Well, Enyeama became the third goalkeeper ever to score in a Champions League match when he slotted in his penalty for Hapoel Tel-Aviv. In that match, where Lyon won 3-1, we also saw a superb strike by Michel Bastos. This was an amazing volley from outside of the box which curled into the top right-hand corner, watch it if you want to see something mesmerizing.
Partizan - Arsenal
Speaking about keepers, Fabianski put in a great performance for Arsenal away against the Serbian side Partizan. Arsenal started with an amazing goal by Andrei Arshavin, Jack Wilshere provided the sublime assist for the Russian, rolling the ball backwards for Arshavin to slam into the back of the net. After that, Cleo equalized for Partizan from the penalty spot, making the sides go into halftime equal.
It was in the 71st minute which Arsenal grabbed the winner, Chamakh clumsily hoofed in the second. And then in the 82nd minute Squillacci grabbed his first goal for Arsenal, a header which Samir Nasri set up from a corner. But Fabianski truly proved his worth, he saved a penalty to make sure the Serbian side didn't find an equalizer, and then made some great interventions, stopping any chance of a consolation goal for Partizan.
And Tottenham also won, the Spurs defeated Twente 4-1 in a match with penalties galore. First we saw Rafael van der Vaart have his penalty saved by Mihaylov, but the Dutch midfielder made up for his mistake by scoring a great volley in the 48th minute. Then in the 51st minute Tottenham was given another penalty, this time the Russian Pavlyuchenko stepped up to take it, and he found the back of the net.
After that, things took a turn for the worse for the Spurs, van der Vaart was sent off after receiving a second yellow card due to some silly tackling, and then Twente pulled one back to make it 2-1. But Tottenham were resilient and were awarded another penalty! Pavlyuchenko stepped up again, and scored again, making it 3-1. The match was practically over, and when Gareth Bale scored in the 85th minute, the Tottenham fans were celebrating their first win in the Champions League.
A cool cucumber |
Manchester United managed a 1-0 win against their main group rivals Valencia, and it was Javier Hernandez/Chicarito who scored the late winner. Macheda squared the ball to the young Mexican, and somehow Hernandez managed to finish the ball into the bottom corner with two defenders attached to him. But maybe the United's opposition is Rangers, the Scottish side won 1-0 at Ibrox Stadium against Bursaspor. This puts them top of the group, sharing the first place with Manchester United.
Messi made his return for Barcelona |
However the Blaugrana didn't win in Russia when the faced Rubin Kazan, Barca's ultimate bogey team. The match ended 1-1 with both teams scoring penalties, Noboa scored for Rubin and Villa scored for Barcelona. And there was some good news for the Catalan fans, Messi returned after his injury, the Argentine replaced Javier Mascherano in the second half.
Among these results, we also saw Inter Milan destroy Werder Bremen 4-0 at the San Siro. Samuel Eto'o scored a hat trick, taking advantage of the very shaky German defence. And the other side of Milan could only draw with Ajax. AC Milan conceeded first when Suarez broke down the rossoneri defence by nutmegging Nesta and squaring the ball to El Hamdaoui who scored. But the magical Swede Zibra saved AC Milan yet again, an awkward close-range volley equalized against his former team, with the match ending 1-1.
My favourite picture with Eto'o about to score against a flying keeper |
What were your thoughts on the Champions League? Comment below!
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