OPPORTUNITY BLOWN

 

 

Well United had already faced Besiktas once in our Champions League Group B campaign, we beat then 1-0 at the Inonu Stadium. Since then we've secured a spot in the knockout stages of this season's competition with two games to spare. Still, top spot in the group was still up for grabs and with that an easier draw in theory. However when Besiktas headed to Old Trafford it was still pretty much a reserve side that Fergie fielded. Foster in goal. Neville at right back(and captain). Rafael left back. Obertan right mid, Anderson and Gibson centre mid and Park left mid. Wellbeck and Macheda up front. A draw would do us whatever happened elsewhere.

Well United may have been playing with a weak XI but they were certainly giving the visitors plenty of headaches and should have hit the net on multiple occasions early on. It was all the more stunning when Rodrigo Tello hit a strike out of nowhere in the 20th minute to give Besiktas the lead. After that the Reds resumed their battering of the Besiktas goal and really dominated possession but they couldn't make it count and Besiktas continued to have their uses at the other end. Overall seeing United go in 1-0 down to a team that didn't have the best of away records in Europe, particulary against Premiership teams, was annoying.

Well the second half turned out to be more of the same. United's reserves had the much better game posession wise and even should have had a penalty given but ultimately they kept coming up empty. That didn't stop the Reds from continuing to press forward and Fergie even brought some more established stars on from the bench but still, there wasn't quite enough edge from the players on the pitch. In the closing minutes the Besiktas goal was battered one last time, a whole load of injury time was given, Foster even came up for the last attack. In the end though, the game proved to be United's first home Champions League defeat since the 04/05 season.

Elsewhere, CSKA Moscow faced Wolfsburg at the Luziniki Stadium. Edin Dzeko opened the scoring for the Bundesliga side who retained the lead untill half time despite the home side having the lion's share of opportunities. In the second half CSKA finally made their technical superiority pay when they turned the game around with goals from Tomas Necid and Milan Krasic. If anything the RPL side could have added a third before the end of the match. That leaves United still top of Group B and three points ahead of Wolfsburg with CSKA's win too little too late to give them any chance of overhauling United. The Reds still have business to take care of on the final day.

In Group E, Liverpool faced Debrecen at the Stadion Oláh Gábor Útcai. It was a must win game for the Scousers and they immediately opened the scoring through David Ngog and maintained their superiority throughout the first half. They continued to dominate the match in the second half though the home side started to have their uses. However an excessive amount of diving from the Hungarian National Championship team didn't even impress their own fans and Liverpool claimed the win. It counted for nothing nothing though. Results elsewhere left the Scousers 3rd in the group, three points behind 2nd placed Lyon with the Ligue 1 side having already won the virtual playoff 3-2. Still Pool are seven points ahead of bottom side Debrecen and at least can settle for a spot in the Europa League for the latter stages of the season.

In Group D, Chelsea faced Porto at the Estadio de Dragao. The Blues had the game's early opportunities but it was the home side that were doing the business overall but even they didn't seem to have the edge neccersary to win the match. Chelsea made them pay for that it the second half though as Nicolas Anelka hit what turned out to be the winner. The game really wound down after that with Porto only having one late chance of note. That result left Chelsea top of the group and extended their lead over 2nd placed Porto to four points thus becoming one of the first Premiership teams to secure top spot in their Champions League group.

In Group H, Arsenal faced Standard Liege at the Emirates Stadium. The visiting side was never any serious threat to the Gunners and Samir Nasri and Denilson hit the net to seemingly wrap the match up by half time. Of course the Gunners took their foot off the gas in the second half and still the Jupiter League team failed to provide any serious threat allowing the Gunners to cruise to the finish with Arsene Wenger able to claim mission accomplished. That left the Gunners top of the group, leaving them not only nine points ahead of Standard Liege, securing themselves a spot in the knockout stages but also six points ahead of 2nd place Olympiakos, securing themselves top spot in the group.

In Group G, Rangers faced Stuttgart at Ibrox. The SPL side's European nightmare continued when Sebastien Rudy opened the scoring for the visitors and Walter Smith's team were never really in the picture before half time. Zdravko Kuzmanovic made it 2-0 for the Bundesliga side in the 2nd half and after that, it was really just a demo session for Stuttgart. Displays like this were what the Old Firm have been wanting to avoid by transferring to the English league system. In the meantime though, they find themselves bottom of the group four points behind Stuttgart and the parachute into the Europa League. Their European season is effectively over.

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