This week European football returned to our screens and I don't know about you, but it made me one very happy person. 32 of the top European teams battling it out for one prize at the end of May.......The Champions League Trophy!
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| The Champions League Trophy |
Tuesday kicked off with a host of fixtures with some fascinating results as you can see below. But the main game that grabbed everyone's attention was Real Madrid vs Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabéu.
AC Milan 0-0 Anderlecht
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Ajax
Din Zagreb 0-2 FC Porto
Malaga 3-0 Zenit St Psg
Montpellier 1-2 Arsenal
Olympiakos 1-2 Schalke 04
Paris SG 4-1 Dynamo Kiev
Real Madrid 3-2 Man City
The game was never going to disappoint and it lived up to its expectation. Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the headlines once again on and off the pitch.
It was a goalless first 45 minutes. As expected, Madrid controlled the game from the start. With only five minutes into the game, Ronaldo tested Joe Hart for the first time with a low curling shot heading straight for the bottom corner. The England number one made a fine save to parry the ball away for a corner kick. That was a warning to Manchester City.
That set the tone for the rest of the half. Maicon was having a tough time marking Ronaldo just as he did when Gareth Bale gave him a run around two years ago when he played for Inter Milan against Tottenham.
Hart had to come to City's rescue on countless occasions during the first half, pulling off two great saves from Madrid's Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuin. Madrid were completely dominant at this point. Two missed chances from Higuin and Sami Khedria ended the half goalless. City hung on by the thread of a needle.
The first opening ten minutes of the second half began like the first with Madrid in total control of the game. It was deep into the second half when City caught Real Madrid on a counter attack with a surging run from Yaya Toure. He placed a neat ball through to Edin Dzeko, who composed himself and found the net. City had somehow taken the lead!
Mourinho, beginning to panic on the touch line, brought on his reinforcements, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. Shortly after these changes, Marcelo, the Brazilian full back equalised for Real Madrid. It was his third time lucky as two similar shots from just outside the box sailed over the bar. This one took a slight deflection off City new boy Javi Garcia to see it sail past Joe Hart.
But Roberto Mancini's men were not beaten yet. A curling free kick from Alexandre Kolorov 25 yards out restored City's lead.
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| Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating his last minute goal |
City went from being the team in control to hanging on for their dear lives. The script had been written. It was the former Manchester United hit man Cristiano Ronaldo who stole the limelight once again. With 90 minutes on the clock, he cut inside from the left flank and his shot brushed past Kompany and cruelly found its way past Joe Hart.
Wednesday's fixtures featured 3 other teams from Britain. Celtic could only manage a 0-0 draw against Benfica while Chelsea threw away a two goal lead to Juventus at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United scrapped through with a 1-0 victory at home to Galatasaray.
Wednesday's Results
Barcelona 3-2 Spartak Moscow
Bayern Munich 2-1 Valencia
Braga 0 - 2 CFR Cluj - Napoca
Celtic 0 - 0 Benfica
Chelsea 2 - 2 Juventus
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| Jermain Defoe and AVB discussing tactics |
Man Utd 1 0 Galatasaray
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 FC Nordsjaelland
Liverpool and Tottenham were in Europa League action last night. Liverpool beat the Swiss side Young Boys 5-3 at the Wankdorf Stadium, Switzerland. But Tottenham could only manage a 0-0 draw with Italian side Lazio.
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