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
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were solid. Zlatan assisted for the fifth time in the last two Champions League matches, while Ezequiel Lavezzi opened the score to his goals. 

Standings:

Porto 13

PSG 12

Dynamo 4

Dinamo 0

The fight in the group is over. Porto and PSG beat Dynamo and Dinamo. Europa League is waiting for the Ukrainian Dynamo, while the Croatian team is again going to leave the Champions League on the earliest occasion.

Next matches:

Dinamo K –Dynamo Z

PSG-Porto

Intrigue: The only intrigue left in this group is the question of the first place. A draw in Paris is enough for Porto to win the group, while PSG will have to win. Because all the group winners and runners-up are known, this will be the most intriguing match of the 4^th of December.  

Group B

Schalke 04-Olympiacos 1-0 (Fuchs)

The Greek players needed 13 more minutes to stand to remain hopeful of a survival in this Champions League. But a 30-meter shot from Christian Fuchs simply cut the exhausted defense of the visitors. Klaas Jan Huntelaar missed some decent chances to remain in the topscorer run.

Arsenal-Montpellier 2-0 (Wilshere, Podolski)

There was not much to fight for the French champions in this match. Arsenal easily earned the necessary three points to qualify for the Round of 16, scoring two in the second half. Arsenal’s new hero Lukas Podolski scored a beautiful goal in Robin van Persie style. 

Standings:

Schalke 04 11

Arsenal 10

Olympiacos 6

Montpellier 1

Schalke 04 and Arsenal, as expected, earned the two next round places. The Greek champions will try themselves in Europa League, while the French champions Montpellier experienced a group stage to forget. 

Next matches:

Olympiacos-Arsenal

Montpellier-Schalke 04

Intrigue: Who will be seeded as group winners? Both Arsenal and Schalke 04 will need to win, to hope for such a privilege.

Group C

Zenit-Malaga 2-2 (Buonanotte, Seba-Danny, Fayzulin)

Pellegrini brought its reserve team to St. Petersburg. It didn’t prevent the troubled Zenit from conceding its traditional early goals. This time it happened after 7 minutes, when Buonanotte and Seba scored goals in a spell of 90 seconds. The Russian champions recovered in the second half, showing some great football. They managed to score two. Especially interesting was the episode preceding the last goal, when Danny appeared at the right place at the wrong time, to suddenly stop the ball on its way to appearing behind the opponent’s net. A draw was, however, not enough for the home side, which has become one of the biggest disappointments of the tournament.

Anderlecht-Milan 1-3 (De Sutter-El Shaarawy, Mexes, Pato)

Milan is starting to improve. The Champions League group stage minimal goal is achieved for Allegri’s team. The team didn’t show anything extraordinary in Belgium, but nobody was expecting them to do so. Only few attacks of the Italian team produced three goals, responded by only one Belgian scoring.

Standings:

Malaga 11

Milan 8

Zenit 4

Anderlecht 4

Unlike the first two groups, here the winners and runners-up are already known: Malaga has won the group and Milan will follow them to the next round. Zenit and Anderlecht will leave the prestigious tournament after the last group stage matches.

Next matches:

Milan-Zenit

Malaga-Anderlecht

Intrigue: There are no intrigues related to the Champions League any more. Zenit and Anderlecht have a chance to move to Europa League, therefore they will be extra motivated against non-motivated hosts in Italy and Spain.

Group D

Man City-Real 1-1 (Benzema-Aguero)

It was the match, where Manchester City had to win, if they wanted to remain a candidate for a play-off round. It was Edin Dzeko, who was trusted to play from the beginning, while Carlos Tevez could have become a golden substitute for Roberto Mancini. In the opposition camp the main change was related to Mesut Oezil, who had been taken away in favour of Luka Modric. The Croation fully justified manager’s trust, playing an important role in Real’s tactics. The match will be remembered for Real’s total dominance. Benzema and Real scored only once, having a huge amount of chances during the match. It took place already on the 9^th minute, when Angel Di Maria’s fantastic cross was finished by the witty Frenchman. Sergio Aguero managed to equalize converting a penalty.

Mancini might claim that the game was developing by his strategy to wait and bite at the end of the match. The chance was given, but the Italian failed to elaborate on the awarded penalty and the expulsion of the opponent’s player. It was clear, that Real was much more organized and determined. They outperformed the home side in every part of the pitch, even when playing with 10 men after the 73^rd minute. A bright example of this was the 17^th minute statistics shown to the broadcast watchers, when the shots (on target) were the following: 0(0) vs 7(5) in favour of Mourinho’s side. The statistics were probably shown to Mancini as well, as immediately after this he moved to 4 defenders, moving Kolarov into midfiled. City’s football became livelier, but it still didn’t get to the level to beat Real. The best period of the match was the first 20 minutes of the second half, when Kolarov was substituted by Javi Garcia. After conceding the goal, Mourinho locked the match. Mancini could do nothing, even having Tevez as the second forward. In general, Manchester City was chanceless in that particular match and in the group stage overall. They were deservedly eliminated and there cannot be any excuses for Roberto Mancini at all.  

Ajax-Borussia 1-4 (Hoesen-Reus, Goetze, Lewandowski (2))

Yet another home disaster for Ajax ending with a 1-4 defeat. The Dutch champions weren’t ready to cope with Borussia’s inspiring attack. The young players from Amsterdam kept on losing positions to the opponent during the whole match, so the score pretty much reflects what happened on the pitch. Borussia proved its serious intentions in this Champions League once again, meanwhile securing the first place in the group.  

Standings:

Borussia 11

Real 10

Ajax 4

Manchester City 3

The German and Spanish champions have already occupied their final positions in the group. Real Madrid cannot win the group any more, which makes the other group leaders think twice before attempting to win their groups. Whether it is the Dutch or English champions that lead to the Europa League will be decided in the last matchday.

Next matches:

Real Madrid-Ajax

Borussia-Manchester City

Intrigue: Despite the promotion, it is hard to believe that Real or Borussia will ignore their fans in the last matchday of the group stage. On the other hand, Ajax and Manchester City will have to try their best to catch the Europa League train.

Read Part II