Champions League
October 22, 2009
Bordeaux fought back from a disastrous start and survived a nail-biter of a second half to beat a nine-man Bayern team 2-1. Bayern arrived at the Chaban Delmas stadium without injured stars Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, hoping that rookie Thomas Mueller would live up to his reputation as a future Bayern star.
However, Mueller was one of two Bayern players to be cautioned in the first half and the 20-year-old striker was sent off just after the half-hour mark after a nasty challenge on Mathieu Chalme.
That was after Bordeaux defender Michael Ciani had opened the scoring with an own goal after only five minutes of play. He made amends however with an equalizer just before the 30-minute mark.
Five minutes from the break Bordeaux defender Marc Planus scored what would be the winner for the French champions from close range. Bayern striker Luca Toni missed a superb chance late in the match to even things up. The hosts also squandered chances, missing two second-half penalties.
In the other Group A match, Italian giants Juventus managed to revive their hopes of proceeding past the groups stages with a 1-0 win over Maccabi Haifa of Israel. Bordeaux lead the group on seven points, followed by Juve on five, Bayern on four and Maccabi still on zero.
Wolfsburg tie, United stay top
In Group B clashes, Manchester United overcame CSKA Moscow on the fake turf of Luzhniki Stadium. United's 1-0 win, thanks to a late Antonio Valencia goal, kept them on top of the group with maximum points from three games.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg played out a 0-0 draw against Turkish club Besiktas. Both the Germans and Turks are still in the hunt for a place in the Champions League's knock-out stage but neither could secure the much-needed three points on offer.
Wolfsburg striker Grafite, the top scorer in the Bundesliga last season, did his side no favors by getting sent off midway through the second-half for striking his marker in the face.
"The red card was fair and deserved," admitted Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh. "Of course we will speak about it - it shouldn't have happened … for us, it was quite important to get the single point and now we must get something from the next game."
After three games played, Wolfsburg sits in second place in the group on four points, with Moscow on three points and Besiktas on one point.
Clash of the titans
In Group C, the Champions League's two most successful teams resembled a pair of squads staffed with amateurs as AC Milan ruined a big night for Raul by pulling off a surprise 3-2 victory at the Bernabeu.
As this season's final is scheduled to be played in Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Real coach Manuel Pellegrini is under tremendous pressure to get a ticket to the party. Real, missing Cristiano Ronaldo, looked set for their third win when Raul pounced on a mistake by goalkeeper Dida to make it 1-0 and match the record of 66 goals in the main European club competitions.
However the game turned when Andrea Pirlo caught Iker Casillas off-guard at his near post in the 62nd minute, and the Real keeper, allowed Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato to knock in Milan's second goal four minutes later.
Royston Drenthe evened things up for Real but with two minutes left to play, Pato arrived at the back post to knock in the winner.
In the other Group C clash, Olympique Marseille got their first points of the competition when Gabriel Heinze knocked in a second-half winner to give the Frenchmen a 1-0 win against FC Zurich.
Milan and Real share the lead in the group with six points apiece, with Marseille and Zurich also tied, albeit on three points.
Chelsea romp
Chelsea extended their perfect record in Group D by brushing aside Spanish club Atletico Madrid 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. Forward Salomon Kalou put an early miss behind him to score Chelsea's first two, with Frank Lampard bagging in the 69th minute and Atletico defender Perea conceding an own goal in injury time.
Porto striker Hulk put on a one man show in the other Group D clash, scoring twice to bring his side back from a goal down and guarantee a 2-1 home win over APOEL Nicosia.
Chelsea lead the group on nine points, while Porto are second on six and APOEL and Atletico trail with a point apiece.
Matchday Four of the group stages kicks off Nov. 3.
av/Reuters/AFP
Editor: Darren Mara