Wednesday's Champions League

Champions Stuttering Start

Last season's champions Chelsea began their defence of the Champions League with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge to Serie A Champions Juventus. The hosts scored twice inside three minutes, with both goals courtesy of midfielder Oscar. The Brazilian international marked a terrific Champions League debut, with both goals before half time. His first goal was a long-range shot that was deflected into Gianluigi Buffon's goal by Leonardo Bonucci's boot; his second goal was simply spectacular, the ball was played into to him back-to-goal, his first touch seemed to be too heavy, as he knocked it passed Italian Legend Andrea Pirlo, before hitting a stunning curling effort into the top corner.

Oscar's sublime second

Just before half-time, the Old Lady of Turin awoke and Arturo Vidal pulled a goal back to give the hosts a nervy second half.  Vidal's rasping left-foot drive found its way past Petr Cech and into the bottom corner of the Chelsea goal. The second half wasn't as exhilarating as the first, but it was the visitors chasing the lead, who got their reward when second half substitute Fabio Quagliarella got Juve back on level terms with ten minutes to go. Marchisio played the ball to Quagliarella, who fired a low shot that went under Petr Cech. In the end a share of the spoils seemed a fair result for both sides and on this showing you can understand how Juventus went unbeaten last season.

Donetsk Dominate Newcomers Nordsjaelland

At the Donbass Arena, Henrik Mkhitaryan's brace earned Shakhtar Donetsk a comfortable victory over Danish newboys FC Nordsjaelland. The Armenian attacking midfielder scored in both halves, to dent Nordsjaelland's spirited efforts. The first goal was likely to knock the stuffing out of the Danish champions, as Shakhtar struck a minute before the break when Luiz Adriano's cut back found Mkhitaryan, who finished calmly putting the Ukrainians in front. The match was over in the 76th minute, when Mkhitaryan broke through the Nordsjaelland defence, before attempting an unselfish square ball, however the ball ricochted back to the 23 year-old and his left-footed effort was good enough to beat goalkeeper Jesper Hansen.

United Overcome Galatasaray

Michael Carrick's sixth minute goal was enough to see the Red Devils to victory, despite a spirited Galatasaray effort. Nani saw his second half penalty saved by Fernando Muslera, albeit a poor penalty from the Portuguese international. In the opening minutes Galatasaray were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty, when Nemanja Vidic seemed to foul Umut Bulut, but the German officials were unmoved by the protests from the Turkish club. A tidy Man Utd move saw Carrick finish whilst being on the turf, after the slightest of clips from Muslera. It was the Turkish team that forced the issue, hitting the woodwork three times, after the United goal, only to not prevail. With eleven minutes to play Darren Fletcher made a welcome return after a long lay-off with a bowel condition. Sir Alex Ferguson's men will need to sharpen up for future games, so that the Champions League doesn't end as it did last season.

Cluj Shock Braga

Former Braga player Rafael Bastos returned to haunt the hosts, as he scored twice in the first half to get the Romanian champions off to a dream start in their third UEFA Champions League campaign. In a game which Braga dominated, it was the Romanians counter-attacking tactics that worked well. A breakaway from Modou Sougou, who then played a lovely interchange with Rafael before, the latter stroked the ball home to give the Railwaymen the lead. The Portuguese side pushed hard for an equaliser, but they missed a host of chances before Rafael put the travellers ahead, when his shot was fortuitously deflected off Ruben Micael and into the Braga goal. In the second half Braga were unable to pull a goal back which would have made it an interesting finish.

Bhoys Stalemate

Celtic hosted their first home match in the group stage since 2008. Both previous sides between Celtic and Benfica at Celtic Park had finished with wins for the hosts, but this time it was different. It was an even match, where the Eagles dominated shots on goal. The best chance of the match fell to Benfica, when Rodrigo raced through the Celtic defence before being found by Enzo Perez. However Celtic keeper Fraser Forster did well to smother Rodrigo's tame effort. Next up for Celtic is an away trip to Spartak Moscow, whilst Benfica host Barcelona at the Stadium of Light.

Messi's Magic

Former Valencia manager Unai Emery took his Spartak Moscow side to the Nou Camp and came within 18 minutes of victory, after Lionel Messi took centre stage to cruelly deny Spartak anything from the game. Christian Tello opened the scoring with a fine shot, which found the bottom corner, but it was Spartak who fought back before half-time. Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike, who was excellent for the visitors, gave them hope after his cross was turned into his own net by Dani Alves. Ari and Aidan McGeady played a neat interchange, before the latter found Romulo, who beat Adriano for pace and scored past Victor Valdes. Lionel Messi tapped home an equaliser from close range after good work from Tello, before he headed Alexis Sanchez's cross past Moscow goalkeeper Andriy Dykan to secure a hard fought win for the Blaugrana.

 

Runners-Up Redemption

Bayern Munich began their campaign, at the scene of last season's final defeat, against Valencia. What looked like a fairly even game on paper, turned out to be dominated by the hosts. Bastian Schweinsteiger, who missed in the penalty shoot-out in the final, opened the scoring with a powerful strike, after receiving a pass from Arjen Robben. At the start of the second half, Valencia created chances to equalise but Manuel Neuer prevented that from happening. Then Toni Kroos scored a well-deserved goal with a long distance effort that beat Diego Alves. The arrears were reduced in stoppage time when Nelson Valdez pulled a goal back before Bayern substitute Mario Mandzukic saw his late penalty saved by Alves in the Valencia goal.

 

 

BATE Surprise Lille to Record History

BATE Borisov scored three times in the opening 45 minutes to stun hosts Lille and win the game before half time. A long looping strike from Aleksandr Volodko started the night perfectly for the Belarusians. A well worked and measured counter attack started by Aleksandr Hleb led to Rodinov to tap home, to give them a two goal lead after 20 minutes. Before the half time interval BATE struck again after Volodko's shot was only parried by Landreau in the Lille goal, allowing Edgar Olekhnovich a simple finish. Rudi Garcia, the Lille manager, made some changes in hope for a miraculous fight back, which didn't threaten. Aurelien Chedjou scored a consolation from a header which bounced down off the crossbar and over the line. This gave the vocal home support hope, but all was in vain.