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Goals galore on Match Day 3

Match day 3 of the 2008/09 Champions League saw a lot of teams go goal crazy and left many observers and fans lost for words at some of the fantastic goals scored in the course of the two nights of action.

Celtic Travel Blues Continue
Group E saw the champions of Europe triumph 3-0 over the hapless Celtic, who yet again were toothless away from Celtic Park.

Due to one of Uefa’s nonsensical rules about colour clashes in kits, Celtic may have been wearing their change strip of yellow and green but their failings were as noticeable as their usual legendary home kit.

United were greatly helped by the assistant referees ignoring the fact that Dimitar Berbatov was offside for both of his goals but anything other than a home win would have been a greater injustice. The two teams meet again at Celtic Park on November 5th where hopefully the Scottish champions will rekindle some form and perhaps benefit from some questionable refereeing decisions.

Villareal Hit Six Against Aalborg
The other Group E match saw a total of 9 goals, with 5 coming in the second half alone. With two clean sheets in their previous two Champions League matches, Villarreal may have expected another one at home to Aalborg but they were shocked when Saganowski opened the scoring on 20 minutes. Rossi quickly equalised and the home side went into a 2-1 lead but an equaliser before halftime shocked much of the crowd.

It took twenty minutes of the second half for another goal but eventually Villarreal pulled away from their Danish counterparts with four second half strikes culminating in a 6-3 triumph. Manchester United and Villarreal share the top spot in Group E with United superior goal difference giving them the edge.

Bayern Munich put behind some of their domestic problems as they triumphed 3-0 at home to Fiorentina to take control of Group F with Miroslav Klose opening the scoring within the first five minutes. The other match in Group F failed to keep up in Group E as Steau Bucharest and Lyon only managed to share eight goals between them.

The home side held a 3-2 lead at half-time although they were initially 2-0 up within 11 minutes. A goal by Petre on the stroke of half-time placed Steau Bucharest back in front and no doubt the home crowd were hopeful of victory. Two strikes from Fred and one from Benzema turned the tie around and took Lyon into second place in the group with 5 points.

Arsenal Score Five in Turkey.
Group G saw another away team score 5 goals as Arsenal mauled Fenerbahce in Istanbul by a 5-2 margin. Arsenal took control of the game early on as they raced into a 2-0 lead in 11 minutes and a 3-1 lead in 21 minutes and they never looked back. There are definite doubts over the genuine long term hopes for Arsenal but this latest performance is further proof that when they are on their game, they are an immense outfit.

Dynamo Kiev travelled to Portugal and triumphed 1-0 to move into second place in the group on 5 points.

Juventus Defeats Real
Juventus versus Real Madrid was the long awaited match in Group H and the Old Lady of Italy shocked many observers by winning 2-1 and taking top spot in the group. Del Piero opened the scoring and Amauri doubled Juventus’s lead. Ruud van Nistelrooy pulled a goal back but Juventus held out to claim all three points.

The terrible form of Zenit St Petersburg continued as they were held at home BATE Borisov, who picked up their second point of their first ever Champions League campaign.

Tuesday brought a glut of goals and this was followed up by some other high scoring matches on the Wednesday night as Groups A to D got involved in the action.

No Slip-ups from John Terry This Time
Group A didn’t feature many goals but Chelsea took top spot by defeating Roma 1-0 at home with John Terry notching first Champions League goal in over three years to claim the three points. The Chelsea skipper had the opportunity to win the Champions League but slip kept Manchester United in the penalty shoot-out.

The other match was also decided by one goal with Bordeaux defeating FC Cluj 1-0 thanks to a horrific own goal which was tucked away by Cluj’s captain. It was Cluj’s first ever defeat in the Champions League group stages and it was certainly a bizarre way to lose a game.

Anorthosis Famagusta and Inter Milan shared top spot in Group B before their match but a victory for Jose Mourinhos men over their Cypriot opponents sees the Italian club move out on their own in the group with seven points. Adriano was the difference between both teams as he got the goal in a 1-0 win at the San Siro. The other match in the group ended in a pulsating 2-2 draw as Panathinaikos earned their first point in this season’s competition. Anorthosis Famagusta still remains above Werder Bremen in second place with the German club on 3 points at the half way stage of the group.

Barcelona Batter Basle
Group C saw Barcelona in scintillating form as they tore FC Basle apart with a 5-0 triumph with Lionel Messi opening the scoring after Daniel Alvez found the Argentinean star with a tremendous pass.

Bojan was also on form as Barcelona laid out an impressive marker to potential teams and moved onto 9 points. With a home match versus Basle to come in a fortnight’s time, it is extremely likely that Barcelona will book their place in the knock out round of the Champions League very shortly. The other Group C match saw Sporting Lisbon pick up 3 excellent points in Donetsk as they defeated Shahktar and moved into second place in the group. If Sporting can avoid defeat at home to Shahktar in the return match, they will be in a very strong position to qualify for the knock out stages.

No Torres but Some Terrible Decisions
In Group D, the top two teams played out a lively 1-1 draw but the match will be remembered less for the skill and talent of Athletico Madrid and Liverpool and more about the poor standard of assistant referees with numerous offside decisions being wrongly called.

PSV Eindhoven opened their Champions League account for this season with a 2-0 win over Marseille which leaves the French side pointless after 3 matches.

With over 50 goals being scored in Match Day 3’s 16 games, fans and strikers had much to cheer about but it is fair to say that many goalkeepers and defenders will be having sleepless nights about what happened this week in the Champions League. With the second game of the double header matches to come in two weeks time, the chance for revenge or further humiliation is present as Match Day 4 looms.

by Andrew Reilly

for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk

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