UEFA Champions League 2011, Matchday 3: Real Madrid Win 4-0, Manchester United Defeat Otelul Galati

Dominant Ajax finally got their first win of their UEFA Champions League campaign under their belts with a 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb at the Maksimir Stadium. Ajax were rampant throughout, and although they failed to score until the 49th minute and never had the game completely wrapped until Christian Eriksen scored a 90th minute goal, they were undeniably the better side.

It would have been a very different story if Ajax hadn’t come away from Croatia with three points - the first half saw entirely too many wasted chances, and when Derk Boerrigter received the ball at the edge of the area after some brilliant dribbling by Miralem Sulegmani had opened up the space, and hammered an wonderful finish past Ivan Kelana, relief as much as joy filled the Ajax ranks. They had to be slightly on edge for the remainder of the match, although their hosts never really threatened an equaliser, but any fears of a comeback were put to rest when Erikssen grabbed the second.

FC Basel gave Manchester United a torrid time at Old Trafford but Benfica had no trouble whatsoever in dispatching their Swiss opponents St Jakob-Park. The Portuguese team went ahead in the 20th minutes through an absolutely wonderful goal. Although it was finished by Bruno Cesar, it was really made through great work by Nicolas Gaitan and a deft dummy from Rodrigo, which allowed Gaitan’s cross to find the feet of the waiting (and totally unmarked) Bruno Cesar, who wasn’t about to miss from 12 yards, no matter how hard Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer tried to stop it*.

*Not very hard.

Up stepped Mario Gomez, Destroyer of Worlds. Against him was a sleepy little goalkeeper from the foothills. Goalkeeper won, as Morgan de Sanctis guessed correctly, hurling himself to his left to grab the striker’s admittedly weak spot kick, punching the air in celebration. Things got fairly feisty after that, with the announcers commenting that Napoli weren’t doing anything through the middle but missing that they were bit hit with crunching professional fouls whenever they tried. Thomas Muller laid in a particularly nasty on on Lavezzi in breaking up a counterattack, and on a different day could have been sent off for what turned into a two-footed scissor lunge. Instead, he went into the book, along with eight(!) other players.

Anyway, the game went on. There were chances to finish things up for both sides - Bayern more than Napoli on account of not having the world’s most lackadaisical defence - but at the end of the day it seemed as though each would be happy with the draw, and that’s what we ended up getting. Bayern still lead Group A, and Napoli remain in second place ahead of Manchester City. Attention now shifts to the reverse fixture at the Allianz Arena. If Napoli can get a result there, they’re very likely to go through.

The second half brought more goals, starting with Khedira’s finish off a pass from Benzema. The German knocked it home and the hosts had doubled their lead. Ozil got involved, again off of another Benzema assist, but Marcelo did the work with a run down the right. He unlocked the defense and found Benzema, whose attempt bounced towards Ozil. He was at a sharp angle, but knocked it in off of Hugo Loris and Madrid were ahead, 3-0. Ramos finished things when he went up for a corner kick. He couldn’t win the header, but did knock it straight down and with two Lyon defenders trying to figure out where the ball went Ramos smashed it in for the final tally.

With the win, Madrid sit atop Group D with nine points. Lyon are even with Ajax on four points with four points and Dinamo Zagreb are last without any points.

The goal came off of a corner kick. It was lofted up to the center of the box, 10 yards from goal. Ramos went up to win the header, challenged by two Lyon players. No one really won the ball, with it just falling straight down to the turf. The problem for Lyon is that neither of their players who challenged for the ball knew where it went so while they were looking around for it, Ramos was hopping on it and slamming it into the back of the net. 4-0, Madrid are cruising.

Khedira has a rather simple finish to his goal. A good move by Madrid left the ball with Benzema, who spotted Khedira for the goal. Benzema also assisted on Ozil’s goal, although the real credit on that one goes to Marcelo. The Brazilian cut through the Lyon defense down the left, leaving them scrambling before he fed Benzema. The Frenchman’s attempt bounced over to Ozil on the left. Ozil shot and the ball bounced off of Hugo Loris and in for the goal.

This match isn’t going to end 1-1 though.

A back and forth first half exploded into a fantastic match of football with a touch of Vagner Love magic as CSKA Moscow beat visiting Trabzonspor 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League. The match at the Luzhniki Stadium was an open affair, with the visitors and the hosts both needing a win to hold much hope at all beating out Porto or Inter Milan for a place in the knockout stages.

Trabzonspor played well, but Love’s class shone through - the Brazilian received the ball in the visitors’ box, injured his back in the tussle for possession and still managed to play a quite brilliant backheel straight into the path of strike partner Seydou Doumbia, who finished coolly past Tolga Zengin for the opener.

Lille Lineup (4-3-3): Enyeama; Beria, Basa. Debuchy, Chedjou; Mavuba, Balmont, Pedretti; Hazard, Sow, Cole

Inter Milan Lineup (4-3-1-2): Julio Cesar; Nagatomo, Chivu, Lucio, Maicon; Thiago Motta, Cambiasso, Zanetti; Sneijder; Pazzini, Zarate

Lyon reinstate Yoann Gourcouff to the starting lineup in place of the injured Maxime Gonlalons, but that’s hardly going to help out their cause at the Santiago Bernabeu - they don’t need personnel movement, they need a minor miracle to come away with anything from this match. Here are the starting lineups:

Both CSKA Moscow and Trabzonspor have been able to create chances in an up-and-down UEFA Champions League encounter, but the home side have a 1-0 halftime lead, thanks to one piece of absolute brilliance from Vagner Love and Seydou Doumbia. Both midfields have struggled to shut down the counter in a fast-paced match, but both defenses are holding strong for the most part, meaning the best chances have been long shots.

That is, except for the one goal. In the 29th minute, Vagner Love and Doumbia played a brilliant one-two combination to set up the goal. The Brazilian international Vagner Love received the ball at his feet and appeared to strain his back as he fought for the ball, but somehow played a stunning backheel perfectly into the path of Doumbia while holding his back in obvious pain. Doumbia ran onto the ball and finished with a piledriver of a shot, putting his team up 1-0. Luckily for CSKA, Love recovered from what must have just been an awkward stretch, and has stayed on the pitch.

Thanks to the wonder of time zones, Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League fixtures kick off at 12 pm ET, 5 pm BST with a match from Russia. CSKA Moscow are in desperate need of a home win to get themselves back into contention for a knockout stage place, while Trabzonspor top the group after taking a surprising four points from Lille and Inter Milan. If Trabzon can avoid losing on the road to CSKA, they’ll be in prime position to get to the next round of the competition. Here are the lineups.

CSKA Moscow Lineup (4-4-2): Gabulov; Ignashevich, A. Berezutski, V. Berezutski, Fedotov; Aldonin, Dzagoev, Mamaev, Tosic; Doumbia, Vagner Love

Keeping Angel di Maria getting regular minutes is key for Madrid as well. As it was noted above, Özil is not a winger and Madrid don’t always look at their best when they try to fit both Kaka and Özil on the same field. Kaka’s return to form and fitness has sparked some major selection dilemmas for Jose Mourinho, though having too many good players is usually an okay problem to have.

For more on this game and all things Los Merengues, visit Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

I’m thoroughly impressed. As for what’s actually going on with United, The Busby Babe feels like their team needs to be a little more clinical in front of goal. A failure to take easy chances usually comes back to bite teams on the road.

United have just two points from their first two Champions League matches and are in serious need of a win. This game kicks off at 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm BST and 8:45 pm local time from Bucharest, Romania.

Though Real Madrid and Olympique Lyonnais were always clear favorites to advance out of Group D in the UEFA Champions League, this one was supposed to be extremely competitive. Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb are both extremely talented teams who performed impressively in their domestic leagues, but after the first two match days, they sit in third and fourth, well behind their rivals.

Over the next two matches, when these two teams play home and away, both teams are going to need to go for the win on both occasions. If either team walks away from this series with less than four points, it’s probably lights out on their knockout stage ambitions. If the teams win a match apiece while Real Madrid wipes the floor with Lyon, there is suddenly a very intriguing three-way race.

Manchester United have drawn both of their first two matches in the UEFA Champions League this year, but they’ll have some serious explaining to do to their fans if they manage any result but a win in Bucharest on Tuesday night. Otelul Galati may be the champions of Romania, but they’re also without a point so far in the Champions League, falling to both Benfica and FC Basel.

Date: Tuesday, October 18

Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid have taken control of Group D in the UEFA Champions League. A win at Dinamo Zagred was predictably difficult, but they got three points out of it then waxed Ajax at home. Now they welcome Olympique Lyon to the Bernabeu on matchday three, a win away from just about putting the group on ice and leaving the three others teams to squabble amongst themselves for the second advancement place.

Madrid vs. Lyon match-ups have become commonplace. Apparently the ping pong balls like seeing the two matched up because this is the fourth time in the last six years and third consecutive season that the two have been drawn against each other in the Champions League. Lyon eliminated Madrid two years ago in the round of 16, getting a win at home then holding on for a draw in Spain to advance en route to a semifinal appearance. Last season it was Madrid that followed that script, drawing at Stade de Gerland and winning at home to advance.

The teams sitting in second and third in the group meet to settle their differences on Tuesday evening. Inter have a victory over CSKA Moscow and a loss to Trabzonspor, while Lille drew both of their first two matches. Both teams played weakened sides on the weekend for a variety of reasons, including injuries, suspensions and rest, but both teams will be very close to full strength on Tuesday.

Date: Tuesday, October 18

However, when your team needs to be perfect and the opposition needs to be poor to have a chance at three points, nobody should be expecting too much. That’s not even mentioning the problem’s Napoli’s three-man back line (something manager Walter Mazzarri is reluctant to change) will have with Bayern’s lone striker formation. All in all, it doesn’t look good for the visitors: We’ll call this 2-1 Bayern, with everyone impressed with Napoli’s ‘fight’. Some consolation prize, eh?

The match will be held at the Stadio San Paulo at 8:45 PM local time (2:45 PM EST).