Champions League-last night recap: Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Marseille win as Arsenal taste defeat yet again
It was an action-packed thrill-a-minute ride last night in the Champions League as AC Milan, Roma, Real Madrid, Marseille and Chelsea notched up crucial wins but Arsenal have problems ahead as they lost 2-0 to Braga in Portugal.
Rosseneris booked their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a scrappy but effective 2-0 win over Auxerre in France to progress through at the expense of Martin Jol’s Ajax, who lost in Amsterdam to Real Madrid.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock in the 64th minute with an artistic strike and up until then, Milan never looked like they could come up with the goods against their dogged French opponents but the goal seemed to have settled their nerves.
They added another one late in the game through Ronaldo to make sure of their progress into the next round.
In the same group, Real Madrid thrashed a woeful Ajax side at the Amsterdam Arsenal by 4 goals to nil as the Los Blancos made sure they were going into the next round as group winners.
Ronaldo scored a brace for the Madridistas while Benzema and Arbeloa bagged a goal apiece to ensure Jose Mourinho continued his unbeaten streak going for Real Madrid.
However, all was not rosy for the Madrid side as they crossed the finishing line with only 9 men on the pitch after Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos were given their marching orders in the dying stages as the pair was cautioned for the second time on the night
for time wasting and will now miss the first leg of the pre-quarters.
Also making sure of their progress into the next round last night were Marseille, who clinically dispatched Spartak Moscow at the Luzniki stadium in Russia.
Mathieu Valbuena opened the scoring for Didier Deschamps' men early in the first half while Loic Remy and Brandao added two more goals to ensure the French side's progress to the next round as runners-up to Chelsea.
In the same group, Chelsea came from behind to defeat MSK Zilina 2-1 at Stamford Brdige to maintain their 100% record in the Champions League intact. They became the first team after Manchester United of 2007 season to win five matches in the group stages.
Babatounde Bello shocked the Stamford Bridge when he put the Hungarians 1-0 up in the 19th minute but goals from Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda in the second half made sure that Chelsea were not succumbing to their third defeat on the trot.
The match of the night was played at the Olympic Stadium in Rome where Roma magnificently turned around a 2-0 deficit at half time to win the match 3-2 against Bayern Munich.
Mario Gomez scored two beautiful goals to make sure his side were going into the breather with a 2 goal advantage but a late flurry by Giallarossis halted the Bayern Juggernaut and bolstered their chances of qualification.
Marco Boriello scored just 4 minutes after the restart while Danielle De Rossi equalized for the Romans just a few minutes later.
Francesco Totti then made sure of spoiling Bayern’s 100% record in the competition with a clinically struck penalty just 6 minutes from time.
Frederico Almerares kept the slender hopes of Basel alive as his solitary strike made sure Basel beat CFR Cluj in Romania.
Over in group H, Shakhtar Donetsk dispatched Partizan belgrade 3-0 to ensure they go top of the group as Arsenal lost to Braga 2-0 in the same group.
Jadson, Taras Stepanenko and Eduardo grabbed the goals for the Ukrainians on the night.
Arsenal now find themselves with all to do on match day 6 as they will have to match SC Braga’s spoils on the day if they are to progress to the next round.
Going into the match against Braga, Arsenal only needed a draw to go through but a miserable performance by Wenger’s men saw them lose to 2 goals by Brazilian striker Matheus.
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