Wednesday’s Notes From Europe – Matchday Three

Matchday Three of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Fantasy Game locked its doors shut for another fortnight yesterday evening. Here’s our round-up of the main highlights from Wednesday night’s eight fixtures:

Ukraine and Russia Ignite

If you’re hot on the twitter button you will undoubtedly have seen Jonathan Wilson (expert on pretty much all European football East of the Rhine) pine over this Eastern Bloc fixture and the highlights we’ve seen certainly back this up.

Shakhtar midfielder Willian returned from an injury picked up in the summer and saw the Zenit goalkeeper only able to paw his curling shot into the top corner after quarter of an hour. Roman Shirokov then snuck in by the last man and goalkeeper to grab an equaliser from virtually on the bye-line for the visitors – his day wasn’t complete though as later on his timid penalty was saved, costing him 2 vital fantasy points.

Just before the break, Luiz Adriano was on hand to turn a shoot instinctively into the bottom corner, similar to Jermain Defoe’s strike in Sunday afternoon’s tie at Newcastle. A calamity at the back for Shakhtar allowed Viktor Fayzulin free on goal to level affairs with a chip, ending the goalscoring at 2-2.

Fernando at the Double

With his domestic ban still carried on into this weekend’s trip to QPR, Fernando Torres used last night’s game against Genk to further suggest a return to form under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas. The Spaniard grabbed a double in the 5-0 romp over a weakened Belgian side, adding to an early opener from Raul Meireles as Chelsea equalled their biggest ever Champions League win with an eye-catching performance. Goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Salomon Kalou completed the rout, in a match that saw both Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge given the night off with the game at Loftus Road in mind.

Tedium at the Velodrome

I did not enjoy this game in the slightest. If I could have a time refund I’d be first in the queue. However, from a purely Fantasy Football perspective, this moribund performance from Arsenal and Marseille at least gave the visiting side something to cheer about at the death. Something other than the final whistle, at least.

After missing last weekend’s Premier League fixture with an ever so slightly damaged hamstring, Aaron Ramsey returned with a 15 minute cameo from the bench and scored the solitary goal in a less-than-memorable game. As a result, the Welshman has been added to our FPL Watchlist with the Gunners’ kind run of domestic fixtures in mind. Carl Jenkinson picked up a knee problem in the game and will be monitored ahead of Sunday’s game against Stoke. Marseille have now carried their poor form from Ligue 1 into the Champions League but sit just one point behind the Gunners in second place in Group F.

Barca and AC Get The Job Done

Continuing the slow, inevitable march towards qualification to the knockout stages, both Barcelona and AC Milan notched relatively low scoring (2-0 in both games) victories over much weaker opponents, with all due respect, of Plzen and BATE respectively.

Lionel Messi was his usual magnificent best but only walked away from the game with a single assist despite all of his efforts. Some rather ridiculous quick one touch interplay between the Argentine and his team-mate Andres Iniesta resulted in the first goal while David Villa was on hand to slot home a loose ball after he was upended in the box 10 yards from goal.

Getting AC Milan into first gear was recent Barcelona departee Zlatan Ibrahimovic, when a rebounded ball into the box fell kindly for the big Swede to grab the first striker’s goal for our Watchlist. Not one to be outdone, Kevin-Prince Boateng scored a thunderous strike from outside the box.

All fairly routine but could, and perhaps should, have been more for both of these sides.

Apoel Stay Top With Stalemate

Another draw on Matchday Three sees Group G remain the tightest and most unpredictable of the lot. FC APOEL of Cyprus would likely have been written off by most long before the tournament began and yet, as things stand, after a 1-1 draw away at FC Porto yesterday evening, they find themselves in the plum spot ahead of Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian champions.

Things looked to be going according to predictions when Hulk rifled in another almighty whallop of a free-kick inside the first quarter of an hour. APOEL’s 4.1m striking bargain Ailton never read the script, though, and grabbed an equaliser just a short while after to keep his side at the top of the group.

Valencia Left Kicking The Dirt – And Themselves

After absolutely dominating the first half of their trip away at the BayArena, Valencia were ultimately left ruing their profligacy in front of goal as Bayer Leverkusen came back from a turgid performance and a goal behind to win the game 2-1. Valencia striker Roberto Soldado this time turned provider as his ball into the box allowed Jonas to give his side the lead from a few yards out.

The visitors then failed to capitalise on the advantage as they continued to spurn chances and not long after the break. Andre Schurrle and Sidney Sam made the Spaniards pay with two early goals in the second half turning the game on its head completely as Leverkusen wound out 2-1 victors and cemented their place in second place in the group at the half-way stage.

German Champions Crumble

Borussia Dortmund may have grabbed themselves a hard earned and much needed victory in the Bundesliga last weekend, but their new adventures in Europe continued down a far rockier road as Olympiakos soundly beat them 3-1.

Jose Holebas, Rafik Djebbour and Francois Modesto scored the goals for the home side with Robert Lewandowski having scored a lovely first half equaliser from a Mario Gotze cross.

Next Matchday’s reverse of this fixture becomes a must win for Dortmund if they stand any realistic chance of making it a step further. Good job We’ll have a Scout Report (see our previous instalments on Porto and Milan/Napoli) on their squad coming up next week.