Champions League 2009-10

Kimi

Very eagerly waiting or 3rd November

Kimi

Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain's heart sank after finding out his team's opposition in the group stages.

The reigning champions must face Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev and Rubin Kazan in the Champions League.

It was not the mouth-watering showdown with Italian giants Inter that has caused Begiristain the most consternation though, but the long winter trips to Ukraine and Russia to face Dynamo and Rubin.

In terms of travelling, Barca could barely have asked for a better start to the defence of their title as they start in Group F away to Inter, before successive home matches against Dynamo and Rubin.

However, it gets much trickier after that as Barca have to travel to Kazan in November before completing their group campaign in Kiev in mid-December - something Begiristain would rather have avoided.

"I don't like those matches. We have the experience of playing against Shakhtar, where last season we had it very bad," said Begiristain, recalling last October's trip to Donetsk where Barca needed goals from Lionel Messi in the 87th and 94th minutes to snatch a 2-1 win.

"They are long trips and at a bad time of this year. This means we will have to be careful.

"You'd like to start and finish at home, but that isn't the case either.

"We have three games in a row, against Kiev and Rubin Kazan, where we have to make a big push to assure ourselves of qualification.

"But I don't like it, finishing in Kiev is something I don't like at all. It forces us to have to have everything ready so as not to suffer."

The matches against Inter presents Barca with different challenges, and will see a number of old boys come up against their former employees, including new Barca defender Maxwell, plus Inter coach Jose Mourinho and midfielder Thiago Motta.

The most obvious area of interest, though, involves Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto'o, who swapped clubs this summer with the Swede moving to Barca in a deal which saw 46million euros plus Eto'o - valued at 20million - go to Inter.

Barca president Joan Laporta said after being paired with the Italian side: "I was pretty convinced we would draw them, sometimes destiny throws up such things.

"It will be special. Samuel will be especially motivated for his return to the Nou Camp, but we will also have a very motivated player when Ibrahimovic goes back to the San Siro."

Begiristain added: "Samuel will want to do well and score goals, but not because it's against Barca but because it's his life and he would do the same against any other team."

Barcelona dismay at tough draw | ESPNSTAR.com

Kimi

Round-up of the games

Liverpool 1-0 Debreceni

Lyon 1-0 Fiorentina

Inter 0-0 Barcelona

Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 Rubin

Stuttgart 1-1 Rangers

Sevilla 2-0 Unirea

Olympiacos 1-0 AZ

Standard Liege 2-3 Arsenal

Tuesday Results

FC Zurich 2-5 Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Apoel Nicosia

Chelsea 1-0 FC Porto

Wolfsburg 3-1 CSKA Moscow

Marseille 1-2 AC Milan

Juventus 1-1 Bordeaux

Kimi

Tuesday 15th September 2009
Venue: Letzigrund Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45
Score: 2 - 5

Real claim victory in seven-goal thriller

Real Madrid looked fabulous in attack but frail at the back as they began their Champions League campaign with a 5-2 victory over Swiss champions FC Zurich.

The #80million man Cristiano Ronaldo put them ahead with a trademark free-kick and they were three goals to the good by half-time thanks to further strikes from Raul and Gonzalo Higuain.

However, they were vulnerable in defence and their lead was reduced to one by Xavier Margairaz's penalty and Silvan Aegerter's header - worrying signs indeed with tougher matches against Marseille and AC Milan to come at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo scored Real's fourth with another free-kick which somehow found the net after a comical attempt to punch clear by Zurich goalkeeper Johnny Leoni and Guti chipped in a fifth right at the end.

Zurich were the first to truly threaten when Finnish defender Hannu Tihinen drew a fantastic save from Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the ninth minute, and Leoni had to be equally alert a minute later to keep out a left-footed shot from Higuain.

Ronaldo ballooned a free-kick over the crossbar after Florian Stahel had been yellow-carded for dissent, but made spectacular amends in the 27th minute with another set-piece to put the nine-time European champions in front.

The Portuguese earned the chance himself after he won a free-kick from Tihinen's challenge, and his right-footed shot cleared the wall and dipped past Leoni, who could arguably have done better.

Real doubled their lead in the 34th minute as Raul scored his 65th Champions League goal.

Ronaldo again played a part, heading a lofted Pepe pass into Higuain's path on the right-hand side of the box. The Zurich defence were expecting a shot but instead the Argentinian forward squared it for Raul to tap home from six yards.

Real grabbed a third in first-half injury time as Raul's clever reverse pass found Higuain, who bustled past his marker before drilling a low shot past Leoni for his first ever Champions League goal.

As in the first half, Zurich had the first chance of the second 45 minutes when Margairaz headed Johan Vonlanthen's free-kick from the left wide from close range.

There was cause for concern when Xabi Alonso appeared to injure his right ankle as he slipped trying to challenge Vonlanthen in midfield, with Fernando Gago eventually coming on.

Casillas made an impressive block to keep out Philippe Koch's low shot from Vonlanthen's volleyed cross but was then judged to have brought down Alexandre Alphonse in the box, although the contact looked minimal. The Spain goalkeeper was booked and Margairaz beat him from the spot in the 64th minute.

Within a minute Zurich had cut the deficit to one when Aegerter headed home Vonlanthen's inswinging corner from the left without a marker in sight.

Real were getting frustrated and substitutes Gago and Guti were both booked. The Spanish giants burst forward from a Zurich corner in the 76th minute but Raul's shot from a Ronaldo cross was deflected wide.

Kaka was lucky not to get a second booking for a clumsy challenge on Tihinen before Lassana Diarra became the sixth Real man to be booked for a foul on Margairaz.

Gago almost added a fourth in the 83rd minute with a dipping right-foot strike from long range which Leoni had to tip onto the roof of the net before Koch got a vital touch to deny Ronaldo a second goal after good link-up play with Guti.

The Portuguese did finish the night with two as his free-kick somehow bounced off Leoni's fists into the net and Guti added a sublime fifth with a chip over the stranded goalkeeper.

C.Ronaldo

^Guti's touch was nice

just saw the highlights of the game

Kimi

Tuesday - 29th September 2009 results

Rubin Kazan 1-1 Inter Milan

Fiorentina 2-0 Liverpool

Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos

Barcelona 2-0 Dynamo Kiev

Unirea Urziceni 1-1 VfB Stuttgart

Debrecen 0-4 Lyon

AZ 1-1 Standard Liege

Rangers 1-4 Sevilla

C.Ronaldo

Liverpool lost

C.Ronaldo

Two late goals by Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin finally saw off a spirited Olympiacos side as Arsenal maintained their 100 per cent start to their Champions League Group H campaign with a 2-0 victory against their Greek opponents.

But once again it was far from plain-sailing for Arsene Wenger's side who conceded two early goals against Standard Liege a fortnight ago before eventually hitting back to win 3-2.

Wenger made two changes from the side that beat Fulham 1-0 on Saturday with Emmanuel Eboue replacing Bacary Sagna and Tomas Rosicky coming in for Nicklas Bendtner.

Olympiacos, Greek League winners for the last five seasons and managed by Brazilian legend Zico, beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in their opening group game.

Zico's side had to beat FC Sheriff and Slovan Bratislava to reach this stage of the competition and defended resolutely throughout.

Grey-haired goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis was superb, particularly in first half and, in the 13th minute, he got down low to palm Arshavin's drive away from danger.

Four minutes later Cesc Fabregas' thunderbolt rattled the crossbar and came back into play for Rosicky whose goalbound drive was blocked by Nikopolidis.

In the 20th minute, the waspish Arshavin somehow managed to find some space for himself to drill in a shot that the keeper again saved.

Seven minutes later Fabregas broke clear again but once more Nikopolidis comes to Olympiacos' rescue with another smart stop.

Just past the half-hour mark van Persie's corner was missed by everybody when even the merest of touches would have forced the ball into the net.

However, the visitors weathered the storm and even ended the first half attacking as the Gunners appeared to run out of ideas as half-time approached.

Olympiacos played even better after the interval and they almost grabbed a shock goal when Vito Mannone did well to keep out Olof Mellberg's header from Leonardo's corner.

The Gunners were finding it hard to create anything but, just when it seemed as though the match would end in stalemate, they finally broke the deadlock with 12 minutes left.

Fabregas created the opening for Eduardo and the Croatia international crossed the ball in for van Persie to turn it home.

The match was finally put to bed in the 86th minute when Fabregas crossed for the suspiciously offside looking Arshavin to back-heel the ball into the net.

Kimi

Arshavin

Van Persie

C.Ronaldo

Arshavin