<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/roma-rossi-challenges/image/10266172?term=Roma" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10266172/roma-rossi-challenges/roma-rossi-challenges.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10266172" border="0" alt="AS Roma&apos;s Daniele De Rossi (L) challenges Bayern Munich goalkeeper Thomas Kraft during their Champions League Group E soccer match at the Olympic stadium in Rome November 23, 2010.  REUTERS/Tony Gentile  (ITALY - Tags: SPORT SOCCER IMAGES OF THE DAY)" width="300" height="188"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>In the first eight matches of this Champions League matchday, there was plenty of excitement to go around. Some sides like Chelsea have made sure that they’re going through top of the group, while others like Arsenal have complicated their Champions League campaign terribly.</p>
<p>In these eight games, there were 23 goals scored, making for an average of 2.8 goals per game. But what I find very interesting is that in these eight matches, there were four players sent off with red cards! All four sending offs were in the second half of the matches, and three were in the last five minutes. I guess it’s a sign that the tension is rising as teams need to qualify for the next round of the tournament.</p>
<p>The most exciting match which took place today was Roma – Bayern Munich, with the Italian side triumphing at home 3-2. Bayern started the scoring with Gomez taking advantage of shaky Roma defending in the 33rd&nbsp;and 39th&nbsp;minutes, leaving Ranieri’s side in a bit of disarray going into the second half. But Roma came out to win the match in front of their home fans, and Borriello pulled one back four minutes into the second half, then in the&nbsp;81<sup>st</sup> minute De Rossi scored to make it 2-2. And in the 84<sup>th</sup> minute, Roma were awarded a penalty, and their legendary captain Francesco Totti stepped up and scored the winner.</p>
<p>A fantastic<strong> </strong>match which keeps Roma in second place, three points behind Bayern Munich, and three ahead of FC Basel. FC Basel defeated CFR Cluj at home 1-0, with Alerares scoring the only goal in the 15<sup>th</sup> minute. Cluj had Piccolo sent off with a direct red card in the 88<sup>th</sup> minute, and the player will miss their next Champions League match against Roma. So Group E is relatively tight with Roma needing a win if they want to qualify, while Bayern look pretty solid up in first place with a goal difference of +7.</p>
<div style="float: left;margin-right: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/chelsea-msk-zilina/image/10266325?term=Champions+League" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10266325/chelsea-msk-zilina/chelsea-msk-zilina.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10266325" border="0" alt="Stamford Bridge Chelsea v MSK Zilina (2-1) Champions League Group F 23/11/2010 Dean Sturridge (Chelsea) celebrates equakiser Photo: Roger Parker Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="240" height="294"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>Chelsea faced Zilina at Stamford Bridge, and while they went a goal down in the first half, Ancelotti’s side scored twice in the second half in order to win 2-1. Zilina scored from a quick give-and-go passing move which Bello poked past Turnbull. It was the youngster Sturridge who equalized, and Chelsea began to press on, with Drogba almost scoring from a free kick, and &nbsp;youngster van Aanholt smacking an effort against the post. It was Florent Malouda who scored the winner in the 86th minute for Chelsea, helping his side get&nbsp;their fifth in a row in the Champions League, qualifying them mathematically for first place.</p>
<p>Behind Chelsea which has fifteen points, Olympique Marseille are second with nine, with Spartak Moscow following the french side with six points. Marseille defeated the Russian team comfortably 3-0 in Russia, with Valbuena, Remy, and Brandao scoring the goals while Welliton was sent off for Spartak. While it is mathematically possible for Spartak Moscow to steal Marseille’s second place and qualify for the next round, Marseille have a goal difference of +8, while Spartak’s is -4, so it’s very likely that Chelsea and Olympique Marseille will move on to the next round from Group F.</p>
<p>While Chelsea have qualified to the next round, Arsenal have made their qualification a little more difficult after their away loss to Sporting Braga. It was a 2-0 win for the Portuguese side with Matheus Nascimento scoring both very well taken goals. What will bother Arsenal fans the most is probably the fact that their side conceeded the goals in the 83<sup>rd</sup> and 90<sup>th</sup> minutes, and that they’ll probably have to win next Champions League matchday in order to qualify.</p>
<p>This is because Sporting Braga are tied with Arsenal with nine points, with the English side ahead by goal difference. Ahead of both of the sides is Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk which defeated Partizan 3-0, which puts them first with 12 points. Watching all the action from the very bottom of the table is the Serbian side Partizan, the team has only scored one goal, and has zero points, and their chances of picking up some points next matchday are slim, considering that they’ll be facing Arsenal which will be fighting for qualification.</p>
<p>Jose Mourinho will be glad that his team, Real Madrid, conquered first place in the group with a 4-0 away win over Ajax, but he won’t be too glad about the two players which received red cards in the final minutes of the match. Everything was going perfectly all the way until the last five minutes of the match, the Spanish side were 4-0 up with Benzema and Arbeloa on the scoresheet along with Ronaldo who scored twice, of which one of the goals was a penalty.</p>
<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/milan-ibrahimovic-reacts/image/10266140?term=Champions+League" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10266140/milan-ibrahimovic-reacts/milan-ibrahimovic-reacts.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10266140" border="0" alt="AC Milan&apos;s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) reacts with team-mate Ignazio Abate after opening the score in their Champions League Group G soccer match against AJ Auxerre at Abbe Deschamps stadium in Auxerre November 23, 2010. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)" width="300" height="200"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>But in the 87<sup>th</sup> minute Xabi Alonso gets a second yellow card for time wasting (his first was for throwing the ball away during a stoppage of play), and therefore a red card, and just minutes later Sergio Ramos replicates his teammate and gets sent off for wasting time as well! But Jose Mourinho won’t care too much, especially considering that this win mathematically qualifies his side in first place.</p>
<p>AC Milan have also mathematically qualified for the knockout round in second place after their 2-0 win away from home against Auxerre. And it was Ibrahimovic who scored a fantastic goal, a truly unstoppable rocket which shows that the Swede has been playing wonderfully and scoring plenty of goals to help his side, whether it be in the Champions League, or the <a href="www.serieatalk.com">Serie A</a>. Ronaldinho got the other goal in the 90<sup>th</sup> minute, a sly&nbsp;dribbling&nbsp;move finished by a curled left foot shot onto the far post.</p>
<p><em>What are your thoughts regarding these matches? Will Arsenal qualify? What about Roma? Can they catch Bayern? Share your comments below!</em></p>


Roma Score Late In Comeback Win Over Bayern

Roma Score Late In Comeback Win Over Bayern - World Soccer Talk

<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/real-madrid-coach-jose/image/10125317?term=Real+Madrid" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10125317/real-madrid-coach-jose/real-madrid-coach-jose.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10125317" border="0" alt="Real Madrid&apos;s coach Jose Mourinho (C) reacts after his player Pedro Leon scored the equalising goal against AC Milan during their Champions League Group G match at the San Siro stadium in Milan November 3, 2010. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi (ITALY - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)" width="280" height="182"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>After a truly fantastic matchday of Champions League action, there are so many things to review, especially after so many goals were scored. There were 53 goals scored in all 16 matches of the Champions League this midweek, that’s an average of  3.31 goals per game! Not bad at all.</p>
<p>Real Madrid travelled to Milan to play the rossoneri, and while Jose Mourinho added a little spice to the crowd by waving with three fingers (which indicates the treble he won last season with Inter Milan), the match was full of excitement. The first goal came at the 45 minute mark when Higuain took advantage of a slightly disorganized Milan backline, received a simple pass with his back to goal, and turned around to slot it into the back of the net.</p>
<p>Then in the second half, Allegri put on Inzaghi for Ronaldinho, and the Italian striker was phenomenal for AC Milan. He scored two goals to give the home side the lead, and surpass Gerd Muller’s all time scoring record in the competition by scoring his 70th goal in the tournament.</p>
<p>But Mourinho is a sly and lucky man, and in the 94th minute of the game, substitute Karim Benzema picked out another substitute Pedro Leon with a defence-splitting through pass, and Leon finished through Abbiati’s legs for an epic equalizer. With this point, Real Madrid have qualified for the knockout stages, but AC Milan will have to do will in their upcoming two matches against Auxerre and Ajax to make sure they qualify as well.</p>
<div style="float: left;margin-right: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/arsenal-walcott-celebrates/image/10124940?term=shakhtar" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10124940/arsenal-walcott-celebrates/arsenal-walcott-celebrates.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10124940" border="0" alt="Arsenal&apos;s Theo Walcott (L) celebrates after scoring against Shakhtar Donetsk during their Champions League Group H soccer match at Donbass Arena stadium in Donetsk November 3, 2010. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (UKRAINE - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)" width="210" height="173"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>There was another story of revenge in this Champions League midweek, with Eduardo’s side Shakhtar Donetsk defeating his former club Arsenal. Things looked a little worrying for Shakhtar when Samir Nasri clipped the outside of the Ukrainian goal in the beginning of the match. After that, just ten minutes into the match Theo Walcott scored a wonderful goal from a deadly counter-attack finished by a sublime low curling shot. Arsenal needed a win to cinch qualification, and things were looking good for the gunners early on.</p>
<p>But Shakhtar fought back right away, and managed to hit the woodwork and then forced Fabianski to an excellent save. Finally Shakhtar scored, and it was the former Barcelona player Chygrynskiy who headed home from a free kick, and Fabianski couldn’t do much since there was a slight deflection as the ball flicked off of Eastmond’s head. Then, the true blow for Arsenal fans arrived, and it was their former player Eduardo who delivered it. A composed first-touch finish by Eduardo from a low pass across Arsenal’s penalty box gave the home side the winner. And while Arsenal fought back, it wasn’t meant to be as Shakhtar held on for an amazing home win.</p>
<p>Tottenham defeated Inter Milan 3-1 at White Hart Lane, with another outstanding performance by Gareth Bale. The Welsh international dominated the left wing and assisted two goals for Harry Redknapp’s side, and it was Samuel Eto’o who scored a lovely goal for Inter Milan.</p>
<p>Chelsea also got a big win, 4-1 over Spartak Moscow, and it was Bratislav Ivanovic who scored a brace! Drogba also made his Champions League season debut this match, and had the captain’s armband on for the English club as he scored as well.</p>
<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/chelsea-spartak-champions/image/10125455?term=Champions+league" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10125455/chelsea-spartak-champions/chelsea-spartak-champions.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=10125455" border="0" alt="Stamford Bridge Chelsea v Spartak (4-1) Champions League Group F 03/10/2010 Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) and Gael Kakuta celebrate fourth goal Photo: Roger Parker Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="245" height="319"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>Roma fought for a good 3-2 win away against Basel, a particularly inspired Menez gave the Romans the lead, and then Totti followed up with a penalty. After that Frei pulled one back for the home side, but the youngster Greco scored Roma’s third to make sure that Basel didn’t get their hopes up. Shaqiri scored the final goal of the match to make it 3-2, as Roma pull off an important win in this Champions League campaign.</p>
<p>Bayern Munich travelled away and pummelled CFR Cluj 4-0 with Mario Gomez scoring a hat-trick, but that wasn’t the biggest scoreline of this midweek. Marseille defeated Zilina in Slovakia, with Gignac scoring a hat-trick, and even former Real Madrid defender Heinze getting a goal.</p>
<p><em>There were plenty of amazing matches, and sadly I can’t cover them all. Please comment below about any of the matches which happened in the Champions League today, or any which will be happening in the Europa League tomorrow!</em></p>


Real Madrid Grab Last-Gasp Goal For 2-2 Draw

Real Madrid Grab Last-Gasp Goal For 2-2 Draw - World Soccer Talk

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Roma Score Late In Comeback Win Over Bayern

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Real Madrid Grab Last-Gasp Goal For 2-2 Draw