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

Read Part I

Group E

Chelsea-Shakhtar3-2 (Torres, Oscar, Moses-Willian (2))

The central match of the day reminded us the previous Champions League. Being dominated and dictated during 90 minutes of the match, Chelsea managed to take all three points in this home match against the Ukrainian champions. Shakhtar lost for the first time since last November, but these things have to happen at some point.

Chelsea introduced Cahill and Bertrand instead of Terry and Cole. Especially the left defender became the biggest topic of the match, as he
couldn’t contain Srna or any Shakhtar player appearing in this wing. So it is not strange that both of the goals were scored after passes from this part of the pitch. But before and after Shakhtar was scoring these goals, the team was occupied with conceding the most stupid goals ever. First it   was Rakitsky, who made a terrible pass to his goalkeeper, then the goalkeeper himself heading the ball towards the central part of the pitch, and finally Mkhitaryan, who decided to dribble in the last seconds of the match and couldn’t prevent Moses of scoring during the subsequent corner kick. The Armenian, by the way, had one of the worst matches in the season. Even changing the t-shirt to another one with short sleeves didn’t help. Shakhtar’s best player, as two weeks ago, was Fernandinho, who controlled the tempo of the match and delivered fine balls to his teammates. The midfielder organized Chelsea’s lulling in the second half. But Di Matteo’s sense of substitutions helped him once again. Victor Moses had substituted Oscar on the 81^st minute.

Juventus-Nordsjælland 4-0 (Marchisio, Vidal, Giovinco, Quagliarella)

After a disappointing 1-1 and a catastrophic defeat from Inter the Italian champions showed what they are made of. The Danes had no chances and were probably lucky to get away with only 4-0.

Standings:

Shakhtar 7

Chelsea 7

Juventus 6

Nordsjælland 1

If Nordsjælland beats Shakhtar by 3 goals and Chelsea by 5, meanwhile Juventus beats the same two, Nordsjælland will get the second play-off ticket. The other three have better chances to qualify. After the nightmare in London, Shakhtar’s chances to go further deteriorated. A win in Copenhagen might not be enough now. A win over Juventus is what they need. However, if Juventus doesn’t win its match against Chelsea, a 0-0 draw will also be enough for Shakhtar, in case they lose to Nordsjælland. Assuming the Danish champions lose in London, Chelsea will need an extra point in Turin, to be sure of a promotion. Actually, if Chelsea and Nordsjælland lose on Tuesday, a stalemate in Donetsk will send Shakhtar and Juventus further and leave the champions with Europa League. As written earlier, each team would get its chance here. Chelsea won exactly where it had to; now it is Juve’s turn. Although, the situation in this group doesn’t let anyone be sure of anything.

Next matches:

Juventus-Chelsea

Nordsjællnad-Shakhtar   

Intrigue: The central match of the day will give us an answer whether it is the title holders or champions of Italy that worsen their situation. It is going to be hard for both to qualify together, and the exit of any of these two will be a huge loss for the tournament.

Group F

Bayern-Lille 6-1 (Schweinsteiger, Pizarro (3), Robben, Kroos-Kalou)

Bayern didn’t give a chance to Lille to survive in the group stage. Even more, they declassified the French visitors and showed them where the exit from the European club competitions is. 34-year-old Claudio Pizarro, who has returned to his former club for a one-year deal, completed the third hat-trick of the tournament. The Peruvian’s achievement is the most impressive of all, as he scored three in just a quarter.

Valencia-BATE 4-2 (Jonas, Soldado, Feghouli (2)-Bressan, Mozolevski)

After scoring three, the Spanish side showed some slapdash play in the back. Many thanks to BATE for not giving up the hope. The Belarusians scored two, but couldn’t do more to save the game.

Standings:

Bayern 9

Valencia 9

BATE 6

Lille 0

Lille is out of Champions League and probably of Europa League, too. To get there Lille will need to win by three goals, then beat Valencia, expecting Bayern to win over BATE. But Europa League is not our topic. For heroic BATE to qualify to Champions League Round of 16, they need to win over Lille, and at least earn a point in Munich, keeping in mind the match in France between Lille and Valencia. It’s much easier for Valencia and Bayern. The Spaniards need maximum 3 points in the two remaining matches, while Bayern will only need to beat BATE in the last match.

Next matches:

Valencia-Bayern

BATE-Lille

Intrigue: The losing team in the Valencia encounter will have a nervous group stage finish. To avoid this, the two superteams are going to fight until the end.     

Group G

Benfica-Spartak 2-0 (Cardozo (2))

As expected, Benfica took what it had to, meanwhile getting back to the play-off candidates’ list. The substitute Cardozo completed a brace to bring the first three points to the Portuguese. The Paraguayan super-sub could even make it three, but he missed a penalty closer to the end of the match. 

Celtic-Barcelona 2-1 (Wanyama, Watt-Messi)

With a ball possession of 74% the Catalans were more than close to beat their opponents, backed by some outstanding audience. However, as it sometimes happens in football, the favorites were hitting the post or being stopped by opponent’s fantastic goalkeeper, while the underdogs managed to score early after a free-kick and organized a quick counterattack by the end of the match. It was not only the home crowd and goalkeeper Fraser Foster that needed to be thanked by Celtic’s Neil Lennon. It was 18-year-old Tony Watt, who came out of the bench and gave a furious victory to the Scottish champions. They are now suddenly hot favorites to qualify for the next round.  

Standings:

Barcelona 9

Celtic 7

Benfica 4

Spartak 3

Celtic made a huge jump towards the next round, as 3 points obtained against Barcelona are not something the other teams can guarantee. 2 points in the last 2 matches will be enough for them to qualify. Barcelona hasn’t guaranteed its place either, but it is going to be easy for them. Even no points in the last two matches might be all right for them. Benfica and Spartak will be there if they both win their remaining matches.

Next matches:

Spartak-Barcelona

Benfica-Celtic

Intrigue: Already knowing the result of the match in Moscow, which probably is not going to be too surprising, Benfica and Celtic will fight for the right to go further. A draw might be OK for Celtic, but Benfica must win to remain a candidate.

Group H

Braga-Manchester United 1-3 (Alan-van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez)

Of course, Manchester United had to concede one before scoring the winning goals. While losing, they were lucky to get a chance to reorganize, as the lightning problems urged the referee to stop the game for a short period. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side is the only one in the tournament to earn 12 points, and is the only one to win the group after only four matches.   

Cluj-Galatasaray 1-3

Two weeks after the previous Champions League matchday Galatasaray had to play against the same club, now commanded by Paolo Sergio. Ioan Andone was sacked after the team failed to win in Turkey. The Portuguese substitute of Andone, however, showed a worse performance, losing to the same Galatasaray at home. Burak Yilmaz scored the fourth hat-trick of the tournament, successfully covering Johan Elmander’s position while the Swede was recovering from an injury.

Standings:

Manchester United 12

Galatasaray 4

Cluj 4

Braga 3

Braga, probably the best of the three fighting for the second place, has to recover after three losses. Depending on Manchester United’s mood, they might be in a worse position in the end, as the other two have more chances to earn points against the Englanders. So 6 points in two matches is the goal for the Portuguese. The other two will need at least a point in their matches against Braga to eliminate them, and try to earn as many points as possible against Manchester United. In the end of the day Galatasaray can afford equal points with Cluj, while the Romanians now depend on Galatasaray’s performance.

Next matches:

Galatasaray-Manchester United

Cluj-Braga  

Intrigue: Will Sir Alex Ferguson, who will probably leave his leaders at home, motivate his team to prevent the extramotivated Galatasaray from the next round?

	League	Pts.
1 (-)	Spain (4)	35
2 (+1)	England (4)	28
3 (-1)	Germany (3)	25
4 (-)	Portugal (3)	17
5 (+1)	Italy (2)	11
6 (-1)	Ukraine (2)	11
7 (+2)	France (3)	10
8 (+3)	Scotland (1)	7
9 (+3)	Greece (1)	6
10 (-1)	Belarus (1)	6
11 (-2)	Russia (2)	6
12 (-2)	Romania (1)	4
13 (+1)	Turkey (1)	4
14 (-2)	Netherlands (1)	4
15 (-)	Belgium (1)	4
16 (-)	Denmark (1)	1
17 (-)	Croatia (1)	0

Life is getting more or less stabile on the table above. The most impressive jump doesn’t exceed 3 points, while the worst dynamics is only -2. Croatia and Denmark have been the worst countries to send delegates to the Champions League this season.

Topscorers:

5 – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real),

4 – Oscar (Chelsea), Soldado (Valencia), Alan (Braga), Yilmaz (Galatasaray), Huntelaar (Schalke 04),

3 – Jonas (Valencia), Pizarro (Bayern), Messi (Barcelona), van Persie, Javier Hernandez (both - Manchester United), Mitroglou (Olympiacos), Eliseu (Malaga), de Jong (Ajax).

3 Best goals of the day: There were 59 goals scored in the 16 matches, which is the highest result so far.

3. Hoarau (PSG) – The goal beautifully summed up Ibrahimovic’s great performance. The Swedish forward played a one-two with Matuidi, slipped, but was still able to pass the ball to Hoarau, who made the score 4-0.

2. Oscar (Chelsea) – And again the Brazilian midfielder scores a beautiful goal in this tournament. This time it was Shakhtar’s goalkeeper, who made the most of the job, badly clearing the ball while being away from his goal. Oscar simply took his time to take a fabulous shot from around 35 meters and got his 4^th goal of the tournament.

1. Kalou (Lille) – scoring a beautiful goal when conceding 6 is not a big consolation, however Kalou’s goal has been the best in this matchday. Enjoy!

Fact of the day: The only team not to lose a point is Manchester United. The team is also the only one that already after 4 matches has booked the first place in its group. Porto and Malaga are also in the play-off, whereas Dinamo Zagreb, Montpellier and Lille are the first teams to give up the hope.

RANKING BEFORE THE FIFTH MATCHDAY

Place	Club
1 (-)	FC Barcelona (Spain)
2 (-)	Real Madrid (Spain)
3 (-)	Man. Utd. (England)
4 (-)	Bayern (Germany)
5 (-)	Borussia D. (Germany)
6 (+2)	PSG (France)
7 (+3)	Juventus (Italy)
8 (-2)	Malaga (Spain)
9 (-2)	Chelsea (England)
10 (-1)	Arsenal (England)
11 (-)	Man. City (England)
12 (-)	Shakhtar D. (Ukraine)
13 (-)	Schalke 04 (Germany)
14 (-)	Porto (Portugal)
15 (-)	Valencia (Spain)
16 (-4)	Milan (Italy)
17 (+1)	Ajax (Netherlands)
18 (+3)	Celtic (Scotland)
19(+2)	Benfica (Portugal)
20(-3)	Zenit (Russia)
21 (-2)	Sp. Braga (Portugal)
22 (-)	Olympiacos (Greece)
23 (-)	CFR Cluj (Romania)
24 (-)	BATE (Belarus)
25 (-)	Dynamo K. (Ukraine)
26 (+3)	Galatasaray (Turkey)
27 (+4)	Anderlecht (Belgium)
28 (-2)	Spartak M. (Russia)
29 (+1)	Nordsjæland (Denmark)

Montpellier, Lille and Dinamo Zagreb are out of the competition, thus out of the ranking, too.

Read about matchday 1, matchday 2 and matchday 3