News Archive

Champions League day 3

The surprises continued on Wednesday, with defeats for both Spanish sides. Real Madrid were beaten 2-3 by AC Milan in a match full of goalkeeping errors. Dida gifted a first goal to Raúl midway through the first half, but uncharacteristic mistakes by Casillas let in Pirlo and then Pato to turn the scoreline around. Substitute Drenthe levelled the scores again with a quarter of an hour to go, but two minutes from the end Pato got on the end of Seedorf's cross to score the winner for the Italians.

Real's neighbours Atlético Madrid lost 4-0 to Chelsea, a result which left them at the bottom of their table and their coach Abel Resino on a tight-rope. The English side missed several chances before Kalou put them two up with goals either side of half time. Lampard fired in a third later in the second half, and Perea headed Lampard's free kick in to his own net in injury time to make it four. (21.10.09)

A night of surprises in the Champions League, but nowhere more so than the Nou Camp, where the little known Rubin Kazan beat defending champions Barcelona 1-2. Ryazantsev caught out Víctor Valdés with a powerful shot from outside of the area in only the second minute, and although Ibrahimovic equalised early in the second half after chesting down a pass from Xavi, Karadeniz restored the lead after Domínguez set him up a few minutes later. Ibrahimovic and Touré Yaya both rattled the woodwork after that, but they were unable to change a result which left three teams level at the top of the table.

Sevilla had few problems though seeing off Stuttgart, the Andalusians winning 1-3 in Germany to top their group on maximum points. Squillaci headed the first following a corner midway through the first half, and Jesús Navas added the second after Lehmann could only palm out a cross from Perotti soon after the restart. Squillaci got his second of the night a few minutes later, another header from Dragutinovic's free kick, and Elson got one back for the hosts with a well struck free kick just minutes after coming on. (20.10.09)