By Alexia Krause
 |
| Barcelona FC leave it late to defeat promising Celtic at Nou Camp |
MADRID, Spain (TheSportsNEXT) October 23, 2012: Jordi Alba struck an injury time goal to save the day for Barcelona who defeated Celtic by two goals to one in their Group G encounter of the UEFA Champions League 2012 at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.
-->
Celtic looked in the mood and groove to stun the Spanish soccer giants when Georgios Samaras gave them the lead in 18thminute and they kept challenging the authority of the reigning La Liga champions right throughout the game.
However, the veteran Spaniard Andres Iniesta equalized just at the stroke of half-time and the game failed to give birth to any more goals until four minutes into the injury time when defender Alba managed to sneak a cross by Adriano into the net to seal a dramatic victory for the Barca.
Following are the official reports by FIFA website for the other UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
Galatasaray 1-1 Cluj
Galatasaray claimed the first point in their UEFA Champions League campaign as they came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Cluj in Istanbul.
However, it could have been even better for the Turkish side, who missed a first-half penalty and still have it all to do to dislodge their opponents on the night from second place in Group H and progress to the knockout stages.
It was a frustrating evening for the hosts, with Dany Nounkeu putting through his own net to give Cluj a 19th-minute lead before Felipe Melo missed a penalty ten minutes before half-time. Galatasaray dominated the second half and got their reward through Burak Yilmaz 13 minutes from time, but they could not force a winner.
Galatasaray started the game without a point from their opening two matches against Manchester United and Braga, making the encounter a must-win for the Turks.
Nicolas Godemeche shot over after just 19 seconds and Rafael Bastos' effort went wide less than a minute later as Cluj went on the attack from the outset. Bastos again shot wide and Galatasaray went down the other end, with Umut Bulut shooting over.
The hosts almost took the lead after 12 minutes with Hamit Altintop's 25-yard shot, which Mario Felgueiras did well to repel in the Cluj goal. Seven minutes later Cluj were ahead, Nounkeu putting into his own net from 12 yards.
Altintop again tested Felgueiras as the hosts looked to respond, with Nordin Amrabat shooting over. And ten minutes before the break they were handed a golden opportunity to equalise when they were awarded a penalty for a Laszlo Sepsi handball. Melo fired a fierce shot towards the bottom left of the goal, but Felgueiras guessed the right way and parried the ball away.
Selcuk Inan and Albert Riera both had long-range efforts for the hosts in the opening minutes of the second half. Emmanuel Eboue shot from distance on the hour and Sabri Sarioglu and Melo also sent in efforts, but none seriously threatened the Cluj keeper.
However, all their dominance paid off in the 77th minute when Yilmaz equalised, heading Amrabat's cross into the centre of the goal from close range.
Cluj had not shown up as an attacking force at all in the second half and Galatasaray continued to go forward looking for the winner. Selcuk Inan fired a free-kick over the bar and in the final minute another Inan set-piece found Yilmaz in the six-yard box, but he could only direct his shot wide.
Juventus 1-1 FC Nordsjaelland
Juventus were made to come from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw - their third UEFA Champions League tie running - as FC Nordsjaelland's first ever goal in the competition left them scrambling in Denmark.
Mikkel Beckmann's excellent free-kick gave the hosts a shock lead five minutes into the second half, and Nordsjaelland held out for more than half an hour before Mirko Vucinic lashed in an equaliser. Juventus pushed for a second but instead had to settle for another point as their Group E frustrations continued.
Juventus at least lived up to their favourites tag early on as they dominated the match. Paolo De Ceglie fired wide from an angle on the left before Arturo Vidal blazed over following some neat passing on the edge of the area.
A poor clearance from Jesper Hansen handed Andrea Pirlo another opening in the eighth minute, but he sent his shot wide. Sebastian Giovinco looked to have a great chance after fine control to bring down Pirlo's pass, but he was denied by a late tackle as he prepared to pull the trigger, and moments later Alessandro Matri volleyed wide after a corner.
The hosts' first chance came in the 17th minute when Kasper Lorentzen stung the palms of Gianluigi Buffon after bursting through the defence. The Italy goalkeeper did better when Beckmann cut in from the right to send a left-footed shot towards goal.
Leonardo Bonucci got a strong head to Pirlo's 22nd-minute corner but sent it wide before Hansen was called on to keep out Giovinco's effort when the forward turned De Ceglie's drilled cross goalwards.
De Ceglie's ball then released Giovinco who rounded Hansen, only to miss the target from a tight angle. There was almost a repeat at the other end, but Buffon gathered at the feet of Joshua John.
Vidal prodded wide after great work from Giovinco to find him at the far post, and Juventus' frustrations grew as Runje made a brilliant block to deny Alessandro Matri, following up after Hansen parried Giovinco's powerful shot.
Juventus threatened early in the second half with Hansen denying Matri and Giovinco, but it was Nordsjaelland who then took a surprise lead in the 50th minute as Buffon's hand was not strong enough to keep out Beckmann's free-kick on the eve of his 29th birthday.
Matri sought an immediate response, but Michael Parkhurst blocked his shot, before Runje threw himself in the way of an effort from Mauricio Isla. Juventus were piling on the pressure, with Runje performing more heroics to block Marchisio's shot, and Hansen getting a hand to Giovinco's flick.
John had a chance to double the hosts' lead, but headed over from a good position. That was a rare break in Juventus pressure, which resumed immediately as Parkhurst blocked another shot and Matri and Vidal fired wide.
Pirlo's curling free-kick in the 69th minute brought a fine save from Hansen before an ambitious volley from Giorgio Chiellini went over.
Juventus finally got their reward nine minutes from time when Isla crossed and Vucinic lashed in a volley from close range, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance. The Italians were not satisfied with that and pushed for a winner.
Bonucci turned a corner narrowly over the bar, while Nicklas Bendtner could not keep his effort down from De Ceglie's excellent cross.
Bayern Munich 1-0 LilleBayern Munich won 1-0 away to Lille in the UEFA Champions League today, but the scoreline barely reflected the one-sided nature of the Group F tie.
Thomas Muller's penalty after 20 minutes was the difference between the sides but Bayern made most of the running and should have won by a decidedly more comfortable margin.
Franck Ribery was given a rough ride on his return to his native northern France as first Djibril Sidibe and then Florent Balmont dragged him to the ground, but both free kicks were wasted with Mickael Landreau punching both clear.
Bayern broke the deadlock in the 20th minute when Lucas Digne clattered Philipp Lahm to the ground and despite Lille protests, referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot and Muller dispatched it straight past Landreau.
Lille's best chance of the half came on the half-hour as Digne crossed from the left but it sailed over the onrushing Nathan Roux and Tulio De Melo and out to safety. Ribery's involvment came to an abrupt end at half-time when he reappeared on the bench with his left thigh heavily bandaged to be replaced by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Bayern contained Lille for long spells despite some deft approach play from the French side but the statistics showed that goakepper Manuel Neuer hardly had a save worthy of the name to make all night.
Lahm should have doubled the score for Bayern in the 69th minute as he raced on to a neat through ball but Landreau got down well to smother the ball before he could take aim.
Lille had a penalty appeal waved away in the 72nd minute when Balmont went down in the area after apparently being held back by Martinez. Muller squandered a golden opportunity with a quarter of an hour left, pushing Lahm's cross wide as he slid into the area.
In a last throw of the dice, Lille coach Rudi Garcia sent on Ryan Mendes, but the young attacker ran gamely but to little effect.
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Chelsea FCChelsea's hopes of a place in the UEFA Champions League last 16 were compromised on Tuesday when the holders fell to the first loss of their trophy defence in a 2-1 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Despite a late effort by Oscar, goals from Alex Teixeira and Fernandinho were enough to give the Ukrainian champions breathing space at the top of Group E and extend an extraordinary unbeaten run stretching back 11 months.
It was Chelsea's first loss since they went down to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, but things would have been far worse for the English Premier League leaders had Juventus not been held to a 1-1 draw at FC Nordsjaelland.
Chelsea remain in second place but are now three points behind Shakhtar ahead of the return game on 7 November, while coach Roberto Di Matteo must hope for a quick recovery prior to Sunday's visit of Manchester United.
John Terry returned for Chelsea after missing their 4-2 win at Tottenham Hotspur as he served the first instalment of a four-game ban for racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand, but his first contribution was unfortunate. The Blues captain unwittingly diverted a shot into the path of Teixeira, who drilled the hosts into a third-minute lead.
Another Chelsea stalwart, Frank Lampard, was making his 100th European appearance, but he endured a similarly forgettable start to the game, with injury forcing him off in the 16th minute. Eden Hazard replaced Lampard and helped craft an opening for Fernando Torres, but Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov came out to save at the Spaniard's feet.
The hosts refused to be flustered by Chelsea's forays into their territory, however, and the dangerous Willian twice threatened to extend their lead with attempts from long range. The Brazilian with the distinctive afro hairstyle then teed up Henrik Mkhitaryan for a powerful shot that Petr Cech parried, while the Czech goalkeeper also had to claw away a close-range effort from Yaroslav Rakitskiy.
The half-time whistle came as a relief for Di Matteo's men, but things got no better in the second half, as the home side doubled their advantage inside seven minutes. Hazard was caught in possession in midfield by Fernandinho, who hared upfield to collect a lay-off from Luiz Adriano before crashing a precise low shot into Cech's bottom-right corner.
Pyatov then had to repel long-range shots from Hazard and Ramires, but Mircea Lucescu's side refused to be pushed back. Cech twice had to deal with smartly hit shots from Mkhitaryan, while Adriano saw a header bobble narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
Oscar tucked home Branislav Ivanovic's low cross in the 88th minute to claim a consolation goal for Chelsea, but Shakhtar were in no mood to relinquish their record of having never lost at home to an English club.
Valencia 3-0 BATE Borisov
BATE Borisov, who stunned Bayern Munich last time out in the UEFA Champions League, were brought back to earth with a thud Tuesday as Roberto Soldado's hat-trick earned Valencia a 3-0 win.
BATE went into the game as the surprise Group F table-toppers after maximum points from their opening two games. But their woeful record against Spanish opposition continued at Minsk's Dinamo stadium with this comprehensive loss leaving them with nothing to show from seven attempts.
Valencia, whose reward was to go top of the table on goal difference, started the livelier, with Soldado's fifth-minute effort forcing a good block from BATE goalkeeper Andrei Gorbunov.
The hosts were looking more dangerous as the game progressed and on the half-hour mark Aleksandr Pavlov darted into the box only for his shot to be deflected out of danger by Diego Alves's dive to the left. The Valencia keeper then punched away the follow up from Dmitri Likhtarovich.
The Spanish visitors, who were enjoying the bulk of possession, finally broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time when Marko Simic felled Soldado. The aggrieved party then converted the penalty with Gorbunov diving the wrong way.
The second half was only ten minutes old when Valencia doubled their advantage, and it was Soldado again who did the damage. The Valencia striker struck low into Gorbunov's net with a right-footed volley after being set up by a cross from Andres Guardado.
Soldado went very close to grabbing another seconds later, but with Gorbunov beaten, BATE midfielder Aleksandr Volodko stepped in to block the shot on the line. The red-hot striker did get his third on 69 minutes after a neat one-two with Tino Costa for his second Champions league hat-trick.
A fourth looked on the cards but his cheeky chip with quarter-hour to go sailed wide.
Valencia's second win of the campaign pushed them up to the top of Group F from BATE and Bayern with all three on six points.
0 comments:
Post a Comment