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
Atletico midfielders had been keen on preventing Barcelona leaders Iniesta, Xavi and Messi any space. Tito Vilanova’s team hadn’t organized a single dangerous attack during the first 30 minutes of the match. Meanwhile, the visitors were really good in rare counterattacks. I think many Barcelona fans recalled the match at Celtic Park by the time the score was 0-1. But sometimes there needs to happen something unexpected to bring Barcelona’s combinational play back. It started to take place only five minutes after the opener. Adriano decided to drop the boring passing and shot from a distance. It went in. On the last minute of the half Barcelona scored from a corner. Atletico’s confidence was destroyed in a moment and Simeone’s break speech didn’t help at all. The second half was the time for us to see the typical Barcelona, with Leo Messi scoring a couple of times. The Argentine keeps on improving that well-discussed record.

One of the biggest days in Istanbul is considered to be the day of the derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. This day was the 16^th of December. The atmosphere in the stadium was extremely hot, as it usually is in local derbies. The match was won by Fatih Terim’s team, with the winner scored by captain Selcuk Inan from a direct free-kick already on the 23^rd goal. Disappointingly, there was not much to watch after this. The teams went into some intense fight, not organizing many dangerous attacks. Such a match couldn’t finish without an expulsion. When you don’t notice a quality player in the top European leagues for quite a while, look for him in Turkey. Raul Meireles, currently defending Fenerbahce’s colors, was sent off after collecting two yellow cards. As Besiktas lost points in its match, Galatasaray became pretty confident on top of the table. 5 points separate the champions from the closest followers.

Paris Saint-Germain had been in a bad form recently, losing many points in the last matches. Carlo Ancelotti’s team had a chance to erase the effect of the period by winning a top clash against Olympique Lyon. It was easy to notice that the teams had a lot to lose. There was not much risk, just tactical movements. In the end of the day it was the excellence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Javier Pastore over the opponent’s players that decided the destiny of the match. From time to time the Swedish star of PSG was reminding the world about his ambitions to take the FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy this year. It was him who dribbled away from a couple of Lyon players on the right flank to deliver a fantastic cross to Blaise Matuidi on the 45^th minutes. The Frenchman opened the score with a header, which was one of the total three shots on goal in that match. Ibrahimovic got also caught for stepping on opponent’s player, but the referee was silent. PSG, Lyon and Marseille have all 35 points now before the last match of the first round. The Paris team has got the best goal difference in the league.

   

Highlights of the week:

-          Robin van Persie scored his 12^th goal in the English Premier League, becoming a co-topscorer again,

-          Santiago Cazorla scored a hat-trick to help Arsenal win and climb as high as the 5^th position,

-          Schalke 04 is in a winter crisis: following some negative results, the team has appeared on the 7^th position. Jens Keller’s team was beaten on its way to the domestic cup quarterfinal this week,

-          Vitoria Setubal-Porto match was postponed due to weather conditions. This leaves Portoon the second position, having played a match less than Benfica,

-          Juventus became winter champions of Italy two matches before the Italian Serie A participants reach the equator.

The upcoming weekend:

The crazy Christmans race in England is starting. Teams will play 4 matches in 10 days.

The match of the week will again take place in Spain. Now it is going to be a hot encounter between two Champions League Play-off participants Malaga and Real Madrid. An interesting match between Roma and Milan will take place in Italy. Germany, having finished with the first round of Bundesliga, is joining the holiday. The second round will start in 4 weeks. The Portuguese League will also restart in the next year. 

Club	Last Matches	Next match	Position in the domestic league
Arsenal (England)	17.12 Reading (A) 5-2	22.12 Wigan (A)	5
Man. Utd. (England)	15.12 Sunderland (H) 3-1	23.12 Swansea (A)	1
FC Barcelona (Spain)	16.12 Atletico (H) 4-1	22.12 R. Valladolid (A)	1
Real Madrid (Spain)	16.12 Espanyol (H) 2-2	22.12 Malaga (A)	3
Valencia (Spain)	16.12 Rayo Vallec. (H) 0-1	21.12 Getafe (H)	11
Malaga (Spain)	15.12 Sevilla (A) 2-0 18.12 Eibar (Cup) 1-1	22.12 Real Madrid (H)	4
Bayern (Germany)	14.12 Borussia M. (H) 1-1 18.12 Augsburg (Cup)	19.01 Greuther F. (H)	1
Borussia D. (Germany)	16.12 Hoffenheim (A) 3-1 19.12 Hannover (Cup) 5-1	19.01 Werder (A)	3
Schalke 04 (Germany)	15.12 Freiburg (H) 1-3 18.12 Mainz (Cup) 1-2	18.01 Hannover (H)	7
Porto (Portugal)	19.12 Nacional (Cup) 2-0	30.12 Estoril (Cup)	2
Galatasaray (Turkey)	16.12 Fenerbahce (H) 2-1	23.12 Trabzonspor (A)	1
Juventus (Italy)	16.12 Atalanta (H) 3-0	21.12 Cagliari (A)	1
Milan (Italy)	16.12 Pescara (H) 4-1	22.12 Roma (A)	7
PSG (France)	16.12  Lyon (H) 1-0	21.12 St. Brestois (A)	1
Shakhtar D. (Ukraine)	01.12 Kryvbas (A) 2-0 05.12 Juventus (H) 0-1	02.03 Volyn (H)	1
Celtic (Scotland)	08.12 Kilmarnock (A) 3-1 12.12 Arbroath (Cup) 1-0	15.12 St. Mirren (H)	1