The big boys in Barcelona, AC Milan and Arsenal got positive results in Wednesday’s Uefa Champions League fixtures, while Chelsea, FC Porto and Dortmund weren’t so lucky.
Group E
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | +2 | 4 |
| 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Valencia | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Genk | -2 | 1 |
Valencia 1 (Soldado 87’ pen) drew with Chelsea 1 (Lampard 56’)
Chelsea looked the goods in the first-half but it was the Spaniards who had the better of the opportunities before Frank Lampard coolly put the Blues ahead on 56 minutes. Valencia, though, justly got an equaliser through Roberto Soldado’s late spotkick.
Chelsea boss Andre-Villas Boas said: “The performance was solid and a draw away from home; if it’s offered to you before you take it. So near to a win, it leaves you with a strange feeling but we’re in a good position still in the group. We’re looking forward to the Genk games; they’re going to be difficult.”
Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Bender 30’, Ballack 90’) def Genk 0
The Belgians put up a good fight and arguably deserved better than the scoreline suggested. Lars Bender’s first-half goal was a nice finish, while Michael Ballack’s late goal took a deflection and flattered the hosts.
Genk coach Mario Been said: “We competed very well. I can only blame my squad for one thing, and that is that we did not score a goal from our five or six very good chances. It is very annoying and you do yourself a disservice by not scoring a goal.”
Group F
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marseille | +4 | 6 |
| 2 | Arsenal | +1 | 4 |
| 3 | Dortmund | -3 | 1 |
| 4 | Olympiacos | -2 | 0 |
Marseille 3 (Andre Ayew 20’, 69’ pen, Remy 62’) def Dortmund 0
The French side made it six points from two games with a commanding home win over the German champions although Dortmund were luckless. Andre Ayew finished off a flowing move for 1-0, while Loic Remy kept up his fine form to double the advantage, before Ayew’s spotkick.
Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp said: “Tomorrow morning nobody will care how this result ended up like it did. We put a lot into the game, but made a few mistakes. We had long spells of dominance during the match, especially at the beginning of the second half. All of the goals we conceded were a surprise, but we’ve got only ourselves to blame.”
Arsenal 2 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 8’, Andre Santos 20’) def Olympiacos 1 (David Fuster 27’)
It was all action early on at the Emirates but that’s all she wrote. Young Gunner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made a fine impression with the opening goal, while Andre Santos scored his debut goal for Arsenal. Olympiacos had their chances but couldn’t take them.
Arsenal assistant Pat Rice said: “Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can go inside and outside defenders, he’s got that injection of pace and what he needs now is to be consistent in his play. In general [Olympiacos] battled very hard but as we went into the second half we were tighter than we were in the last 20 minutes of the first half.”
Group G
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APOEL | +1 | 4 |
| 2 | Zenit St Petersburg | +1 | 3 |
| 3 | FC Porto | -1 | 3 |
| 4 | Shakhtar Donetsk | -1 | 1 |
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 (Jadson 64’) drew with APOEL 1 (Trickovski 61’)
The Cypriots proved tough to break down for last season’s quarter-finalists and APOEL went ahead against the run of play after a fine move through Ivan Trickovski. However, Jadson quickly equalised but there was no winner for Shakhtar.
Shakhtar boss Mircea Lusescu said: “The game was very tough, as I had predicted. We competed against a well-organised side but we had scoring chances, though we weren’t able to take them. As for APOEL they created a goal with their first counterattack. I hope that our luck will return soon.”
Zenit St Petersburg 3 (Shirokov 19’, 63’, Danny 72’) def FC Porto 1 (Rodriguez 10’)
The Russians got up and running with a big win over last season’s Europa League winners who were reduced to 10 men before the break after Jorge Fucile saw red. Roman Shirokov was the hero for Zenit with two goals, as they came from behind to record an important win.
Zenit boss Luciano Spalletti said: “We played an incredible match, with great intensity, and created many chances. The first and second halves were obviously different, partly due to the fact that we were afraid to show our skills and our best qualities early on. At half-time I told the players that if they play with calmness, it will be easier for them to show what they are capable of. That is exactly what happened.”
Group H
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Barcelona | +5 | 4 |
| 2 | AC Milan | +2 | 4 |
| 3 | Viktoria Plzen | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | BATE Borisov | -5 | 1 |
BATE Borisov 0 def by FC Barcelona 5 (Volodko og 19’, Pedro 22’, Messi 38’, 56’, Villa 90’)
In Barcelona’s first ever trip to Belarus, it was all too routine for the European champions who cruised to a 5-0 victory. Lionel Messi shone with a brace, while Pedro and David Villa netted in an emphatic win, Barca’s first of the competition so far.
Barca boss Pep Guardiola said: “We have performed excellently in three Champions Leagues campaigns, winning two and reaching the semi-final of another but away from home we haven’t had very good results. I give a lot of weight to tonight because we are top of the group and after the draw against Milan you don’t know what to expect.”
AC Milan 2 (Ibrahimovic 53’ pen, Cassano 66’) def Viktoria Plzen 0
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the star of the show, although Plzen keeper Marek Cech tried his best to claim that honour. Ibrahimovic nailed the opening goal from the spot, before playing a neat ball for Antonio Cassano to seal a good win.
Milan boss Max Allegri said: “We played better in the second half when we started to push down the wings, leading to several chances, but after the second goal we relaxed too much and obviously took a few risks. Now we have a couple of days to recover before starting to to think about the next game [against Juventus]. Tonight’s win is dedicated to our president [Silvio Berlusconi], who turns 75 tomorrow.”