4 November 2014

JUVENTUS 3 (Pirlo 21 fk, Roberto 65 og, Pogba 66)
OLYMPIAKOS 2 (Botia 24, Dinga 61)

Pirlo scored with a nonchalant free kick on his 100th UCL appearance. Botia headed in the equaliser from a corner. Set pieces continue to be Juve's achilles heel, largely due to Buffon being absolutely hopeless at commanding his area. As was the case when he and the Juve defence ball watched as a free kick was passed back across goal for Dinga's header. Roberto equalised when Llorente's header rebounded off the inside of a crossbar and went in off him. A minute later Pogba's attempted back heel to absolutely no one failed so he turned and blasted the ball past Roberto. Vidal's last minute penalty was brilliantly saved by Roberto, who has been the best GK in the competition this season.

Attendance : 39,091
Assists : Pogba (won fk), Dominguez, Maniatis, n/a, n/a


MALMO 0
ATLETICO MADRID 2 (Koke 30, Garcia 78)

Koke turned in Juanfran's centre with a spectacular mid-air back heel volley. Garcia fired in a rebound to end Malmo's three year unbeaten home record (in Europe).

Attendance : 20,500
Assists : Juanfran, n/a


BASEL 4 (Embolo 34, Gonzalez 41, Gashi 59, Suchy 65)
LUDOGERETS 0

17 year old Embolo, just shy at 6ft 1" (which makes him only marginally shorter than my giant 16 year old son) bounced a cross off his chest before shooting Basel into the lead and their second was a carbon copy. Gashi, who will of course be referred to as Gash, tapped in Embolo's centre and Suchy (Suchy and Gashy on the same team) helped himself to a fourth after the Bulgarians failed miserably to defend a corner.

If Basel beat Liverpool at Anfield, which is a possibility, they're through to the next round.

Attendance : 35,272
Assists : Frei, Frei, Embolo, n/a


REAL MADRID 1 (Benzema 27)
LIVERPOOL 0

Attendance : 79,283
Assist : Marcelo


ZENIT ST PETERBURG 1 (Rondon 89)
LEVERKUSEN 2 (Heung-Min Son 68, Heung-Min Son 73)

A wonderful free kick routine ended with Heung-Min Son curling a free time shot inside the right post after Bellarabi broke from the wall and touched back a free kick. A rapid counter attack gave him his second five minutes later. Rondon poked in a late consolation goal.

Attendance : 17,010
Assists : Bellarabi, Kiessling, Ryazantsev


BENFICA 1 (Talisca 82)
MONACO 0

Attendance : 32,565
Assist : Derley


ARSENAL 3 (Arteta 25 Pen, Sanchez 29, Oxlade-Chamberlain 58)
ANDERLECHT 3 (Vanden Borre 61, Vanden Borre 73 Pen, Mitrovic 90)

Wellbeck dived to win the penalty. Sanchez fired in a rebound after blasting a free kick into a wall. Kljestan moronically refused to play the ball out of defence and tried to shield it and turn away from the opposition, he was tackled twice and Oxy 10 ran through to score. Vanden Borre began the comeback with a strong run from midfield before spreading the play wide and eventually tapped in a centre. Nacho "he's Spanish so must be good" Monreal sacked Mitrovic to concede Anderlecht's penalty. Mitrovic completed the comeback when he threw himself at Najar's tremendous cross to equalise.

Attendance : 59,872
Assists : Welbeck (won pen), n/a, n/a, Kawaya, Mitrovic (won pen), Najar


DORTMUND 4 (Reus 39, Papastathopoulos 56, Immobile 74, Kaya 85 og)
GALATASARAY 1 (Balta 70)

An exquisite through pass helped Reus break the deadlock. Insert name here-poulos scrambled in Dortmund's second from a corner. Balta headed in a corner but Immobile, on as a sub, hit back immediately as Dortmund broke from a corner, he bravely threw himself at the ball as Muslera dived at his feet. That's 7 goals in 16 appearances already for Immobile, only 10 of which he started. He also forced the own goal.

Attendance : 65,851
Assists : Piszczek, Kehl, Sneijder (ck), Aubameyang, n/a