Tuesday’s Notes From Europe – Matchday Two
Filed under: Champions League, Featured - Posted by: Andy
A lot of the attention from last night will undoubtedly be focused on every fine detail of what went down at the Allianz Arena.
Off-pitch sulks, however, don’t earn UEFA Fantasy Champions League points, so we shall move swiftly along to matters on the pitch. Here’s our summary of the first eight fixtures from Matchday Two…
Triple Trouble For Madrid
As expected, the Galacticos of Real Madrid got the better of a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful Ajax side. The triple threat of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Kaka played equal parts in the final 3-0 result as each player scored a goal and grabbed an assist.
A stirring counter-attack involving all of the key attacking figures got Madrid on their way with Benzema crossing the ball in for Ronaldo to prod home. The goalscorer then teed up Kaka to rifle home from just outside the box with the circle finally completed as Kaka set up Benzema to prod home from inside a crowded box.
Marcelo’s suspension allowed Alvaro Arbeloa a rare start at left-back and new summer signing Raphael Varane made his Champions League bow for Jose Mourinho’s side, slotting in alongside Ricardo Carvalho in central defence.
Man City Caught Napping
The talk is inevitably going to be about Carlos Tevez and, to a lesser extent, Edin Dzeko. Unfortunately for City fans, matters on the pitch were far from any better. After a strong first thirty minutes, where the visitors held their own and could very well have earned themselves a penalty, everything began to slowly crumble.
Joe Hart put in a performance wholly undeserving of the 2-0 defeat bestowed upon him but too many of his team-mates -the midfield trio of Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri in particular- failed to make any kind of positive impression on the game leaving the home side to dominate proceedings.
Of note, Kolo Toure also ousted Joleon Lescott and was thrown in at the deep end of City’s first ever away Champions League tie upon return from his drugs ban and will now be around to add confusion to that central defensive combination ahead of the weekend trip to Blackburn. Nigel De Jong also returned to the first-team fray- it was the Dutchman’s second-half introduction that prompted Edin Dzeko’s touchline strop.
928 And Counting…
Once they settled and capitalised on their profligate opposition, we saw Bayern Munich display just why they have now gone ten fixtures without conceding a goal.
Frank Ribery completely dominated Micah Richards down the left-hand side of the Bayern attack and Fantasy backers (yours included) will be disappointed his returns didn’t reflect his performance. Mario Gomez was on hand -twice- to mop up loose balls after Hart made good saves from Ribery, Muller and Daniel Van Buyten but was unable to do anything about the rebounded strikes.
Welbeck at the Double
With his first-choice forward pairing both sidelined through injury, Sir Alex Ferguson chose Danny Welbeck ahead of both Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen. The youngster, recovered from his recent hamstring strain, repaid his manager’s faith with two first-half goals, both set up by Ryan Giggs.
Basel showed plenty of fight to come back from two down; Fabian Frei scored after David de Gea had saved a Streller header and then set up namesake Alexander Frei to equal matters as he headed home from a cross. Antonio Valencia –restored on the right wing with Fabio at right-back- felled Streller in the box to allow Alexander Frei his second of the game from a spot-kick but Nani’s late second half introduction proved pivotal for the hosts, as he crossed for Ashley Young to nod home and deny the visitors a famous victory.
Ranieri Gets Inter Back On Track at CSKA
Since replacing Gian Piero Gasperini as Inter manager a mere week ago, Claudio “The Tinkerman” Ranieri already has two wins under his belt.
A Vladimir Gabulov mistake early in the game granted Lucio an open goal to start proceedings before Giampaolo Pazzini prodded home from inside six yards following a great surging run from Yuto Nagatamo.
The home side came back from two down when Alan Dzagoev rocketed home a masterful free-kick and Vagner Love found the bottom corner with precision.
One-man team Mauro Zarate recaptured the lead for the visitors almost instantly leaving the goalkeeper rooted to the spot when he snapped home from Esteban Cambiasso’s through ball.
Lyon Do It For The Scouts
We put a lot of faith in Remi Garde’s men and by all accounts they more than delivered. With three of their squad on the Champions League Watchlist we’re happy to see a return of two goals and a clean sheet and settle for the recovered ball bonus Michel Bastos picked up.
Bafe Gomis kicked things off when an errant pass by Zagreb fell his way and he scored one of the most sublime chips you will see this week.
Far exceeding his selection in the Watchlist Bakary Kone not only kept the clean sheet we were hoping for but also scored the second goal of Lyon’s 2-0 victory, turning home a Clement Grenier corner.
Cavani Keeps Up Appearances
The 60,000 strong crowd at the Stadio San Paolo witnessed a comfortable home win over Villarreal, as the hosts exacted revenge over last season’s Europa League conquerors.Marek Hamsik seized the opportunity first when he was found in acres of space by Ezequiel Lavezzi to slot home the opener. The provider was then felled in the box just minutes later and Edinson Cavani was on hand to earn his crust.
Another Lille Bit Of Bother
The reigning French champions had another costly night in the Champions League as they threw away a second consecutive lead and head back from Turkey with their second point in two Matchdays.
A magnifique 40 yard through ball from Eden Hazard found Moussa Sow and, from the most acute of angles, he sent the travelling fans into overdrive with a sublime finish. A quarter of an hour from the end Mathieu Debuchy was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area leaving Gustavo Colman to convert the penalty, despite the best efforts of Mickael Landreau.
Benfica Get The Job Done
The Portuguese picked up all three points in Romania and now sit joint top of Group C with Basel. Another wonderful through ball, this one over the top of two lines of defence, gave us our only goal of the game as Nicolas Gaitan found Bruno Cesar with the most delicate of passes giving him the time and space to lead Benfica to victory.
About The Author
“Under my tutelage you will grow from boys into men. From men into gladiators. And from Gladiators into Swansons.”
Andy @ffscout_andy
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NP here. » -
that is so similar to mine. same mid and strikeforce + Given, Kadlec, MOlsson and Zhirkov To conclude I like it. » -
Of course ... I endorse this advice!!! Just make sure that it's a good wine ... ;-) » -
Leaning towards Walcott for England coverage GW2...... » -
Can you play 2 at the back in the McD's league?? »
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:D » -
Lolers :lol: »
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Lamps is the only one i'd consider and he's not guaranteed to start. » -
Glen Johnson's the only one I'm really considering » -
Does anyone else find it really hard to log into the Euro 2012 fantasy site? Every time I try it doesn't work. »
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Joey Barton explains his kick out at Sergio Aguero following his dismissal against City
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September 28 at 6:05 pm
jguti14 says:
i have a problem as well with the rooney situation, as i also have dzeko and walcott.
i am set on shipping theo for nani, which would leave 2 mill in the bank. I also feel the need to have aguero which would cause me to ship brunt out and bring a crap player in.
any thoughts on what I could do?
should i have ok players with rooney and aguero or should i go for a good all around team but missing one of the 2?
cheers!
September 28 at 6:05 pm
Gaz Downright says:
I’m approaching a three pronged fork in my FPL road this weekend:
1) save transfer, keep Rooney and have a bench of Boyata+Gabbidon
2) OUT Rooney IN RVP, and hope he has dropped 0.3 by GW8
3) OUT Boyata IN Tierney (who will get 0 or less)
September 28 at 6:08 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
FIFA 12 is on it’s way. What a nice e-mail. Ordered the special edition, thought i’d give Ultimate club a go this year, whats it all about?
September 28 at 6:09 pm
jguti14 says:
people here dont play pro evo??
F0ck fifa!
September 28 at 6:10 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Pro Evo was soo 4 years ago.
September 28 at 6:08 pm
applebonkerž says:
i’ve hard the new pro is closer to the good old days
September 28 at 6:09 pm
applebonkerž says:
*heard
September 28 at 6:11 pm
jguti14 says:
just bought it yesterday, it’s good. i like fifa too but the control of the player is so robotic, to turn 90 degrees it takes 2 seconds for the player to do so, gota chek out the new one though
September 28 at 6:09 pm
Gargamel says:
Sweet – can’t wait to try it out.
More importantly though, Football Manager 12 is just 3 weeks and 2 days away now.
September 28 at 6:06 pm
Andy says:
More importantly: Battlefield 3 beta starts tomorrow.
I’m not wasting £40 of my money on that Fifa pap again this year.
September 28 at 6:07 pm
Gaz Downright says:
fifa11 was amazing
pro-evo loss out last year
interesting to see who wins this year
September 28 at 6:12 pm
applebonkerž says:
buy 2 pairs of diesel boxer shorts on Zavvi.com and get PES12 for half price…
September 28 at 6:14 pm
applebonkerž says:
or go commando and get FIFA
September 28 at 6:13 pm
Andy says:
I can see it’s an okay game but it just didn’t have the draw me back appeal at all. I played for about 10 days in the International Break last year then it gathered dust…
Good, but not for me.
September 28 at 6:15 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
it takes a bit of time to get a decent tank together, thats the problem, you keep getting a bit of a pasting until you have a decent tank and that makes it so much better. patience is the thing with it.
September 28 at 6:18 pm
jamsiep says:
Pretty much exactly what I did. Played a few games (very badly) in the FFS online league we had, and got bored of it (‘it’ being losing) pretty quickly.
September 28 at 6:08 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
Not fancy world of tanks Andy ? costs naff all, pretty decent for a shoot em up
September 28 at 6:09 pm
Gargamel says:
Never been much of a fan of First Person Shooter games, it’s just not my cup of tea.
September 28 at 6:14 pm
jamsiep says:
Weirdo.
September 28 at 6:12 pm
Gargamel says:
I used to play loads of Real Time Strategy games though, I even went abroad to play tournaments. Serious nerd.
September 28 at 6:12 pm
Gaz Downright says:
red alert?
September 28 at 6:13 pm
Gargamel says:
No, StarCraft and Warcraft 3
September 28 at 6:26 pm
Gaz Downright says:
hang on.. i think i might have met you
September 28 at 6:26 pm
Gargamel says:
Really? That would be something. What nickname did you use in those games?
September 28 at 6:32 pm
Gaz Downright says:
yeah, you were that bloke who whore those shirts, right?
nah.. this wind-up is not working
had some mates who were trying to become pros in korea .. but FPS was more my thing
September 28 at 6:34 pm
Gargamel says:
Haha
Cool, I was really really close to going to Korea to be a professional gamer too, but someone else got the chance instead in the last minute and it might have been better for me this way in the end.
You’re from England? Not too many great RTS gamers coming from there that I know of
September 28 at 6:15 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Remember Counter strike? Those were the days!!
September 28 at 6:16 pm
jamsiep says:
Counter Strike and COD Modern Warfare over the network at school… Great times. So much time wasted playing those games!
September 28 at 6:17 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
exactly
September 28 at 6:21 pm
Gargamel says:
It’s one of the things about getting older that sucks. I truly miss sitting inside playing computer games all the time. I just can’t find the time anymore.
September 28 at 6:23 pm
Gargamel says:
I probably could if I didn’t spend so much time here refreshing this site to be honest.
September 28 at 6:27 pm
Gaz Downright says:
quakeworld – now THOSE were the days
September 28 at 6:16 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
the original red alerts were classic. loved them. then the first couple of Age of Empires were good until the wizardry nonsense came in. Kinda liked the old Rome, Total War as well
September 28 at 6:14 pm
CFCTom says:
I won a Fifa 11 tournament at a house party and pocketed £60.
September 28 at 6:22 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
im looking forward to my days in an old peoples home, relaxing, hogging the computer saying i need to use the mouse to help my arthritis
September 28 at 6:09 pm
jamsiep says:
Can anyone download it?
September 28 at 6:10 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
yeah
September 28 at 6:12 pm
GreenDreams11 says:
once you’ve got your tank sorted its 15 a side. kill all the opposition or take their base to win. each game is 15 mins at the longest, points makwe prizes. the more points you accrue the more you can modify/upgrade your tank,
September 28 at 6:10 pm
Andy says:
Indeed, all the extra level nerds already have been playing it since yesterday but it goes live to all the public tomorrow until the… 11th?
September 28 at 6:16 pm
jamsiep says:
Okay, cheers. I saw it on the PS Store yesterday, but it wouldn’t let me download it.
Never played any of the Battlefield games before, always been a COD man myself, but will definitely get stuck into BF3.
September 28 at 6:10 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Can’t wait for FM12. Arsenal’s team is going to get dismantled!
September 28 at 6:12 pm
Gargamel says:
You going for Arsenal? I’ve not decided on team yet but thinking about Norwich. I like to get a lowly PL team, because it sucks that if you pick a team from league 2 or so every player you know of will have retired when you reach the PL.
September 28 at 6:16 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
I always go for Arsenal Garg! Im usually two teams.
September 28 at 6:09 pm
PFOR says:
Special edition?
By that do you mean pre-ordering it and getting some Gold ultimate team packs or something?
September 28 at 6:09 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Exactly that. Never played Ultimate team, is it any good?
September 28 at 6:12 pm
Gaz Downright says:
you design your team/club by virtual trading cards
and you can auction them and earn “money” to by even better players
September 28 at 6:18 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Ugh, sounds like too much effort.
September 28 at 6:28 pm
Gaz Downright says:
yeah, i found that just playing random matchups together with my flatmate over some jamaican cigarettes being much more entertaining
September 28 at 6:13 pm
PFOR says:
Me neither, takes too long to get your team up and running. Heard it’s good when you get into it though, and way easier to score screamers/do skills.
Might try it this year, is tomorrow too late to pre-order?
September 28 at 6:19 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Not sure. Reckon it will be safer if you just went to the shops now.
September 28 at 6:10 pm
CFCTom says:
Not a fan of it personally, better off sticking to Career Mode (as manager) and online head to head ranked matches imo. Although that new league system looks promising. I’m getting it at midnight tomorrow.
September 28 at 6:17 pm
CFCTom says:
Anybody a Final Fantasy fan? No? Just me? Anyone else lose a whole year of their life to Final Fantasy 12, arguably the single greatest game ever…? No, just me again?
September 28 at 6:23 pm
Now back to me - Utd should have signed G.Cahill says:
Just you. I could never get into the FF games.
September 28 at 6:32 pm
CFCTom says:
I only liked FF12 tbh, but I really did like it- about 1000 hours accrued on in total.
September 28 at 6:37 pm
CFCTom says:
No, no! *100 hours.
September 28 at 6:36 pm
CFCTom says:
Although I have probably spent WAY more time on Fifa 11, and will spend even more on 12.
September 28 at 6:25 pm
TheLightKnight says:
there is a new article every1 ggggggggoooooooooooooo
September 28 at 6:13 pm
Doosra says:
OFF TOPIC
I have just purchased some Bomba rice, Paella, for the use of. Class!
September 28 at 6:25 pm
applebonkerž says:
sorry MMW. can’t think of any pilau, basmati or other rice puns
September 28 at 6:27 pm
AP says:
Jesas the bf3 beta looks badass.
September 28 at 6:40 pm
jamsiep says:
Has Cambo Lowe played it? Or have you just looked at some footage online?
September 28 at 6:39 pm
The Laughing Man says:
Thats quite the goal celebration by Danny, dog peeing in the corner, interesting to say the least.
September 29 at 1:45 pm
Schutang says:
Need a little help:
1) Whats the best website for injury reports (i have smalling)
2) i have dzeko with 1.3 in the bank. Do i stay patient???
Thanks lads
September 30 at 10:19 am
vakaus says:
http://www.physioroom table at http://www.physioroom.com/news.....9a6b7d682f
i havent seen better site than this one, there may be one though