Eight more fixtures took place last night as the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Fantasy Game kept our European Fantasy managers plugging along.
With red cards, own goals, penalties missed and scored as well as one particular last-minute winner, there was a lot of action to digest. Here’s how it all unfolded…
Benzema On The Boil
Gonzalo Higuain can consider himself a touch a hard-done by, having been benched by Madrid on the back of three hat-tricks in four games for club and country. His fellow striker Karim Benzema vindicated Jose Mourinho’s decision, though, inspiring his club to a 4-0 victory over Lyon.
The French fancy started things off with his own bonnet when Cristiano Ronaldo flicked on a corner for him to tuck home from no further than a yard out. The second saw a long ball forward fall kindly for Benzema and he teed up the onrushing Sami Khedira to find the net from 12 yards.
Hugo Lloris only managed to divert Mesut Ozil’s ball across the goalmouth for the third; harsh assist rules in this game means that the German midfielder doesn’t see any reward for his part played. Sergio Ramos then made it four with his second attempt from a corner, putting Real Madrid just one more win away from their seemingly inevitable qualification for the knockout stages.
Galati in Spot of Bother
Sir Alex Ferguson made nine changes from the side that drew at Liverpool on Saturday as United went in search of their first win of the Champions League campaign. Their Romanian hosts proved stubborn resistance, though, and the dismissal of Nemanja Vidic midway through the second half hardly helped United’s cause. Two late penalties from Wayne Rooney -the first for a handball and the second for a foul on Rooney himself- were enough to secure all three points and see United climb to second in Group C, two points behind leaders Benfica.
Sergio Sinks the Yellow Submarine
Coming into the game with one point from their opening two fixtures, Man City got off to the worst start possible at the Etihad last night, as Ruben Cani netted after just four minutes to give Villarreal a shock lead. A wave of home attacks was eventually rewarded, as Carlos Marchena, whilst under pressure from Edin Dzeko, turned the ball past his own keeper to level matters just before half time.
With Sunday’s Manchester derby perhaps in mind, Sergio Aguero was eased back into action as he recovers from a groin strain. The Argentine appeared as a sub on the hour mark and his introduction proved decisive for Roberto Mancini’s side, as he swept home a dramatic winner with just seconds left on the clock.
Bayern Concede At Last
It took them two and a half months and over 1100 minutes of football but Bayern Munich were finally found to be fallible last night as they drew 1-1 away at Napoli. They conceded their first goal since the opening day of the Bundesliga on August 7th – and their opponents weren’t even the ones able to inflict said blow, with Holger Badstuber inadvertently turning the ball into his own net.
Toni Kroos opened the scoring for Jupp Heynckes’ side, netting after a Jerome Boateng to cross from the wing. Mario Gomez should have given Bayern a third victory in three games but saw Morgan De Sanctis save his second half penalty leaving honours even.
Seydou, Doum-bi-a! Seydou, Doum-bi-a!
As the title suggests it was Seydou Doumbia on top of the tree in Tuesday’s early kick off as he grabbed his second brace in three Champions League seasons to leave him as the early leader for tournament top scorer. Whether he remains there after Lionel Messi squares up to FC Viktoria Plzen this evening is another matter entirely.
Doumbia’s strike-partner Vagner Love may not have scored but a canny backheel for the first goal -one of two assists- will have no doubt pleased his Fantasy owners. Backers of Watchlist candidate Alan Dzagoev will feel hard done by as the strict assist rules –“An assist is awarded when the goalscorer receives the ball directly from a team-mate (including the goalkeeper) and scores without having to take the ball past an opponent”-means his pass for the third goal goes unrewarded.
Fink Tanked
FC Basel fell from first to third in Group C last night as they lost at home to Portguese outfit Benfica. Still getting to grips with having lost their manager Thorsten Fink in the international break, the Swiss champions can be somewhat forgiven for their 2-0 defeat. Bruno Cesar found himself with all the time in the world to open the scoring midway through the first half and Oscar Cardozo was then called off the bench and rifled in a free-kick in the final quarter of the game to keep Benfica’s unbeaten run in check.
Tinkerman Mops His Brow
Inter Milan haven’t improved their results a great deal since Claudio Ranieri was installed as the new manager – last weekend’s defeat at Catania is indicative of their so-so start to the season. Fans back home in Italy will have been happy to see their side sneak a 1-0 victory away at reigning French champions to instil some confidence in the still-stuttering Nerazzurri.
Giampaolo Pazzini in the right place at the right time to volley home from Mauro Zarate’s clip back into the box for the game’s solitary goal, as Lille continue to struggle to adapt to their new European surroundings and languish at the bottom of their group at the half-way stage.
Double Dutch for De Boer
Our budget backers of the Zagreb defence were unable to keep the Dutch champions at bay for much longer than a single turgid half. A much-improved second period saw Ajax come out of the blocks as Miralem Sulejmani slalomed through the home side’s midfield and defence to tee up Derk Doerrigter to fire in from the edge of the box. Late in the game the scoreline was doubled as Dimitri Bulykin‘s precision pass allowed Christian Eriksen to slot home coolly.3
