Two more clubs secured their places in the quarter-finals

2006-11-02 23:21 © EuroFootball.com

On Wednesday, the remaining fourth round matches of the Champions League were played, where the hosts performed better, winning victories in three out of four groups. "Lyon" and "Real" secured their places in the knockout stages at home with a minimal lead. In Group F, unexpected failures by "Man Utd" in Copenhagen and a victory for "Benfica" against "Celtic" revived intrigue, while "Hamburger" burst into the competition after burying the last hopes of "Porto". Thanks to a great performance from Kaka, "Milan" moved closer to the quarterfinals, and "AEK" achieved a long-awaited victory.

In Group E, the "royal" Madrid team "Real" met the Bucharest team "Steaua" at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium. The hosts started the game more actively. In the 12th minute, Robinho took a long shot, but the ball went a bit wide. A few moments later, two long-range shots from defender Roberto Carlos flew wide. In the first half, the "Steaua" club did not allow the "Real" players to dominate the field. In the 34th minute, a powerful shot from Romanian Petre Marino was blocked by Iker Casillas.

In the 39th minute, a shot from the visitors' forward Valentino Badea went very close to the goal. At the end of the first half, in the 42nd minute, the players of the "royal" club created a real opportunity. After a pass from Mahamadou Diarra, Ruud van Nistelrooy struck a dangerous shot with his head, but his shot was fantastically saved by the Romanian goalkeeper Cornelis Cernea. The ball rebounded to R. van Nistelrooy, but this time his shot was blocked by a defender, and from close range, Robinho missed the empty net.

In the second half, all initiative belonged to the Spanish players. In the 52nd minute, Guti passed the ball towards the far post, and Sergio Ramos kicked it away with his foot from Ivan Helguera, but the latter managed to "shoot" the ball well above the goal from a meter away. Later on the field, David Beckham boosted the team's game - after he lifted the ball, Ramos struck a header dangerously close to the goal. In the 70th minute, the decisive moment came for the "Steaua" defender Banel Nicolita, who, unaware that the goalkeeper was not in the goal, put the ball into his own team's empty goal.

A few moments later, R. van Nistelrooy went alone against goalkeeper C. Cernea, but the Dutchman was illegally stopped, and the Austrian referee awarded a penalty. Former "Man Utd" player took the penalty but missed the goal. In the 81st minute, Ronaldo missed a good opportunity, failing to score against C. Cernea after a pass from Raul. After this victory, "Real" secured a ticket to the next stage of the competition.

In the other matches in this group, the French champions "Lyon" clashed with the Kiev team "Dynamo". The only goal of the match was scored in the 14th minute when Karim Benzema passed the ball to Sydney Govou, who deceived several opponents and returned the ball to K. Benzema, who then scored a precise goal sending the ball into the net. "Lyon" won and secured a place in the quarterfinals alongside "Real".

In Group F, after losing in Scotland, the "Celtic" team got their revenge at home against their tormentors from Lisbon, "Benfica, with the same result as 3-0. The goal into Artur Boruc's goal came as early as the 10th minute when Gary Caldwell redirected the ball into his own net after a "Benfica" player lifted the ball into the penalty area. After five minutes, a dangerous shot from Kostas Katsouranis followed. In the 22nd minute, another goal was scored against "Celtic," this time by Nuno Gomes following a mistake by G. Caldwell. In the second half, the final touch in this match was made in the 73rd minute by Andrej Karyaka - the Portuguese team won and regained hopes of overtaking "Celtic" and advancing.

A sensation was recorded in the Danish capital Copenhagen, where the local "Kobenhavn" faced the group leader "Man Utd". The first attack was created towards the Danish club's goal, when a long shot from Wayne Rooney was caught by Jesper Christiansen. In the 23rd minute, the Danes already terrorized the "Man Utd" goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Michael Silberbauer's shot went straight into the hands of the goalkeeper. A minute later, the visitors already attacked: after a pass from Wes Brown, Rooney headed the ball over the goal.

At the beginning of the second half, both teams exchanged opportunities. First, the "Kobenhavn" defender Michael Gravgaard caught E. van der Sar's headshot, and then "Man Utd" veteran Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's shot was an easy catch for J. Christiansen. In the 55th minute, a real chance was missed by "United" defender John O'Shea, who failed to send the ball into the goal from a few meters after a pass from W. Rooney. Halfway through the second half, the "Red Devils" increasingly pressed their opponents, but the "Kobenhavn" team scored first.

In the 73rd minute, after a pass from Atiba Hutchinson, a header into the left lower corner of the goal from a few meters was scored by Sweden national team and Danish club striker Marcus Allback. Cristiano Ronaldo's attempts to equalize the score did not bear fruit, and "Kobenhavn" celebrated a historic victory in front of their fans and joined the fight for a spot in the next stage.

In Group G, "Hamburger" lost all chances to advance to the next stage of the competition and to rise from the last place after a 3-1 home defeat to the Portuguese champions "Porto. In the 43rd minute, a precise shot from Lucho Gonzalez led the "Porto" team ahead - the full-back from Argentina sent the ball to the top corner of the goal with one touch, leaving no chance for goalkeeper Sascha Kirschstein.

In the middle of the second half, after a pass from Ricardo Quaresma, Lisandro Lopez increased his team's lead, and although a minute later "Hamburger" softened the score - thanks to a header from the right upper corner of the goal by Piotr Trochowski, the Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart, at the end of the match, solidified Porto's win with a precise long shot from Bruno Moraes.

In the English capital London, the "Arsenal" club clashed with Moscow's "CSKA". In this match, the "Gunners" had plenty of opportunities to score, but wasted them: Cesc Fabregas failed to deceive the goalkeeper, and Thierry Henry's shot and Robin van Persie's header attempts missed the target from close range. "CSKA" could have stolen the victory, but Wagner Love's shot was saved by Jens Lehmann. Thus, "Arsenal" failed to avenge themselves against the "armie", who had Lithuanian Deividas Šemberas in their ranks throughout the match, and the match ended in a draw. With 8 points collected, the Moscow team retained its position as group leaders, while "Arsenal" and "Porto", with 7 points, shared the 2-3 positions.

In Group H, Italy's "Milan" enjoyed themselves with Brussels' "Anderlecht" club. The crushing of the opponents started already in the 6th minute of the match when the defender of the Belgian club Rolandas Juhaszas illegally stopped Alberto Gilardino, and the referee immediately awarded a penalty. Kaka scored a precise goal in the right corner of the goal. In the 22nd minute, after receiving a pass from Cafu, the same Kaka escaped from the "Anderlecht" defenders and defeated Daniel Zitka for the second time with a precise shot.

At the beginning of the second half, sending the ball into the net from the outskirts of the penalty area, Kaka secured his "hat-trick". In the 61st minute, Roland Juhasz, the culprit of the first goal, headed the ball into the goal after a corner from Bart Goor, but at the end of the match, the fourth goal was scored against the "Anderlecht" goal by Alberto Gilardino, who, after receiving a pass from Kaka, sent the ball over the "Anderlecht" goalkeeper D. Zitka. "Milan" crushed their opponents and, with 10 points collected, confidently lead the group.

In another match, the tormentors of Edinburgh's "Hearts" club, the Atletico "AEK" footballers from Athens, achieved their first victory in the Champions League by defeating the French "Lille" team at home by a minimal score. The sole goal of the hosts was scored by Nikos Liberopoulos, who defeated the "Lille" goalkeeper Tony Sylva with a long shot. This victory was the first for the Greek club in the tournament in 22 matches and allowed them to retain real hopes of competing for the second place in the group.

Match statistics of Wednesday

Group E:

1 - 0

70' [1 - 0] Banel Nicolita (own goal)

72' Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a penalty

Group F:

3 - 0

10' [1 - 0] Gary Caldwell (own goal)

22' [2 - 0] Nuno Gomes

73' [3 - 0] Andriy Karyaka

1 - 0

73' [1 - 0] Marcus Allbäck