TheSportsCampus

Another thrilling night of UEFA Champions League action concluded on Tuesday with English giants Manchester United and Chelsea booking places in the second stage of the competition as early as Matchday 4. They will be joined there by FC Porto and surprise victors on the night Bordeaux, following a smash and grab win for the French champions at the Allianz Arena in Munich. However while the league tables will dominate the post match reaction, it was the marquee clash between two of the most successful clubs in European competition history, 9-time champions Real Madrid and 7-time champions AC Milan, that captured the fans imagination over the 90 minutes.

Real came into the match at the San Siro wi th a rather surprising team selection and formation - leaving veteran striker Raul on the bench, and playing no one on the right side of midfield. Lassana Diarra and Xabi Alonso were the two holding midfielders with Marcelo playing ahead of Alvaro Arbeloa on the left flank. Kaka and Higuain played through the center with the Argentine leading the line, and Benzema opting to drift to the left touch line allowing Marcelo space to cut in. Milan on the other hand named a largely unchanged line up from their trip to Madrid, with striker Borriello coming in for Inzaghi the only change.

With the reverse fixture on Matchday 3 producing 5 goals, this game had a lot to live up to, and though it did not have the drama of their last encounter, it still made for some pretty great viewing. The visitors came out of the blocks considerably stronger and had 7 shots on the Milan goal in the first 15 minutes alone. Right back Sergio Ramos came closest during that time frame with a crisp effort from the edge of the Milan area going just wide of Dida's post. Three of the Brazilians on the pitch - Pato and Ronaldinho for Milan and Marcelo for Madrid - were guilty of diving (simulation) and on another day really should have found their way into the referee's notebook.

Milan started making some inroads into the game after their slow start, but it was Madrid who opened the scoring on the night through Karim Benzema. A speculative long range effort from Kaka (incidentally one of many) was mishandled by Dida in the Milan goal, and Benzema popped up (uncharacteristically on the right) to tap the rebound home to give Madrid the lead in the 29th minute. Amazingly this was the first time Madrid scored

Milan were a tad lucky to find themselves back on level terms just 6 minutes later as Gianluca Zambrotta won his side a fortuitous penalty and Ronaldinho tore the cover off the ball slamming it home. Its funny how sometimes luck evens itself out in big games such as these. Just a minute later Pato was the unlucky party to have a perfectly good goal disallowed, after he showed tremendous determination and skill to beat Iker Casillas for the third time in two weeks. The first half ended with tackles flying in and wild arms flaying, with the match threatening to boil over.

The second half was a rather timid affair compared to the first, with no side creating anything significant of note in the first 30 minutes. The two managers responded by unleashing some legends on the field, Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy coming on for Madrid and Filippo Inzaghi for Milan. 36-year old Inzaghi came frightfully close to breaking the deadlock in the 84th minute, but a right wing cross was just a few centimeters behind him, and he was unable to connect properly with it despite being all alone on the back post. Raul then came close to winning it for Madrid at the other end, but his left footed drive was parried away brilliantly by the under-fire Dida.

With Marseille hammering FC Zurich 6-1 in the other match in Group C, qualification from this group has become really interesting with just 1 point separating the top 3 sides. While Marseille, who still have to play both Madrid and Milan, are far from favourites to progress, they are likely to give the super heavyweights some sleepless nights.

In Group B Manchester United named a decidedly second string side for the visit of CSKA Moscow, and came very close to being severely punished for it. Alan Dzagoev had given CSKA the early lead with a good tight finish in the 25th minute only for veteran England striker Michael Owen to level things up in the 29th minute. It took CSKA just two minutes to reclaim the lead as Milos Krasic walked his way through the United defence before delicately placing the ball under Edwin van der Saar. CSKA looked to have the game won just minutes after half time when Vasili Berezutsky planted a header into the center of the goal. United poured forward in search of a lifeline and were suitable rewarded as Paul Scholes planted a close range header into the top corner in the 84th minute. In typical United fashion they scored an equalizer in stoppage time, benefiting for the n^th time already this season (Abou Diaby, Zat Knight, etc.) through an own goal as Georgy Shennikov put the ball into his own net.

Despite the obvious disappointment at not being able to close out the game when so close, the result is an epic one for 38-year old rookie manager Leonid Slutski in just his second game in-charge of CSKA. A point means that United are through to the second round of the competition with two group games to spare, A 3-0 win for VfL Wolfsburg against Besiktas puts them 3 clear of CSKA Moscow, and favourites to join United in the next round.

Group D was not bereft of action either, as both games came to life in the second half after a goalless first. Sergio Aguero had come off the bench to give Atletico Madrid the lead in the 66th minute against Chelsea only for Didier Drogba to score twice in the last ten minutes to put Chelsea in the lead. However, it was young 'Kun' Aguero who popped up again for Atletico with the equalizer in the 90th minute. The point sends Chelsea into the last 16 as well, and an 84th minute strike from Radamel Falcao, the only one in the game between FC Porto and Apoel Nicosia meant that the Portuguese champions will join Chelsea as Group D qualifiers.

In perhaps the most interestingly poised group of all (A ofcourse), German giants Bayern Munich are on the verge of getting knocked out of the competition following a shock home defeat at the hands of French champions Bordeaux. Bayern, looking for revenge following their 2-1 defeat at the Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas two weeks ago, came hard at their opponents and were unlucky to be beaten by the only two strikes that Bordeaux had on target all night. Yoann Gourcuff opened the scoring in the 37th minute, ghosting in on the back post to tuck away from a Wendell set piece. 64% of Bayern possession didn't amount to much, and Marouane Chamakh killed off the game in the 90th minute by getting at the end of a Bordeaux counter attack. Juventus beat Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa thanks to a rare Mauro Camoranesi goal to move to 8 points in the Group, 4 ahead of Bayern. With Bordeaux a cinch to qualify thanks to their 6 point cushion and better head-to-head against Bayern, the German champions only hope is that Juventus drop points away to Bordeaux on Matchday 5, and that they themselves beat the Old Lady of Turin in the last group game of the competition.

Tuesday's Scores:

Group A
FC Bayern München 0-2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa FC 0-1 Juventus

Points: Bordeaux 10, Juventus 8, Bayern 4, Haifa 0

Group B
Manchester United FC 3-3 PFC CSKA Moskva
BeÅŸiktaÅŸ JK 0-3 VfL Wolfsburg

Points: Man United 10, Wolfsburg 7, CSKA 4, Besiktas 1

Group C
AC Milan 1-1 Real Madrid CF
Olympique de Marseille 6-1 FC Zürich

Points: Real 7, Milan 7, Marseille 6, Zurich 3

Group D
APOEL FC 0-1 FC Porto
Club Atlético de Madrid 2-2 Chelsea FC

Points: Chelsea 10, Porto 9, Atletico 2, APOEL 1

File Photograph copyright: Ryu Voelkel