Archive for Champions League
AC Milan, Real in same group again
In last season's competition the two teams came through their group and this time its more interesting with former Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho having taken the reigns at the Bernabeau.
Champions Inter Milan are in the same group as Werder Bremen, Tottenham and Dutch champions FC Twente.
Debutantes Bursaspor have been placed in the group comprising Manchester United, Valencia and Rangers.
The other debutantes MSK Zilina will face Chelsea, Marseille and Spartak Moscow.
Below are all the groups for the 2010/11 Champions League:
Group A - Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, FC Twente
Group B -
Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Group C -
Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor
Group D -
Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan
Group E -
Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj
Group F -
Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina
Group G -
AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre
Group H -
Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, FK Partizan
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2010/11 Champions League draw
The teams to come through the qualifiers are Ajax, Auxerre, FC Copenhagen, MSK Zilina, Spurs, FK Partizan, FC Basel, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Werder Bremen and Braga.
The 32 teams who have qualified for this season's competition will be grouped into four pots as shown below:
Pot 1: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon
Pot 2: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos
Pot 3: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow
Pot 4: Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor
Too easy for Spurs
Spurs were trailing 3-2 on aggregate at the start of the second leg but four goals at home means they will be the fourth team from the English Premiership in this season's tournament.
This will be Spurs' first entry into the Champions League in its current format.
The English Premiership will be the only league with four teams in this year's edition after both Sevilla and Sampdoria failed to win their qualifying matches. The two teams had finished fourth in La Liga and Serie A respectively.
Ajax face Dynamo hurdle in playoffs
The winners of the ties will join the Champions League in the group stages whilst the losers will drop into the Europa Cup draw.
Sporting Braga dispatched Celtic and for their efforts they will face Sevilla.
Tottenham Hotspurs will meet Young Boys with the second leg being at White Hart Lane. A win for Spurs will see the Premiership once again with four stages in the group stages.
Another interesting tie will see Werder Bremen against Sampdoria.
The rest of the draw is as shown below:
Dynamo Kiev v Ajax
Young Boys v Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting Braga v Sevilla
Werder Bremen v Sampdoria
Zenit St Petersburg v Auxerre
Salzburg v Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Rosenborg v Copenhagen
Basel v FC Sheriff
Sparta Prague v MSK Zilina
Partizan Belgrade v Anderlecht
Inter appoints Benitez to replace Mourinho
Mourinho won a treble with the Serie A champions and then decided to leave for Real and the expectations on Benitez could be quite high.
Inter has won the the Serie A title over the last five seasons.
At Liverpool, Benitez's team finished in seventh place to qualify for the Europa Cup.
Inter beats Bayern to complete treble
A goal in each half was enough for Inter to win the Champions League for the first time in 45 years.
The win completes a treble for the Italian champions after they won the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia.
Inter went into the match having never lost a match in which they were leading at half time in the competition this season, scored a first half goal and then another one in the second.
If Bayern had scored a goal they would have finished the season as the top scorers in the competition.
But as it is they will share that with Arsenal and Manchester United as shown in the diagram below:
Bayern vs Inter - drawing trend
In my last post I looked at the Bayern/Inter winning/losing trend and in this post I will have a quick look at the drawing trend.
Firstly Bayern has drawn just one match out of the 12 played so far and in that drawn match the match was a draw at half time and it ended in a draw.
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Bayern Munich drawing at half time, Bayern Munich drawing at full time | 1 | 100.0 |
| Bayern Munich team leading at half time, Bayern Munich drawing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Bayern Munich trailing at half time, Bayern Munich drawing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Drawn matches | 1 | 8.3 |
Inter Milan on the other hand has drawn three matches and in two of the drawn matches the match was a draw at half time.
In the third match Inter was behind and came back in the second half and forced a draw:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Inter Milan drawing at half time, Inter Milan drawing at full time | 2 | 66.7 |
| Inter Milan team leading at half time, Inter Milan drawing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Inter Milan trailing at half time, Inter Milan drawing at full time | 1 | 33.3 |
| Drawn matches | 3 | 25.0 |
It would seem like chances of the Champions League final going to penalties are slim but its still possible.
All in all there have been 29 draws in the competition and the table below shows the other draws in terms of home and away team:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Draw at half time, draw at full time | 16 | 55.2 |
| Home team leading at half time, draw at full time | 7 | 24.1 |
| Away team leading at half time, draw at full time | 6 | 20.7 |
| Drawn matches | 29 | 23.4 |
So out of the 124 matches played so far, draws account for 23 % of the matches.
Bayern vs Inter - winning/losing trend
In this post I am going to look at the stats for the matches the two teams won or lost and compare with the result at half time.
The two teams have so far played 12 matches each with Bayern drawing just one match and Inter drawing three with there being a result in the rest of the matches.
So here is a table for half-time/full-time trend analysis the Bayern matches that ended in a result :
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Bayern Munich leading at half time, Bayern Munich winning at full time | 2 | 18.2 |
| Bayern Munich leading at half time, Bayern Munich losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Bayern Munich trailing at half time, Bayern Munich winning at full time | 1 | 9.1 |
| Bayern Munich trailing at half time, Bayern Munich losing at full time | 4 | 36.4 |
| Bayern Munich drawing at half time, Bayern Munich winning at full time | 4 | 36.4 |
| Bayern Munich drawing at half time, Bayern Munich losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Matches ending in result | 11 | 91.7 |
and here is a table for the half-time/full-time trend analysis for the Inter matches that ended in a result:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Inter Milan leading at half time, Inter Milan winning at full time | 3 | 33.3 |
| Inter Milan leading at half time, Inter Milan losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Inter Milan trailing at half time, Inter Milan winning at full time | 1 | 11.1 |
| Inter Milan trailing at half time, Inter Milan losing at full time | 1 | 11.1 |
| Inter Milan drawing at half time, Inter Milan winning at full time | 3 | 33.3 |
| Inter Milan drawing at half time, Inter Milan losing at full time | 1 | 11.1 |
| Matches ending in result | 9 | 75.0 |
So basically both teams have so far not lost a match in which they were leading at half time.
Bayern also have only lost when they have been trailing at half time.
The two matches that Inter has lost has been one where they were trailing at half time and one where the was drawn going into the break.
If the trend continues, it means that whoever is winning at half time is more likely to be winning at the end of 90 minutes.
Inter knocks out Barca
Although the defending champions won the second leg 1-nil, that wasn't enough to get them to the Bernabeau where the final will be played.
Inter continued the trend that started from the quarter-final matches were no team winning the first leg failed to reach the next level.
Inter will play Bayern Munich who knocked Lyon the day before.
Below is the table showing trend for the winning teams in the Champions League this season:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 31 | 32.6 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 21 | 22.1 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 3 | 3.2 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 5 | 5.3 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 21 | 22.1 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 14 | 14.7 |
| Matches ending in result | 95 | 76.6 |
Bayern thump Lyon to reach final
Bayern won 4-nil on aggregate as they moved into the final which will be played at Real Madrid's ground the Bernabeau.
Bayern will now meet the winner in the other semi between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Barca needs to overcome a two goal deficit in order to reach their second successive final.
The 3-nil win means that Bayern has now scored 21 goals in this competition to join Manchester United and Arsenal who also scored that tally.
Bayern one up against Lyon
Bayern were reduced to ten men in the first half and they managed to score their goal in the second half against a Lyon team that also had a player sent off in the second half.
In the past two rounds, Bayern has gone into the second leg with a one goal advantage and they have successfully managed to defend it.
Lyon knows this will be their best chance of reaching the final and they will be playing at home where they have so far beaten the likes of Real Madrid and Bordeaux.
Below is a list of scorelines so far this seaoson in the UEFA Champions League with just three more matches to go:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 7 |
| 0 - 1 | 14 |
| 0 - 2 | 2 |
| 0 - 3 | 3 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 16 |
| 1 - 1 | 17 |
| 1 - 2 | 8 |
| 1 - 3 | 3 |
| 1 - 4 | 3 |
| 2 - 0 | 10 |
| 2 - 1 | 11 |
| 2 - 2 | 4 |
| 2 - 3 | 3 |
| 2 - 5 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 5 |
| 3 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 4 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 4 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
Advantage Inter as Barca surrender lead
Barca were the first score and Inter levelled before half time but then went on to score two more goals in the second to get a two goal going into the second leg at the Nou Camp.
Barca will need to win 2-nil or by a three goal margin in the event Inter scores and so the defending champions have a lot of work to do in the second leg.
Below is the table showing the goal margins for the matches played so far in the Champions League:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 29 |
| 1 | 54 |
| 2 | 20 |
| 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 2 |
So the majority of matches so far have been won by a single goal and the next popular result is a draw (zero goal margin).
Bayern, Lyon march to semis
Bayern won the first tie 2-1 a week ago and a 3-2 loss gave them meant they would win the tie on the away goals rule.
United went 3-nil up in the first half but Bayern scored in each half to make sure United did not advance to the final four for the first time in three years.
In the all French affair, Lyon lost to Bordeaux 1-nil but won 3-2 on aggregate having won the first leg 3-1.
The result means that Bayern will meet Lyon in the semis and the winner will meet the winner between Barcelona and Inter Milan in the final at the Bernabeau.
Its interesting to see that only one team Barcelona, playing the second leg at home managed to advance to the next stage. The other three teams all failed.
Barca dismiss Gunners to reach semis
The first leg at the Emirates was drawn 2-all and therefore the Gunners needed to win or a draw with more than two goals but Barca won 6-3 on aggregate with four goals by Lionel Messi.
Inter Milan won its match against CSKA Moscow 1-nil to win 2-nil on aggregate and will now meet Barca in the semis.
The two teams were drawn together in the same group in the group stages.
As a reminder here was the final group F standings:
Group F
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Inter Milan | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| Rubin | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| Dynamo Kiev | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 5 |
Gunners draw Barca in quarters
The first leg will be at the the Emirates with the second leg at Nou Camp.
Bayern Munich has been drawn against Manchester United and the second leg of this tie will be at Old Trafford.
Inter Milan will face CSKA Moscow after they beat Chelsea to reach the quarters. The first leg will be at the San Siro.
The last pair will be the French teams Bordeaux and Lyon. Lyon dispatched Real Madrid and will now face fellow Ligue 1 team Bordeaux to ensure that there will be a French team in the semis.
The Champions League semi-final draw has also been conducted and the winner between the French teams will face either Bayern Munich or Manchester United.
The winner between Barcelona and Arsenal will face the winner between Inter Milan and CSKA Moscow.
Inter paired with Chelsea
Inter finished second in their group and face Chelsea who won their group and therefore the second leg will be at Stamford Bridge.
This fixture will bring back Jose Mourinho back to the Bridge and will also bring Mourinho face to face again with Carlo Ancelotti, the former AC Milan coach.
In other fixtures in the draw Manchester United has been drawn against AC Milan, Barcelona against Stuttgart whilst Real Madrid will face Lyon.
Arsenal will have to fight it out with FC Porto whilst Fiorentina will be tested by Bayern Munich who knocked fellow Serie A club Juventus.
Sevilla drew CSKA Moscow and Bordeaux will face Olympiacos.
The sixteen fixtures will be played over four rounds instead of two with the first fixtures being played on the 16th February 2010 and the last fixture on 17th of March 2010.
The next draw for the quarter-finals and semis will be conducted on the 19th of March 2010.
Inter, Barca through
Barca won 2-1 away to Dynamo Kiev to top the group and with the home team leaving the European stage for the season.
Inter finished second in the group and Rubin Kazan will get into the Europa draw.
Fiorentina stunned Liverpool at home to win Group E and push Lyon into second place. Debrecen became the second team to finish with zero points after a 4-nil home loss to Lyon.
In Group G, Stuttgart secured their place in the knockout stages with a win over Unirea Urziceni who themselves will be in Europa Cup.
Finally in Group Olympiacos' win over Arsenal will see them play in the knockout rounds whilst the draw between Standard Liege and AZ Almaar will see the former play in the Europa Cup.
At this stage I thought it would be interesting to have a look at all the different scorelines in this season's UEFA Champions League and here they are:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 7 |
| 0 - 1 | 11 |
| 0 - 2 | 2 |
| 0 - 3 | 3 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 12 |
| 1 - 1 | 14 |
| 1 - 2 | 7 |
| 1 - 3 | 3 |
| 1 - 4 | 3 |
| 2 - 0 | 10 |
| 2 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 2 | 3 |
| 2 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 5 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 3 |
| 3 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 4 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 2 |
| 4 - 1 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
So the most popular result in the group stages of the Champions League was a 1-all draw.
Bayern outclass Juve to reach last 16
Juventus only needed a draw to maintain second place in the group but the loss now means they now drop to the Europa Cup.
Maccabi Haifa finished the campaign without a single point after a narrow home loss to group leaders Bordeaux.
In Group B Manchester United won the group after beating Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg 3-1 away.
That loss meant that CSKA Moscow secured second place after beating Besiktas 2-1. This will be the first time for CSKA to reach the knockout stages.
In Group C the big guns Real Madrid and AC Milan took first and second place respectively. Marseille will enter the Europa Cup draw after losing 1-3 to Real.
In Group D the first two places were decided in the previous round and although Apoel Nicosia managed a draw at Stamford Bridge that was not enough to keep them in Europe.
In match day 2 Debrecen could be the other team to finish with zero points if they dont get at least a draw against Lyon.
Bordeaux, Chelsea win groups
In Chelsea's group D, Porto and Chelsea were already guaranteed of reaching the next stage before the match and so it was a matter of fighting to top the group and be seeded for the knockout phase.
Juventus will play Bayern in their last match needing to avoid defeat to proceed to the next stage. Bayern are currently third whilst Maccabi Haifa with no win yet are last.
In Group C three teams Real Madrid, AC Milan and Marseille can all reach the next round after Real won but the other two drew their match. Marseille hosts eal Real the last match whilst Milan will be away to Zurich.
No groups winners yet in Group B after Besiktas win over Manchester United. That was Besiktas first win of the competition this season.
The team to join Man United in the knockout will be decided in the last match after CSKA Moscow beat Wolfsburg at home 2-1.
So far 72.5% of the matches have ended in a result with the remainder finishing as draws and so this week I will take a look at both the winning and drawing trends.
First a look at the 58 matches that ended in a result in the Champions League so far this season:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 16 | 27.6 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 14 | 24.1 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 2 | 3.4 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 4 | 6.9 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 14 | 24.1 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 8 | 13.8 |
| Matches ending in result | 58 | 72.5 |
and for the 22 matches that finished in a draw:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Draw at half time, draw at full time | 15 | 68.2 |
| Home team leading at half time, draw at full time | 3 | 13.6 |
| Away team leading at half time, draw at full time | 4 | 18.2 |
| Drawn matches | 22 | 27.5 |
Liverpool drop to Europa League
Liverpool won its match 1-nil against Debrecen but it needed Fiorentina not to win against Lyon. Fiorentina won its match 1-nil.
The result means that Liverpool can only finish with ten points but even if Lyon were to lose their last match, the French team has a superior head to head record against Liverpool.
In other groups, Rangers are out Europe altogether after losing 2-nil at home to Stuttgart. The Scottish champions has only collected two points from five matches.
In Group H, Arsenal has progressed to the group stages of the competition after a 2-nil win over Standard Liege. Olympiacos will need at least a draw against Arsenal in match day 6 to reach the knockout phase.
The tightest group remains Group F and Barcelona has taken pole position after beating Inter Milan 2-nil.
The La Liga champions still needs a point to reach the knockout phase in its last match against Dynamo Kiev.
Inter will host Rubin Kazan in match day 6 and a draw in that match will see Rubin Kazan drop out of the Champions League.
Sevilla, Lyon go through
They were the only two teams to seal their places in the last sixteen from match day two of round four and will now play to top their groups in the remaining two fixtures.
Fiorentina were the highest scorers of the day winning 5-2 against Debrecen and team is now very near to getting into the last sixteen.
In Group F Rubin Kazan held defending champions Barcelona to a goalless draw and the next match for Barca will be against Inter Milan. Inter Milan edged out Dynamo Kiev to top the group.
Maybe this is the right time to look at the scorelines after four round of matches as shown below:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 5 |
| 0 - 1 | 7 |
| 0 - 2 | 1 |
| 0 - 3 | 2 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 6 |
| 1 - 1 | 10 |
| 1 - 2 | 4 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 1 - 4 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 6 |
| 2 - 1 | 5 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 2 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 5 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
| 3 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 4 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
| 4 - 1 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
The most popular scoreline at this stage is the 1-all draw with 10 occurrences.
Marseille humble FC Zurich
This is the first time in the competition this year that a team has won with a 5 goal margin and also the first time that a team has scored six goals in a match.
The result also means that FC Zurich has conceded the most goals with 12 conceded so far after also losing 5-2 to Real Madrid in round 1.
Elsewhere Manchester United, Chelsea, Bordeaux and FC Porto booked their places in the last 16 with two matches to spare.
For Bordeaux its the first time the team has qualified for the knockout stages and that will mean that either Bayern Munich or Juventus will miss out.
Ramos leaves CSKA Moscow
Ramos was appointed coach just last month after leaving Real at the end of last season.
Here is a quick snapshot at his CSKA Moscow record in the Champions League this season:
| CSKA Moscow | |
|---|---|
| Rank | 3rd |
| Played | 3 |
| Points | 3 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Clean sheets | 0 |
| Failed to score | 1 |
| Goals scored | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | CSKA Moscow 2 - 1 Besiktas |
| Biggest loss | Wolfsburg 3 - 1 CSKA Moscow |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 2 |
| Points | 3 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | 0 |
| Goals scored | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 1 |
| Points | 0 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Goals scored | 1 |
| Goals conceded | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 3.0 |
Milan shocks Real to go top
This was Real's first defeat in the competition this season and they now move to second on head to head.
Elsewhere, there were home wins for Chelsea, Bordeaux, Porto and Juventus.
Manchester United and Marseille recorded away wins and it was the 14th consecutive away match for Manchester without a loss.
The last away loss for the Old Trafford outfit was a 3-nil loss to AC Milan at the San Siro in May 2007.
This week I take a look at the winning margins so far in the competition:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 11 |
| 1 | 22 |
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 2 |
So the most popular winning margin so far is by one goals and no team has so far won by a winning margin of more than 4 goals.
It would be interesting to check at the end of round 6.
Kazan stuns Barca
Kazan went to half-time leading 1-nil and even though Barca was able to level soon after the interval, it was Kazan who had the last say as they went on to score the winner.
In a night where only one home team won, Olympiakos over Standard Liege, former champions Liverpool also lost 2-1 to Lyon.
Inter Milan were held to draw and so were Arsenal.
Unirea Urziceni were the biggest wiinners on the night winning 4-1 over Rangers.
FC Zurich stun AC Milan
FC Zurich was one of only two away teams to win on the second day of match day 2.
Chelsea was the other one with a similar scoreline against Apoel Nicosia.
Less goals were scored in this round compared to the first one with a total of 35 but the pattern of more goals in the second half continued.
12 goals were scored in the first half compared to 23 in the second. Infact in todays matches only three first half goals were scored.
This week we take a look at the scorelines in the Champions League so far in the table below:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 3 |
| 0 - 1 | 3 |
| 0 - 3 | 1 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 5 |
| 1 - 1 | 5 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 4 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 5 |
| 2 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 5 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
So from the table 1-0, 1-1 and 2-0 are the most popular score lines so far.
Rubin Kazan hold Inter
The result left the Serie A champions with two points from two matches after drawing the first match against Barcelona.
Barcelona went to the top of the group table after beating Dynamo Kiev 2-1 at the Nou Camp.
In other results Lyon, Arsenal and Sevilla maintained their 100% percent records.
Sevilla and Lyon were the only two away teams to win and both scored four goals in a day when a total of 21 goals were scored.
Inter, Barca in stalemate
The two teams who are favourites to come out of this group F which also includes Dynamo Kiev and Rubin Kazan.
The draw leaves Dynamo Kiev on top of the ladder after beating Kazan 3-1.
The only other draw of the day was between Stuttgart and Rangers.
In that same group Seville had the biggest win beating Unirea Urziceni at home.
So no big surprises in match day one but I think the picture will be clearer after match day 2.
Real off to a great start
At half time Real were already 3-nil up but the scores came close when the home team scored two goals but Real scored a further two goals to put the match beyond doubt.
Other winners on day one were Chelsea, Manchester United, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Wolfburg.
Juventus could only draw against Bordeaux and also Atletico failed to scored against Apoel Nicosia for a goalless draw.
Champions League seedings
The 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four and for the draw the teams are going to be seeded as follows:
Pot One: Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, AC Milan, Arsenal, Sevilla, Bayern Munich
Pot Two: Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Porto, AZ Alkmaar, Juventus, Rangers
Pot Three: Olympiakos, Marseille, Dinamo Kiev, Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Bordeaux, Besiktas
Pot Four: Wolfsburg, Standard Liege, Maccabi Haifa, FC Zurich, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni, APOEL Nicosia, Debreceni
Barca too good for Man U
Barcelona scored a goal in each half to stop the English champions from claiming back to back titles.
The two goals Barca scored in the final made sure the Spanish giants finished the 2008/9 competition with a goal tally of 32.
Its interesting to see that the Catalan giants scored an equal number of goals in the first and second halves - 16 apiece.
Only three other teams scored at least 20 goals in this season's competition and these are Liverpool, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
The win means that Barca has now won this cup three times and in the last final they played they beat another English side Arsenal.
Manchester United had gone 25 matches without losing a Champions League match.
Barca to meet Man Utd in final
Barca won on the away goals rule after the match at the Bridge finished 1-all with the first leg having finished goalless.
For the second final in a row Barca will meet English opposition and the last time they triumphed against Arsenal.
Manchester are the defending champions and will become the first team to defend their crown should they emerge winners in Rome.
Man Utd in second consecutive UCL final
United won the first leg 1-nil at Old Trafford and the win in the second leg gives them a 4-1 aggregate win.
United will now play the winner in the other semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona.
If United wins the final they will become the first team to successfully defend their European title.
If Chelsea wins their semi, then the final will be a repeat of last year's final.
If Barcelona wins at Stamford Bridge, then they will meet English opposition for the second consecutive time after playing Arsenal in the 2006 final.
Advantage United at Old Trafford
If United wins the tie against the Gunners then they will be in the final for the second consecutive year.
In the semis last season against Barcelona, United played a goalless draw at Nou Camp but then beat Barca 1 nil at Old Trafford.
A goalless draw will see United reach the final again but if Arsenal wins 1-nil then the match will be decided by a penalty shoot out and any other result the match will be decided after 90 minutes.
In the quarters, the Gunners managed a one all draw against Villareal but then were convincing winners at the Emirates to reach the semis.
Its much tougher this time because they are playing in a match where they have to win to reach the final. A draw will be good enough for Man U.
After that second leg match the two teams meet again ten days later in league.
Chelsea holds Barca goalless
This is the first time this season that Barcelona has failed to score in a Champions League match.
The last match the Catalan giants failed to score in a UCL match was last season's semi-final second leg at Old Trafford and the last time they were held goalless in the competition was in the first leg of that semi-final.
On the other hand Chelsea's last goalless draw in the competition was in the group stages this season against CFR Cluj.
From that match Chelsea managed to score in every match until today.
So its now down to the second leg and Barcelona will be hoping that they will not see a repeat of last year when they were held goalless at home and then lost the second leg.
Bayern parts company with Klinsmann
Klinsmann joined the Bundesliga team at the start of the season and below we will show the Bayern's stats under his reign in the UEFA Champions League which is quite impressive.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 10 |
| Won | 6 |
| Drawn | 3 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Away wins | 3 |
| Home wins | 3 |
| Goals scored | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 10 |
| Home goals scored | 15 |
| Away goals scored | 10 |
So Bayern lost just one match in the Champions League and that was the 4-nil loss away to Barcelona.
English rivals meet in UCL semis
Arsenal beat Villareal 3-nil at home to advance with an aggregate score of 4-1.
So there is going to be an English team in the Champions League final this season for the fifth season in a row.
If Chelsea beat Barcelona then there will be an all English final for the second consecutive year.
Interestingly if both teams win their FA Cup ties then they will meet four times between now and the end of the season because the two teams are still a league match in May at Old Trafford.
Chelsea to meet Barcelona in semis
Barcelona on the other hand beat Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate after the Bundesliga side managed a one-all draw at home.
Barcelona has scored the highest number of goals in the competition so far with 29 goals whereas Chelsea has scored 19.
It is interesting to see that Barca's goals are evenly split between first and second half with the La Liga giants having scored 15 goals in the first half and 14 goals in the second half.
The Stamford Bridge outfit on the other hand has scored 13 goals in the second half compared to just six in the first half.
Interestingly the two teams have conceded the same number of goals so far. Both teams have conceded 12 goals.
Barcelona has conceded four goals in the first half whilst Chelsea has conceded five.
Like in the quarter-finals Chelsea will host the second leg.
Barcelona wallop Bayern
There were no more goals in the second half but Barcelona may have done enough in the first forty five minutes to reach the semis where they will meet the winners between Liverpool and Chelsea.
Barcelona and Bayern went into this match being the top goal scorers so far in the competition but it was only Barca who managed to increase their tally.
In the all English quarter final match between Liverpool and Chelsea, the London club scored two second half goals for no reply after the score was tied one-all at half time.
Chelsea therefore carry a two goal advantage back to Bridge and must now be favourites to progress to the semis.
The matches on day one were all drawn. Holders Manchester United were held to an two-all draw by Porto whilst Villareal were held to a one-all draw by Arsenal.
The away goals could prove very handy for Arsenal and Porto when they host the return legs next week.
Barca paired with Bayern
Barca and Bayern have each scored 24 goals in the competition so far which is the highest any team has scored this season and so there must goals galore in this tie.
Liverpool's reward for beating Real Madrid in the group of 16 will be facing fellow English premier league team Chelsea. Liverpool has met Chelsea twice in the league and in both times Liverpool have come tops and now its the time for Chelsea to correct that.
Arsenal will meet Villareal whilst defending champions Manchester United will face FC Porto.
Bayern rampage continues
Bayern have now equalled Barcelona in the number of goals scored so far in the competition with 24 goals. Interestingly both teams have scored 11 goals in the first half and then 13 in the second.
Barcelona also managed to overcome Lyon 5-2 for a 6-3 aggregate win.
The battle between the English Premiership sides against the Serie A sides was won 3-0 in favour of the English sides.
Inter Milan came the worst failing to score a single goal against Manchester United after losing 2-nil away at Old Trafford.
Juventus managed a 2-all draw at home against Chelsea whilst Roma came closest losing 6-7 on penalties to Arsenal. At least they can claim that Arsenal failed to score against them in open play.
Liverpool also easily dispatched the Spanish champions Real Madrid after scoring four unanswered goals at home for a 5-nil aggregate score.
Villarreal accounted for Panathinaikos after winning 2-1 away from home. The first leg in Spain was drawn one-all.
Lastly but not least, Porto's goalless draw was enough to make the Portuguese team advanced to the quarter final stage on goal difference. Porto was the only team to advance on goal difference.
So lets see what the quarter-final will bring.
Bayern on the rampage as Liverpool stun Real
At the same time Liverpool scored a priceless away goal after scoring late in their match against Real Madrid to inflict a rare defeat on Real under coach Juande Ramos.
Whilst on the first day there were three draws it was the opposite on the second day with just one draw and a result being achieved in the other three matches.
In the English/Italian tussle, the English teams finished the first legs on top with all of them not conceding a goal and with both home teams winning.
Only Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan managed to come up with a goalless draw at the San Siro.
Bayern Munich has probably one leg in the quarter-finals after scoring four times in the second half. Bayern led 1-nil at half time.
The remaining seven ties could easily go either way with no other team managing a convincing win.
Back to the Bridge for Ranieri
Incidentally all three Italian teams in the draw were paired against English teams and so Arsenal will face Roma and defending champions Manchester United will face Inter Milan.
Liverpool will play Juande Ramos' Real Madrid with the second leg being played at Anfield.
Panathinaikos who topped their group will have to fight it out against Villareal whilst Bayern Munich have a test against Sporting Lisbon.
High flying Barcelona will have to pass through the French champions Lyon in the bid to reach the final in Rome.
Former champions FC Porto will have a tough match against Atletico Madrid but as group winners the second leg will be at home.
Eight very interesting ties which will decide who reaches the quarters.
Celtic notches first win
Celtic's win even though they were already out of the competition meant that they did not join four other teams who finished without a single win.
Basle, Steaua Bucuresti, Fenerbahce and BATE Borisov all finished without wins and relied on draws to get points.
There were no real surprises for the matches on the second day of match day 6 of the UEFA Champions League.
In all the groups all the teams qualifying for the knockout stages had been decided and it was a matter of deciding who would win the group.
Celtic and BATE Borisov were already out of European competition for the season and they are now joined by Fenerbahce and Steaua Bucuresti who both lost their last matches.
In group E, Manchester United's draw against AaB Aalborg was enough to secure them top place because Celtic beat Villareal. Celtic finished unbeaten at home.
Bayern Munich's three first half goals were enough to win away to Lyon and finish top of group F. The match was a direct fight for top place.
Fiorentina will drop into the UEFA competition after beating Steaua Bucuresti. Its interesting to note that Steaua Bucuresti and Basle are the only two teams to finish with just one point this season.
In another direct fight for first place FC Porto came tops after beating Arsenal in a group G match and Dynamo Kiev did enough to make sure they can continue playing in Europe this season.
In group H Juventus' superior head to head record over Real Madrid made sure that a draw was enough to win the group. Juande Ramos made a good start to his career at the Bernabeau when his team beat Zenit St Petersburg who were assured of third place.
The draw for the next round takes place on the 19th of December and with teams like Real Madrid, Chelsea and Inter Milan and Arsenal finishing second in their groups there could be some very appetising ties in the round of 16.
Panathinaikos, Liverpool and Roma top groups
Barcelona who lost at home to Shakhtar Donetsk had already won their group and therefore the last match did not have any relevance to them.
Its the end of road in Europe this season for debutants CFR Cluj-Napoca and Anorthosis Famagusta plus Basle and surprisingly PSV Eindhoven.
PSV has been a consistent performer in Europe over the last few years but the team could only win one match in this year's competition.
In Group A Chelsea will take the runners-up place and Bordeaux will continue their European journey in the UEFA Cup.
Inter Milan's loss to Werder Bremen means that they finish second but the win for Werder Bremen means that the Bundesliga team overtook Anorthosis Famagusta who would have taken third place had Werder lost or drawn.
In Group C the positions were already sorted out before the matches but Basle go out without adding to their lone point or two goals.
Atletico Madrid's draw in the final match means that they lost first position but Marseille's third position was secured before the match because they had a better head to head record against PSV.
The next stage will now a knockout stage and Panathinaikos topping Group B has been the real surprise but after a poor start they managed to beat every team in that group.
Ramos replaces Schuster at Real
Ramos started the season with Tottenham Hotspurs where he was replaced by Harry Redknapp after a string of poor results that left Spurs bottom of the ladder.
On the other hand Schuster replaced current England coach Fabio Capello last season and managed to win the title in his first season.
But things have not been as smooth this season for Real after a spate of injuries to key players including Arjen Robben, Mahamadou Diarra, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gabriel Heinze, Pepe, Wesley Sneijder, Miguel Torres and Ruben de la Red .
Schuster's next league match would have been against arch-rivals Barcelona but that will now be Ramos' problem.
Below is the full list of results for the thirteen UEFA Champions League matches Real played under the guidance of Schuster:
| Tuesday, 25th November 2008 7:45pm | ||||
| BATE Borisov | Real Madrid | |||
| Wednesday, 5th November 2008 7:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | Juventus | |||
| Tuesday, 21st October 2008 6:45pm | ||||
| Juventus | Real Madrid | |||
| Tuesday, 30th September 2008 6:45pm | ||||
| Zenit St Petersburg | Real Madrid | |||
| Wednesday, 17th September 2008 6:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | BATE Borisov | |||
| Wednesday, 5th March 2008 7:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | Roma | |||
| Tuesday, 19th February 2008 7:45pm | ||||
| Roma | Real Madrid | |||
| Tuesday, 11th December 2007 7:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | S S Lazio | |||
| Wednesday, 28th November 2007 7:45pm | ||||
| Werder Bremen | Real Madrid | |||
| Tuesday, 6th November 2007 7:45pm | ||||
| Olympiakos | Real Madrid | |||
| Wednesday, 24th October 2007 6:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | Olympiakos | |||
| Wednesday, 3rd October 2007 6:45pm | ||||
| S S Lazio | Real Madrid | |||
| Tuesday, 18th September 2007 6:45pm | ||||
| Real Madrid | Werder Bremen | |||
Please note that the kick-off times are for the GMT timezone.
So in the thirteen matches, Real won just 6, lost 5 and drew 2 and both draws were away from home.
The two losses at home were to Italian teams Roma and Juventus.
Its interesting to see that Real failed to score in just two matches but worringly only managed clean sheets against two teams BATE Borisov and Olympiacos.
Ramos will take over in the match against Zenit St Petersburg and he has signed a contract to the end of the current
season. He will have some work to do.
Panathinaikos stun Inter at San Siro
In the other match in the same group Anorthosis Famagusta had a second successive draw and this time against Werder Bremen and they stay in third place.
Anorthosis Famagusta has led in its last two draws and if the team had held on to its lead it could have qualified for the next round by now.
Inter should still go through to the round of 16 even if they lose their last match against Werder Bremen although it could be in second place.
In Group A, Chelsea's draw against Bordeaux means that they will need at least a point to go through to the next stage.
If Cluj-Napoca wins against Chelsea and Bordeaux wins against Roma then Chelsea will be out. Roma has put aside its recent poor form and now top the group and a win in their last match will mean they will win the group.
The biggest win of the day was in Group C when Shakhtar Donetsk beat Basle 5-nil. Shakhtar Donetsk can only finish third and Barcelona's win means they have won the group.
Barcelona is the only team so far to have won its group because in Group D the top two teams won which means that the group winner will be decided on match day 6.
From today's matches only Basle is out of Europe altogether and joins Celtic and Borisov and
the remaining five teams will be decided on the last day.
Celtic, Borisov out of Europe
Celtic took the lead against AaB Aalborg but lost the tie as the home team scored two late goals in a match they had to win to get the third Uefa place.
Manchester United and Villareal progress in Group A despite playing the second goalless draw between the two teams this season.
In Group H, Borisov lost to Real Madrid and will stay fourth even if they win their last match against Juventus because they have a poor head to head record against Zenit St Petersburg who will get the Uefa place.
In Group G its down to the last day between Dynamo Kiev and Fenerbahce. Fenerbahce has to beat Dynamo Kiev to get third place after the two teams drew earlier on.
Arsenal and Porto have qualified for the next stage and the match between the two will decide the group leader. Porto has to win that match to win the group.
In Group F, a draw will be good enough for Fiorentina with Steaua Bucharest needing to win in order to get third place.
The match between Bayern Munich and Lyon will just decide the group leaders as the teams are tied on 11 points.
Going into match day 6 no team has won its group and so there is still a lot to play for 14 teams but for now its bye bye to Celtic and Borisov.
Celtic score first goal
Despite scoring 29 goals so far in the Scottish Premier league after 11 matches, the Glasgow team has found goals hard to come by in Europe's premier club competition.
The draw leaves Celtic with a hope for third place and a UEFA Cup place but they still have to play AaB Aalborg away.
AaB Aalborg drew Villareal and are now bottom on goal difference and one of their two remaining matches will be against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Juventus completed back to back victories over Real Madrid and have now booked their place in the knockout stages.
Zenit St Petersburg's win over BATE Borisov means they still can overhaul Real Madrid for second place.
In Group G Arsenal could not repeat their startling performance of two weeks ago against Fenerbahce at home as they were held to a goalless draw.
FC Porto's win in Kiev brings them back in the mix and after a good start Dynamo Kiev have made their lives a little bit harder with their loss to Porto at home.
Finally in Group F, at this stage Lyon and Bayern Munich are the most likely teams to reach the knockout stages and Fiorentina is in a good position for third place.
Panathinaikos stun Werder Bremen
Also in the same group Anorthosis Famagusta could easily have got three points but a late goal from Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan meant that they shared the spoils in a 3 all high scoring draw.
This is the first time this season to have a 3-all draw and only the second time in three years. The most popular draw result this year has been one all and this has occurred seven times followed by 6 goalless draws.
In Group B all the three teams can still qualify for the next stage although Inter are in the driving seat. However, if they lose their remaining two matches they may fail to go through.
Another group where all teams have a chance to qualify is Group A where Roma shocked Chelsea with an emphatic 3-1 victory and Bordeaux overcame CFR Cluj-Napoca with two first half goals.
Barcelona lost their 100% record as they were held to a one all draw by Basle at home. It was Basle's first point of the campaign and could be a lifeline in getting the UEFA Cup place.
The leading teams of Group D Liverpool and Atletico Madrid drew at Anfield as they edged closer to qualifying for the knockout phase.
So Barcelona is the first team to qualify for the knockout phase but the next round should see more teams qualify too especially in Group D where both Liverpool and Atletico need just one point.
Barcelona remain unbeaten
Half the matches finished 1-0 and there were two draws draws in the matches between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool (one all) and then a two all draw between Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen.
For the record a total of 17 goals were scored and this is less than half the goals scored on day 1.
Bordeaux and Panathinaikos got their first points of the campaign whilst Basel and Marseille are still to pick up their first points.
Barcelona maintained their 100% record and its the only team in the competition with a 100% record and nine points.
CFR Cluj-Napoca suffered their first defeat against Bordeaux but maintain their second position in Group A as Roma went down to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The next round sees the reverse fixtures and so lets see if the clubs that lost in this round can turn around the tables in the next round.
Villareal hit Aalborg for six
Villareal beat Aalborg 6-3 and Manchester United beat Celtic 3 nil.
It should be noted that Celtic is the only team in the whole competition without a single goal to its name in the competition so far this season.
In Group G it was goals galore in a match between Fenerbahce and Arsenal where the Gunners won 5-2 and were leading 3-1 at half-time. The other match between Porto and Dynamo Kiev finished 1-0 in favour of the visitors and hence a total of 8 goals in that group.
In Group F, Steaua Bucharest and Lyon had another high scoring encounter with Lyon emerging victors with a scoreline of 5-3. Steaua Bucharest scored all their three goals before half-time and were actually leading 3-2 at the half way mark.
In the other match, Bayern Munich powered past Fiorentina with a 3 nil victory. So that was eleven goals in that group.
Finally, Group H had the least number of goals with just five scored.
Group H was also the group where none of the teams managed to score at least three goals but its also the only group where all four teams managed to score at least one goal.
So a total of 36 goals were scored in eight matches averaging four goals per match.
CFR Cluj make a point
The Champions League debutants will now meet bottom placed Bordeaux and wins in both matches could secure them at least third place in that group if not qualification to the next stage.
Only three teams are to concede a goal so far - Chelsea, Manchester United and Villareal. Finally there were goals in Group G but it still remains the group with the lowest number of goals scored with just four goals scored so far.
Just four teams out of the thirty two have a hundred percent record so far with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool all winning their first two matches.
In the group D Liverpool will next meet Atletico Madrid in back to back matches and by the end of them will have
lost their hundred percent record.
No goals in Group E
While four away teams won on Wednesday morning, on Thursday only Bayern Munich won away against Steaua Bucharest with draws dominating the day.
Apart from the draws in Group E there were also draws for Dynamo Kiev against Arsenal and also between Lyon and Fiorentina.
In Group H both Juventus and Real Madrid started with wins plus clean sheets as they brushed aside Zenit St Petersburg and BATE Borisov respectively.
CFR Cluj in shock win as away sides win
Chelsea and Barcelona were the only home teams to win with Werder Bremen being involved in a goalless draw against Anorthosis Famagusta.
But the biggest result will be CFR Cluj who beat Roma 2-1 in their first match in the Champions League. They have given notice to the rest of the group and next they will play Chelsea who had an easy 4-0 win over Bordeaux.
Chelsea's win was the biggest on the night and the next was Atletico Madrid's 3-0 away win against PSV Eindhoven.
Barcelona, Arsenal in qualifying round
As such this is the last qualifying round before the main draw that will map out the eight groups for the 2008/9 competition.
The TipsChallenge Champions league tipping competition will start with the group phase and continue all the way to the final to be held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on the 27th of May, 2009.
Barcelona, Arsenal, Juventus, Liverpool and Marseille are some of the teams in the third qualifying round and have reached the final before.
