By Scumpool
September 30 2006

Messageboard regular 'Scumpool' reviews the games from Wednesday night's Champions League action. There were comfortable victories for Lyon and Real Madrid in Group E, whilst Glasgow Celtic and Arsenal both did their chances of progression no end of good.

The European Champions League
Wednesday, 27th September 2006

Group E

Steau 0 - 3 Lyon
Another easy win for Lyon, strolling to a 3-0 victory. Fred tapping in after an absolute howler by the Steau keeper. Tiago then scored a fine header but their was slack defending from the corner and then Benzema wrapped it up with a shot across the keeper to the back post which Malouda tried to steal. I still fancy Steau to cause problems in this group but don't be surprised if Lyon achieve a maximum 18 points.

Real Madrid 5 - 1 Dynamo Kiev
Main highlight of the game was Raul returning to form with a brace. His first goals in almost a year. He sneaked in at the back post to score a header after RvN tapped in from three yards following poor goalkeeping. Reyes made it 3 just before half-time with a great finish. He is looking a lot more dangerous with Madrid than he ever was with Arsenal. Raul rounded the keeper after a slack back pass and slotted in number 4. Kiev had pulled one back before this, Shovkovskiy grabbing what was ultimately a consolation. Ruud finished off the rout from the penalty spot to make it 5. Raul, surprisingly, not taking it for his hat-trick! Real back scoring goals but Kiev were unlucky to be three down at HT.

Group F

Benfica 0 - 1 Man Utd
Very, very poor performance by us tonight. After we scored we looked a bit better but we were still extremely poor. The first half was probably the one of the worst 45 minutes I have ever seen us play. There was nothing. At times we had no one in their half of the pitch and ten yards inside our own. The midfield was woeful. Carrick was terrible, he couldn't even play simple 5 yard passes. Scholes looked seriously unfit, it looked like he couldn't run half the time. The system was all wrong though. Why was Carrick going in to the box when he doesn't have a clue what to do when he is in there? We stole a win, Saha with the goal, but its another 3 points and we should qualify now with two games against Copenhagen coming up.

Celtic 1 - 0 Copenhagen
A deserved victory for Celtic. Kenny Miller making it two in two from the spot after Nakamura had deceived the Copenhagen defender in the box and was fouled. They didn't miss Hesselink as many thought they would, they mobility of Miller and Zurawski caused problems. Nakamura was brilliant but frustrating at times as well. McGeady was electric, comfortably the best player on the park. Watch out for this kid, he is destined for bigger things. Copenhagen had some late pressure but we should beat them comfortably as they have no real threat.

Group G

CSKA 1 - 0 Hamburg
Hamburg yet again fail to deliver and looked worse than they did against Arsenal. Dudu won the game for Moscow with a powerful header from a corner just before the hour. Hamburg had a man sent off for the second time in this seasons CL and again it was very harsh. Not a sending off in my opinion. CSKA will be fighting it out with Porto to see who qualifies with Arsenal.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Porto
Henry and Hleb the scorers to give Arsenal a maiden victory at the Emirates. Arsenal deserved the victory as they dominated proceedings. Surprised me to be honest as I thought Porto would have caused them problems. Two out of two for the Gunners and they look dangerous again this season. Could it be 2nd year in a row they make it to the final?

Group H

Lille 0 - 0 AC Milan
Milan were frustrated in France by Lille who held strong to earn a point against one of the main contenders for this years trophy. Milan will rue some missed opportunities, Kaka and Seedorf both guilty of spurning chances, but they will feel they should have won when they had a perfectly good Seedorf goal chopped off for offside. I still fancy Milan to do well this year and this was only a hiccup. On another night it could have been a goal rush.

AEK 1 - 1 Anderlecht
This result can hardly come as a surprise as neither team have faired well in the Champions League. AEK hadn't recorded a victory in twenty games and Anderlecht hadn't faired much better. Anderlecht took the lead through Frutos who started and finished the move with a fine side footed volley into the bottom corner. But AEK struck back only a few minutes later when Julio Cesar managed to get the ball from out of his feet in time to put the ball past the Anderlecht keeper. The game was played in the stadium where the final will be held in May. Lets hope we will be there.

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Tuesday night's results were as follows:

Group A

Levski Sofia 1-3 Chelsea
Werder Bremen 1-1 Barcelona

Group B

Spartak Moscow 1-1 Sporting Lisbon
Inter Milan 0-2 Bayern Munich

Group C

Bordeaux 0-1 PSV Eindhoven
Liverpool 3-2 Galatasary

Group D

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Olympiakos Piraeus
Valencia 2-1 Roma