UCL 2008-2009 Group Stage Day Nine

25 November 2008

ZENIT 0
JUVENTUS 0

Attendance : 20,000
Assists : n/a


BATE 0
REAL MADRID 1 (Raul 7)

Attendance : 5,500
Assists : n/a


VILLARREAL 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 0

Attendance : 26,000
Red Card : Capdevilla 83 (Villarreal)
Assists : n/a


AAB AALBORG (McManus 73, Caldwell 87 og)
CELTIC 1 (Robson 53)

Robson gave Celtic a shock away lead when he headed in a deep inswinging
cross from the left. On initial viewing Aalborg's Brazilian midfielder
Caca scored a goal his more illustrious namesake would have been proud
of but replays showed his shot took a massive deflection of McManus.
When attempting to clear a centre Loovens kicked the ball against
Caldwell who in turn wrong footed the helpless Boruc.

Caldwell's late, desperately unlucky own goal was a mercy killing,
bringing to an end another of Celtic's tiresome Champions League campaigns.

Attendance : 12,647
Assists : Wilson, n/a, n/a


BAYERN MUNICH 3 (Klose 57, Toni 61, Klose 71)
STEAUA BUCHAREST 0

Luca Toni rediscovered his Euro 2008 form and once again embarrassed the
great legacy of Italian footballers. The useless big goof did however
played a part in the opening goal. He horribly miscued a volley and full
back Oddo ran onto the loose ball and fired a mid height cross towards
the penalty spot, Ribery's attempted diving header fell kindly for Klose
to volley in from 6 yards. Toni made it 2-0 with a diving header.
Ze Roberto started a counter attack with a tackle deep, deep in his own
half, Ribery skipped away from a challenge on the half way line onto his
pass, ran upfield and wisely ignored Toni before feeding Klose for his
second.

Attendance : 65,000
Assists : Ribery, Klose, Ribery


FIORENTINA 1 (Gilardino 45)
LYON 2 (Makoun 15, Benzema 27)

Keita ran onto a double deflection off a Govou shot and pulled the ball
back across the face of goal, Benzema held up possession and waited
before centring for Makoun to smash past Frey. Montolivo, Saturday's two
goal hero, was caught in possession by Juninho and he released Benzema
who beat Frey with a perfectly placed shot from 25 yards. Gilardino gave
Fiorentina hope with a superb header from a Santana cross but as in the
previous tie Prandelli's young side failed to take any of the numerous
chances they created.

Fiorentina should find the UEFA Cup more forgiving assuming they don't
screw up in their last match against Steaua Bucharest.

Attendance : 35,000
Assists : Benzema, Juninho, Santana


FENERBAHCE 1 (Alves 63 og)
PORTO 2 (Lisandro 19, Lisandro 28)

Lisandro pounced on a gift from Fenerbahce's briefly brilliant hulking
goalkeeper Volkan to give Porto the lead. He should earn a ban for his
second goal. He used his arm to bring a throw in under control before
beating Volkan after his initial effort was saved. Kazim's speculative
shot from 25 yards took a wicked deflection off Bruno Alves past his own
goalkeeper. UEFA are seriously idiots, how in the hell is that a goal
for the striker?

Attendance : 35,000
Assists : n/a, n/a, n/a


ARSENAL 1 (Bendtner 87)
DYNAMO KYIV 0

Attendance : 59,374
Red Card : Aliev 89 (Dynamo Kyiv)
Assist : Fabregas


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I watched the Mancs against Villareal. Four games, four zero-zero
draws. These two teams are so evenly matched... they should not be put
in the same group ever again! Strong playing from both teams, superior
performance by goalkeeper Lopez of Villareal, excellent ball movement
by both. These are two of the best teams in Europe today. Very good
refereeing by Rossetti, too.

The Nige

On Nov 25, 11:25*pm, Nige <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

You are being very kind to Villarreal to bracket them with Man U.
Notwithstanding the tremendous job done by all at this small club,
they are still not even as good as Valencia was in the early
part of the decade, and nowhere near as good as Man U.

"Benny" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:sx0Xk.3708$z63.20@newsfe22.ams2...

Whatever happened to "this year the CL is more interesting than usual?" In
all groups with matches played yesterday the two qualifiers are known one
matchday in advance, and in two of those four groups the UEFA Cup qualifier
is also known already.

D