11 December 2007

REAL MADRID 3 (Baptista 13, Raul 15, Robinho 36)
LAZIO 1 (Pandev 80)

Baptista gave Real Madrid the lead against a rubbish Lazio side with a brilliant shot from 25 yards. Similar to his goal against Brazil in the Copa America final. Sneijder and Robinho worked a short corner for Raul to head in his 59th Champions League goal. RVN, who has become unselfish in his old age, played in MOM Robinho for Real Madrid's third. Pandev tapped in a late consolation goal from an excellent Rocchi cross. Rocchi missed a 93rd minute penalty.

Real Madrid's potential last 16 opponents are Liverpool, Schalke, Celtic, Lyon, Roma, Fenerbahce and possibly Arsenal. Not exactly the best of draws. Obviously they will be hoping to avoid the EPL sides even if they do, don't be surprised if they lose away from home before winning comfortably in the Bernabeu. Lazio are out of Europe which is a Godsend (insert Heroes symbol) given their league form.

Attendance : 80,000
Assists : Robinho, Robinho, RVN, Rocchi


OLYMPIAKOS 3 (Stoltidis 12, Kovacevic 70, Stoltidis 74)
BREMEN 0

Olympiakos are normally formidable at home but have struggled this season, drawing both their previous home ties against Lazio and Real Madrid. They got off to a perfect start when Stoltidis collected a pass from LuaLua before letting rip with a stunning left footed drive from 35 yards which bounced inside Wiese's left hand post. Kovacevic's brilliant movement put the Greeks into the last 16. He timed his run into the box between two defenders to perfection, meeting Galletti's cross with a bullet header into the bottom corner. Stoltidis intercepted an attempted clearance to score his second.

Olympiakos's potential last 16 opponents are Porto, Chelsea, Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Inter, Sevilla or Arsenal. If they draw anyone other than Porto they're absolutely f*cked. The appalling Bremen sneak into the UEFA Cup ahead of then even poorer Lazio.

Attendance : 30,000
Assists : Lua Lua, Galletti, n/a


28 November 2007

BREMEN 3 (Rosenberg 5, Sonogo 40, Hunt 58)
REAL MADRID 2 (Robinho 14, Van Nistelrooy 71)

Sonogo flicked on a cross and Rosenberg's miss-hit shot took a wild bounce over Casillas. Marcelo tackled Hunt in midfield then released Robinho, he dribbled into the box and beat Vander with a superbly placed shot. Rosenberg ran through Metzelder's lame challenge before centring for Sanogo to restore Bremen's lead. Jensen chipped a ball over the top of a square Real Madrid defence to release Hunt and Casillas only succeeding in embarrassing himself when he ran off his line. No Champions League matchday would be complete with a German goalkeeping error and Vander dived at RVN's feet as the Dutchman crossed into an empty net.

Attendance : 36,350
Assists : Sonogo, Marcelo, Rosenberg, Jensen, Guti


LAZIO 1 (Pandev 30)
OLYMPIAKOS 2 (Galletti 35, Kovacevic 64)

The linesman gave Lazio the lead when he somehow failed to spot Rocchi squaring a pass after the ball had already gone out of play, as the Greeks appealed Pandev tapped into an empty net. Galletti thumped in the equaliser from the edge of the box. Kovacevic sealed Olympiakos' second away victory of the campaign with a tap in from Djordjevic's centre.

Attendance : 45,000
Assists : Rocchi, Stoltidis, Djordjevic


6 November 2007

LAZIO 2 (Rocchi 57, Rocchi 68)
BREMEN 1 (Diego 88 Pen)

Former French prodigy Mourad Meghni went over in the box after Naldo gave him a shove in the back. I'm not sure how Wiesse plays in the Bundesliga but in the Champions League he males Dida level blunders. He dived across goal to save Rocchi's penalty with his feet, lost sight of the ball and Rocchi slid in to put Lazio 1-0 up. Meghni, making a rare start, hit a crossfield pass over the top of a Bremen defence playing a typically German high line, Naldo appealed for offside as Rocchi ran from BEHIND him into the box and lobbed over the advancing Wiesse. Cribari got a second yellow for pushing Mertesacker in the box and bottler Diego converted before getting himself a mindless second yellow for kicking an object on the touchline.

I know Diego is only 22 but if this guy is ever going to make something out of his career he really needs to grow a set of balls. He was crap at Porto, rediscovered his Santos form in the Bundesliga but when he played for Brazil in the Copa America he died on his arse and for Bremen in this competition he goes AWOL against mediocre sides like Lazio and Olympiakos.

Attendance : 35,045
Red Cards : Cribari 86 (Lazio), Diego 95 (Bremen)
Assists : n/a, Mertesacker, Meghni


OLYMPIAKOS 0
REAL MADRID 0

Attendance : 33,000
Assists : n/a


24 October 2007

BREMEN 2 (Sanogo 28, Almeida 54)
LAZIO 1 (Manfredini 82)

A fantastic lob from Diego, naturally, sent Sanogo in on goal and his miss-control forced Lazio's ancient goalkeeper to go to ground early leaving the striker with an easy tap-in. Bremen added a second on the break. Frings pounced on a mistake by Lazio full back Kolarov and drilled a low cross into the box for the onrushing Almeida to blast first time into the net. Manfredini pulled a goal back after Wiese punched Kolarov's free kick straight back into the box.

Attendance : 36,587
Assists : Diego, Frings, n/a


REAL MADRID 4 (Raul 2, Robinho 68, Robinho 83, Balboa 93)
OLYMPIAKOS 2 (Galletti 7, Julio Cesar 47)

Nikopolidis blocked RVN after Robinho sent him clear on goal and Raul put away the rebound. That's goal #58 in the competition. Djordjevic abused Salgado (what the hell is he doing back in the side?) on the right flank before firing a centre into the box, former Atletico Madrid midfielder Galletti brought the ball under control before shooting past Casillas. Shit refereeing saw the visitors reduced to 10 man when Torosidis was sent off for pulling back RVN.

Julio Cesar gave Olympiakos a shock lead when he volleyed in a Djordjevic free kick. Robinho equalised with a near post header then won a penalty by step-over-ing Patsatzoglou to death. He did the Klinsmann roll after being 'kicked' and as soon as the ref pointed to the spot got up and celebrated. TWAT. Justice was served when RVN sent the ball into outer space. RVN played in Robinho with a reverse pass on the edge of the box and the Brazilian recovered from a poor first touch to thump the ball past Nikopolidis. Casillas made a fantastic one handed save from Kovacevic in injury time and seconds later Robinho launched a counter attack and centred for Guinean midfielder Balboa to score a cruel fourth.

Attendance : 77,400
Red Card: Torosids 13 (Olympiakos)
Assists : n/a, Djordjevic, Djordjevic (fk), Ramos, Van Nistelrooy, Robinho


3 October 2007

LAZIO 2 (Pandev 32, Pandev 75)
REAL MADRID 2 (Van Nistelrooy 8, 61)

Van Nistelrooy tapped Real into the lead from an in-defendable Sneijder free kick. Lazio pegged the Spanish champions back in their own half and eventually scored a deserved equaliser. Stendardo headed on a fantastic pass over Cannavaro and Pandev, who should have been picked up by Ramos, slammed a left foot volley into the roof of the net. Brilliant finish. Raul TACKLED Mauri and threaded a ball through to RVN and Lazio's slow centre backs couldn't catch him, he feigned to shoot, dropping Ballotta onto his 43 year old arse, and lobbed the ball into an empty net. Mudingayi ran through Guti? as he tried to gather from Cannavaro and passed out wide to Pandev, Heinze and Cannavaro backed off as Pandev goaded Heinze with a series of dummies before bringing the ball onto his left foot and beating Casillas with a low drive.

Excellent performance from an inexperience Lazio side. Real looked poor defensively although I imagine they'll improve when Metzelder and Pepe get back.

Attendance : 80,246
Assists : Sneijder (fk), Stendardo, Raul, Mudingayi


BREMEN 1 (Almeida 32)
OLYMPIAKOS 3 (Stoltidis 73, Patsatzoglou 82, Kovacevic 87)

Bremen put EIGHT goals past Bielefeld on Saturday and looked to be on their way after Almeida put away a rebound. I'm not sure what inspired Olympiakos, who have gone 31 games in this competition without an away win, but they came out all guns blazing in the second half and having been rightly denied by a linesman's flag they equalised after the dodgy Vander failed to hold from Kovacevic and Stoltidis gobbled up the rebound. Nikopolidis make a brilliant point blank save from the giant Mertesacker before the Greeks took an unlikely lead. A cross came in from the left, Pasta latched onto the clearance with a thunderous right foot shot which caught Mertesacker as it flew in off the underside of the crossbar. Olympiakos completed Bremen and German football's humiliation with a third goal on the break, Vander failed to hold a shot from Real Madrid reject Raul Bravo and Kovacevic tuned the ball in from a yard out.

German clubs are a laughing stock in Europe. That's 1 wins out of a possible 6 this season and they would face the possibility of dropping to 10th in the UEFA rankings but for Bayern Munich who I'm sure will go deep in the UEFA Cup.

Attendance : 37,500
Assists : n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a


18 September 2007

REAL MADRID 2 (Raul 16, Van Nistelrooy 74)
BREMEN 1 (Sanogo 17)

Raul beat Wiesse with a great near post header after one of Real's Dutch contingent ran the left flank and put in a great cross only it wasn't Robben, Drenthe or Sneijder but remarkably Van Nistelrooy. Bremen hit back immediately. Diego poked a ball out wide to Tosic, his cross was charged by Ramos (using his arms) and dropped invitingly for Sanogo to volley past Casillas from a yard out. Three defenders were on Raul as he turned onto a Guti through pass, somehow they didn't notice RVN was lurking on the edge of the box so Raul gave him a pass and Naldo's hand went up for offside as he scored his 50th Champions League goal.

Attendance : 80,000
Assists : RVN, n/a, Raul


OLYMPIAKOS 1 (Galletti 55)
LAZIO 1 (Zauri 77)

Lazio buggered up playing offside leaving Galletti to round the 43 YEAR OLD Marco Ballotta before tapping into an empty net. Despite being surrounded by three players, Pandev slipped a pass through to Zauri and he beat Nikopolidis with a low drive inside a post.

Attendance : 0,000
Assists : Djordjevic, Pandev