© EuroFootball.com
In the Champions League, the remaining group stage matches of the second round took place on Wednesday, which were much more fiercely contested than the matches on Tuesday - only two teams failed to score goals. The defending champions "Barcelona" club narrowly avoided defeat in Germany at the end of the match, another setback was experienced by one of the favorites "Inter", while "Chelsea", "Bayern", and "Valencia" added another win to their accounts. In Group A, the champion "Barcelona" club lost their first points, playing a 1-1 draw with "Werder" in Bremen. The hosts didn't give in to the title-holding opponents, confirming that their coach Thomas Schaaf's speeches about victory were not just empty words. In the 56th minute, the Germans took the lead when after a pass from Aaron Hunt, "Barca" captain Carles Puyol, fighting with Tim Borowski, tried to clear the ball from the goal but ended up scoring an own goal. In the 1st round, C. Puyol had also scored in the opponents' goal. After ten minutes, the Catalans' coach Frank Rijkaard replaced strikers Samuel Eto‘o and Ludovic Giuly with Eidur Gudjohnsen and Lionel Messi. It was Messi who saved the visitors when in the 89th minute, after exchanging passes with Deco, he coldly sent the ball into Tim Wiese's goal. In this match, "Barcelona" striker Samuel Eto‘o suffered an injury and had to be carried away from the field. In the other group match in Sofia, "Chelsea" easily defeated "Levski" 3-1. In the ranks of the London club, Didier Drogba scored a hat-trick, while the hosts got a consolation goal at the end of the match from Mariyan Ognyanov. In Group B, for the second time this season, ambitious Milan "Inter" stumbled. In the even match against "Bayern", the hosts mostly tried to go head to head with German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. However, the visitors' defenders did not make mistakes and "Inter" hit the woodwork 8 times, even 5 times Hernan Crespo found himself in an offside position. The crucial moment was in the middle of the 2nd half when former "Juventus" striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw his second yellow card. "Bayern" gradually took the initiative and waited for their chance - in the 81st minute, after Mehmet Scholl's pass from a few meters away, Julio Cesar was beaten by Claudio Pizarro, for whom this was the 20th goal in the Champions League. Soon after, "Inter" completely capitulated - in the 85th minute, Fabio Grosso also received a red card, and in extra time, the visitors secured the victory with Lukas Podolski, who appeared on the field only in the 89th minute, replacing the same C. Pizarro. In the earlier match in Moscow, "Spartak" and "Sporting" shared points with a 1-1 draw. Already in the 5th minute, Denis Bojarintsev brought the Russians forward with a penalty kick, making his debut in the Champions League. "Spartak" continued to attack more frequently, but failed to score a second goal, and in the 59th minute, the result was leveled by the Portuguese Nani. A real thriller took place in the Group C match at Liverpool's "Anfield" stadium, where "Liverpool" hosted Istanbul's "Galatasaray". In a high-speed match, "Liverpool" took a 2-0 lead by the 14th minute after goals from Peter Crouch and Luis Garcia. The hosts continued at a high pace and in the 52nd minute, Peter Crouch scored a goal of rare beauty while falling over himself after a pass from Steve Finnan - 3-0. After a few minutes, Steven Gerrard hit the post. Just when it seemed that "Galatasaray" was going to collapse, Turkish striker Ümit Karan scored. Just after the break, the striker appeared on the field and scored two consecutive goals with his head, bringing excitement back to the match. Towards the end of the match, the Brits had to work hard to withstand the pressure from the visitors and maintain the winning result. Meanwhile, in France, "Bordeaux" lost 0-1 to Eindhoven's "PSV" team. Bordeaux players, as expected of the hosts, attacked more often, while the visitors from the Netherlands paid more attention to their goalkeeping and only took 3 shots on goal throughout the match. However, luck was on the side of the "PSV" team - they scored the only goal of the match, in the 65th minute through the Finnish player Mika Vayrynen. The visitors retained the winning result, despite losing defender Michael Lamey to a red card in the 85th minute. In the central Group D match, "Valencia" faced "Roma". In the 13th minute, after receiving a pass from David Villa, Miguel Angulo took the hosts into the lead with a precise shot. In the 18th minute, in the penalty area, "Valencia" defender Emiliano Moretti grabbed and brought down his opponent Marco Cassetti. The resulting penalty kick was converted by Francesco Totti, who celebrated his 30th birthday that evening. However, in the 29th minute, "Valencia" was back in the lead when D. Villa scored a goal. After the break, the hosts completely controlled the situation on the field. They managed to "turn off" Francesco Totti from the game. "Roma" failed to even put pressure on the opponents' goal. On the contrary, the score could have increased on several occasions. In the other group matches, "Shakhtar" and "Olympiacos" played a 2-2 draw in Donetsk. The hosts, despite having a substantial playing advantage, had to twice chase the visitors. Wednesday's match results Group A Chelsea 3-1 Levski Barcelona 1-1 Werder Group B Sporting 1-1 Spartak Inter 0-2 Bayern Group C Liverpool 3-2 Galatasaray Bordeaux 0-1 PSV Group D Valencia 2-1 Roma Shakhtar 2-2 Olympiacos Group Standings: (Played, won, drawn, lost, goals, goal difference, points) 1. Chelsea 2 2 0 0 5-1 +4 6 2. Barcelona 2 1 1 0 6-1 +5 4 3. Werder 2 0 1 1 1-3 -2 1 4. Levski 2 0 0 2 1-8 -7 0 1. Bayern 2 2 0 0 6-0 +6 6 2. Sporting 2 1 1 0 2-1 +1 4 3. Spartak 2 0 1 1 1-5 -4 1 4. Inter 2 0 0 2 0-3 -3 0 1. PSV 2 1 1 0 1-0 +1 4 2. Liverpool 2 1 1 0 3-2 +1 4 3. Bordeaux 2 0 1 1 0-1 -1 1 4. Galatasaray 2 0 1 1 2-3 -1 1 1. Valencia 2 2 0 0 6-3 +3 6 2. Roma 2 1 0 1 5-2 +3 3 3. Olympiacos 2 0 1 1 4-6 -2 1 4. Shakhtar 2 0 1 1 2-6 -4 1
