UEFA Champions League 2011, Matchday 5: Bayer Come Back To Stun Chelsea; Barcelona And Arsenal Win

Late in Inter Milan’s 1-1 draw against Trabzonspor in the UEFA Champions League, defender Lucio appeared to pick up a slight knock, but played through the rest of the game. Now, according to Football Italia’s Serafino Ingardia and Italian website AGI.it, Lucio will be out until early in the new year. Though he’s now 33 years old, Lucio is still one of the best central defenders in Europe, and he’ll be a huge loss for a struggling Inter Milan side.

The good news is that Inter recently got Walter Samuel back, but they are still dangerously thin in the center of defense.Ivan Cordoba is still out, while Christian Chivu is much better at left back than in the center of defense. The luxury of multiple fullback options could cause Chivu to move inside, but Andrea Ranocchia could also come into the defense. Once a promising youngster, Ranocchia is now 23 years old and has disappointed in recent performances.

In the middle of Borussia Dortmund’s UEFA Champions League clash against Arsenal, Der BVB’s star holding midfielder was forced out of the game early with a facial injury. It didn’t look good at the time, but apparently it’s even worse than it first looked on the field. According to BVB manager Jurgen Klopp, speaking after the game, Bender has a broken jaw and the injury will require surgery. Bender will not be able to travel to Germany with his injury, and will have surgery in London.

Both Bender and teammate Mario Götze - who luckily just had a minor knock - had to come out of the game prematurely. Without arguably their two best players on the pitch, Dortmund struggled against Arsenal and allowed two goals in a 2-1 loss. Der BVB are still alive in Champions League, thanks to Olympiacos’ defeat of Marseille, but will need a minor miracle to qualify for the next round without Bender in midfield.

Before Barcelona, and more specifically Lionel Messi, scored a brilliant goal to win the match at the San Siro, Kevin-Prince Boateng equalized for AC milan with a bit of brilliance of his own. Bring the ball down, blaze past a defender and unleash a shot that leaves the goalkeeper helpless? Yeah, that’ll do.

Just fantastic for Boateng, who is starting to put together quite the highlight real of fantastic goals. As impressive as the highlight of goals he’s putting together is his highlight reel of celebrations (need we remind you of the moonwalk?). He should get a goal for the shot and then a second goal for the celebration. This one is a hop, skip and a jump of a celebration, although it was a hop, skip and a jump with style and a considerable level of difficulty that has him in contention for London 2012. The Russian judge gives him a 9.2.

Related: Video of Lionel Messi’s assist to Xavi on Barcelona’s game-winning goal

Messi stepped up to take the penalty and converted, but it was called back for an illegal take. While running up to the ball, Messi stopped completely and was shown a yellow card for doing so. He took the second try quickly and legally, scoring to put Barcelona up 2-1 and give them the lead going to halftime.

Arsenal will be celebrating tonight -- their 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund has seen them clinch their spot in the Round of 16, with one game to spare. It was Robin Van Persie, of course, that scored both goals, although the terrific play of Alex Song deserves some credit as well. Dortmund, meanwhile, have been eliminated from the Champions League, while a 1-0 win for Olympiacos over Marseille throws second place in Group F up in the air.

Although the visitors started off brightly, Shinji Kagawa testing Wojciech Szczesny in the first minute, Dortmund’s ship was sinking by the 30th minute. Sven Bender, an absolute rock in midfield, had his cheek torn apart by the boot of Thomas Vermaelen and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. Minutes later, one of the brightest sparks in the BVB attack, Mario Götze, hobbled off, his leg hurting from an altercation with Song. For the final 15 minutes of the half, the visitors looked utterly deflated.