Real Madrid became the third team to book their place in the Champions League knockout round as Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to reach the century mark in a comfortable 2-0 win over Lyon.
Both clubs from Manchester recorded wins, with City looking very professional in a 3-0 win at Villarreal. United were less convincing but got the job done to eliminate minnows Otelul 2-0 at Old Trafford.
Bayern Munich won a thriller that saw a player from each team sent off in their 3-2 over Napoli to stay top of Group A. Inter Milan were more fortunate, brushing aside their woeful Serie A form to down Lille 2-1 and remain on top of Group B.
Ajax won a stunner to move second behind Real Madrid, 4-0 over an awful Dinamo Zagreb side that were eliminated tonight. Benfica threw away two points after Rodrigo scored a fabulous goal, slumping to 1-1 draw against surprising Basel. Finally, Trabzonspor and CSKA slogged to an unremarkable 0-0 draw.
Champions League: When and where
Every Champions League game is brought to you live in HD this season across the FOX family of networks and DirecTV, with real-time in-game coverage on Twitter @FOXSoccerTrax and @FOXSoccerTrax2 and on-line at FoxSoccer.com. The Champions league returns on November 22 with eight games and both Manchester giants in action.
Let’s start tonight in Group C, where Wayne Rooney looked brilliant in midfield but United looked like a team still struggling to overcome that memorable 6-1 thrashing by their crosstown rivals. Proving to be the consummate utility player, Rooney steered the action from an unfamiliar spot but his side labored to what should have been a routine win. Otelul are not exactly world-beaters; in fact, they are perhaps Exhibit A for why Michel Platini’s plan to expand the Champions League to the “lesser” leagues still looks somewhat boneheaded, despite the performance of APOEL Nicosia.
That said, United made heavy weather of matters, getting very little out of Nani, less from Jonny Evans and nothing out of Anderson. United had acres of space yet coughed up the ball as a matter of routine, and until Rooney’s late foray was deflected into his own net by Cristian Sarghi, the Romanians were within touching distance of a famous draw. The best player other than Rooney? Otelul’s Sergiu Costin: he made the smart tackles and kept the Romanians agonizingly close to an equalizer for far too long for Sir Alex Ferguson’s comfort.
United should be second in their group tonight. They are not because Benfica — after a dazzling beginning and a fine left-footed volley by Rodrigo in just the fourth minute — coughed up an awful goal to Benjamin Huggel. Left unmarked at the top of the box, he gleefully accepted Scott Chipperfield’s pass and with that, a share of the spoils. In all other aspects, both teams had been wasteful, but the result will sting the Portuguese more. They should be in the driver’s seat and instead may need a result on the final day against Manchester United to be certain.
In Group D, Real Madrid look like a team that has turned a corner. They were better in every aspect of the game than Lyon and deservedly sealed their passage. Cristiano Ronaldo’s first came from a direct free kick after Yoann Gourcuff felled Karim Benzema 21 meters from goal; his second came from the spot after he was felled by Mouhamadou Dabo. The penalty call was marginal, but the finish wasn’t, and with that, Ronaldo had his 100th goal for Madrid.
Were Madrid perfect? No. While Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil pulled the strings to brilliant effect, they certainly could have had a couple more. Ozil was sent in alone but shot tamely; Angel Di Maria lost his composure the same way later in the game. But this was a very strong, very organized Madrid side that has combined the energy of players like Sergio Ramos with the slickness of Ronaldo and Ozil. They need to cut down the useless cards they take every game, but this may be Real’s year.
In the other game, Ajax were made to look like Johan Cruyff was still wearing a red and white jersey by a Dinamo Zagreb team that is simply dreadful. The Dutch hit four past the rooted, witless Croatians in somewhat embarrassing fashion: twice, Christian Eriksen set up goals with back-heels that better teams would have made him pay for. Two of the goals were also beauts: Gregory van der Wiel beat Ivan Kelava with a shot that went right through the poor keeper. I say “poor,” because his defenders left him all alone. I also say “poor” because Miralem Sulejmani rounded him to score on a play the `keeper had to do better. No matter.
At least Dinamo’s coach, Krunoslav Jurcic, conceded as much after the game, noting the vast gulf in quality. The result eliminated them as well, though a Europa League spot is there to play for. Ajax, on the other hand, must now play both Lyon and Real Madrid.
The match of the night was in Munich, but the performance of the night in Group A came in Spain where Manchester City finally reproduced its EPL form in Europe.
With Bayern Munich dazzling Napoli for 40 minutes, then almost tossing three points away with a couple of defensive blunders, City moved into second place in the Group of Death, and in the process finally looked like the team everyone thinks can go the distance.
Against a Villarreal squad depleted by injuries, Roberto Mancini's EPL-leading side did not rush into things in Spain. Instead, they played a cool first 30 minutes, knocking the ball about, wearing down a home side that could only defend. Joe Hart had nothing to do as the City midfield dominated play completely without being worried when the first goal did not immediately come.
Yaya Toure took care of that matter just past the half hour after City had swung the Villarreal defense this way and that, collecting between two defenders on the 18-yard line before beating Diego Lopez to give the Blues the lead and control of the match.
The clincher came in first half stoppage time when Mario Balotelli was foolishly pushed down in the area by Mateo Musacchio. Initially it appeared that Balotelli might have dived, but replays showed a shove in his back. The Italian scored with nonchalance, stutter-stepping forward before tapping the ball home.
Toure's second goal finished things in the 73rd minute. This time he knifed between defenders before going directly in on Diego Lopez.
Villarreal never was able to make it a match and stays on no points at the bottom of the section. City (7 points) moved past Napoli (5), but Bayern still leads with 10 points and is all but home and dry.
Speaking of the Bavarians: they should have waltzed home against Napoli after a 40-minute master class that featured a hat trick from Mario Gomez, wonderful runs from Franck Ribery and so many smart touches in midfield that the Italians were simply sliced to ribbons. Whatever happened to catenaccio, once the trademark of the Italian game? Napoli simply left the doors wide open.
Gomez struck three times within 23 minutes, his final goal in the 40th the result of five swift passes in close quarters that left the Napoli defenders chasing shadows. Tony Kroos, Ribery and Thomas Muller joined the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger in dissecting the blue-shirted visitors to such an extent that the match seemed done and dusted.
Then came the first of Bayern's lapses. Two defenders collided leaving Federico Fernandez room for a six-yard header that made it 3-1 at the interval. Although there was no sign of problems for the Bundesliga leaders, up popped Fernandez again, this time with 10 minutes left. He had gotten completely behind the Bayern defense to meet a free kick and lobbed his header to Manuel Neuer's far post. A nervy finish followed, but Bayern held on, albeit with some dented pride.
Inter Milan's Diego Milito had a night to forget and still scored the match-winner for Claudio Ranieri's team. With its third straight win after that shock opening home loss against Trabzonspor, Inter stayed clear at the top of Group B and likely condemned Lille to a spring without European football.
Milito should have already had Inter on top, but his first minute chip caught the crossbar rather than nestling inside the far post. Instead, it was Walter Samuel who put Inter up with an 18th minute header off a corner, marking his return from injury with a crisp goal.
In the second half Milito’s woes continued, skying one over from six yards with a gaping net waiting to receive the ball, then smacking a shot directly into the body of Mickael Landreau when it would have been simpler to pass the ball to one of his two wide open colleagues left staring at an empty net.
It was a remarkable hat trick of misses, but as is so often the case when he was presented with a much tougher chance — Javier Zanetti's cross requiring a cross-body volley to finish — Milito got it done exactly right. That 65th minute goal proved the winner because Inter would take a nap, giving one away to Tulio DeMelo seven minutes from the finish.
To Lille's credit they attacked the entire night. Their problem, as revealed in earlier matches, is that they don't finish.
In Turkey, CSKA and Trabzonspor traded missed chances late in a scoreless draw that left both four points back of Inter in the Group B race. Trabzonspor `keeper Tolga Zengin was kept busy, Vagner Love of CSKA the most dangerous forward, but both sides will believe they could have collected three points had the ball bounced for them inside the last 10 minutes.
CSKA may have suffered the worst blow, however, when Seydou Doumbia, Vagner Love's front-running partner, collected two yellow cards and was sent off. That means he misses the next match when CSKA hosts Lille on Nov. 22.
