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The first set of matches on Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League saw some marquee clashes, the highlight of them all being Borussia Dortmund’s trip to the Emirates to face an in-form Arsenal side.
There was also the now customary clash between AC Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro. A complete round-up of all the action along with how each of the groups stand at the midway point after last night’s action.
The Group of Death – Group F
Arsenal 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
In arguably the biggest match of this year’s competition so far, featuring last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, and the in-form team in England, Arsenal, it was the Germans who emerged victorious to blow the group wide open.
Dortmund fielded a full-strength team with long-term absentees Lukasz Piszczek and Ilkay Gundogan the only ones missing. Robert Lewandowski started up front with the deadly trio of Jakub Blaszczykowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus playing behind him.
Arsenal were dealt a blow when Mathieu Flamini was ruled out of the clash with a concussion that he suffered in the game against Norwich at the weekend. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny made up the central defensive pairing and Arsene Wenger opted to play Jack Wilshere on the left in a 3-man attack behind striker Olivier Giroud.
Mkhitaryan opened the scoring for Dortmund in the 16th minute after Aaron Ramsey’s error on the edge of his own box that saw him concede possession to Reus, who found Lewandowski with a neat touch, who in turn teed up Mkhitaryan for the opener. The Armenian international finished coolly from 12 yards out to Wojciech Szczesny’s left.
It was a deserved lead for Dortmund who had dominated possession in the opening quarter and pressed Arsenal high up the pitch to pin them back in their own half.
Arsenal were finding it tough to get into their rhythm due to the German team’s intense pressing. Dortmund though failed to make the most of their advantage as they failed to find the crucial final ball to increase their lead. Arsenal were impressive in fits and starts, but with five minutes remaining in the half found the equalizer.
Aaron Ramsey made up for his earlier error by releasing Bacary Sagna with a beautiful through ball on the right, whose cross was not dealt with adequately by Neven Subotic and it resulted in an easy finish for the in-form Giroud to ensure the teams went in level at half-time.
Wilshere, who was rather ineffective perched on the left, was soon replaced by Santi Cazorla, and the Spaniard’s introduction gave Arsenal some much-needed impetus. He saw an effort graze the top of the bar and was involved in some good play that almost led to goal scoring chances for the Gunners.
Dortmund though, scored with their only shot on target of the second half, when a marauding Kevin Grosskreutz managed to finally put an accurate ball into the box for the on-rushing Lewandowski to finish off a slick counter-attack.
The result was a first defeat for Arsenal this season since their opening day loss in the league to Aston Villa. Dortmund made it back-to-back wins after having lost their opening group match to Napoli.
Olympique Marseille 1-2 Napoli
Napoli’s Duvan Zapata celebrates with teammates after scoring the second goal
Rafa Benitez’s Napoli side picked up a vital 3 points on the road at Marseille to ensure a three-way fight at the top of Group F. Goals in either half from Jose Callejon and Duvan Zapata were enough to get the job done for the Italian side before Andre Ayew scored a late goal for the home side to make the last few minutes interesting. With the win, Benitez’s side are joint top along with Dortmund and Arsenal and in beating Marseille, have all but ensured the French side’s elimination from this year’s competition.
It was a comfortable outing for the Serie A side and they were good value for the win. Barring the final flourish in the last few minutes it was all-Napoli for much of the game.
Group H
AC Milan 1-1 Barcelona
Philippe Mexes led a fine showing by the Milan defence and midfeld as they held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw
Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan side put up a resolute defensive performance to hold Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro.
Lionel Messi marked his return to the Barca starting XI with a goal, but that was to get his side back level after Robinho had given Milan the lead with a goal in the 9th minute.
Milan opted to leave out Mario Balotelli and played Robinho and Kaka in the advanced positions with Kaka dropping back to defend when not in possession. They started brightly and took a deserved lead, taking advantage of a mix-up between Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano. Robinho made the most of it by stealing the ball and exchanged a neat one-two with Kaka, before dispatching the ball goalwards.
On 23 minutes, the scores were level when Andres Iniesta fed Messi on the right who cut back into the box and warded off pressure from four Milan defenders to slot home. A few minutes later, Philippe Mexes had a glorious chance to put Milan back in the lead, but he put his header wide with Victor Valdes all over the place.
On the stroke of half-time, Neymar sent in a rasping volley from the left-hand side that went inches past the far post.
The chances continued in the second half with both teams having chances to score more goals. With a gaping goal in front of him, Robinho was guilty of a glaring miss as he inexplicably dummied over Sulley Muntari’s cross from the left, with no one behind him. Barca had their chance too, in the 70th minute, when Messi picked out Adriano who took a touch, but smashed the ball wide.
In the end, Milan earned a hard-fought point from the game, which keeps them in second place in the group behind Barcelona.
Celtic 2-1 Ajax
Beram Kayal scored Celtic’s second on the night
Scottish giants Celtic notched up their first win of the competition with a 2-1 home win over Ajax.
Neil Lennon’s Celtic were short-handed in the absence of captain Scott Brown (suspension) and Kris Commons (injury), but put up a hard-working performance to grind out a win against a technically skilled opponent.
James Forrest’s 43rd minute penalty sent Celtic Park wild before Beram Kayal’s deflected shot flew into the net with the keeper wrong-footed on 53 minutes. Ajax defender Stefano Denswil was at the heart of both goals – his challenge on Anthony Stokes resulted in the penalty, while the second came from a deflection off of him.
With the four minutes to go, the hosts were reduced to 10 men when substitute Nir Biton was sent off for a rash two-footed challenge on Thulani Serero. Ajax grabbed a goal back with the man advantage thanks to Lasse Schone, but that would prove to be the last action on the night with barely any time remaining even for a restart.
Group E
Schalke 04 0-3 Chelsea
Fernando Torres bagged a brace on his 100th start for Chelsea
Fernando Torres marked his 100th start for Chelsea with a well-taken brace that helped put Schalke to the sword at the Veltins Arena in Gelsinkerchen.
Jose Mourinho decided to start with Torres ahead of Samuel Eto’o and the Spaniard repaid his manager’s performance with a superb showing. With just five minutes gone, he gave Chelsea the lead with a low, stooping header. Having taken the lead, Chelsea opted to sit back a bit and hit the opposition on the counter and it almost proved counter-productive as Schalke grew in confidence and nearly equalized, but for some fine defending from Petr Cech and Cesar Azpilicueta to deny Roman Neustadter and Julian Draxler respectively.
They couldn’t however replicate that form in the second half and Chelsea took control. Torres had another header at goal, this time it rebounded off the post. On 68 minutes though, he did have his brace when he finished off a rapid counter after good work early from Oscar and Eden Hazard.
Schalke, in an effort to grab goals, continued to pour forward and left huge gaps at the back for Chelsea to pick out. The Blues got their third in similar fashion when Hazard ran at the exposed Schalke defence and skipped past the defenders’ challenge to score.
The result sends Chelsea top of the group.
Steaua Bucharest 1-1 FC Basel
Leandro Tatu scored the equalizer against Basel
Basel were left frustrated as returned from their visit to the Romanian capital with just a solitary point. Chilean Marcelo Diaz scored for Basel after being set up by Marco Streller in the 48th minute and had the score stayed the same, the Swiss side would have gone joint top with Chelsea and Schalke.
But, as it turned out, they now lie 2 points behind them after Leandro Tatu scored for Steaua with two minutes left on the clock in regular time. Basel, in fact, looked the more likely to score again after their opener, but the spurned their chances and Tatu’s equalizer in the end, means they have work to do to ensure qualification from the group.
Steaua earned their first points of the campaign.
Austria Wien 0-3 Atletico Madrid
Diego Costa made a sparkling Champions League debut by scoring a brace
Diego Costa continued his goal-scoring exploits as he bagged a brace to power Atletico to a comfortable 3-0 victory away at Austria Wien and maintain their 100% record so far in this year’s Champions League.
Atletico took the lead in the 8th minute through Raul Garcia, after he was set up by Brazilian defender Filipe Luis. Costa meanwhile, returning from suspension after missing games against Zenit and Porto, doubled the lead on 20 minutes with a fine solo run at goal. After half-time, on 53 minutes, he made it 3-0 to ensure a successful outing for Diego Simeone’s men as they rebounded from their first loss in La Liga over the weekend (1-0 loss to Espanyol).
Atletico now have nine points from three games, five clear of Zenit who are second with four.
Porto 0-1 Zenit St. Petersburg
Hulk proved a constant menace for Porto
Portuguese giants Porto suffered a rare second loss at home in as many matches as Zenit St. Petersburg emerged 1-0 winners from their contest on Matchday 3.
Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored the all-important goal with five minutes to go in regular time to register Zenit’s first victory of the competition. The Russian forward met a cross from Brazilian Hulk to lift Zenit over Porto into second place.
Porto played the majority of the match with 10 men after Hector Herrera was sent off following two bookable offences – the first for a hard challenge on Hulk, and the second, for rushing out early from the defensive wall to meet a Hulk free-kick.
But Porto held firm, putting up a gutsy display and even had a few half-chances to score themselves. Lucho Gonzalez hit the woodwork with a thundering shot in the 20th minute. Silvestre Varela also hit the post in the 78th minute.
Hulk looked the most dangerous player for Zenit as he unleashed some blistering left-footed shots which were saved by Porto keeper Helton. Eventually, the deadlock was broken when Hulk played in Kerzhakov for the winner. The two teams will meet again in Russia on the next Matchday with all to play for.
Key stats from last night’s games
Barcelona conceded for the first time this year against Milan last night
- All 32 teams in the Champions League this season have now conceded, Barcelona & Schalke were the last to concede.
- Arsenal‘s last three Champions League defeats at home have been to German clubs. So that Borussia Dortmund win doesn’t come as a surprise.
- Laurent Koscielny completed all 65 passes he attempted last night — the most by a player with 100% success rate in a 2013/14 CL game.
- Arsenal have conceded in their last five home games against German sides in the Champions League.
- Robert Lewandowski has scored six of Dortmund’s last nine goals in the Champions League — and to think he’s looking for a move to Bayern Munich.
- Eden Hazard scored his first Champions League goal. That took time!
- Fernando Torres has now scored four Champions League braces, his previous three coming at home. He has also scored four goals in his last five Champions League appearances for Chelsea and now has exactly as many CL goals for Chelsea as for Liverpool (8).
- Schalke’s Champions League goals this season have all been scored in the second-half.
- Before the Schalke win, Jose Mourinho had lost all of his six CL away games against German teams. But Schalke’s stadium is lucky for him — he also won his first European match there by a 3-0 scoreline — it was the CL final in 2004 with Porto v Monaco.
- Celtic ended a run of 413 minutes without a goal in the Champions League thanks to James Forrest’s penalty against Ajax. Also, Celtic have only suffered four defeats in 25 Champions League home games.
- Lionel Messi has now scored 26 goals in his last 23 Champions League games. His six CL goals against Milan are his personal best, equal with six against Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen. He also joins Wayne Rooney on most CL goals against Milan.
- When Robinho scored off his pass, it was Kaká’s first assist to a CL goal for Milan since November 2007 (1-1 away draw against Benfica).
- AC Milan and Barcelona met for the 14th time in the Champions League, the most alongside B. Munich v R. Madrid. Also, the 1-1 draw was a record 5th draw between Milan and Barcelona in the CL, equal most with fixtures between Chelsea vs Liverpool and Barcelona vs Chelsea.
- Atletico is only team with three wins in CL 13/14. In CL history, teams that started with three wins have always progressed to next round. Always.
- Diego Costa is the fourth player to score two goals on his first CL match for Atlético. One of them was his current coach Diego Simeone.
- Steaua Bucharest set an all-time CL record by remaining winless in 12 successive home matches.
- Jose Callejon (ESP) and Cristian Zapata (COL) scored in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Marseille. Only one of Napoli’s 17 CL goals has been scored by an Italian (Insigne).
- Herrera’s (Porto) red card was the fastest sending off by two yellow cards (6?) in CL history.
