Scweinsteiger stars for Bayern, Chelsea and Arsenal win in CL
Last season runners up Bayern Munich have not been affected by the absence of star players Ajern Robben and Franck Ribery as they marched on to victory with Schweinsteiger’s brace.
The German giants, who have won the champions league four times narrowly missed their fifth title last season only to be outplayed in the final by Inter Milan who were then managed by Jose Mourinho. But the team from Munich has not been able to start their
season with a bang as they have been languishing lowly at ninth place in the German Bundesliga. Their poor form in the domestic league had little effect on their champions league result.
But they were not at their best against FC Basel. They were caught on the break when Swiss star Alex Frei, who caught them sleeping and put the home side ahead with a quarter of half mark completed. The early advantage by the minnows brought the life into
the game as the match stretched with end to end stuff from both sides.
Lady luck smiled on Bayern in the beginning of the second half, when Benjamin Huggel caught Thomas Mueller late with a clumsy tackle and gifted a penalty to the visitors. Bastian Schweinsteiger who stepped up for the spot kick and converted it with a cool
head showing his composure and experience. The game lit up after the penalty and both sides had several glorious opportunities but none were able to convert them into goals.
In the dying moments of the game Scweinsteiger sealed the victory for the German giants when he scored from Holdger Badstuber’s free kick. In the other match of the same group, Group E Roma defated FC cluj with all the goals coming in the second half.
The first half never came to life with both teams playing defensively but in the later period of the match Roma’s defender Philippe Mexes scored for Roma and their attacking display paid off when Marco Borrielo scored the second for the Italian team few
minutes later. FC Cluj did pull one back through Ionut Rada but were unable to find the second goal which could have earned them a draw.
Meanwhile, Chelsea put their loss in the league behind them with a much needed win over Marseille to boost their morale.
Manchester City beat the domestic champions of England in the premier league but it hardly affected the blues as they were back to their best in a Champions league tie against Marseille.
Chelsea got off to a flying start when their skipper John Terry scored with only seven minutes on the clock by the assist of Nicolas Anelka. The assist provider turned into a striker when he calmly scored from a spot kick to give Carlo Ancelotti’s side an
easy victory to get on track immediately. The victory will help them mentally for an upcoming big game against Arsenal in the league. In the other group F match Russian side Spartak Moscow defeated minnows FC Zilina three goals two nil with Brazilian Ari scoring
a brace and Ibson, scoring the third goal for the winners.
Furthermore, Arsenal secured a victory over Partizan thanks to goals from Adre Arshavin, Chamakh and Squillaci. The win means Arsenal maintain their unbeaten record in this champions league campaign alongside their group rivals Shakhtar Donestk who ran away
with all three points against SC Braga to round off the perfect start to the campaign as well.
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