Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Champions League Wed Review

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Inter and Barcelona scrapped to a 0-0 draw while Arsenal fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Standard Liege.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto'o were both kept under wraps by their former team-mates as Inter Milan held Champions League holders Barcelona to a goalless draw at the San Siro.

The quick return of the two strikers to their old clubs dominated talk in the build-up to the match, with Barca having this summer given Inter 46 million euros (over £41million) plus Eto'o in exchange for Ibrahimovic.

The Swede was much more involved than his Cameroon counterpart as treble winners Barca spent large parts of the game going forward, but neither player, nor anyone else for that matter, was able to find the breakthrough as defences came out on top.

The result means Dynamo Kiev top Group F after they scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to beat Champions League debutants Rubin Kazan 3-1.

The Russian champions stunned their hosts when they took the lead against the run of play through Alejandro Dominguez's free-kick.

Dynamo's frustration grew as they toiled deep into the second half in search of a reply, but once Ayiila Yussuf made the breakthrough, goals soon followed from Junior Gerson Magrao and Oleg Gusev to secure victory.

Arsenal also came from behind, fighting back from going 2-0 down inside five minutes to triumph at Standard Liege in their Group H opener.

Fans had barely taken their seats when Eliaquim Mangala smashed a low drive into the bottom corner to give Liege a shock lead in just two minutes and moments later William Gallas was adjudged to have tripped Milan Jovanovic, who stepped up to send rookie goalkeeper Vito Mannone the wrong way.

Arsene Wenger's men fought back superbly with a well-taken goal from Nicklas Bendtner on the stroke of half-time, before Belgium international Thomas Vermaelen bundled in an equaliser and Eduardo completed the revival 10 minutes from time.

View: Champions League Wednesday Gallery

Olympiacos, who named Zico as their new coach tonight in succession to Temuri Ketsbaia, also got off to a winning start thanks to Vassilis Torosidis' 79th-minute header which was enough to see off AZ Alkmaar.

Lyon triumphed by the same result over Fiorentina at the Stade Gerland but the Italians can only have themselves to blame for the defeat.

A red card for Alberto Gilardino in stoppage time of the first half allowed Lyon to impose themselves on the game after the break and Miralem Pjanic scored the winner in the 76th minute.

Elsewhere in Group E, Dirk Kuyt's 12th goal in 35 Champions League games gave Liverpool a slender 1-0 victory over Hungarian champions Debrecen.

Meanwhile, Sevilla comfortably saw off Unirea Urziceni 2-0.

With their opponents defending in numbers, Sevilla made hard work of the first half before Luis Fabiano opened the scoring in stoppage time.

Renato added a second for the hosts in the 70th minute and they were rarely troubled by a Unirea side who are playing in the competition for the first time.

The Spanish outfit top Group G following Rangers' 1-1 draw against Stuttgart.

Madjid Bougherra rescued a point for the Scottish champions in the 77th minute after Pavel Pogrebnyak had opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

Round-up of the games

Liverpool 1-0 Debreceni

Lyon 1-0 Fiorentina

Inter 0-0 Barcelona

Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 Rubin

Stuttgart 1-1 Rangers

Sevilla 2-0 Unirea

Olympiacos 1-0 AZ

Standard Liege 2-3 Arsenal

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