Champions League Roundup - 20th Oct 2010
Arsenal and Chelsea took a huge strike towards the next round of Champions League with their convincing wins over Shakhtar Donetsk and Spartak Moscow while Real Madrid looked too strong for an ageing AC Milan side that was brushed aside at the Santiago Barnabeau.
All of these three teams along with Bayern Munich now have 9 points each from three games played and have their one foot in the knock out stages of the competition.
Chelsea and John Terry returned to a stadium whose sight will haunt him for the living memory as it was the same ground where Terry’s penalty-miss gifted United the Champions League.
But, last night there were going to be no heartbreaks as the London Blues eased past the Russians.
Yuri Zhirkov opened the scoring early on in the first half with an unbelievably stunning left foot volley that gave the goalkeeper, Andriy Dykan no chance.
A few minutes later, Nicolas Anelka made it two nil after some good work by Michael Essien just before the break but Spartak made a strong comeback in the second half and despite dominating in spells, were unable to find the back of the net.
Arsenal may not be the form-team in the league right now but in Europe, they have been firing on all cylinders and last night, they piled on the misery on a woeful Shakhtar side.
Eduardo made an emotional return to the Emirates but could not make an impact as his side were thumped 5-1 on the night.
Alex song opened the scoring on the night when Andriy Pyatov failed to deal with a routine ball in the box and the midfielder pounced in from close range.
Samir Nasri doubled the Gunners advantage when Song turned provider on 42 minutes and Arsenal were two up before the break.
The returning Captain, Cesc Fabregas slotted home a penalty and Jack Wilshere and Chamakh added two more late in the game to complete an impressive 14 goals in 3 matches.
Eduardo scored a consolation goal for the visitors but in a magnanimous gesture towards his former employers and fans, chose not to celebrate.
In the same group, Braga picked up their first victory of the competition as they defeated Partizan Belgrade with goals from Lima and Matheus.
In group F, Marseille also picked up their first points in the competition as they inflicted a third straight defeat on Champions League debutants, MSK Zilina with goals from Souleymane Diawara and Martin Dubravka.
Over at Santiago Barnabeau, a Ronaldo-inspired Real Madrid defeated AC Milan with a clinical display of free flowing football.
It was a magical spell of 2 minutes where Real wrapped up the game, first with a Ronaldo-free kick that made its way through the wall and into the back of the net.
Just a minute later, Ronaldo turned provider as he, after a marauding run down the left, fed the ball to Mesut Ozil, whose feeble shot was deflected into the back of the net.
In the same group, Ajax Amsterdam moved level on points with AC Milan as they beat Auxerre 2-1 at Amsterdam.
It was two goals from two stunning strikes from Danny De Zeeuw and Luis Suarez that set up the win for Martin Jol’s men in the match.
Victor Birsa reduced the arrears for the hosts but two red cards for Auxerre saw any hopes of a comeback dashed for the visitors.
Over in group E, Bayern Munich also moved to 9 points from three matches as they thrashed CFR Cluj 3-1 at the Allianz Arena.
Sorin Cartu scored for the visitors on the night to stun the last year’s finalists but Bayern hit back emphatically with goals from Juan Colia, Mario Gomez and an own goal to complete an easy win.
In the same group, Roma made the qualification to next round an intriguing one as they lost out to FC Basel of Switzerland.
Alex Frei opened the scoring on the night but Mario Borriellio leveled for the hosts. Basel struck two more goals later in the game to sink the Roman giants.
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