A Group Stage of Records

The notion that the Big Guns cannot be beaten is long gone. If anybody thought otherwise, then this season’s group stage was enough proof. The teams can now look forward to the ‘last 16’ stage along with millions of fans which also comprises of iSport’s Pulasta Dhar….

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Usually the teams which will go through to the next round of the Champion’s League is decided by the time of the 6th match, but this time round there were twists everywhere. This only goes to show the amount of quality Europe has. Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are always favourites. Well, if you follow the beautiful game, then none will argue the fact that they all faced tough times in the group. As for Liverpool, the poor scousers are done and dusted. Wow!!

The midweek had a lot of nail biting matchers and here's a roundup:

GROUP A

butt Bordeaux had done exceptionally well and are on a dream run. They had already qualified and the fight for the 2nd place was between Juventus and Bayern Munich. Munich put up a display reminiscent of the mid 90’s form they had, thrashing the hell out of a formidable Juventus side who have never failed to make it through to the last 16 before. Munich’s goalkeeper did not give much chance to miss Oliver Kahn who used to make great saves. Well this keeper, Butt, not only saves but scores too!! 4-1 was the final score with goals from Butt (Pen), a brace from Olic and a screamer from Tymoschuk.

GROUP B

A fight between the Germans and the Moscowites is nothing new in world history, but there are not many stories in football about them apart from this one. Each needed a better result than the other and CSKA Moscow was the team which did better by winning 2-1 at Besiktas. On the other hand, old horse Owen scored a hat-trick to help United win 3-1 at Wolfsburg.

GROUP C

Marseille needed to win against Madrid to go through. The other contender was Milan who also needed to get at least a point, which they did against Zurich. Madrid welcomed Ronaldo’s form (he’s never out of form for that matter) and he scored 2 goals to take the whites through 3-1 against the French. Another point to note was a rare Ronaldinho goal, but do not get too happy because it was a penalty. But let us not take any credit away from the lanky (now stout) Brazilian.

GROUP D

Not much excitement here since Chelski and Porto were already through to the last 16. Apoel Nicosia needed a win against the Blues to get into the Europa League but they got a goal short with a wonderful 2-2 result, which left Ancelotti reeling in anger as per the press conference. Atletico, despite a third rate performance against a resurgent Porto losing 3-0, still went through to the second best tournament in Europe. That boy Aguero is about to lose patience and will probably be seen in England next year.

GROUP E

The interesting one ever since a lad called Jovetic killed off the Liverpool defense, which could not cope with the Purple Brigade of Fiorentina. Lyon also thrashed the Reds and I cannot stop myself from smirking as I punch out these letters on the keyboard. Lyon and the Viola go through with Liverpool left behind calculating which tournament they can still ‘try’ and win. To add salt to their wounds, they got beat again! That too 2-1 from behind!! Oh my! Lyon did good business on the other hand with a 4-0 thumping of Debrecen.

GROUP F

Messi and Xavi made sure Barcelona did not face embarrassment at Kiev with Messi scoring a rare freekick after they went down 1-0 early on. Eto’O scored his first ECC goal for Inter along with a stunning freekick from wonderkid Mario Balotelli to give them a 2-0 victory at Rubin Kazan. Both teams made it through from a tough group.

GROUP G

Rangers had to settle for a Europa League spot after losing 3-0 to Stuttgart, who scored the fastest 3 goals ever…..in just 11 minutes!! Elsewhere, Sevilla won through a Kanoute penalty to take top spot. Stuttgart have made it to the last 16 after a long gap and it will be good to see the Germans in action in the knock-outs.

GROUP H

Arsenal sent out the youngest team in Champions League history against Greeks Olympiakos, assured of top spot but they lost 1-0 in spite of some good football from the teenagers. The battle for the Europa League spot was ongoing as AZ Alkmaar took on Standard Liege. AZ were looking good to go but football can spring up the best surprises and guess what!! Butt scored a penalty earlier, but Standard’s goalie Sinan Bolat was determined to better him and he scored from open play in the 95th minute!! First time in ECC history that such an event happened and Standard go through to the Europa League.

A highly entertaining group stage has come to an end and I cannot wait to see the draw on the 18th of December. If you cannot catch it, be sure to read the review only on iSport.