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Just like on Tuesday, in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday in the third round of matches, there were hardly any bigger surprises. In the most anticipated match, "Barcelona" avenged last season's failure in the quarter-finals by beating "Chelsea", while elsewhere all the favorites celebrated victories - "Bayern", "Valencia" and "PSV" secured their third win, while "Liverpool", "Roma" won, and for the first time, the "Inter" and "Werder" teams emerged victorious.
The two main favorites of the Champions League, "Chelsea" and "Barcelona", met for the third consecutive season in London, but this time the main English club's goalkeepers' injuries overshadowed everything approaching the match. Therefore, in the ranks of the "Blues", goalkeeper Hilario from Portugal made his debut, while in the Catalan team, the injured Samuel Eto'o was replaced by former "Chelsea" forward Eidur Gudjohnsen.
At the beginning of the match, neither team created any dangerous chances, and perhaps the first serious attack was carried out by "Barcelona" when Gianluca Zambrotta failed to hit the ball after a Deco pass. The hosts of the "Stamford Bridge" stadium soon created a dangerous attack themselves - after Michael Essien's drive and pass, Didier Drogba burst into the penalty area and beat goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, the ball reached Andriy Shevchenko, but just as he was about to score, Rafael Marquez stumbled him in the final moment, and after a corner kick, the Ukrainian striker unsuccessfully played with his head.
The match intensified, and after a pass from Xavi to the edge of the penalty area, Lionel Messi's shot was blocked by Hilario, who soon blocked a shot by Xavi from 10 meters with his left foot. Later, Messi tried from a distance, but missed the target, as did Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack. The first intriguing encounter ended without goals.
In the second half, D. Drogba decided the victory for "Chelsea" at the beginning of the second half when he received a long pass from Ashley Cole in the penalty area and, trying to escape the attention of Carles Puyol, technically hit the ball sideways and turned to score a precise strike into the corner of V. Valdes' goal. Just like the stunning goal he scored against Liverpool in the English Premier League match, the striker led the London team ahead - 1-0.
"Barca" tried to equalize and Ronaldinho threatened the opponents' goal with a header and a penalty kick, but the visitors had the chance to double the score about an hour into the match when, first in a quick counterattack, M. Essien spared his teammates, and later after a pass from F. Lampard, A. Shevchenko found himself one-on-one with V. Valdes, but he shot over the goal.
As the match continued, V. Valdes saved D. Drogba's shot, L. Messi hit the crossbar with his head, Hilario caught Deco's shot, Arjen Robben failed to score after a pass from the edge, and the result remained unchanged. "Chelsea" won and rose to the first place in the group, while for the "Barcelona" team, it was the first defeat in the league since March 2005 when the Spanish team suffered a loss in the same stadium.
In another match in Group A, "Werder" from Bremen won 2-0 at home against "Levski" from Sofia, with both goals scored by Brazilians - just before the break, defender Naldo scored from a penalty kick from 30 meters, and in the 73rd minute, the Bulgarian goalkeeper was beaten by forward Diego. This victory allowed the German club to level points with "Barcelona" and keep their hopes alive to compete for the second place.
Without dropping any points, the leader of Group B, Munich's "Bayern", defeated Lisbon's "Sporting" team away from home. The only goal was scored in the 19th minute by Bastian Schweinsteiger, who shot from 28 meters away. At the beginning of the second half, the goal scorer was sent off the field, and the hosts had the opportunity to equalize - defender Anderson Polga came closest to looping the ball into the net, but the Bavarians held on and secured their third victory.
Only the Milanese "Inter" recorded three points in their account. The coach of the Italian champions, Roberto Mancini, unexpectedly decided to leave stars like Adriano and Hernan Crespo on the bench, and instead fielded Julio Cruz and Alvaro Recoba. This decision paid off, as just two minutes after A. Recoba's penalty kick caused chaos in the penalty area, J. Cruz sent the ball into the net with a strong shot, and in the 9th minute, A. Recoba made a precise pass from the edge, and his partner headed in his second goal.
After the hosts failed to score later, missing great opportunities with Denis Bojarintsev, Vladimir Bystrov's attempt with the heel was inaccurate, and goalkeeper Julio Cesar saved Mozart's shot. Meanwhile, in the second half, "Inter" almost doubled their lead when Lui Figo hit the crossbar. The substitute Quincy Owusu-Abeyie injected life into the visitors' attacks, and in the 54th minute, after his pass, D. Bojarintsev set up Roman Pavlyuchenko, who had only J. Cesar left to beat up close.
This gave Moscow hope, but the hosts later had better chances - Wojciech Kowalewski saved J. Cruz's shot, and the referee disallowed D. Stankovic's goal, detecting a dangerous play. At the end of the match, "Spartak" could have avoided defeat, but J. Cesar saved D. Bojarintsev's shot from 9 meters. "Inter" held on and clinched their first victory, surpassing the Russian club who had not experienced such joy yet.
In Group C, both leaders achieved their second away victories - "Liverpool" defeated "Bordeaux" 1-0 with the only goal by Peter Crouch in the 58th minute, while "PSV" from Eindhoven managed to equalize in Istanbul against the local "Galatasaray" team after their player Saša Ilič scored, and after the break, Jan Kromkamp and Arouna Koné found the back of the net.
Similarly, the favorites of Group D played successfully. "Valencia" forced Donetsk's "Shakhtar" footballers to surrender after two goals by David Villa in the first half, and the "Roma" club's victory against "Olympiacos" in Piraeus was determined by Simone Perrotta's goal in the 76th minute.
Statistics:
Group A Winner: Chelsea 3 matches, 3 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses, Goals for 6, Total Points 9
Group B Winner: Bayern 3 matches, 3 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses, Goals for 7, Total Points 9
Group C Winner: Liverpool 3 matches, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, Goals for 4, Total Points 7
Group D Winner: Valencia 3 matches, 3 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses, Goals for 8, Total Points 9
