The usual signs shone out midweek as the UEFA Champions League kicked off for the 2009-10 season. Real are bolstered a little too much in midfield, Inter and Barcelona have players returning home for away games, United seem out of contention with the loss of Ronaldo, Milan have a point to prove, Chelsea seem firm favorite to win this year, young Arsenal have to fight it out and Liverpool will battle yet again to repeat a la 2005. And yes, Porto, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg summing up the rest of the newbies to the big stage.
In Group A, Juventus looked old against Bordeaux after a 1-1 draw in Turin. Buffon did all he could to make it happen for Juve, but the French champions seemed well organized and deserved a point for their fine effort. Juventus will feel uneasy now that their star defender Cannavaro will miss a trip to Germany with an injury making it a little bit harder. Meanwhile Bayern brushed aside Maccabi Haifa in Israel with 3 goals. The team from München look strong and will relish the battle with Juventus at the Allianz Arena. This group will be an interesting one for the neutrals.
Manchester United looked to require a herculean effort to get past Beşiktaş, with Scholes heading past the keeper after he parried a Nani shot. A brave effort which is always required in Turkey, and United will be happy to come back with a point. And an important set of points too after Wolfsburg gunned down CSKA Moskva in Germany. It will be a battle between the champions of England and Germany for top spot in Group B.
Real Madrid, with fat around their midfield, forced 5 against Zürich and let 2 past Casillas. This only shows firepower in front and impotency at the back. Zürich is not a challenge for anyone of Real’s standards, and Ronaldo can only take happiness in the fact that he got his first brace for Real, and with no thanks to the awful keeping from Leoni. Milan did well to get points in France against Marseilles, with Inzaghi scoring a goal on either side of the half. Real and Milan will seem to fight it out, unless Marseilles can do something about it. Group C is the ‘Death Group” if you may call it.
In Group D, Chelsea made it past Porto with an unusual Anelka goal. Drogba not available for the game, it was Anelka up with Kalou. With rain in London, the Blues did not find it easy to break past Porto, and the Portuguese side created chances of their own. However it was an Anelka effort which was parried by the keeper that was steered back into the goal by Anelka again. The first chance seemed to be a sitter for Anelka’s quality, but the second was a beauty, maybe with a little help from the defender. The other game in Group D between Athletico and APOEL was a stalemate which shows that the Madrid side looked out of sorts and APOEL looked surprisingly good for debutants. If they keep this form at home, it will be a much interesting time till December.
Wednesday night rolled on and Hungarian debutants Debrecen visited Liverpool. It wasn’t a happy start for the visitors, but they showed resilience and determination against a rather shoddy performance from the English side. Kuyt scored the solitary goal and continued his good European form. Liverpool need to pick up their game as they visit Fiorentina next. The Italian team gave Lyon a run for their money in France, but were reduced to ten men when Gilardino made a rough tackle and received a straight red. Lyon capitalized and earned a hard victory. No guesses from me for this group as anything can happen when Liverpool is involved.
A lot of news was made of Eto’o and Ibrahimović playing their old teams, but the game in Milan could not live up to the expectations and ended in a stalemate. Barca tried their best to get the upper hand but it wasn’t to be and a goalless draw followed. With the two teams expected to qualify for the knock-outs, the other match between Kyiv and Kazan seemed irrelevant. But it may be too early to call on such a prediction as Dynamo Kyiv can be a dynamic force and turn the tables on one of the two. We shall wait and see.
Group G is a the group of big minions. Stuttgart, Rangers and Sevilla have to battle it out for 2 spots with Romanian newcomers Unirea Urziceni will remain happy to be a deciding force in the outcome of the group. Rangers did well to draw at in Germany as Sevilla romped over Unirea Urziceni. Rangers now face Sevilla at home, a mighty proposition with Fabiano is goal-scoring form. This group will certainly provide fun for the neutrals and a look forward to who will face which big gun in the knock-out.
Finally, Group F has Olympiacos who did their best against Alkmaar. A solitary goal for the Greek champions from Torosidis was the difference in the match which ended 1-0. Meanwhile, Arsenal had to come back from 2 early goals in Belgium, as Standard de Liège scored in the opening minutes of the match. A low shot past new keeper Mannone made it 1-0and a Gallas foul in the box led to a penalty which was duly dispatched by Jovanović. But Arsenal got one back before the end of the half through Bendtner after a nice through ball from Diaby. Vermaelen scored a scrappy goal from a pass in the box which looked to come off the hand of Song. Eduardo made it 3 after a corner and Arsenal returned from Belgium with 3 precious points. This group, like some others, is an interesting one with quite a few exciting match-ups.
All in all, nothing out of the ordinary happened in Matchday 1, but it is good to be back on the European stage again.
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