Man. United 2 v 2 AaB
When Tevez opened the scoring for United after just 3 minutes, I started stroking my ego cause I thought I’d picked another correct result with my predictions for this round. I stepped away from the telly for a half hour and couldn’t believe my eyes when I returned to see United down 2-1 and then I caught glimpse of the highlights. How Tevez didn’t have a hat-trick by half time is beyond me.
In the second half Rooney was getting frustrated because of a stubborn and resilient Aalborg defence, to the point where he lunged at the one of the players, studs up but didn’t even get a warning for it. Meanwhile over at Parkhead where Celtic were busy scoring 2 against Villareal, Guille Franco was shown a red card for an “off-the-ball elbow on Gary Caldwell… elbow? Come on! I’ve watched the highlights over and over and if that’s what’s considered an elbow these days they Wayne Rooney’s lunge should have had him trialled and hung!
Porto 2 v 0 Arsenal
An under strength Arsenal side conceded top spot in the group encounter with a very, very stinky performance, the likes of which can be found at the tip right next to washed up underwear and old toilets spares section. What it meant was that Arsenal have to now settle for second spot and may have shot themselves in the foot as they could face some stiff opposition next round. To Porto’s credit, they played possession football and frustrated the makeshift Arsenal squad made up of up-and-coming youngsters (Ramsey, Vela), past-their-used-by-has-beens (Silvestre, Gallas) and a really-needs-more-work-striker (Bendtner)… no wonder they couldn’t get their shit together! All night they struggled to put crisp passes together and were just off the mark, getting pushed around in the midfield too easily and giving the ball away when under slight pressure. Only time will tell if they’ve shot themselves in the foot by finishing second?
Real Madrid 3 v 0 Zenit
A week ago… heck 3 days ago I was convinced that Real would struggle till at least the new year, but oh boy how all their Christmases have come at once. Juande ‘Should be called Santa Clause’ Ramos stepped in to take over from Berndt ‘Ze Pool Cleaner‘ Schuster and his impact was immediate. Until this match, Madrid were playing without confidence, perhaps trying too hard even yet all Ramos did was make some minor tweaks in the 24 hours that he’d been in charge and he was able to achieve what he wasn’t able to do for 8 matches in charge at Tottenham… a win. This football is a funny game I tells ya!
Wednesday results:
Man. United 2 v 2 AaB
Celtic 2 v 0 Villarreal
Steaua 0 v 1 Fiorentina
Lyon 2 v 3 Bayern
Porto 0 v 2 Arsenal
Dynamo Kyiv 1 v 0 Fenerbahçe
Juventus 0 v 0 BATE
Real Madrid 3 v 0 Zenit