Loading...UEFA Champion League Result on Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Group D:
Group E:
Group F:
Group G:
Thursday, September 20, 2007
UCL: Slavia Prague 2-1 S Bucuresti: Prague off to a flier
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Goals from Zdenek Senkerik and Tijani Belaid gave Slavia Prague a 2-1 victory over Steaua Bucharest in their Group H Champions League debut on Wednesday.
Senkerik put the home side ahead after 13 minutes, pouncing on the loose ball after forward Stanislav Vlcek's close-range shot was parried by goalkeeper Robinson Zapata.
Steaua levelled in the 33rd minute when defender Dorin Goian headed in from a corner but Belaid made it a winning start for Slavia in their first Champions League appearance with a shot from inside the box in the 63rd minute.
'We lost two players in the first half (to injuries)...but I think we did not really allow the opponents to do anything in the second half,' said Slavia skipper Vlcek.
'We are happy we began like that. We want to enjoy this, everybody knows how long we have waited for this.'
Vlcek missed a great chance to add a third in the 75th minute, failing to score after being clean through on goal.
Steaua manager Gheorghe Hagi was satisfied with their display.
'I am happy with the team's performance, only the final 20 minutes were weaker and one mistake decided the second half,' he said.
Hagi had been under pressure from Steaua's owner Gigi Becali to make two changes in the starting line-up or face leaving the club.
But Hagi only followed one of the demands, putting Valentin Badoi into the starting line-up, while the other, striker Romeo Surdu, only came on as a substitute.
'I picked the players that I was convinced would give the best performance,' Hagi said. 'It is my responsibility.'
Source: Soccernet.com
UCL: PSV 2-1 CSKA Moscow: Lazovic nets again
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Danko Lazovic grabbed his third goal in four matches for PSV Eindhoven as the Dutch champions defeated CSKA Moscow at the Philips Stadion.First-half substitute Kenneth Perez added a second - his first goal for the club - 10 minutes from time as Ronald Koeman's men overcame the challenge of the Russian champions despite Vagner Love's late strike.
Chances were at a premium in a physical first half which featured 17 fouls but the game burst into life in the second period, with PSV edging out their Group G rivals.
Sergei Ignashevich shot over for CSKA Moscow with the first effort of the game after 16 minutes as the teams battled for midfield supremacy.
PSV midfielder Ibrahim Afellay was an early victim of the tough-tackling and was replaced after 28 minutes following a foul by Aleksei Berezutski.
PSV continued to struggle to break down the stern Russian rearguard.
Lazovic was denied by Veniamin Mandrykin from six yards before shooting over.
Danny Koevermans then missed the target with a header from a free-kick after Elvir Rahimic had fouled Perez, who replaced Afellay.
Jason Culina, Koevermans and Lazovic each shot wide before CSKA's Brazil international striker Vagner Love and compatriot Dudu both missed the target at the other end as the half drew to a close.
Culina crossed to the far post three minutes into the second half and Lazovic headed the ball back in front of goal to Koevermans six yards out.
However, the former AZ Alkmaar striker could not make any meaningful contact and spurned the chance to put the hosts in front.
PSV continued to pour forward as they dominated the early exchanges of the second period.
Koevermans latched on to a through ball from Timmy Simons and blasted a shot against the outside of the post, but the assistant referee had already flagged for offside.
Lazovic finally put PSV in front after 59 minutes after Perez's strong run.
The substitute attracted three defenders before laying the ball off for the 24-year-old Serbian, who was composed enough to place the ball past Mandrykin.
Jo cut in from the left four minutes later before forcing Heurelho Gomes to tip over from 25 yards.
Vagner Love then teed-up Yuri Zhirkov who missed the target from eight yards as CSKA tried in vain to level.
Vagner Love had an opportunity when he drove down the right side of the box but the angle was too narrow for him to get a shot on target.
Elvir Rahimic was cautioned for a rugby tackle on the lively Perez before Koevermans made way for Jefferson Farfan.
Perez shot narrowly wide after Farfan had robbed Milos Krasic on the edge of CSKA's area but the Dane got on the scoresheet moments later when his right-foot shot from the edge of the area whipped into the top corner.
CSKA set up a grandstand finish with a minute remaining when Vagner Love rounded Gomes to half the deficit but the home side hung on despite one or two nervy moments.
Source: Soccernet.com
UCL: Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Man Utd: Ronaldo haunts former club
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Cristiano Ronaldo returned in red to haunt former club Sporting Lisbon and ensure Manchester United made a winning start to their latest Champions League quest with a 1-0 victory.
Ronaldo spent seven years wearing Sporting green before he left for Old Trafford in 2003 with a £12.2million price tag and became a megastar.
But the brilliant Portugal winger had warned there would be no old pals act at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, the ground on which he first came to Sir Alex Ferguson's attention in a friendly meeting between the teams four years ago.
And Ronaldo matched his words with deeds as he arrived with perfect timing to finish off Wes Brown's low cross and provide the Red Devils with only their third Champions League away win in 15 encounters.
Having refused to state yesterday whether he would celebrate any goal, Ronaldo restricted himself to a low, double-fisted salute before an almost apologetic bow to the home supporters, who offered the winger a standing ovation when he was replaced by Carlos Tevez four minutes from time.His efforts ensured United headed home with three precious points - but Edwin van der Sar had equal claim on hero status among the visiting faithful, the veteran Dutchman producing two outstanding saves to deny Liedson and Tonel.
At the start of a European campaign which will contain the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash, a tragedy which cost eight fine players their lives and affected the aspirations of not just United but England as well for years afterwards, there has been plenty of talk of providing a fitting on-field tribute to Sir Matt Busby's trail-blazers.
Unfortunately, the opening 45 minutes did not exactly measure up to the task.
With an arduous journey to Kiev next month and an unwanted trip to Italy for the AS Roma rematch, this probably represented United's best chance of an away win in Group F but they failed to impose themselves as Sir Alex Ferguson would have wished.
Not even the return of Wayne Rooney for the first time since he fractured a foot in the opening-day Barclays Premier League draw with Reading could spark the Red Devils into life.
Rooney was the architect of United's one decent chance during the opening period when he found Nani with an excellent far post cross.
Had the teenager taken an instant decision either to shoot or find Ronaldo with a lay-off, the visitors may have profited. Instead, the Portugal winger dallied and Anderson Polga moved in to block.
Other than that, the goalmouth action, such as it was, involved Van der Sar.
It was not as if Rio Ferdinand and the formidable Nemanja Vidic were extended to any great degree, just that Van der Sar found himself being peppered by a series of long-range shots which could easily have gone in with one unfortunate deflection.
Liedson, Marat Izmailov and Leandro Romagnoli all tried their luck at various times but thankfully Van der Sar was in the correct position on each occasion.
The one time when Van der Sar was seriously threatened came just before the half hour when Liedson's curling shot was heading for the top corner.
Even at 36 and with doubts persisting over whether the veteran Dutchman will extend his career beyond the end of the season, Van der Sar had enough spring to push Liedson's well-struck effort wide.
The value of Van der Sar's save was fully realised just past the hour when United took the lead as Ronaldo finished off the best move of the match.
Rooney started it, darting to the left wing to pick up possession which Nani felt entitled to. In an instant, the ball was transferred from one side of the pitch to the other, with Ronaldo, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes all involved.
Wes Brown's cross fell right into the danger zone and with Sporting's defenders at full stretch for the first time in the entire game, up popped Ronaldo in acres of space to inflict maximum damage on his old club from six yards.
For all the obvious flaws in United's performance, the goal summed up why patience and experience are so vital at this level, traits Ferguson has in abundance.
Van der Sar has them in equal measure too and he needed to produce another fine save to turn Tonel's header away before the visitors could start to breathe easily.
Ronaldo and substitute Louis Saha went close near the end but it didn't matter as United eased home.
Source: Soccernet.com
UCL: Rangers 2-1 Stuttgart: Adam boosts Gers
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Charlie Adam helped Rangers claim three vital points from their Champions League opener against Stuttgart, while making a point of his own to manager Walter Smith in the 2-1 win.
The midfielder paid the price for a poor performance in a qualifier against FK Zeta back in July and his involvement since then had been limited to a cameo role in the return leg in Montenegro.
He was thrown back into the top team at Ibrox in place of the suspended Lee McCulloch and made the most of the opportunity by cancelling out Mario Gomez's opener before Jean-Claude Darcheville secured the win from the penalty spot.
Stuttgart have never won on Scottish soil and that record continued, with Rangers putting crucial points on the board before facing Barcelona and Lyon in their forthcoming Group E matches.
Rangers were handed a boost ahead of kick-off with the news that Barry Ferguson had been passed fit to play. The Gers skipper had been a doubt ahead of the match, after aggravating a knee injury in training, but took his place in the starting line-up much to the relief of the 49,795 fans at Ibrox.
Brahim Hemdani was also given the nod, finding himself in the bizarre situation of having started every European game even though his domestic involvement has not extended beyond the first game of the season at Inverness.
It was Rangers who were under pressure in the opening minutes when Roberto Hilbert tried to pick out Gomez with a dangerous cross from the right. Carlos Cuellar intercepted but his clearance smacked off the post on the way out of play as nerves around the stadium jangled.
Ricardo Osorio then tested Allan McGregor with a weak close-range effort before the Rangers goalkeeper appeared to be beaten by a drive from Gomez which fizzed across goal and wide.
At the other end, Ferguson was the provider for Steven Whittaker but his header dipped just over the crossbar from eight yards, failing to trouble Raphael Schafer in the Stuttgart goal.
Rangers gradually began to grow in confidence and Adam tried his luck with an ambitious half-volley from 35 yards, which fell just over the crossbar.
Adam then set up Ferguson for the header in front of goal only for the skipper to glance wide of target as the home side cranked up the pressure on their visitors.
The best chance of the game so far fell to Darcheville, who looked certain to open the scoring. He charged into the box, shrugging off the defenders bearing down on him from either side, only for Schafer to somehow keep his point-blank shot out of the net.
Rangers attempted to grab the game by the scruff of the neck after the break and Ferguson released Whittaker down the right flank with a well-placed pass.
However, Darcheville failed to read the move and make the necessary run into the box, forcing Whittaker to go it alone, his angled drive easily smothered.
There was concern for Rangers when Ferguson suffered a head knock and was forced out of the action for almost five minutes to receive treatment, during which time Stuttgart took advantage of their extra man and surged into the lead.
Gomez demonstrated exactly why he was named Germany's player of the year last season by helping himself to the opener after 55 minutes.
Sami Khedira's pass may have initially been intended for Cacau but he remained static, while Gomez made the run before flicking past McGregor into the back of the net.
Undeterred, Rangers were back on level terms seven minutes later. Alan Hutton's superb run took him past four red shirts before setting up Adam, who gleefully lashed past the helpless Schafer.
Stuttgart tried to hit back through Cacau but the Brazilian hitman was denied by the foot of McGregor, before Whittaker rifled wide at the other end.
Rangers were then gifted the lead when Italian referee Stefano Farina pointed to the spot after a clumsy challenge from Stuttgart skipper Fernando Meira on Hutton.
Darcheville stepped up to blast past Schafer from 12 yards with 74 minutes gone and Ibrox erupted as Rangers secured a crucial victory on match day one.
Source: Soccernet.com
UCL: Arsenal 3-0 FC Sevilla: Convincing start for Gunners
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Arsenal continued to show few signs of missing Thierry Henry as Arsene Wenger's young Gunners swept aside Sevilla 3-0 to get their Champions League campaign off to the perfect start at the Emirates Stadium.
Star man Henry may have been sold to Barcelona during the summer but the rest of the squad have certainly pulled together, racing to the top of the Premier League with four wins from five games.
And it was another composed and collected display to see off the challenge of the Spanish side, coached by Tottenham target Juande Ramos, which was supposed to be the toughest of Group H.An own goal from Julien Escude, deflecting in Cesc Fabregas' shot on 27 minutes, set the Gunners on their way, with Robin van Persie doubling the hosts' lead after the break and substitute Eduardo adding a third in stoppage time.
With the visit of Premier League whipping boys Derby to come on Saturday, Wenger's ``gamble'' in facing up to life with without Henry looks, for now, to have been a bet worth taking.
There was plenty of vocal support from the home crowd, Emirates Stadium packed close to its 60,000 capacity - more than can be said for Stamford Bridge across in west London on Tuesday.
After Jesus Navas had drilled a 20-yard strike only inches over the crossbar, Arsenal slowly upped the tempo.
Van Persie stung the hands of Andres Palop with a fierce drive from the edge of the box after skipping a couple of agricultural challenges from the Sevilla defence.
On 15 minutes, Emmanuel Adebayor slid in as the Sevilla goalkeeper then spilled a low strike from Mathieu Flamini, but the beanpole Togo striker was penalised by the Swedish referee for dangerous play.
Tomas Rosicky gave away a free-kick near the left corner to hand Sevilla a chance to attack the Arsenal goal from a set-piece on 21 minutes.
However, the delivery from one-time Chelsea target Daniel Alves was appalling, sent over into no man's land on the far side and out of play.
The Gunners snatched the lead on 27 minutes.
Fabregas picked the ball up around 22 yards out on the right of the penalty arc and fired in a well-hit shot across the area.
The ball then took a wicked deflection off Escude and flew past the wrong-footed Palop into the opposite corner.
They all count, though, as Fabregas wheeled away to celebrate what he hopes will eventually be credited as a sixth goal of the season.
The Gunners were on top now.
Kolo Toure headed across goal from a corner as the home side looked for a second before half-time.
Arsenal created another decent opening when Adebayor cut in from the left and charged towards the penalty spot.
Having done the hard work, the lanky African then managed to somehow spoon his shot horribly wide.
At the other end, Gunners goalkeeper Manuel Almunia - with little to do so far - had to be alert to beat away an angled drive from Fredi Kanoute.
Arsenal were forced into a change early in the second half when Rosicky went off with what looked like another injury problem for the Czech midfielder, and he was replaced by Abou Diaby.
As the hour mark approached, Arsenal were awarded a free-kick on the left when Alves bundled over Flamini.
The delivery from Fabregas into the six-yard box was flicked on by Bacary Sagna - and Van Persie arrived on cue at the far post to smash the ball home from close range.
With the points now all but safe, Arsenal were able to relax somewhat, yet still needed to be alert to the quick counter-attacks from the Spaniards.
Former Spurs man Kanoute was roundly booed by sections of the home fans when he was on the ball, but it was his run down the right which resulted in a scramble in the Arsenal six-yard box which could easily have been put away.
Arsenal - Champions League finalists in 2006 - just needed to retain focus for the closing stages to ensure a perfect start to their European campaign.
Adebayor flashed a diving header just wide of the far post following a determined run and cross from Sagna down the right.
In stoppage time, substitute Eduardo - the man bought following the sale of Henry - swept home from close range after a neat exchange between Alexander Hleb and Fabregas.
However, Arsenal had already done more than enough to deserve another comfortable victory of what has been an impressive, and perhaps ominous, start to a campaign which was supposed to offer little chance of success without their departed talisman.
Source: Soccernet.com
EPL: Mourinho sacked after Chelsea crisis meeting
Chelsea have confirmed that manager Jose Mourinho has left the Stamford Bridge club by 'mutual consent' after three trophy-laden years at the helm.
A club statement claims that the decision was reached after the launch of a new Chelsea documentary - Blue Revolution - at the Vue cinema in Fulham on Wednesday night, where an emotional Mourinho refused to talk to the press.
However, the rumours of his departure began earlier in the day and claimed that billionaire owner Roman Abramovich called crisis talks following Tuesday night's disappointing 1-1 draw with Norwegian minnows Rosenborg in the Champions League, at which the fractious duo had a furious falling out.
Mourinho is believed to have informed senior players of his departure following training on Wednesday and one of those players insists that the manager has not resigned but has been sacked by the Blues.
Mourinho's rocky relationship with Abramovich was public knowledge and despite an apparent thaw in relations last season the duo were again at odds over the role of £30million striker Andrei Shevchenko and the Blues' dour style of football even before Tuesday's result brought events to a head.
The Portuguese manager, who has won the Champions League with Porto and two Premier League titles as Chelsea manager, was the subject of continual scrutiny last season and hinted at an exit last summer when he admitted he 'was a bit fed up with certain things' at the club.
After three-years at the London club the self-styled 'Special One' is expected to attend training for the final time on Thursday, when he will say good bye to his players.
Chelsea lost their title to Manchester United last season and have started this campaign with some lacklustre displays.
Their last two Premier League games ended in a defeat at Aston Villa and a 0-0 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers, leaving them fifth in the table.
Tuesday's draw with Rosenborg Trondheim in the Champions League was watched by just 25,000 fans.
Chelsea's next match is against Premier League champions Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Source: Soccernet.com
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
No Drogba or Lampard at Old Trafford?
Chelsea could face Manchester United in the biggest game of their season so far without England midfielder Frank Lampard and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba.
Coach Jose Mourinho confirmed that neither player is expected to be back for Sunday's clash at Old Trafford as Chelsea remain in the grip of a goalscoring crisis.
Mourinho admits he is alarmed by Chelsea's failure to score goals but refused to blame his strikers after unfashionable Rosenborg held the English side to a 1-1 draw in their Champions League opener last night.
Miika Koppinen stunned the home side with a 24th-minute volley but Mourinho's blushes were spared by a second-half leveller from Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Lampard (thigh) and Drogba (knee) contributed more than 50 goals last season and Mourinho is bemoaning their absence.
'I am getting no good news from the medical department,' he said. 'I don't think they will be back for Sunday.
'The news is not getting worse but I want them to tell me the players are ready to train. But there is no good news.'
The Portuguese coach was clearly frustrated and alarmed by his team's failure to score more than one goal against the Norwegians even though they created a hatful of opportunities.
Mourinho declared: 'Of course I am alarmed. I am not happy. We cannot score goals.
'I am disappointed but the history of the game was simple, we had 20 chances and scored one goal. So maybe we need 40 chances to score two and 60 to score three.
'Our 20 chances were not enough to score two goals. It is not my strikers it is my team.
'My team played against a team that in my opinion did its game. Like smaller teams do when they visit the better teams, they come here to defend and are organised.
'But Chelsea produced 20 chances and got one in the net. We can speak and speak and speak but we could not score more than one goal. Nobody is happy.'
Mourinho admits that qualifying for the knockout phase will have been made harder by their draw.
He added: 'This was the kind of game you have to win. The kind of game you have to win at home against the weakest team in the group. So it is not a good result.
'But we are not scared of the situation in the Champions League. Maybe it is now more difficult to be first and maybe we need four points against Valencia.
'I don't think it is a drama - for me the drama is that in the last three matches we have dominated games but scored just one single goal.'
Source: Soccernet.com
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