UEFA Champions League 2013: United thrash Leverkusen, Juventus top Copenhagen

Full match report here

Poor Real Sociedad. Their Champions League campaign -- which promised so much -- continues to deliver so little. Three of Shakhtar’s Brazilian stars -- Luiz Adriano, Alex Teixeira and Douglas Costa (twice) -- found themselves on the scoresheet in a routine 4-0 win. Shakhtar now jump a point ahead of Leverkusen into second place, though face United in their final match.

Eight minutes later, Emir Spahic gifted United an own goal with a header that would have been hailed as brilliant had it come from a United player. Rooney set it up with a great free kick delivery, which Spahic failed to deal with, heading the ball past Bernd Leno instead of out of the box.

Bayer Leverkusen: Leno, Can, Spahic, Toprak, Donati, Reinartz (Hegeler 70’), Rolfes, Bender (Kohr 81’), Castro, Kießling, Son (Derdiyok 70’)

Copenhagen, however, managed to surprise almost everyone by scoring on their fist real threat of the match. From a free kick in the final third, Juventus were just not able to

That wasn’t enough for the Chilean, however. No, it just had to be a hat trick. Less than two minutes later, Vidal put one in from open play, getting on the end of a cross from Pogba to head the ball across Wiland and into the back of the net. If Vidal wasn’t already a Juventus hero, he certainly will be considered one after tonight.

But then the unexpected happened: The visitors found their way into the game. Right back Frantisek Rajtoral served notice of the fact that the Czechs weren’t going to go down easily when he ghosted through the City defence and sent a half shot, half pass just wide of Hart’s goal. Then Michael Duris sent an equally good chance just wide after good work from Daniel Kolar.

Plzen heads failed to drop. They’d already come back once, and were fully prepared to do so again. Kolar very nearly came up with an immediate reply, forcing Hart into a save with a 35-yard thunderbolt. That stop merely delayed the equalizer -- Kolar and the Plzen attack worked their way around a set of statues in blue shirts before the ball came to Stanislav Tecl, who slotted in to make it 2-2.

Galatasaray were pushing Madrid from the opening whistle and while it worked well in the opening quarter hour for the most part, they were nearly burned early.

Madrid were dominating possession and cruising along and then in the 27th minute defender Sergio Ramos lost Umut Bulut and as he attempted to catch up with the midfielder, brought him to the ground. In the referee’s judgement Ramos denied a goal scoring opportunity and showed him a straight red card.

For Roberto Mancini and Galatasaray, this match serves two purposes. First it’s chance to keep hold on second place and a spot in the Round of 16 going into the final round of group stage matches. Second, it’s an opportunity to payback Madrid for the 6-1 beating they received in Istanbul back in September.

Easier said than done, of course.

Despite having to travel to Moscow and deal with all the usual weather and pitch condition issues of Moscow in late November, there’s little reason to believe that Bayern won’t be able to get the three points they need. CSKA Moscow have only managed one win so far in the group stages, and they are tied with fellow group bottom dweller Viktoria Plzen for the most goals allowed in the tournament with 12.

Bayern will have to deal with a few injury issues though including the loss of Mario Mandžukić to a calf injury, but there depth should be sufficient to see them through with Thomas Müller likely to start up front.

That’s because they’re only a point in arrears of both Copenhagen and Galatasaray, and it’s hard to see the Turkish giants picking up anything away at the Bernabéu. Likewise, Copenhagen may have managed to hold Juve to a draw at home, though it’s unlikely they’ll repeat the feat in Turin.

Juventus injuries and suspensions