to the score line in the second half. From there, it was impossible for Bursaspor to get anything out of the match.
At Old Trafford, however, the story was completely different from what happened at the Ataturk Stadyumu. A rather boring game produced no goals, but Valencia’s unfortunate broken ankle injury became Manchester United’s biggest issue. Sir Alex Ferguson surprised the public by making as much as ten changes from the side that drew 3-3 away to Everton in the English Premier League last weekend.
Wayne Rooney returned to the squad after being left out for Manchester United’s game at Goodison Park whereas Patrice Evra, Luis Nani, and Dimitar Berbatov all missed Tuesday’s match against Rangers. Instead, Darron Gibson, Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling, Fabio Da Silva, Tomasz Kuszczak, and Wesley Brown were chosen to battle it out for Manchester United against Rangers.
Lack of understanding between these players resulted in a poor performance and a 0-0 draw. Both teams will certainly have to improve on their respective performances ahead of match-day two.
Group D: Barcelona 5-1 Panathinaikos; Copenhagen 1-0 Rubin Kazan
Well, that’s the kind of Barcelona side that football followers love to see! An unstoppable Lionel Messi scored twice and created two goals as Barcelona went on to win 5-1 on Tuesday night. Against the run of play, Sidney Govou gave a surprise lead to the away side but Lionel Messi restored hope for Barcelona’s anxious supporters a minute later.
As the Catalans were keen to correct the mistakes that saw them lose 2-0 to Hercules in La Liga last weekend, they displayed a top performance which Panathinaikos couldn’t match. After David Villa and Pedro helped Barcelona take a 4-1 lead, Dani Alves closed a wonderful result for the hosts with a 92nd minute goal to round up a 5-1 victory over the Greeks.
It wasn’t much of the same in terms of goals in Copenhagen. It took Dame Ndoye’s 87th minute strike to help the home side steal all three points away from Rubin Kazan. Following their 1-0 win, Copenhagen join Barcelona at the top of Group D ahead of match-day two of the UEFA Champions League.
