UEFA Champions League: Manchester City crashing out, other big sides disappoint

It took Montpellier a full hour to regroup, but the defending Ligue 1 champions eventually drew level. Francois Modesto was the culprit, as far as Olympiacos were concerned, the defender having seen fit to wrestle Souleymane Camara to the ground in the penalty area, giving up a spot kick in the process. The otherwise quiet Younes Belhanda stepped up, slotting past Roy Carroll with a precise effort despite the goalkeeper guessing the right way.

But the equaliser only serve to invigourate the hosts, who pressed forward almost immediately and were given the reward their play deserved when a poor clearance from Belhanda presented Greco with a chance to reestablish the lead. The Italian cleverly diverted the ball past a wrong-footed Geoffrey Jourdren to make it 2-1. It was 3-1 moments later after a lovely finish from Mitroglou, who fired home after being fed with a neat delivery by left back Jose Holebas.

Siem de Jong scored twice in the first 17 minutes of the match, with both goals coming on corners. A 10th minute corner took a deflection off Niklas Moisander and fell to de Jong, who put in an incredible narrow angle finish at the far post. His second goal was a much simpler one, as City left him unmarked and allowed him to comfortably score Ajax’s second.

The Citizens had numerous other chances to score, but were denied each time, either by Kenneth Vermeer or the referee. In the 79th minute, on a corner, Vermeer made an unbelievable save on a Balotelli header. City thought they had the winner in the 88th minute when Aguero poked in a cross by Aleksandr Kolarov, but Kolarov was offside when Dzeko played the ball to him.

A goal early in the first half by Anderlecht’s Dieudonné Mbokani was enough as the Belgian side earned their first Champions League win at home in ten matches and only their second UCL victory in 23 attempts.

Zenit’s must-win match got off to a horrid start as they conceded an early goal to Anderlecht. Striker Dieudonné Mbokani, back from a suspension and a broken nose, made an a slicing run just outside the Zenit box, then played a fantastic one-two with Sacha Klejstan. The American midfielder sent the ball right back as Mbokani made his run and put a right footed shot past Vyacheslav Malafeev to give Anderlecht an early 1-0 lead.

Malaga are on the verge of booking their place in the next round of the Champions League after holding on for a 1-1 draw against AC MIlan at the San Siro. Eliseu scored just before halftime and Pato equalized for Milan with just over 25 minutes left as Los Boquerones were able to survive a 19 shot onslaught from the Italians.

Milan poured on the pressure in the second, unleashing shot after shot at the Malaga defense until they finally broke through in the 73rd minute. Constant got in deep on the left side before lofting a cross to the far post that found Pato who lept to meet the ball and headed it down in to the goal. Caballero might have had a chance to make the save, but his own defender Martín Demichelis managed to block his path as he attempted to make a play on the ball.

Borussia Dortmund still lead Group D in the UEFA Champions League after they pulled off a draw at the Santiago Bernabeu, though they’ll be disappointed about how they gave away all three points. BVB struck first and led at the end of the first half, but couldn’t hold onto the win in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid.

Sensing that his team was better off trying to sit on their lead than play with Madrid, Jurgen Klopp brought on Sven Bender for Marco Reus after 75 minutes in an attempt to pack the midfield. It made finding space very hard for Madrid, but they eventually figured out how to break down Dortmund. They came close to scoring in the 86th minute, when Dortmund cleared a shot by Callejon off the line, and it didn’t take them much longer to find their goal.

After 67 minutes, the score was 2-2. Walcott nearly gave the travelling fans something to cheer about once more when he broke through the lines and shot, but his effort bounced off the base of Unnerstall’s left post and the linesman’s flag was raised regardless.

By this point, both sides were seemingly content with the scoreline, and the game’s urgency was more or less entirely extinguished save from a blown chance from Walcott right at the death. A draw was fine for both teams, who remain in the qualifying places in Group B. Arsenal’s trip to Olympiacos is now key for ensuring that they do actually qualify.

Following a corner kick, Mesut Ozil found Pepe to level the match for Madrid in the 34th minute. Raphael Varane won the ball on the top of the box after the corner and found Ozil, who swung a ball into the central defender for a fairly simple finish. Madrid couldn’t hold on until halftime, however, and got ripped up on the counter in stoppage time. Kevin Grosskreutz found Mario Gotze in the winner for the go-ahead goal, though replays showed that Alvaro Arbeloa got the final touch, and the goal is likely to be changed to an own goal post-match.

Siem de Jong stunned the hosts in the 10th minute with a fantastic finish on a corner kick. Niklas Molsander created the chance by winning the ball in the center of the area and poking to the far post, where de Jong netted a sliding finish from an incredibly narrow angle. He completed a brace and doubled his team’s lead seven minutes afterward on another corner. City did a terrible job of marking his near post run, and he was virtually uncontested on his header.

I doubt Manuel Pellegrini could have asked for a better first half at the San Siro. Despite the fact Malaga were a little shaky at times in the defense and sloppy with their passing on the attack, the Spanish side leads 1-0 thanks to a some excellent work from Isco and Elisu.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic might be banned in Ligue 1 after a bit of kung-fu action over the weekend, but he’s available for the Champions League and therefore Paris Saint-Germain are going to deploy him against a Dinamo Zagreb defence that was already going to be terrified of the Swede before he started kicking people in the face. The visitors are playing an ultra-defensive 5-3-2, as well they should at the Parc des Princes. Of course, PSG are one of those teams that it’s possible to frustrate and annoy, so maybe the hosts can manage it. It’s probably not something you should be betting much money on, mind.

Dinamo Zagreb (5-3-2): Ivan Kelava; Josip Pivaric, Ante Puljic, Josip Simunic, Domagoj Vida, Sime Vrsaljko; Marcelo Brozovic, Arijan Ademi, Mateo Kovacic; Sammir, Ante Rukavina.

FC Porto have a ton of attacking talent in their ranks, but they’re missing some players at the back. Dynamo Kiev are going with two strikers up top and they have a superstar in Andrei Yarmolenko on the left, so expect goals in this one. Dynamo are in serious need of a win to keep pace and give themselves a chance to get out of this group, while a draw will do just fine for Porto.

Dynamo Kiev starting lineup (4-4-2): Maksym Koval; Taye Taiwo, Taras Mykhalyk, Yevhen Khacheridi, Betao; Andrei Yarmolenko, Miguel Veloso, Ognjen Vukojevic; Oleh Gusev; Artem Milevskiy, Marco Ruben

And now for the game that doesn’t really matter in Group B. Sure, Olympiacos are hosting Montpellier and there’s theoretically a Europa League spot at stake, but I don’t think anyone really expects either side to be qualifying for the Champions League knockout rounds, and nobody really cares about the Europa League anyway. Personally, I find myself massively disinterested in Montpellier games that don’t involve the awesome figure of John Utaka, which this one doesn’t, but such is life. At least Younes Belhanda is around.

You can catch this game on FOX Soccer and ITV 1. Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m. local time at Eastlands, 2:45 p.m. ET.

Manchester City need to win their next three Champions League matches in a row to have a solid chance of qualifying for the knockout stage of the competition, and there are plenty of scenarios in which even that would not be enough to pull them ahead of either Borussia Dortmund or Real Madrid. If they fail to grab all three points against Ajax on Wednesday, they will be in very real danger of crashing out of Europe all together.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with three-man back lines, and Mancini certainly has some decent personnel to implement tactics that utilize a back three, but he’s failed to use the personnel at his disposal properly and prepare his players to execute their manager’s gameplan in a formation that most of them have never played in before. He has also chosen the exact wrong times to start games with a back three and to switch to a back three in game.

On the last matchday, Ajax stunned City by ripping apart their makeshift back three, shortly after Mancini made an in-game change. It seems he’s learned his lesson, and his side has performed much better in the league since that day, but Ajax will feel like they have every chance to grab a point at Eastlands and end the Citizens’ hopes of going through.

Manchester City injuries and suspensions

Real Madrid’s injury problems created serious holes in their side when they traveled to the Westfalenstadion during the last Champions League matchday, as they fell to Borussia Dortmund. Those same problems persist, putting Jose Mourinho under pressure to mastermind a plan to mask his team’s weaknesses and get a result against der BVB.

Raphael Varane has shown flashes of brilliance in his appearances at Madrid, but the 19-year-old was consistently out of position against Dortmund when these two teams last met. He’s going to start in the central of defense again, and his team will need him to perform much better.

Paris Saint-Germain have been disappointing since Carlo Ancelotti’s takeover in terms of performances if not necessarily results, but they should face a simple victory tonight against a Dinamo Zagreb side that have yet to earn a point or score a goal in the competition.

Le PSG did, however, suffer their first home defeat at the weekend in a game in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off, but despite their wobbly displays, should still record a comfortable win here. Dinamo coach Ante Cacic spoke of the possibility of gaining a result “if we keep it at 0-0 for a while”, which is likely managerspeak for his side intending to park the bus and hope for the best.

Someone might want to let these two teams know that the Champions League has started, and that they are quickly running out of time to avoid being relegated to the Europa League, or worse, out of Europe all together. If someone wants to win today, one side will have to overcome their own ugly statistic.

Zenit haven’t won an away match in the UCL in their last seven attempts (two draws, five losses), while Anderlecht haven’t won a UCL match at home in their last ten tries (two draws, eight losses). If anyone wants to improve their fate, they’re going to need to win, something neither team has shown the ability to do lately in this situation.

Dynamo Kiev coach Oleh Blokhin may be celebrating his birthday when his side take on FC Porto, but he won’t be in a position to receive his present should his side win - he’ll be watching the game from the stands on doctor’s orders due to an ongoing heart condition.

With his team trailing group leaders Porto by 6 points and Paris Saint-Germain by 3, the Ukrainian side are in desperate need of a win against Porto in order to keep their hopes of getting out of the group stage alive.