Champions League soccer is the most prolific soccer club trophy out there, it combines the top teams from the top leagues from all over Europe to determine who takes home some serious hardware and above all else, bragging rights. This season's Champions League is current in the group stages meaning every other Tuesday and Wednesday soccer fan bases across the globe have a ton of matches to watch. This feature will provide a recap of yesterday's events on route to the Champion Clubs Cup.
Benfica (2-0-1) 2
VS
FC Basel (1-1-1) 0
Benfica won on the road defeating FC Basel 2 zip to take sole possession atop the Group C standings. The significance of this match wasn't lacking, by winning Benfica has set themselves up with an opportunity at home to make it through to the next round with another win. For FC Basel, they still possess 4 points and have a longer road if they are to advance to the next round trailing Manchester United as well and currently sitting in 3rd place amongst Group C. The match itself was a good battle, Benfica applied the pressure early on with the opening tally in the 20th minute and kept FC Basel on their heels with solid defence and a wicked counter attack, putting the game out of reach in the 75th minute.
Man of the Match: Bruno Cesar
Man. City (1-1-1) 2
VS
Villarreal (0-2-1) 1
Manchester City earned a thrilling victory at home scoring the deciding goal against Villarreal in added time. Villarreal jumped out in front early on scoring in the 4th minute. While Man. City got off to a slow start, they showed tremendous character fighting until the very end to gain the 3 pts. Aguero was the hero in this one scoring in the final seconds of the game during a mad scramble int he box, the play was ostensibly offside yet with the mayhem taking place this was overlooked and the goal was given. This was a big rebound after losing 2-0 to Bayern Munich during match day 2. Villareal is left winless after 3 games meaning their hopes of advancement have diminished as they are the bottom feeders of Group A trailing Man. City, Napoli, and Bayern.
Man of the Match: Yaya Toure
Real Madrid (3-0-0) 4
VS
Olympique Lyonnais (1-1-1) 0
This match wasn't a shocker as Lyon had no response to the star power of Real Madrid. The game must have been a nightmare for Lyon as they managed only 1 shot on target all game compared to Real's 7 to go along with a number of other near goal opportunities that didn't register as a shot on target. Higuan was benched in favour of Benzema which proved to be a wise decision as he scored a goal as well as providing an assist on another. Real is cruising at this point still undefeated and possessing 9 for the runaway lead in Group D, 5 points ahead of 2nd place Ajax. Lyon on the other hand is tied with Ajax in points however is behind on aggregate due to the 4 nil trumping.
Man of the Match: Karim Benzema
FC Internazionale Milano (2-0-1) 1
VS
LOSC Lille Metropole (0-2-1) 0
This match was a back and forth affair all throughout the 90 minutes of play with the experienced Inter Milan edging Lille on their home turf at Lille Metropole Stadium. The only goal conceded in the match was off the foot of Pazzini in the 21st minute meaning Lille was trailing for the first time all tournament. Lille responded by raising the tempo but weren't able to overcome the brick wall that is Julio Cesar who turned away more shots than Lille's counterpart. Inter are now in sole possession of 1st place in Group B, with Lille falling to last place being held winless thus far. Food for thought: Lille hasn't trailed in a match until yesterday's game against Inter, they haven't been able to hold on to a lead or finish off a team so far and as a result find themselves with a mere 2 points in the group.
Man of the Match: Giampaolo Pazzini
Other Results
Group A
Napoli 1 - 1 Bayern
Group B
CSKA Moskva 3 - 0 Trabzonspor
Group C
Otelul Galati 0 - 2 Manchester United
Group D
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 2 Ajax
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