UEFA Champions League: Celtic take down Barcelona while Chelsea win it late

It didn’t look like it should have been close. Valencia dispated BATE 3-0 in the reverse fixture three weeks ago, and with them playing at home there was every expectation that the Spanish side would put out an even more impressive win. It looked like they were going to manage to stroll to three points after a disastrous sixty-second spell for the visitors, which saw them first let Jonas onto a bouncing ball into the penalty area (he blasted his shot past Andrey Gorbunov, of course) and then give away a penalty.

Then things got interesting with seven minutes to go. Vitali Rodiovski played Dmitri Mozolevski in on Vicente Guita’s goal, and the substitute made no mistake in reducing the deficit to a solitary goal. Come back on? Feghouli put an end to that line of questioning after picking up a neat pass from Ever Banega in the box and finishing calmly to wrap up the win.

A second half brace by Óscar Cardozo was all Benfica needed as they cruised past Spartak Moscow 2-0 at the Estádio da Luz.

The match got off to a quick and potentially controversial start. Benfica’s Enzo Pérez was brought down by Rafael Carioca setting up a dangerous free kick for the Portuguese club. On the free kick, Ezequiel Garay was pulled to the ground by Kim Källström but both the referee and the official on the end line either missed it or just ignored it.

Shakhtar Donetsk equalized twice against Chelsea and spent very long portions of the game looking like the more dangerous side, but some terrible defensive and goalkeeping errors helped the Blues to a 3-2 victory at Stamford Bridge. They now lead Group E of the Champions League, and are in a much better position to advance than they were before the match.

The visitors answered quickly through Willian, though the setup was much more of the highlight than the actual finish. Fernandinho set up the goal with a fantastic surging run into the box and a cutback ball to the center of the penalty area, where a waiting Willian punched in to level the match at 1-1.

Celtic nearly got a second in the 64th minute after Marc Barta failed to play a long ball properly, apparently believing Valdes was going to come out and play it. Mulgrew pounced but couldn’t settle the ball quick enough, allowing Barta to recover and block his off balance shot.

On the other end Forster was playing out of his mind, making two tremendous saves on Alexis and Messi as the half dragged on. Forster also stopped a late free kick from Messi, correctly reading his shot from the start.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Manchester United look completely uninspired against an inferior opponent in the Champions League.

After a half at Braga, United have looked without imagination or ambition, which isn’t out of the ordinary for them away. They’re happy at the back and content to keep testing Braga’s back line in 1v1 battles, which to this point Braga have been up to, at least kind of.

Frustrating half for Barcelona but there were plenty of chances for the Blaugrana. Celtic have a ton of work to do if they want to keep Barca from making another second half comeback.

Paulo Sergio’s first match in charge of Cluj is a big one, with a chance to all but secure a spot in the Round of 16 there for the taking. Rafael Bastos and Modou Sougou were both in doubt for Cluj and while Sougou made the starting lineup, Bastos did not. So in comes Pantelis Kapetanos to fill the role.

Galatasary’s lineup is fairly standard with the only adjustment being due to the loss of Johan Elmander to a thigh injury. Burak Yilmaz replaces the Swede in Fatih Terim’s starting lineup. Anything less than a win today likely ends the Turkish sides hopes of advancing out of the group.

Now they have to face The Soldaldo once more, and, worse, they’ll do so in the seething cauldron of the Estabio Mestalla. Not an easy ask, that... but BATE have done crazy things before.

BATE Borisov (4-3-2-1): Andrey Gorbunov; Maksim Bordachev, Artyom Radkov, Yegor Filipenko, Denis Polyakov; Dzmitry Likhtarovich; Dzmitry Baha, Alexandr Hleb, Renan Bressan, Aliaksandr Volodko; Vitali Rodionov.

Braga have some players back from injury and some new fitness issues to deal with as well, so their team is very different than the one that faced United in the last round.

Braga starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Beto; Elderson, Nuno Andre, Douglao, Ruben Amorim; Custodio, Hugo Viana; Leandro Salino, Ruben Micael, Alan; Eder

Regardless of what happens at Stamford Bridge, anything but a win would be a disaster for Juventus. Both Chelsea and Shakhtar will be expecting wins over Nordsjaelland in the second half of the group stage, and both also drew Juventus last time around. The bianconeri are going to be in deep trouble if they don’t get three points from this match.

The big news for Celtic is that Samaras is able to start, of course he might not be able to go the full 90 minutes but having him in the lineup is a big boost for Neil Lennon. Samaras was a big part of Celtic’s near-success at the Camp Nou and having the big Greek striker on the pitch makes a difference. With Gary Hooper out, Miku replaces him in the lineup.

Shakhtar had no injury concerns, and have named a team with no surprises or particularly notable selections. Alex Texeira, who scored against Chelsea in Ukraine, will be one to watch during the match as he goes up against Bertrand.

Shakhtar Donetsk starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Andriy Pyatov; Ravzan Rat, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Oleksandr Kucher, Darijo Srna; Tomas Hübschman, Fernandinho; Willian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Teixeira; Luiz Adriano

Chelsea are still in second place in Group A, ahead of Juventus, but they’re going to be in some serious trouble if they fail to win on Wednesday. They would still control their own destiny in the event of a loss, but would need to win both of their next two games -- including one in Turin -- to advance to the knockout stage if they lose to Shakhtar again. The visitors will be happy to come away from Stamford Bridge with a point, as it will put them in a position to clinch qualification regardless of other results with just four more points.

Chelsea injuries and suspensions

On Celtic’s side is their home fans who were loud in Spain and should be in rare form back on their home turf at Celtic Park.

Celtic injuries and suspensions

New CFR Cluj boss Paulo Sergio begins his first game in charge on Wednesday with a golden opportunity to take his side into the first knockout stage of the Champions League.

With his side second in the group on four points, a victory at home against wobbling Galatasaray would put them in the driving seat for qualification, especially if Braga lose against Manchester United. Progress would be a fantastic acheivement for the Romanian club, and with an almost fully-fit squad, Sergio will be confident that his side have what it takes to get a result.

Braga injuries and suspensions

Out: Paulo Vinicius (thigh), Paulo Cesar (thigh).

One-sided doesn’t begin to describe this one. Lille have zero points in Group F. They don’t win games. They don’t draw games. They’re going up against 2012 runners up Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, one of the most difficult fixtures in European football.

So, why preview this game? I don’t know. If the world makes any sense at all, Bayern are set to stage a repeat of the Franco-Prussian war with a crushing, mercifully quick victory on Wednesday. Although they only won a narrow victory in France, the hosts have been more or less unstoppable in Munich this year. Even including the Bayer Leverkusen shock, they’ve won five of six games at the Allianz, outscoring their opposition 21-5. Lille, meanwhile, are... bad.

Do BATE have any chance of progressing? No, probably not. They’re almost certainly making it to the Europa League ahead of Lille, but despite a strong showing against Bayern Munich it’s difficult to see them as better than the third best team in the group. A result against Valencia at the Borisov Gradski would have given them some hope, but Roberto Soldado blew a big old hole in that with his hattrick, and we should probably be expecting more of the same in Spain on Wednesday.

Out: Sergio Canalas (knee), Pablo Piatti (arm). In doubt: N/A.