Cesare Prandelli’s Fiorentina had a familiar look about them as they took to the pitch for round two of their encounter with Bayern Munich. The Tuscan side lined up in the same 4-2-3-1 formation that featured in a now infamous 2-1 loss in Munich, with two personnel changes: Cristiano Zanetti replaced Mario Bolatti in central [...]
Arsenal produced a dominant attacking performance this evening at the Emirates Stadium to defeat Porto 5-0 and march onto the quarter finals of the Champions League. Two first half goals from Nicklas Bendtner set the tone for the evening, and further strikes from the influential Samir Nasri, a fourth from Emannuel Eboue, and a hat-trick [...]
Real Madrid’s now annual last 16 Champions League jinx struck again on Wednesday night, with French outfit Olympique Lyonnais the grateful benefactors of their inability to shine at the knockout stages. Commanding a 1-0 lead from their home leg, Claude Puel’s well organised, disciplined side learned their lesson from last season’s second leg capitulation against [...]
Manchester United made history as they eliminated AC Milan for the first time in European competition, having never beaten the Italians over two legs before. It was more than comfortable in the end, with Wayne Rooney grabbing a brace before Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher put the icing on the cake. The Rossoneri started the [...]
Bordeaux will take a slender lead into the second leg of their last-16 Champions League match against Olympiacos after a 1-0 victory at the Karaiskakis Stadium. Despite being outplayed for much of the first half, Michael Ciani gave the visitors the lead on the stroke of half-time with a header from a Yoann Gourcuff free-kick. [...]
Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a precious second-half equaliser for holders Barcelona who snatched a 1-1 Champions League last-16 first-leg draw with plucky Stuttgart. The hosts dominated the first half of the encounter and deservedly took the lead when Cacao headed powerfully into the back of the net. The German side missed a host of further chances [...]
A superb strike from Jean Makoun gave Lyon the narrowest of leads after the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash with Real Madrid. The backtracking Real defence let Makoun surge forward and the Cameroon midfielder took advantage to blast a right-footed shot into the top corner. Lyon could have been further in [...]
Two Wayne Rooney headers midway through the second-half gave Manchester United a 3-2 win at Milan in a pulsating Champions League last 16 first leg. Milan took an early lead through a deflected Ronaldinho volley only to see a fortunate Paul Scholes strike level matters before half-time. Rooney finished both headers brilliantly for a 3-1 [...]
Manchester United will face former midfielder David Beckham in the last 16 of the Champions League after they were paired with AC Milan in the draw. It will be the first time since his 2003 departure that Beckham has faced the club where he made his name, with his return set for 9/10 or 16/17 [...]
Manchester United 0-1 Besiktas: Turkish Side Stuns Old Trafford Manchester United are not guaranteed first place in their group as they went down 1-0 to Besiktas, with a Rodrigo Tello goal ending their streak of not losing a group stage game at Old Trafford for eight years. Sir Alex Ferguson sent out an inexperienced team [...]
Porto 0-1 Chelsea: Nicolas Anelka Strike Silences Estádio Do Dragão Blues secure three points and top spot in group D… Both Chelsea and Porto headed into this clash with qualification to the knock-out stages of the Champions League assured. The battle between the sides inside the Estadio do Dragao was to determine who would top [...]
Arsenal cemented their position at the top of Group H with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Standard Liege. First half strikes from Samir Nasri and Denilson, both recently returning from injury, were enough to see off a Belgian side who struggled to deal with the home side’s passing football. Standard struck the crossbar and post [...]
Liverpool out of the Champions League despite Ngog goal… Liverpool did all they could to keep their Champions League hopes alive, but in the end it just wasn’t enough. A David Ngog goal gave the Reds all three points on the night against Debrecen but thanks to Fiorentina’s win in Lyon, the 2005 champions go [...]
