Football Update: Champions League Round up
It was a super exciting match day 2 of the Champions League, as it saw a record 13 penalties being awarded. The previous record was the match day 1 of the Champions League in 2001 when 10 penalties were awarded. But last night there were 3 penalties awarded
in the Spurs vs. Twente game alone, while another two came in Russia as Rubin Kazan held the 2008 champions to a 1 -1 draw.
However, the game of the night was played at the Guessepe Meazza where Internazionale Milona thrashed Werder Bremen 4-0 to kick-start their campaign. In the same group, Tottenham Hotspurs also scored 4 goals, three from penalties as they beat the Dutch Champions
FC Twente.
In group C of the Champions League, Manchester United recorded a rare win in Spain, as Javier Hernandez scored his first competitive goal for Manchester United as he spared Sir Alex’s blushes after his side had failed to break down the dogged home defence.
United had drawn their three previous outings in Spain and rarely looked like breaking the sequence, as Valencia looked the better side on the night for most part of the game.
Sir Alex made three substitutions in the second half and two of his subs combined to score the winning goal for United. Macheda, after picking up a neat drag-back by Nani, squared the ball to Javier, who showed great first touch to get the ball in his stride
and then grilled the ball past Cesar Sanchez into the bottom left corner of the gaol.
This was only United second win in Spain in 19 outings but Sir Alex will not care about that too much, as the win has put Sir Alex side in pole position to qualify for the next round, especially given their next two games are against Bursaspor.
Over in Italy, Intermilan produced a performance worthy of Champions as they clinically dispatched Werder Bremen with the help of a magnificent hat trick by Samuel Eto.
The Cameroon striker twice scored in the first half, while Sneijder added a third for Rafael Benitez side in the 34th minute to put the Italians in cruise control of the match.
Werder tried to claw their way back into the game but the task was beyond them as Eto completed his hat trick in the second half and finally put the Germans out of their misery.
Over in Russia, Barcelona succumbed for the second time in as many season as they could only muster a draw at the home of Russian Champions Rubin Kazan.
Rubin had got a similar result last year when they held Barcelona for a 0-0 draw and had beaten the then Champions at Cap Nou 3-1.
Last night looked like it looked like that Barcelona were going to lose again as Rubin had taken an early lead in the first half through a Cristian Noboa penalty.
David Villa came to his side’s rescue as he salvaged a point and some face for the Blaugarana as he levelled the matters from the spot.
Rubin looked to have snatched all three points’ right but the former Newcastle forward struck his shot against the post.
While in the other match of the group, Copenhagen continued their 100% start to the competition as they secured their 2nd 2-0 win of the campaign.
Copenhagen beat Rubin of the opening night 2-0 and last night they overcame Panathanaikos with the same score line.
Dame N'Doye and Martin Vingaard scored for the Danes in the second half and with six points from two matches; the Danes have their fortunes in their own hands as the only need 4 more points from 4 games to guarantee their qualification into the next round.
In another match, Lyon also moved to the top of their group with a 3-1 win against Israeli minnows Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Michel Bastos scored twice for the French side, while Miralem Pranjic grabbed the third.
FC schalke of Germany also claimed tier first home win of the season, as they defeated Benfica 2-0 with goals from Jeffersen Farfan and Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
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