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

Read the first part here

Group E

Shakhtar-Chelsea 2-1 (Alex Teixeira, Fernandinho-Oscar)

The Ukrainian champions messed everything up in this group not only winning over the title holders, but also overperforming them in every component. They scored a goal in each half, and controlled the game all over the time. Only in the last 5 minutes the Ukrainian side gave Chelsea some air to breath. Oscar managed to become a goalscorer, but this was not enough to save the team from a defeat. One may claim that Lampard’s injury in the first half became crucial. In fact,
the substitute Hazard implemented other tasks than Lampard, and it was him, who gave the ball away when Shakhtar scored the second one. But this is only half of the problem. Chelsea was all over the place. 

Shakhtar shocked Chelsea with quick passing. The five-star attack, comprised of Fernandinho, Mkhitaryan, Alex Teixeira, Willian and Luiz Adriano, was at its best. Normally matches can develop in various scenarios, but this was the case, when Lucescu’s tactics worked exactly the way he planned: Hubschmann was helping the defenders, Srna and Rat were joining the attacks from the wings, Fernandinho was delivering the ball forward, Mkhitaryan was confusing the defenders, while Willian, Alex Teixeira and Luiz Adriano were taking all that’s left; in this case – shooting and scoring. Chelsea’s slow defenders couldn’t react to this disastrous tempo. John Obi Mikel, David Luiz and John Terry had a dreadful match. And if not Peter Cech, the score could have been much worse for Londoners. This was the first loss of Roberto di Matteo in Champions League.  

Nordsjællnad-Juventus 1-1 (Beckmann-Vucinic)

Juventus arrived to Denmark to register an easy win, but, as it usually happens in such situations, they took fewer points than planned. After the tight match against Napoli the Italian champions decided to give rest to at least 4 players. This meant De Ceglie and Isla in the wings. These two had to become the strength of Juve’s attacks, but they were way too passive. The result was a 1-1 draw, despite the 18 corners, 30 overall and 15 on target shots executed by the visitors. They will have to press the opponent from the first minutes of the match, if they want to win matches in Champions League. Concerned the Danish champions, credit to them for playing their own football. They didn’t panic and were inspired by their goalkeeper Jesper Hansen, who was the best goalkeeper of the third matchday.

Standings:

Shakhtar 7

Chelsea 4

Juventus 3

Nordsjælland 1

Next matches:

Chelsea-Shakhtar

Juventus-Nordsjælland

Intrigue: This is the group where no team has secured anything yet. Juventus’s and Chelsea’s stakes went a bit down after unconvincing performances away from home, but everything is going to be decided during the next matchdays. Chances are there to take. On the 7^th of November it is Chelsea’s turn to perform. If they don’t win over Shakhtar at Stamford Bridge, they might face big problems in future, considering they still have a visit to Turin left. As for Shakhtar, they need to forget the standings ahead of three difficult matches. Just a point from London could become the key for their advancement. Match of the day is Chelsea-Shakhtar.

Group F

Lille-Bayern 0-1 (Mueller)

Lille showed the third pale performance in a row. There is not much to play for any more. Bayern, unlike its visit to Minsk, took what it came for.

BATE-Valencia 0-3 (Soldado (3))

The second hat-trick of Champions League 2012-13 was completed by Roberto Soldado, who followed Cristiano Ronaldo’s example in the second matchday. BATE’s fairy tale had to end at some point. As predicted earlier, the team’s first victories were rather single successful cases than patterns. It was obvious that the team didn’t possess the necessary resources to survive in such a tough tournament as Champions League. Although they have equal points with Valencia and Bayern, I don’t see any possibilities for them to beat these two and advance to the next round. Even a point in Spain, which could be a heroic achievement in other circumstances, is not going to save them. In this particular match Valencia was the luckiest of all to be the third to play against BATE. Now they knew what they had to face and stamped their victory exactly the way the stronger team had to do. BATE got disappointed after they conceded first from a penalty, which they thought was unfairly given. They stopped playing after this.    

Standings:

Valencia 6

BATE 6

Bayern 6

Lille 0

Next matches:

Valencia-BATE

Bayern-Lille

Intrigue: If they lose in Munich, Lille will be officially out of Champions League only after 4 matches, so this is going to be now or never for the Frenchmen. 

Group G

Spartak-Benfica 2-1 (Carioca, Jardel (og)-Lima)

The match became famous for bringing the first points to Spartak and the first scoring to Benfica in the current Champions League. The weather in Moscow is getting worse and worse (attention, Barcelona).

Barcelona-Celtic 2-1 (Iniesta, Jordi Alba-Samaras)

Celtic dug in defense to hold Barcelona and get advantage over the other two in the group. They almost made it: scored a goal first, but conceded by the end of each halves.

Standings:

Barcelona 9

Celtic 4

Spartak 3

Benfica 1

Next matches:

Benfica-Spartak

Celtic-Barcelona

Intrigue: Because the only intrigue in this group concerns the fight for the second place, the match in Lisbon is vital from this perspective. Benfica’s toughest matches are behind, and the circumstances assume that only 1 point after three matches can still become a base for a second-place hope. The Portuguese must show some initiative eventually, otherwise they will be shamefully out of a group, where they initially could count on advancement. Spartak should be satisfied with a point, but they don’t know how to play for a draw in Russia. A very interesting match is going to take place.

Group H

Manchester United-Braga 3-2 (Hernandez (2), Evans-Alan (2))

A phenomenal result by Manchester United! This reminds me of a typical Brazilian team, where nobody cares about defense as long as the attack is all right. And the match showed that Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are not the only topics when Manchester United attack is discussed. Ferguson’s team was the only English side not to lose in this matchday, although their performance was not much better than Arsenal’s, Manchester City’s and Chelsea’s. 

Galatasaray-Cluj1-1 (Yilmaz-Nounkeu (og))

The match in Istanbul was the most nervous of all, played under the worst weather conditions and produced the only red card of the matchday (there was one in the first matchday and four in the second). Galatasaray could score its first goal much earlier, but Felipe Melo missed a penalty. The equalizer came on the 77^th minute, after the opposition had played a man down for around 50 minutes.

Standings:

Manchester United 9

Cluj 4

Braga 3

Galatasaray 1

Next matches:

Braga-Manchester United

Cluj-Galatasaray

Intrigue: The heavy defeat in the first matchday deteriorated Braga’s chances to go further in this season’s Champions League. But the quality of their play gives big hopes to their fans. The win over Manchester United can make both the fans and the situation in the group ignore the defeat to Cluj. But Sir Alex Ferguson will never agree to a defeat, so the match is going to be entertaining. 

	League	Pts.
1 (-)	Spain (4)	30
2 (+1)	Germany (3)	20
3 (-1)	England (4)	20
4 (-)	Portugal (3)	13
5 (-)	Ukraine (2)	10
6 (+1)	Italy (2)	7
7 (+2)	France (3)	7
8 (-2)	Belarus (1)	6
9 (+7)	Russia (2)	6
10 (-)	Romania (1)	4
11 (-3)	Scotland (1)	4
12 (-)	Greece (1)	3
12 (+2)	Netherlands (1)	3
14 (-1)	Turkey (1)	1
15 (-4)	Belgium (1)	1
16 (+1)	Denmark (1)	1
17 (-2)	Croatia (1)	0

Spain is already unreachable in the table above, while the fight for the second place got more interesting after the disappointing performance from the English teams. Russian teams promoted their league by 7 positions after they took 3 points each in their 3^rd round matches. The only league without any points is Croatia.

Topscorers: Cristiano Ronaldo added another goal to his account, making it 5 goals in three matches. Chelsea’s Oscar and Schalke’s Huntelaar scored a goal each, while Valencia’s captain Soldado scored a hat-trick. These three players have scored 3 goals in this group stage and will try to follow Ronaldo.

3 Best goals of the day:  As in matchday 1, there were 43 goals scored.  The best three of them were the following:

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real) – Mesut Oezil, running with the ball in his own half, noticed Ronaldo’s run in the left wing and crossed the ball, cutting Dortmund’s formation. The Portuguese noticed Weidenfeller’s forward run and chipped the ball over the keeper’s head.

2. Mikkel Beckmann (Nordsjælland) – The Dane scored with a direct shot from a free-kick of Pirlo’s distance. Buffon could only reach the ball with fingertips, but saving such a ball was not realistic.

1. Roberto Soldado (Valencia) – When you score a hat-trick, you increase the probability of scoring the most beautiful goal. Enjoy Soldado’s second goal in the match against BATE.

Fact of the day: This was the worst ever English week in Champions League in 9 years, as three out of four teams lost.

RANKING BEFORE THE FOURTH MATCHDAY

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