Champions League 2012-13: The week of the Play-off round draw

Before getting to the article itself, it is important to mention the pairs of the Champions League 2012-13 1/8 finals, decided by the draw earlier on Thursday:

Celtic-Juventus

Valencia-PSG

Real Madrid-Manchester United

Shakhtar-Borussia

Arsenal-Bayern

Porto-Malaga

Milan-Barcelona

Galatasaray-Schalke 04

The major matches of the week:

The match of the week took place in Barcelona, where the home side had to take over Atletico. There were no strange decisions in the starting line-ups, thus no extraordinary tactical surprises for the opponents. Atletico scored the first goal, thanks to some fantastic skills shown by Falcao. It happened on the 31^st minute. By that time the goal looked pretty logical, as

Champions League 2012-13: The sixth matchday, Part II

Read Part I

Group E

Shakhtar-Juventus 0-1 (Kucher (og))

The central match of the day took place in Donetsk, where the Italian champions needed a point to eliminate title holders Chelsea from the group stage. The conspiracy theory of a peaceful agreement

Champions League 2012-13: Tribute to the teams eliminated, Part II

Read Part I

CFR Cluj, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Group H, 6+3=1-2 9-7, Position 3

The Romanian champions got eliminated from the Champions League group stage in the worst of all scenarios. The team won 3 matches, earned a draw, but still was unable to reach the next round. Having huge problems in the domestic league, Cluj, as predicted earlier in the season, shone in the Champions League. The board was ought to change the manager in October, substituting Ioan Andone by Paolo Sergio. The Portuguese gave confidence to the team, which won two of the last group matches, including the noisy win at

Champions League 2012-13: Tribute to the teams eliminated, Part I

There were sixteen teams that said goodbye to the Champions League after the group stage. Some of them deserved a bit more, and some of them, as it happens regularly, were simply too unprepared for the biggest club tournament. The biggest names in this parade of losers are the English teams Chelsea and Manchester City, embarrassingly appeared on the wrong side of the Champions League play-offs. It was a huge blow for the two French teams from Montpellier and Lille to occupy the last position in their groups. Zenit and Benfica didn’t perform on the level expected. BATE, Anderlecht, Cluj and Olympiacos were the teams, enthusiasm of which will be missed in this Champions League.  

Ajax Amsterdam, Netherlands

Group D, 6+1=1-4 8-16, Position 3

Having a decent squad, the Dutch champions were one of the biggest

Champions League 2012-13: The week of Leo Messi's incredible record

The major matches of the week:

With only 16 teams in the center, there are fewer chances to catch big matches. However, it doesn’t mean that we are going to face boring weekends when following the remaining Champions League participants. A fantastic occasion to enjoy a Champions League team was the Manchester derby last Sunday.

Roberto Mancini, now focusing his Manchester City only on the Premier League, introduced Mario Balotelli in front, leaving Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez on the bench. Sir Alex Fergusson’s only surprise was

Champions League 2012-13: The week of Madrid derby and Bayern-Borussia encounter

Champions League said goodbye to half of its participants. 16 teams are not going to be on our weekly focus any more. On the other hand, we will have a better chance to get involved in the remaining teams’ performances. Of the 17 initial leagues, we have only 9 left.

There is a plan to introduce an article in the coming weeks, dedicated to the 16 teams that left the Champions League. There is also going to be presented the promised article about
Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund. 

The major matches of the week:

The Madrid derby between Real and Atletico took place in non-usual circumstances, where

Champions League 2012-13: The sixth matchday, Part I

The last matches of the Champions League had to make the final corrections on the team standings. There were only three tickets available for the next round of Champions League, while Europa League fight was still open in two groups. 

Read about matchday 1, matchday 2, matchday 3, matchday 4 and matchday 5

Group A

Dinamo-Dynamo 1-1 (Krstanovic-Yarmolenko)

The snowy weather was determined to cancel the match between two Dynamos, but the referee decided to get away with a 15-minute suspension. The Maximir stadium was covered in white, to witness the last match of the Croation champions in the Champions League 2012-13. An incredible goal by
Yarmolenko was very close to spoil the Croatian holiday, but on the 93^rd minute of the match the substitute Krstanovic earned a penalty and converted it. The Croatians had finally started to score in this Champions League, but the referee didn’t give them time to do so again. The Ukrainians will restart the European season in another League.

PSG-Porto 2-1 (Thiago Silva, Lavezzi-Jackson Martinez)

The central match of Tuesday had to determine

Champions League 2012-13: The fifth matchday, Part II

Read Part I

Group E

Juventus-Chelsea 3-0 (Quagliarella, Vidal, Giovinco)

Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo introduced no strikers in what it had to become his last Chelsea line-up. It was Hazard, who had to replace Fernando Torres, while Azpilicueta occupied the right winger’s position. These amendments didn’t really shock Juventus, as the team, in its usual line-up, started aggressively and could score the opener pretty quickly. The Italian champions were well aware about Chelsea’s troubles in the left wing, so they were suggesting Lichtsteiner runs all the time. Chelsea’s counterattacks were dangerous. The title holders, however, started to forget about these forward runs somewhere in the beginning of the second half. The main architect of the match, Andrea Pirlo, was
more or less contained by Oscar, but Juventus had Marchisio and Vidal, plus three almost idle defenders, who were good in creating dangerous attacks. This is one of the few matches, where The Old Lady forwards showed great performance and backed the hard work done by their midfielders. In general, it is difficult to say where Di Matteo made his biggest mistake. The champions of champions were simply outperformed by a side, which was much more motivated. The moral condition of the Chelsea has been the case during the whole group stage, to be honest.    

Nordsjælland-Shakhtar 2-5 (Nordstrand, Lorentzen-Luiz Adriano (3), Willian (2))

The most controversial incident of the matchday took place in

Champions League 2012-13: The fifth matchday, Part I

As it usually happens, most of the play-off places got booked after the fifth matchday. PSG, Schalke 04, Arsenal, Milan, Borussia, Real, Shakhtar, Bayern, Valencia and Barcelona joined Porto, Malaga and Manchester United, to leave only three places available. These three places are going to be occupied by

either Juventus or Chelsea, Celtic or Benfica, Galatasaray or Cluj. The other 13 teams will either fight for Europa League tickets or show up to enjoy their last European match of the season.

Read about matchday 1, matchday 2, matchday 3 and matchday 4

Group A

Porto-Dinamo 3-0 (Lucho, Moutinho, Varela)

The Croatian champions came very close to score their first goal of the group stage, hitting the post on one and getting the ball cleared off the line on another occasion. Porto, already qualified, was another story. The team easily scored three to celebrate another victory in this Champions League.

Dynamo-PSG 0-2 (Lavezzi (2))

Despite Oleh Blokhin’s return to the Dynamo bench, the Kyiv side was unable to use their last chance to go further in the Champions League 2012-13. The French visitors, lead by incredible