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News Archive

Champions League group stage, day 6

Mission accomplished for all four Liga sides on the last week of the group stage, with Barcelona joining Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid as group champions, and Athletic Bilbao qualifying for the Europa League. Barcelona had to beat Paris Saint Germain in their last game to overtake the French side in their mini-league, and although Ibrahimovic opened the scoring against his old team, the Catalans ran out 3-1 winners with goals from their three super-star strikers, Messi and Neymar before the break, and Luis Suárez after. Athletic Bilbao had no chance of reaching the knock-out stage, but they still needed at least a draw against BATE Borisov to tie up third spot. In the end though they won 2-0, San José and Susaeta getting the goals at the start and end of the second half. (10.12.14)

Atlético Madrid finished top of their Champions League group after a 0-0 draw at Juventus in their last match. With a tie ensuring a place in the knockout stage for both, nobody particularly rocked the boat, and neither keeper had much work to do throughout the ninety minutes. Real Madrid were already sure of first place in their group some time ago, but they were looking to beat Ludogorets to make it six out of six and a record nineteen wins in a row in all competitions. No problems in the end though, especially after Marcelinho was sent off for blocking Varane’s header on the line with his arm, Ronaldo converting the resulting penalty to take him past Raúl’s 71 goals. Bale headed a second before the break, and Arbeloa and Medrán added two more near the end for a 4-0 final scoreline. (09.12.14)

Barcelona 3 – Paris Saint Germain 1

Barcelona join Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid as group champions after beating Paris Saint Germain 3-1 in their last group game. Starting a point below the French side in the table, the Catalans had to win to take top spot. However they went behind on the quarter hour mark when ex Barça striker Ibrahimovic drove an angled shot past Ter Stegen after Matuidi laid the ball back in to his path. Just four minutes later Messi equalized, turning the ball in on the far post after Luis Suárez played a long Mascherano pass across goal, but Lucas Moura fired a shot wide and Stegen had to save from Cavani as the visitors looked to restore the lead. Sirigu had to keep out Suárez a few minutes later though, and with three minutes to go to the break Iniesta won the ball in midfield and passed across for Neymar to run on and fire an unstoppable shot past the keeper. Again Laurent Blanc’s team came close to scoring, Stegen having to save from Moura and Marc Bartra blocking Cavani’s follow up shot on the line, but with a quarter of an hour to go Sirigu could only push out a shot from Neymar, and Suárez was on hand to knock the rebound in to the net. They left it late, but for the eighth year in a row, Barça finish top of their group. (10.12.14)

Athletic Bilbao 2 – BATE Borisov 0

Athletic Bilbao made sure of a place in the Europa League after a 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov on Wednesday evening. The Basque side had no chance of reaching the knock-out stage, but they still needed at least a draw to tie up third spot. Having lost against the Belarus side earlier in the season though, and having been beaten at the weekend by bottom club Córdoba, there were some nerves at first. And although Ibai Gómez and De Marcos brought saves out of Soroko, and Mikel Rico, Iturraspe and Guillermo all went close, the scoreline remained unchanged at the break. Just two minutes after the restart however San José got on the end of a Susaeta corner to sweep a shot into the net, and Guillermo could have added to the lead when he shot against the upright soon afterwards. Ibai brought a couple more saves out of Soroko, and the visitors didn’t even manage a shot at goal until Volodko fired an effort wide with a quarter of an hour to go. Susaeta made sure of the result though after Viguera set him up with two minutes left on the clock, setting an unwanted new record for BATE, who have let 24 goals in their six group games this season, two more than the previous record. (10.12.14)

Real Madrid 4 – Ludogorets 0

Real Madrid were already sure of first place in their group some time ago, but they were looking to beat Ludogorets to make it six out of six and a record nineteen wins in a row in all competitions. No problems in the end though, especially after Marcelinho was sent off for blocking Varane’s header with his arm on the line in the twentieth minute, Ronaldo converting the resulting penalty to take him past Raúl’s 71 goals. Isco had a shot saved by Stoyanov before that, and the keeper pushed a long shot by Kroos on to the post before Bale headed the second in off the crossbar from a Kroos corner. Espinho, Dani Abalo and Dyakov all tested Keylor Navas either side of half time, but otherwise it was one-way traffic, Stoyanov saving from Bale, Ronaldo and Chicharito and Arbeloa heading against the crossbar before Arbeloa turned in the third with ten minutes to go. Soon afterwards Bale had to go off with a bloody nose after a strong challenge, and youngster Alvaro Medrán came on to score the fourth with a shot which looped off the boot of Anicet over the keeper. (09.12.14)

Juventus 0 - Atlético Madrid 0

Atlético Madrid finished top of their Champions League group after a 0-0 draw at Juventus in their last match. With a tie ensuring a place in the knockout stage for both, nobody particularly rocked the boat, particularly towards the end with the scoreline unmoved. Koke did bring an early save out of Buffon however, and Moyà had to keep out efforts by Pogba and Llorente. Tévez had a penalty appeal turned down when Godín blocked his shot at point blank range with his arm, and soon after the restart Gabi hit the outside of the near post with an inswinging corner. Moyà was in action again later on to keep out long shots by Vidal and Pogba, but with neither coach bothering to make any substitution, the two teams eventually ran down the clock. The result means that Atlético will avoid some of the bigger names as group champions, and they will play the second leg of the round of sixteen in their own Calderón stadium. (09.12.14)