UEFA Champions League Tuesday: Group Leaders Solidify Holds On First

Luis Aguiar plays the ball in to Braga forward Matheus, who sticks out a foot to tap it into Partizan’s net. Matheus’s goal has just sealed the Portuguese side’s first ever Champions League victory and moves them up to third in Group H.

Basel has put the icing on the cake in in their victory over Roma at Estadio Olimpico with a third goal in the 93rd minute. Roma were pushing everyone forward in an attempt to find a winner, leaving them vulnerable on the counter-attack. Basel took advantage and broke on a Roma giveaway. Cabral, who was substituted on for Marco Streller in the second half, scored a well placed finish, assisted by Scott Chipperfield.

Just when we thought it was done and dusted, Juan Emmanuel Culio scores for Cluj to put the visitors within one of Bayern Munich. Culio’s rising shot hit the top of the net (possibly bouncing off Gomez on the way) and gave the visitors a bit of hope.

In a fitting end to the match, former Arsenal striker Eduardo pulled one back for the visitors when he met Jodson’s cross and finished emphatically in the 82nd.

The remaining Arsenal supporters left at the Emirates gave Eduardo a nice ovation although their clean sheet was no more.

Mario Gomez, on fire for Bayern, scored the side’s first goal in the match, putting them up 3-1 over hapless Cluj, who have scored three goals. Unfortunately, two of those goals ended up in their own net.

At this point, it looks like Bayern’s got this done and dusted. If Roma fail to find an equalizer, the German side will be six points clear in group E.

In arguably the goal of the day, Arsenal snatched their fourth when Jack Wilshere finished a brilliant team move that featured multiple passes involving Marouane Chamakh and Tomas Rosicky.

After some brilliant passing and some 1-2’s, Wilshere finished the move by taking a touch and slotting past Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov for their fourth of the night.

Johan Djourou won a penalty for the Gunners when he was dragged down by Luiz Adriano in the box in the 59th.

Fabregas stepped up and blasted the penalty home to secure the points for Arsenal while like Chelsea, their passage through to the knockout stages have all but been secured.

Ajax defender Andre Ooijer hauls down Dennis Oliech on the edge of the area and is rewarded with a straight red. Midfielder Valter Birsa steps up to take the free kick, sending a beautiful curling ball into the net.

With thirty minutes left to play, ten-man Ajax need to watch themselves lest Auxerre find the equalizer, or worse, the winner.

Soulyemane Diawara opened the scoring for the home side with a header that Zilina keeper Martin Dubravka should have handled. As both teams search for that elusive point in Group F, a win for either side could prove massive in catching Spartak Moscow who was beaten earlier today by Chelsea, but remain on 6 points.

Diawara’s header to open the scoring came just after the break in the 48th minute.

Arsenal are comfortably up 2-0 at the Emirates thanks to Samir Nasri. When Alex Song’s cross into the box took a deflection, Nasri seemingly plucked the wayward ball out of the air with his right foot before settling it with a touch and finishing it with his left.

A decent bit of skill from the French midfielder as Arsenal enter the half up by two goals without having to over extend themselves for the lead.

In Amsterdam, Ajax midfielder Demy de Zeeuw has scored to give the home side an early lead over visitors Auxerre in Group G. With Real Madrid currently leading AC Milan, Ajax could grab second with a big enough win.

Another clean sheet for Petr Cech and now three wins out of three for Chelsea as they can almost taste qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Chelsea now sit on 9 points in Group F after their victory in Moscow while fellow group participants Zilina and Olympique Marseille also play on Tuesday in a match both sides will be looking to earn their first points in.

The story of the day was Chelsea’s ability to create and subsequently take their chances while Spartak’s ability to create in attack was only matched in their inability to finish multiple second half shots. The space in front of Cech’s goal was incredibly active yet the shots ringing in rarely troubled the Chelsea keeper.

Spartak Moscow’s strategy entering into the second half was simple: attack Chelsea, get shots on goal and challenge Petr Cech. Through wide men Aiden McGeady and Dmitri Kombarov, Spartak placed shot after shot upon Cech’s goal forcing the Chelsea keeper to make numerous saves in the opening 15 minutes of the last 45.

While Chelsea sit back to defend in numbers, they remain dangerous on the counter. With twenty minutes left in the contest, Chelsea remain exactly where they want to be, and that’s up 0-2 away in the Champions League.

Nicolas Anelka latched onto a brilliant through ball from Michael Essien who had surged his way through the Moscow midfield to play provider for the Frenchman. Anelka collected and was able to slot home past Andriy Dikan for Chelsea’s second of the night.

Moscow’s Aiden McGeady was once able to get behind Chelsea’s Ashley Cole on the right side of midfield, yet his cross into the box only found the aware Petr Cech.

Spartak Moscow 0-1 Chelsea, In a highly entertaining opening 25 minutes, Chelsea midfielder Yuri Zhirkov opened the scoring with a brilliant long range volley.

Brazilian striker Ari had the best half chance or two for the home side who continue to attack Chelsea.

For thoughts on the rest of the day’s matches, in which the third and fourth place teams all meet in hopes of moving up in their groups, read the Tuesday preview.