UEFA Champions League 2011: Chelsea Cruise To Win At Stamford Bridge, Top Group E

Drogba completed a man of the match performance with his second goal, a brilliant 75th minute finish that sealed the result for Chelsea. Mata provided the assist again, sliding a great through ball past the Valencia defense for Drogba to run onto and chip into the back of the net to seal the victory.

Bayer Leverkusen will join them in the knockout stages after they finished second in Group E. Valencia will to to the UEFA Europa League.

Ramires added the second in the 21st minute on the counter attack. Drogba provided the assist, coming back for the ball and holding up before playing a great through ball. Victor Ruiz appeared to have great position to make a clearance, but let Ramires run around him and hit the ball into the back of the net.

It’s a long way back for Los Che, but they only need to equalize, not win to go through.

FC Porto Lineup (4-3-3): Helton; Álvaro Pereira, Rolando, Otamendi, Maicon; Fernando, João Moutinho, Defour; J. Rodriguez; Hulk, Djalma

Zenit St. Petersburg Lineup (4-3-3): Malafeev; Criscito, Lombaerts, Hubočan, Anyukov; Denisov, Semak, Shirokov; Faizulin, Lazovic, Danny

No matter what happens, Valencia’s attitude and spirit should at least make this game fun.

Check out Chelsea FC blog We Ain’t Got No History for more on the Blues. We’ll have coverage of all of the UEFA Champions League matches at SB Nation Soccer. For more from around the world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Olympiacos cannot go through to the next round on a loss. If they draw, they would need Borussia Dortmund to defeat Marseille by two, three or four goals. A one-goal BVB win would send Marseille through, while a five goal BVB win would send them through.

Game Date / Time: Tuesday, December 6. 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm GMT, 8:45 pm local

Borussia Dortmund are in excellent form in the Bundesliga and entered the UEFA Champions League with a fair bit of hype. Unfortunately, they’ve only managed one win in five Champions League games and are now in a massive hole. BVB must defeat Marseille by four goals to go through if Arsenal defeat Olympiacos. If Arsenal and Olympiacos draw, BVB would need a five-goal win to go through.

Marseille have found a great run of form in Ligue 1 and were never in poor form in Europe, so even with a healthy side, Dortmund would find this a tough task. They’re without Sven Bender and Neven Subotic, however, making it less likely that they won’t get burned throwing bodies forward in droves.

Bayer Leverkusen are in control of their own destiny in the UEFA Champions League, but their job is not done. They have already booked a place in the knockout stages, but may need a positive result against Racing Genk to clinch a top seed. If either Chelsea or Valencia takes all three points in the other Group E match, Bayer would need to win to finish top of the group.

Genk has nothing to play for but pride and they will be without star Kevin De Bruyne. That won’t stop them from playing as hard as possible for a win, as they will likely want to give themselves a bit of a morale boost after suffering a 7-0 loss to Valencia in the last round.

Game Date / Time: Tuesday, December 6. 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm GMT, 8:45 pm local

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

There are as many ways to enjoy a football match as there are people to enjoy them. One man’s fascinating tactical battle is another man’s turgid 0-0 draw; one woman’s glorious carnival of attacking puissance is another’s one-sided mismatch. It’s up to you. But I think most people would agree that one of the more fascinating ingredients in any prospective game is when one or both teams are beset by insecurity.

Insecure teams don’t play badly. They are not roundly outplayed, they are not thrashed. Instead, they play pretty well, but with a vague air of worry: they know, and you know they know, that it’s all about to go horribly wrong. Often it doesn’t. Sometimes it does.